The public space in the city center has been squeezed out like this, and Shanghai Cinema has broken the "ladder" project | Facade | Shanghai
On June 8th, after more than a year of renovation and renovation, Shanghai Cinema opened to the public. Citizens used to only be able to take photos outside as souvenirs, but now they have finally quenched their thirst and are able to personally explore the truth. In addition to the comprehensive upgrade of film viewing equipment, the architectural design has also been revitalized, attracting people's attention.
As a landmark building of the city, Shanghai Cinema is designed and constructed by Shanghai Huajian Engineering Construction Consulting Co., Ltd. of Huajian Group. Looking at the overall plan, what is even more pleasing to people is the open space - the high steps and parking lot at the entrance have disappeared, replaced by flower beds, seats, and public squares - compared to the transition from a light yellow exterior wall and light green font to a completely white appearance.
The emergence of public spaces has made Shanghai Cinema, a professional venue for cultural exchange, appear much closer. In recent years, landmarks like Shanghai Exhibition Center, Shanghai Conservatory of Music, and Fuxing Park have either demolished exterior walls or broken down fences. Most of these places, like Shanghai Cinema, have some historical roots. What is the meaning behind the opening? Recently, reporters interviewed the integrated project design and construction team to disclose more updated concepts and renovation details.
From breaking levels to breaking boundaries
Shanghai Cinema is located at the intersection of Xinhua Road and Panyu Road. The construction of the renovation project mainly includes the overall renovation of the building's exterior facade, interior decoration of cinemas, public spaces, consumer spaces, logistics service spaces, as well as the renovation of outdoor squares.
The discussion about the renovation of the front square of Shanghai Cinema has been ongoing for a long time. In 2017, the official Shanghai Urban Design Challenge selected about one kilometer of the Panyu Road block as a targeted urban renewal competition project. Among numerous design points, the front plaza of Shanghai Cinema is the only necessary option, and its importance is evident.
At that time, the front plaza of Shanghai Cinema was elevated, taking on some parking functions, and most pedestrians only hurriedly passed by. And the nearby Happy Village has completed its transformation into an open cultural and creative park; The original site of the Shanghai Institute of Biological Products, which is not far away, has also launched a new round of open renewal.
"We need more plots along the street to 'open the walls' to meet the diverse space needs of citizens." The sponsor of the competition once said to reporters that through small-scale renovation of buildings and spaces, new vitality can be injected into the whole area, which is the "acupuncture and moxibustion effect" in urban renewal.
As the first five-star cinema in Shanghai, Shanghai Cinema has naturally become a key point to explore the "acupuncture and moxibustion effect". Although the design competition has opened up ideas for the formal renovation of Shanghai Cinema, space opening involves various aspects, not simply reducing the height of the square. How to integrate into the neighborhood? How to link up with Shanghai Cinema itself? These issues require careful consideration.
After careful consideration from multiple parties, the renovation and upgrading project was officially launched in early 2022. At first, some citizens were puzzled: Shanghai Cinema itself is a public building, how should it be opened?
"The biggest highlight of the cinema space is the 'borderless' concept, which maximizes the return of buildings to their essence of use through urban renewal," said Xia Bing, Deputy Secretary of the Party Committee and Deputy Chief Engineer of Huajian Group.
Firstly, the lower level space should be moderately compromised. The lower level space of Shanghai Cinema is elevated, and as an advanced cultural infrastructure completed in 1991, this design concept is in line with the historical background and can set off the building with solemnity and solemnity. However, the planning and design concept of urban space has undergone a transformation over the past 30 years, and such square designs have blocked the free pedestrian flow from urban roads to Shanghai Cinema on the flow line.
In the process of renovation and upgrading, the designer lowered the square to the same height as the sidewalk, creating a height difference between the indoor and outdoor areas of the cinema around the buildings. "In this way, Shanghai Cinema has more convenient access space, while achieving a moderate yield at the corners of Xinhua Road and Panyu Road, which is valuable for an old block or building," he said.
Secondly, integrate public buildings into the neighborhood and moderately expand the space. Careful citizens will find that the second floor and idle roofs of Shanghai Cinema have added observation terraces for dining and rest. "At the same time of controlling the spatial contour of the ground floor, we extended the space layout of the lower floors, so that it can be integrated into the" humanistic Xinhua, strolling around Panyu "century wutong characteristic street view." Ni Fei, Deputy Secretary of the Party Committee and General Manager of Huajian Group Construction Consulting Company, stated. These terrace spaces are specially built along Xinhua Road and Panyu Road, incorporating outdoor street views into the interior while creating a cinematic view of the interior and exterior.
A smooth white curved staircase has become a highlight of Shanghai Cinema's design, and can also achieve "one staircase, three uses". "The white staircase leads directly to the 'Thousand People Cinema' in Hall 1 on the second floor, which is not only a fire escape route, but also a spot for citizens to take photos and check in. It can also be the most distinctive part of the red carpet flow during awards or ceremonies," said Yu Yanqing, General Manager of the Second Engineering Division of Huajian Group Construction Consulting Company.
Can Shanghai Cinema break through the ranks and bring psychological barriers to citizens? During the trial opening of the square on May 30th, this question has been responded to: surrounding residents and passersby naturally gathered on the square, some chatting, some walking their dogs, and some pointing to the white staircase asking, "Can we take wedding photos here in the future?"
The square renovation of Shanghai Cinema aims to increase shared public space through structural optimization without increasing construction land. The attempt of cinemas is obviously not the only one, like Shanghai Exhibition Center and Shanghai Conservatory of Music, it has become a new feature of urban spatial layout.
