Here is the first look at Associated Architects Limited latest project, Shatin “Movie Town” Cinema Complex. Slated to officially open in summer 2018 in Shatin, Hong Kong is the largest standalone cinema complex in New Territories, has 3,250 sq.m of cinema space includes cafés, six cinema houses and one MX4D cinema house providing more than 1,600 seats within its program. The historical development of the cinema within the district with its unique “Red-brick” legacy; with the site seamlessly connect to the New Town Plaza complex, Shatin where more than 300,000 visitors flow from other districts per day. In doing so the building facade can symbolize a dynamic relationship where the cinema creates an open dialogue linking the interior space, surrounding context and audience and allowing the cinema as a vehicle to create a harmonious conversation between interior & exterior. By doing so the cinema itself in the very context of its origin and encourages connectivity between its functions and the macro urban fabric while the cinema square in front of the cinema remains as a buffer zone to slow down the pace of the high traffic of the coexist shopping complex. The box-shaped cinema block with two distinctive iconic features – “M-feature”, which are opened at opposite ends to the Shatin Town Hall and the residential area. The features reveal the main programs includes an entrance foyer, movie trailer display, horizontal and vertical circulation paths inside the building by ringing up the façade panels which imitates the gesture of stage curtain. However, the connection from one to the other where the building diverts to create a stage effect from the external context into the world of the movies. The coloration of the building with its neutral silver cladding and the distinctive copper-like feature echoes the urban fabric and maintains the harmonic architectural language between the historical & new development. Here, the interior and components within the frame of features become an interactive movie either be static or dynamic depending on the pedestrian flow and time. Thus, the cinema positions itself symbolically and functionally as open, quiet and moody with its engagement of both context and content.

联协建筑师事务所有限公司 - Associated Architects Limited