ARCH 552 Institution Studio Design Project
URBAN ESPIONAGE MOVIE THEATER
Ann Arbor, MI
This movie theater is located at the intersection of S 1st St and W William St, the transition area between the residential and downtown areas of Ann Arbor. I want to emphasize the movie theater’s gathering characteristic to make it a new gathering and socialized space for the city that better connects the residential area to downtown. Through several design moves, I also want to blend the theater with its surroundings rather than introducing a new structure that abruptly departs from the existing context.
Site Plans
The site is unique as the whole block has a significant height change with a stiff slope; the west side is the lower side, and the east is the higher side, the height difference is around 22 ft
The arrangement of the auditorium and theater lobby ceiling design introduces narrow hallways to the open lobby and narrow doorways to enter the open auditorium. These moves introduce a unique spatial experience of a sequence of spatial compression and tension for the space’s occupants.
In order to keep this space as a gathering space not just for the movie audiences, urban green space is added to provide gathering space for the public, and in order to make up for the space the theater takes up on the ground floor, the roof of the theater is turned into occupiable roof garden with accessible route, and connecting the other side of block above the small hill.
The main structure below the slope reflects the industrial-style building Liberty Research Annex across the street; the west facade also uses a mirror-facade surface to reflect the condition.
On the east, above the stiff slope, I repurposed an existing building and connected it with a new building structure that uses similar styles as existing residential buildings to blend in with the existing condition. The south-side green belt next to the railroad track extends to connect with the on-site green to form an urban green space for gathering, as well as to provide natural sound and air filtration for the movie theater. Other accessible routes are added to better connect the movie theater to the rest of the block, both above and below the stiff slope. The connecting part toward the northeast is also used as an outdoor theater.
The dropped-down ceiling shape creates a compressed feeling when walking toward the lobby. When entering the lobby area, the ceiling turns into a dome shape to feel open again.
Precedent Study:
Regent Park Diorama
This is an early precedent exercise that I conducted by studying some objects/forms of experience from the pre-cinematic era that are similar to the movie theater experience today. The drawing tries to capture the key features and experiences of the precedent.