Do You Like Going To The Movies?

Alright folks, I've been out of the country for the last month, which explains why I haven't posted anything in a while.  The time has come where I can finally say that I am in my LAST semester of architecture school!  Before launching into a long post about what I'm going to do for my thesis, here's the final results of the previous semester.  Click here to read previous posts about the project.

Our given program was to design a film house.  Its requirements were to include indoor and outdoor movie theaters, cafe/restaurant space, retail space, administrative space, a film archive, and any other components we might want to add.  The way we interpreted the program was left open.

I was interested in questioning the way movie theaters are designed and the way we watch movies in the 21st century, mainly because I hate going to the movie theaters and would rather watch something at home.  This got me thinking...why would anyone actually want to go to the movie theater when they could watch a movie at home, where they can be free, on the couch or bed, in their pajamas or nothing at all, with whomever they want or no one at all, eating whatever they want, and not sitting in an ugly, poorly designed multiplex franchise theater?  Its a good question - one that we as architects should be asking ourselves about this relatively  new typology.  In fact, the movie theater typology was taken from the vaudeville and opera theaters of the past, with the only change being that of a screen and projector room.  Perhaps its time for a more thoughtful approach.

I'm not saying that my building answers the question, but I hope its a start.  Or at the very least a conversation opener about the subject.

My movie theater essentially contains five different types of movie watching opportunities, ranging from the most interactive and social to the most private and intimate.  They are as follows:

1. Communal Theater - most similar to a traditional movie theater, with opportunities to move the furniture around and create clusters of seats.  Seats include couches of varying sizes and armchairs.

2. Garden Theater - An outdoor theater, enclosed by walls, situated in a garden.

3. Private Party Theaters - A series of smaller spaces, each for 8-10 people, to be used for private parties.

4. Restaurant/Video Art Theater - A restaurant whose walls are used for the display of video art.

5. Private Bedroom Theaters - A series of bedroom sized spaces for spending the night, watching movies in the room, with balconies overlooking the communal theater.

Click on images to enlarge.  Leave a comment and let me know your own thoughts on going to the movies.

New Haven Site Montages

In studying our site for studio, more about which you can read here, I have composed these photo montages of the street view from both ends of the site.  Click on them to enlarge.

And below are a few of my favorite photos of the day, walking around the area.

Yale Art Gallery by Louis Kahn, with Richard Serra sculptures in the sunken courtyard.

Yale Repertory Theater, and just to the left of it is the Yale Center for British Art, another Louis Kahn building.

Nice roofs.

See the all those skylights in the top right of the photo?  That's the roof of the Yale Center for British Art.

There are a lot of walled in courtyards, which make for some interesting street views such as this.

And this.

Another walled in courtyard, with people sitting outside of it.

Another street view of the Yale Center for British Art, with beautiful orange barrels framing the view.

And this is our site.

Slitting, Peeling, and Folding Up and Down

Just some new study models for our film house in New Haven we're working on here at Spitzer School of Architecture. 

Yale Art and Architecture Building

As you may recall from this previous post about the Beinecke Library at Yale, my studio made a trip to New Haven, Connecticut a few weeks ago.  The site for our project this semester is in New Haven, near the Yale Campus, right behind the Yale Center for British Art, and we took advantage of the beautiful day to wander around and look at some of the great buildings in the area.

Our first stop was the Yale Art and Architecture Building, designed by Paul Rudolph and completed in 1963.

I usually find such Brutalist buildings to be a bit too....well...brutal, but not so with this one.  I felt that same soft, whispering voice that I encountered last on my trip to the Robie House.  That sense you get with some buildings that they are alive, and have thoughts and stories to share with you. I can't figure out what that voice is, where it comes from.  Is it the materials?  Maybe it was all that warm, textured concrete. Is it related to the scale of the spaces?  The light? It may take me my whole life to figure it out.