Across the country, Shanghai has taken the lead in entering the "stock era". There is much to be done on how to stimulate urban vitality and vitality on a larger scale through optimizing structure, improving layout, and revitalizing various stocks. This has been confirmed as early as in Tokyo, where the area, population, and urbanization rate of the central urban area are comparable. In the bottleneck of less land and more people, Tokyo continuously squeezes out public spaces through diversified methods, and through high-quality shaping, allows fragmented public spaces to quietly live in neighborhoods, generating more "chemical reactions".
Creating a space that can retain people
Shanghai Cinema is a spiritual coordinate in the hearts of professionals and movie fans, as well as a special emotional complex that accompanies the growth of many citizens. All parties have great expectations for revitalization. How to grasp the scale of preservation and innovation? After the steps above the sidewalk are removed, more and more citizens and pedestrians can approach Shanghai Cinema. How can they be retained?
Redefining the relationship between film culture and neighborhoods is a characteristic of this renovation and upgrading project. Shanghai Cinema is located in the historical and cultural area of Xinhua Road, and its appearance should not be too outstanding, but it should also meet the needs of building an international film fashion district in Shanghai. Zhu Haojie, Executive Architect of Huajian Group Construction Consulting Company, introduced that in terms of design principles, Shanghai Cinema has combined the facade form of Xinhua Road and Panyu Road blocks, choosing to retain the circular arc shape in the minds of fans as much as possible, and further combining the red carpet show of the film festival and the flow line of the core cinema for urban renewal. The overall facade will form a new continuous open space while maintaining the existing building shape. After layers of evaluation by architectural experts, the current effect has finally been formed.
Internally, combined with the comprehensive renovation of various core cinemas in the cinema area, we aim to complement and extend the indoor and outdoor spaces, while retaining multiple Shanghai cinema core cinemas, showcasing a more modern, fashionable, and technological appearance.
The "Thousand People Hall" in Hall 1 is the preferred location for the premiere of many blockbuster films. After renovation, this has become the third professional cinema built by Dolby Laboratories, following Hollywood in the United States and London in the United Kingdom. It is also the first innovative space in Asia with over a thousand seats that can provide Dolby's immersive audiovisual experience. Citizens familiar with Dolby Cinema know that Dolby uniformly uses black as the theme color for cinemas, but the red color scheme of Shanghai Cinema's Thousand People Cinema has continued for more than 30 years. After mutual consultation, this classic color scheme has been continued, thus preserving a major feature of the cinema.
The increasingly diverse demands of the audience are driving the multifunctionality of cinema space. Hall 2 was upgraded and renovated in this context. "Hall 2, also known as the 'Professional Cinema in the Black Box', aims to be renovated from the cinema but higher than the cinema." Zhu Haojie said that this requires space to balance the functions of both the cinema and the theater.
But these are two completely opposite functional requirements. The cinema needs to be equipped with sound absorption devices, and the sound cannot be reflected, while the theater emphasizes echo, and the sound needs to be reflected. How to balance this? According to Zhu Haojie, the executive architect of the Shanghai Cinema renovation project, in order to meet both functions at the same time, the layout of the space has become more flexible. Hinged sound-absorbing panels are installed on the walls, paired with a customized retractable seat system. The mechanical, electrical, lighting, and ventilation are also completely different from ordinary cinemas. When all the seats and sound-absorbing panels are folded down, the cinema will transform into a 500 square meter "black box theater", providing the possibility of creating an immersive multi-dimensional film and art space for the cinema.
Digital integration into space creation
The Dolby panoramic sound system that can accurately locate in three-dimensional space, 4K high contrast HDR projection technology, naked eye 3D giant LED canopy... As the first digital film art center in the city, Shanghai Cinema has integrated many advanced digital technologies into major cinemas. In fact, the brand new Shanghai Cinema itself is a product that can only be achieved through digital technology.
"In space creation, we have also integrated digital technology," said Zhu Haojie, executive architect of the Shanghai Cinema renovation project. The renovation of buildings located in the central urban area is usually limited by narrow spaces. To minimize the impact on the surrounding areas and achieve high-quality spatial effects to the greatest extent possible, digital technology has become the solution.
From the design scheme, it can be seen that Shanghai Cinema has a flowing and elegant style, which requires a large number of hyperbolic versions to be combined. The staff told reporters that these complex surfaces cannot be drawn using traditional computer CAD software and must be achieved using 3D modeling and BIM technology. More than 300 GRCs with different curvatures have been accurately modeled and directly assembled on site, with perfectly fitting dimensions to avoid rework and time-consuming return to the factory.
"the Shanghai Film City, with a floor area of 14800 square meters, completed the construction in only nine months, and the project duration was compressed by the epidemic situation and extreme high temperatures. At the same time, the renovation project is faced with many uncertain factors. Thanks to the integrated construction and management mode of design and construction, some construction links have changed from series to parallel, materials enter the field on demand, and stacking is reduced, which solves the bottleneck of tight site in the urban area. More than a dozen designers also stayed at the scene all the time and changed as soon as they encountered problems in the process of supervising production, which significantly improved the efficiency of construction. " Ni Fei, general manager of Huajian Group Construction Consulting Company, said.
Industry insiders point out that public spaces are not squeezed out, and subsequent management also needs to be continuously followed up. Especially, it is important to approach the management issues after releasing space scientifically. Even if a small square opens, the increase in management difficulty and workload it brings is inevitable. But open space is a big deal, and its difficulty is far less than the social value it brings, as well as the enhancement of one's own brand and influence.
