A Cinema
This project proposes a cinema with a 180-degree screen in the sinking shaft at the Brunel Museum adjacent the Thames in Rotherhithe.
The sinking shaft was originally formed to facilitate the digging of the Thames pedestrian tunnel by Marc Brunel and his son. This was the world’s first tunnel under a river and took eighteen years to construct. The existing interior is a cylindrical underground volume that is a remarkable dark, rough textured, subterranean space. After being neglected for many years the site reopened in 2016 when it was transformed into a performance space by Tate Harmer Architects.
The strategy for this project is one of insertion – a new illuminated drum is placed within the existing drum, the void between the two is occupied by a staircase that transports cinema goers down into the auditorium and bar. As they circulate, visitors are taken on a tonal journey from light to dark. The vertical fins that define the auditorium form a tonal gradation from white to black.
