INDIGO PARK CINEMAS
HDA
BEIJING, CHINA
HDA : ARCHITECT CLIENT: SWIRE PROPERTIES LTD. AND SINO-OCEAN LAND DATE : 2010
HUGH DUTTON ASSOCIÉS
In north-east Beijing, the Indigo development by Swire Properties and Sino Ocean land comprises a shopping centre and an urban park. The site development began with the commercial centre facing the park, which includes a winter garden centrepiece designed by HDA. The next phase of development is now taking place; this includes an Imax and 4D cinema facility within the park, and a footbridge link to the commercial centre. HDA were commissioned as designers of the park’s Cinema complex. The principal design challenge was the harmonious integration of these two very large ‘technical boxes’ into the park context. The facilities have been concealed within truncated elliptical cone volumes, in a composition analogous to the gravel mounds in a Japanese garden, in order to sublimate their presence in the park landscape. The surrounding volumes, which incorporate support services such as ticket offices, toilet facilities etc., are accommodated under distinctive elliptical roofs, one for each cinema theatre. Food and beverage facilities arranged along each building perimeter provide an animated fringe onto the park. The conical volumes are realized in brick, as a cultural reference to traditional construction methods in the city. Brick is also an appropriate technical choice that can easily adapt to curved shapes and provide a texture and a scale that sit well within the park environment.
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