developing the idea

Sketches exploring zoning and layout of tunnel

Initially, I planned to split the tunnel into different parts, including one section of film booths. Due to the tunnel’s length, I believed splitting the space may create a more engaging experience. However, I also considered whether simplifying the tunnel journey would create a more immersive experience for visitors.

Original ideas for a full-tunnel experience Exploring options for splitting the tunnel

Initial sketches showing film booths in tunnel

As the tunnel is the connecting space between the two Rotundas, I focused on the idea of the tunnel as a journey. This led me to compare the tunnel to a train journey from one place to another. Though the film booths were relocated to the South Rotunda, this influence remains in both South Rotunda and Tunnel.

Sketches exploring the emotional journey of travelling through and exiting the tunnel

The combination of the large open spaces in each Rotunda and the long, narrow tunnel creates a dramatic contrast which I aimed to exaggerate through the tunnel journey. This led to the base of the North Rotunda consisting of smaller, dimly lit spaces, building anticipation towards the tunnel base at the South Rotunda, which is much more open and bright.

I found that visiting the tunnel as a journey was also comparable to the journey of watching a film. This led me to consider the space as an experience itself, an immersive space with a beginning, middle and end.

The beginning of the tunnel experience is the discovery of the tunnel. As the tunnel and South Rotunda are hidden spaces, they are discovered by visitors to the North Rotunda. Therefore, the entrance to the stairwell and lift shaft leading to the tunnel are hidden in the basement of the film museum. The tunnel can also be discovered using the cafe menu, museum tickets and museum map, in secret adverts which can only be read when visitors are wearing the 3D glasses which they were given upon entering the Rotunda.

One of my favourite films is Amélie, in which the central character finds a book of discarded photobooth photographs, leading her on a quest to find the owner of the book and solve the mystery of the man in the photographs. Inspired by the photobooth as the beginning of an adventure, I chose to design the hidden entrance to the tunnel as a photobooth.

Sketches exploring the discovery of the tunnel

Storyboarding the tunnel experience from beginning to end

The tunnel is a journey within a journey. The North Rotunda can be seen as “home”, a space of belonging and the beginning of an adventure, whereas the South is the “new world”, a space for discovery and exploration. The tunnel is therefore both an experience on its own and a linking space between these two worlds.

When designing the tunnel bases I aimed to create this transition between spaces, through the design of the stairwell and lift shafts in both bases.

In the North Rotunda, the stairwell is narrow, with the lift shaft in the centre. Though the staircase is still wide enough to feel comfortable, it is compact, with corridor spaces at the bottom rather than open space. This builds anticipation towards the tunnel experience and the cinema which awaits on the other side.

The circulation route within the South Rotunda’s tunnel base is the direct opposite of the North. A wide staircase winds around the edge of the space, with a semi-transparent glass-walled lift shaft in the middle. This space is open and dramatic, with a viewing platform halfway up for visitors to rest and enjoy the journey.

Sketches for the North Rotunda tunnel base, exploring lighting and signage inspired by classic cinema theatres

This is a dimly-lit space which feels secretive and hidden. The stairs wind down the lift shaft in the centre of the building. This is the central lift shaft and stairwell which winds up to the top floor of the building, however this section is subtly hidden. The stairwell and corridors are lit by castoroil resin strip lights. These give a warm glow, and are also made from environmentally conscious materials.

This is a bright, open space, which contrasts dramatically with the narrow, long tunnel space. The stairs wind up the outside of the tunnel shaft, leading to the atrium on the Ground Floor of the South Rotunda. The Lift Shaft is encased in an amber-coloured glass wall. Visitors can see lifts moving up and down the lift shaft, and lift-users can see the space through the semi-opaque glass.