Dublin

DTA Architects

Nicola Phiri Natasha Ellwood Kuanxin Xu

Screen One- 297 Seats / 414m² / 8m high Screen One (the Blue Room)-This is the main screen, with optimal screening area proportions. In order to reflect this, the architects muted the colour pallet to blue to minimise visual distraction, using various tones of blue on the walls, seats and floors.

Screen Two- 155 Seats / 241m²/ 8m high Screen Two (the grey room)- This screen has a greater depth to width ratio, creating a more elongated perspective within the screening room. To attract focus onto the screen DTA Archi-tects muted the wall colour to a single gray tone, while creating a sense of drama and intrest with the multi-coloured seating bank.

Screen Three- 118 Seats / 143m² / 5.7 m high Screen Three (The red room)- This screen is suspended between the cafe bar on the ground floorand the concession/gallery space on the basement level two. The emphasis was kept on the element of suspension by using a single red colour on all surfaces.

Screen Four- 70 Seats / 120m² / 5m high Screen Four (The Black Room)- This screen is the smallest cinema screen and is compro-mised in section due to the terracing over. In order to overcome this, the architects produced a spec-trum of colour that runs across the walls which is in contrast ith the black seating and flooring.

Total Cinema Space- 640 seats / 917m²

Screens“A variation of screen sizes was required to enable a diverse and cinematic programme.”

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Irish architect firm, DTA Architects, were commissioned in 2006 to redesign the Light-house Cinema in Smithfield Market, Dublin. The chal-lenge to the architects was to fit four distinct cinema volumes into the existing basement space. The con-cept was to express individual cinema forms within the existing from, to create tension and interesting shapes in the space. The separation between the “in-sertion” of the cinemas and the existing enclosure are shown by difference in material, colour and expres-sion.

Along with this, DTA Architects have created a flow within the design that gives the public an exciting and dramatic experience as they travel through the building. The difference in spaces along the route create a special sequence as the public move along the route; from entrance to cafe, to the terrace and concession stand, then onto the gallery and the cinema.

The distinct differences in the cinema theatres are to counterpoint the clean, white service spaces: each different in size, colour, detail and fin-ish to offer an array of experiences for the audience. The publics ability to walk over, under and around the blocks of cinema spaces gives an interesting alterna-tive to the cinematic experience.

Void SpaceVoid space- 875m²

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Public and Private Space Hierachy The division of space within the cin-ema plays an important role in the design. The dia-grams highlight the differences between public and private spaces. The flow of public to private space contributes to the ease of the journey throughout the cinema.

In plan, the private staff spaces are off the public route, whereas they are seen at the heart of the building in section. In a cinema, the projection room and storage areas are the most important rooms for the business. While being vital, the private spaces do not hinder the architectural aspects of the building.

Circulation Cinemas are public buildings used by many different people, therefore must be designed with ease of travel in mind. The Lighthouse Cinema has a simple and readable path through the build-ing, guiding the public with use of materials and dramatic changes in space.

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Materials

The material palette employed is matt black aluminium panels, to represent inserta-tios into the space, and pre existing walls are rendered with white plaster. The bold contrast is tempered by an American White Oak flooring to guide the public around a specific circulation route.

To improve the sound quality in the cinemas, the walls are a combination of soft and rough materials. The materials used are both to insulate and restrain noises in order to maintain a noise level less than 40db. To prevent acho within the large spaces the softness of the walls absorbs the sound waves. Intending to keep the audio quality at a high standard, the use of rough materials reflects the sound around the space acceler-ating attenuation.

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Cinema Screen PlansThis projection is showing the three different floors of the cinema. The Screens are situated in the basement whereas the entrance is on the first floor allowing the public to experience the journey to the different screens.

Key

Colour KeyServant Spaces(public use)Servant Spaces(staff use)Cinema One(blue room)Cinema 2(black room)Cinema 3(red room)

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Screen 1 Screen 2

Screen 3 Screen 4

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Concept Model

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Our model concept is based on the idea of vol-umes that have been inserted in voids. Therefore the emphasis is on circulation and the use of col-our that is prominent in the cinema screens.