Quebec to Construct Opera House Entirely From Shipping Pallets

Next year an incredible temporary opera house made entirely from <a href="http://www.inhabitat.com/2010/04/02/pallet-haus-an-efficient-affordable-modular-house/" target="_blank">shipping pallets</a> will grace the courtyard at the Music Academy of Quebec City. Designed by Theater Architect <a href="http://www.architectjacquesplante.com./" target="_blank">Jacques Plante</a> and Engineer Pascale Pierre, <a href="http://www.v2com.biz/index.php?option=com_content&amp;view=article&amp;id=675:lopera-palette-a-la-quadriennale-du-design-et-de-lespace-vivant-de-prague-en-juin-2011-opera-palette-at-the-prague-quadriennal-of-performance-design-and-space-in-june-2011-par-by-jacques-plante-a-pascale-pierre&amp;catid=35:projetsarchitecture&amp;Itemid=142" target="_blank">L'Opera Palette</a> will be feat of engineering, a study of acoustics, and an exploration of material reuse -- not to mention a a stunning art installation.

The entire open air performance space will be constructed out of reused shipping pallets.

Designed and engineering by Jacques Plante and Pascale Pierre, the Pallet Opera has been carefully designed in order to provide good acoustics.

The temporary pavilion will be built in the courtyard of the Academy of Music in Quebec City.

Construction will start in the summer of 2011 for use during the Quebec International Opera Festival in July.

Jacques Plante, a theater architect, envisioned the project as a way to re-use industrialized objects for the purpose of art.

Shipping pallets are ubiquitous, universal and readily available for use in construction projects.

The project takes the <a href="http://inhabitat.com/2010/07/09/be-palett%c3%b8-a-pavilion-of-pallets-provide-pupils-a-place-to-relax/" target="_blank">shipping pallet</a>, an ubiquitous object with great utility, and uses it in an innovative and surprising way to create an ephemeral opera house.

The pallet will be used as architecture, as structure and as stage, for lighting, stage sets and signage, and turned into opera.

Considerable design work will go this pallet opera in order to provide the necessary aesthetic and acoustic quality for an opera theater.

The urban space envisioned for this art installation is the courtyard of the Music Academy of Quebec City, next to the city’s principal theater.

The research project is designed around three distinct "acts." The first act consists of virtual and video design in a laboratory.

The second act consists of spatial, technical and technological experimentation and validation. The third act marks the realization of the experiment in an urban setting.

L'Opera Palette will be built in July 2011 for the Quebec International Opera Festival.