Just like in the movies
Photos: Oliver Kern, Freiburg
This article appeared in colore 20 #himmelblau
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As soon as you step inside the entrance to the foyer, with its rather low ceiling height, your view widens. Thanks to the sloping floor, the space opens up ahead of you and is so much more than an anteroom. And likewise, here, whiling away the time is so much more than grabbing a ticket, popcorn, sipping some lemonade, seeing your movie, and going home.
Here a movie theater visit becomes an experience, and indeed, a stylish one. A glittering "appearance" and "the experience of being seen" is what the elaborate staircase promises, symbolizing just a few steps to spending a few hours in another world; the staircase is the most complex part of the building, alongside the screening rooms themselves.
Patrick Schnyder from the architectural firm meierpartner architekten in Wetzikon (Switzerland) explains: "The staircase is not just a transitory space – it has an inviting quality, asking you stay." As part of the initial building phase, the architects working on KITAG CINEMAS had participated in a call to tender some years beforehand for an interior design project.
It was about providing this kind of event with an architecture that is recognizable, that excites the visitor. The visitor shouldn't be blocked off or made to queue in taped off areas, irritated by queues and confusion ... The visitor should be welcomed in a friendly way, and guided intuitively, strolling and finding the right way to the screening room, all while feeling relaxed.
In the end Holzer Kobler Architekturen decided on the competition for themselves, and indeed, chose the concept of holistic staging. Everything happens in a certain flow, runs smoothly, is designed around slowing down and anticipation. The duty-free principle, as requested by the client, was designed in such a way that the guest discovers drinks and snacks on the way to the screening room, can stroll from stand to stand, then pay everything in one go at the checkout, including their ticket.
The delicately designed ceiling areas, with no visible ventilation slots or otherwise, just shadow gaps and lights under extruding levels, show the carved-out protrusions of the above screening rooms in sections. This design takes up dialog with the wooden flooring and the bronze-colored walls, with in-built features and the dazzling staircase. "More hotel lobby than multiplex movie theater, instead, synergies are created by adding to leisure offerings, so much more has been achieved here!", says Patrick Schnyder.
Just like the concept of a duty-free store, visitors stroll through the sales level, collect snacks and drinks and then enter the screening rooms without any noticeable queue formation.
The color shade depiction on the screen is not binding.
Project data
- OBJECT | SITE KITAG CINEMAS Cinedome, Muri near Bern, CH
- BUILDER | CLIENT KITAG Kino-Theater AG, Zürich, CH
- ARCHITEKT KINO meierpartner architekten ag, Wetzikon, CH
- INTERIOR DESIGN Holzer Kobler Architekturen GmbH, Zürich, CH
- TECHNICAAL CONSULTANT Peter Schweizer, Brillux Muttenz, CH
- COMMISSIONED PAINTING CONTRACTOR Gerd Mair AG, Thalwil, CH
