Trois-Rivières is situated roughly 100 km north of Montreal at the confluence of the St Maurice and St Lawrence Rivers. In the past, it was an important location for the paper industry, and a paper mill once stood on the present site. In 2009, the municipal government decided to erect an open-air theatre on what had by then become industrial wasteland in a prominent position. The design by Paul Laurendeau is a landmark structure. The huge steel pent roof, 80 × 90 m in area, has a structural depth of 6 m, tapering to only 2.5 cm at the edges. Clad on the underside with wine-red metal panels, it is borne by eight 26-metre-high composite steel-and-concrete columns 85 cm in diameter. Seating is provided for an audience of 3,500, including 200 seats in boxes, with space for a further 5,200 people on the sloping grassed area to the rear. The site is closed off along the river by a roughly six-metre-high concrete wall, on which the name of the town is written in black-painted letters, consisting of laminated boarding.
The concrete stage tower is clad externally with metal panels in three shades of red. At the front, the seating area is flanked by staggered wall slabs set on the diagonal and lined with black sheet steel. The stage opening can be closed with a thermally insulated cable-operated door that is lowered from above. This allows the stage area to be used during the winter months for smaller-scale shows and corporate events, with the ingress of daylight through small windows. Situated to the north-west of the stage tower is a two-storey tract with offices, cloakrooms and storage spaces. At its western end, in the direction of the town centre, this opens on to a fully glazed foyer that can also be let out for various events.
