Bucharest cinema

The objective analysed for intervention is a cinema building – Cinema Bucharest, formerly Trianon, a historic monument of local importance, situated in a state of abandonment and decay, located at Bd. Elisabeta, no. 26.

It is contained within an urban island along with three other cinemas, adjacent to two other important buildings – the National Military Circle – a historical monument of national importance, and the Adevărul Palace – demolished.

The specific nature of this project is the opportunity, courage and boldness of a private beneficiary, who has set out resolutely on the long and difficult path of rehabilitating and preserving a historic monument and returning it to the city.

Through the present project, it is proposed to adapt and conform the existing building to current technical, functional, and legislative requirements, resulting in a multifunctional building for events (open to the public), with a proposed height of 2 basement levels + Ground Floor + Mezzanine + 4 partial floors.

The main interventions concern:

• Conforming the space for events (film festival, film screenings, conferences, gala events, theatre, pop music concerts, classical music concerts etc.);
• Adapting existing spaces to serve the proposed function;
• The creation of a technical basement that will serve the functional requirements (catering space, technical rooms, space for a possible stage extension via a hydraulic platform);
• Connections of horizontal and vertical circulation – proposed basement connections to C.Mille, possible connection between the two partial basements to C.Mille, staircase with exit under the existing stage – secondary basement access/exit to Regina Elisabeta;
• Vertical connection through the proposal of a passenger lift.

The restoration, rehabilitation, and modernisation of the Bucharest Cinema building present real technical challenges. For proper functioning in compliance with current standards (accessibility, fire protection), considering the existence of a crowded hall, and to ensure functionality and economic viability in operation after the project's implementation, extensive consolidation works are necessary, as well as internal volumetric remodelling, by creating an additional basement with technical spaces to serve the building.

The property, with a land occupancy rate of 100%and no provision for a foyer-type gathering space for users, requires such additional spaces – and the only option is to create successive terraces and extend upwards. Given the current height of the building, approximately 15.00 metres, flanked by two other buildings with heights of approximately 22.00 – 25.00 metres (the former Adevărul Palace – a building under construction – with mixed use as offices and conference facilities, and the Military Circle, respectively), but also considering the functions of the area, the creation of an urban courtyard through successive, superimposed terraces was the natural approach for the intervention.

A characteristic element proposed for conservation and restoration is the historic skylight, decorated with a wooden filigree on netting, whose retractable roof opened up the building's history, and the balconies on the top level were open, turning the cinema into a garden-cinema, a hybrid space, similar to the neighbouring areas.

To bring the building into contemporaneity and give it new life within the social and cultural effervescence of the Creative Quarter, the intervention project proposes mainly the reconfiguration of the floor on the main level – currently with a gentle slope – as well as the reconfiguration of the stage with the addition of mobile elements, with the aim of creating a multi-functional current level, which can host other types of events, in addition to the basic ones – film screenings.

With the implementation of the project, the Bucharest Cinema will be returned to the city as a new space for medium-sized events such as concerts, festivals, and conferences, within an imposing, historic setting, in the heart of the city, amidst eclectic decorations.

The project, strictly adhering to the conservation and restoration requirements, introduces delicate additions and lightly curved walls, in line with the volumes of the balconies – a contour and geometry that give the space its unique character.

The technical, ventilation, fire-fighting and smoke control requirements, as well as those for fire protection compliance and acoustic conformity, are the result of diligent work by an extensive, multidisciplinary team of over 20 specialists – architects and engineers.