Programme :
Renovation of a theatre fitted out in a former business school.

Description :
Invited to renovate a dilapidated theatre within a former business school, Wilmotte & Associés SA invented the Opéra de Nimes. The reorganisation of the building quickly became a gigantic project. Walls and ceilings destroyed, there soon remained nothing but a large empty shell. Of the initial construction, only steel beams and concrete buttresses, previously hidden, were retained.
Illuminated, they now give strong rhythm to a vast covered walkway. In the lobby, the mysterious glow of sandblasted glass mirrors shields the ticket office. There, facing the large glass entrance doors, the last reflections of the street lose themselves and fade away. At the lateral extremities of the hall, staircases lead to the foyer where old equipment, marked by time, faces the black, flat surfaces of an extensive space that opens onto the city and closes onto the bar and its intimate space. Enjoyed even before being fully visible, the theatre space can then reveal its discreet elegance.
Dominated by two large waves of glass-reinforced plaster, surrounded by wide, bevelled grey bands, its acoustics are impeccable. A world of black and grey in which the purple of the curtain and red of the seats remind one of and continue tradition. Edge lighting highlights the black triangle which, from the ceiling, points to the stage. The balcony embraces the whole width of the theatre space like a gigantic horizontal crescent moon. Even before the curtain has risen, a sense of the theatrical is everywhere.