Cinéma Pushkinsky

Concours d’idée international
« Changing the face »
MOE: Eric Poucheret – Cyril Coucoureux

Bring the city back to the Pushkinsky cinema hall.
The two levels of the building which initially seemed to function on the same concept  have split today into two entities which live now by their own rules, generating a confuse space in between. Gathering them again seems to be unrealistic. The two entities are now definitely separated. So we choose to emphasis this rupture. The street along the main façade is suppressed and the new space becomes a commercial area ground floor. The mall links the two avenues as a perpendicular covered passageway. The stairs are extended till the avenues to put the cinema in the full perspective of Pushkinsky square. This dimension change redefines what was a simple passageway and give to the city a real public space and a belvedere.
Radically splitting the two levels is a way to clarify the situation, and a way to reinforce the relationship between the cinema and public space. The competition slogan was “bring the Pushkinsky cinema back to the city”. We bring the city back to the Pushkinsky cinema.
Changing the face of the Pushkinskysky Cinema hall.
The original building design is a relevant example of the “forms follows function” principle. As a matter of fact, this is a common modern typomorphology of Russian theatre. How to redesign a façade without altering the original building concept? We encapsulate it in some kind of sarcophagus. This new Corian made precinct is largely opened to partially reveal its originals shapes. Past and present in a same design.