UFA Cinema Centre, Dresden, Germany

UFA Cinema Centre, Dresden, Germany

Tackling the problem of Europe’s endangered public spaces, COOP HIMMELB(L)AU analysed the mono-functionality of such spaces and decided to add new urban functions to them, enabling a new urbanity to arise in the city. The character of this urbanity would not only be determined by functional differentiation and the creation of new spatial sequences but also by the injection of exciting new media events. The project for the UFA Cinema Centre is a result of the urban design concept interweaving together public squares, public interiors and passageways as a way of re-energising Dresden’s new centre. The design is characterised by two intricately interconnected building units: the Cinema Block with eight cinemas and seating for 2,600 viewers; and the Crystal, a glass shell simultaneously serving as foyer and public square. The Cinema Block opens up towards the street for pedestrian traffic and is differentiated by the circulation system of the cinemas and by views through to the square. The Crystal functions as an urban passageway with bridges, ramps and stairs to the cinemas acting as urban expressions in themselves, allowing views of the movement of people on a multitude of levels while unfolding the urban space into three dimensions. The lively quality of this space can be described in relation to the dynamic structure of film. The Skybar, the “floating” doublecone inside the foyer hosts different functions (café, bar etc) and in this way, the content of the building becomes visible to the city as much as the city is visible from the building as an inside-out building which sustains a dialogue with the city. The media event projected from the interior towards the exterior – assists in the creation of urban space. Completed March 1998.