Naço Architectures renovated the Heng Shan Cinema in Shanghai, China.
Heng Shan cinema was founded in 1951, it was the first new cinema after the birth of new China. When Naço joined the competition this was the situation: after 60 years of use, even after the renovation in the 90′s, the space/facade was still very old and in the public space became messy and unfriendly.
The style of the main architecture is Art Deco with new sprit, material, form and scale. The building facade has homogeneous vertical lines made of glass fiber concrete. Those straight lines not only reduce the overall impact of heavy/hight facade but also make a dramatical change in terms of day lighting/shadows. The horizontal dark ribbon around the building link the facade up together.
To replace the old image of “enclosed” garden cinema, the old boundary and gate were removed accordingly and recreate a new open space in front of the main cinema.