With its call for a new theatre – a prestigious building with a metropolitan programme – the ambition of the small town of Deinze reached far and wide. The Leietheater, a collaboration between TRANS and V+, strikes a balance between theatricality and public service, a true balancing act.

For over 10 years now, the young, ambitious council of Deinze has been working on a metamorphosis of the town centre. The provincial town on the Leie, in the shadow of Ghent, which for years had turned its back on the river and where the car reigned supreme, decided in 2009 to completely regenerate the town centre. A team led by Marie-José Van Hee and Robbrecht en Daem architecten transformed the market square and church square into a low-traffic, continuous pedestrian and social zone. Artist Benoît van Innis laid out a stone city carpet there in the form of a colourful mosaic. A mooring quay and promenade along the banks of the Leie meant that Deinze allowed itself to be redefined by the meandering of the river. The town centre was revitalised.