The cinema complex is situated in the city of Chongqing in Western China. The city has a population of 30million people making it the largest populated city in China.
The complex houses five auditoriums, each with 300 hundred seats and 11m wide by 5m high screens. The other functions include two kiosks, a ticket box office, a ground floor ticket box office and a café area. A game centre will be added on as phase two in this project. The overall ground floor area of the cinema complex is 5000m2. The location is on the 6th and 7th floor of the Metropolitan plaza.
Designing the interior with an architectural approach. It can be seen as a piece of architectural lyricism. Where both sculptural forms and functionality evokes the emotion responses towards the space.
The primary element within the space:
The main concept was to use the existing architectural features within the space, in this case the existing structural columns and beams making each element into a light sculpture and creating an axis within the space. This would be expanded to the whole complex: lobby, auditoriums and even the exit corridor. Then this language would be extended on to the floor patterns and structural beams in the appropriate locations, making the space an installation and a basis for the next element.
The second element within the space:
Due to the functional planning of housing the 5 auditoriums adjacent to each other we created a box form within the plan. This secondary element is conjured through using associations of the golden age of cinema. Our concept is to clad the outside of all the auditoriums with corrugated metal and using velvet to clad the interior. Thus creating a jewelry box effect.
The third element within the space:
The curved wooden sculptural element is used to house all the services such as toilets and storerooms, therefore creating the third element. This is composed into the space as a contrast to the second element to evoke the final architectural language within the space.
The interplay of these 3 elements becomes the space for the various programs of the cineplex.