Nanterre-Amandiers National Drama Center Renovation and Rehabilitation / Snøhetta
The rehabilitation of the Center Dramatique National Nanterre-Amandiers continues the story of a place that has long been emblematic of contemporary French theater, conceived from the outset as a space open to all. At the intersection of the city and the park, the project reaffirms the theater as a place of encounter, creation, and shared experience, deeply rooted in its local context. The architecture supports this evolution through a restrained intervention that reveals and reorganizes the spaces. The existing volumes are preserved and reorganized around a newly recomposed grand hall, the true heart of the theater. Transparency, continuity of movement, and a diversity of spaces help transform the building into a welcoming and permeable place. In this way, Les Amandiers reasserts itself as an open theater, where stage, city, and everyday life come together. The history of the Nanterre Amandiers National Drama Center (CDN) is that of a theater in constant transformation, closely linked to the city’s evolution and driven by a strong artistic and social ambition. Located to the west of Paris, Nanterre is a commune within the Paris metropolitan area that, since the 1960s, has experienced profound urban and social changes. It was in this context that the city became the first to support the project of Pierre Debauche’s company, whose founding intention was to bring to the theater “those who had never been there before.”