EYE Cinema’s design mixes tradition with technology, as the Galway movie theater snubs its figurative nose at conventional-designed cinemas. “A living canvas at one of the most prominent sites in the city, the traditional cinema experience is turned back-to-front.”

Along a Galway highway, in the new Wellpark mixed-use development entering the city, the building stands transparent. Outside, the Ireland landscape — including water, green and stone — is clearly visible. Inside, daylight and nightlight are welcome; outside, the Irish coastline over Lough Atalia is present; the view, in and out, is dramatic.

The building is the EYE Cinema, a movie theater that opened March 2005 (and the first to open in Galway in nearly a decade). It is, however, neither a typical multiplex nor an intimate independent theater; rather, as the theater’s Web site says of the theater’s architecture and design, it is “a living canvas at one of the most prominent sites in the city, the traditional cinema experience is turned back-to-front.”

Douglas Wallace Architects and Designers designed the glamorous — and surely unconventional — old-meets-new cinema house, creating a welcome respite from the hundreds of thousands of uniformly designed movie theaters around the world. It is a throwback to when cinemas were evocative, celebratory and theatrically imaginative — but it’s also high-spec.

“Heralding a return to the cinema of the 1930s and ’40s,” said a July/August 2005 feature article about the theater in Plan magazine, “the architects’ brief was to recapture some of the whimsy and lavishness that characterized cinema building in those years, but bring it bang up to date.”

As noted in a recent ArchitectureWeek article, “The architects concentrated on creating transparency, dramatic views, a high-profile, surround-sound experience of light, movement, and procession, and an element of surprise — strong architectural elements to create interesting spaces and encourage people to visit and linger.”

The sleek cinema stands on 12 acres, or about 5 hectares, with a 330-foot-long curved glass wall exposing the main concourse. The building’s long, patent-glazing wall stands without mullions or structural bracing hindering the view via the curved glass “screen.” Looking out this massive glass wall, one can see the Galway coastline and romantic landscape, as well as the nearby cafes.

The high-gloss interior also functions as a sort of public space, as people arrive early and stay late, socializing in the complex. The overall internal design might best be described as high-tech nostalgia; simultaneously retro and futuristic; Barbarella with lesser camp quality.

Three verdigris, copper-clad pods — resembling Ed Wood-type spacecraft — are suspended on thin legs in the entry foyer, housing the theater space; in effect, each pod contains a cinema. Natural light and high ceilings, in addition to “an air of openness,” create and provide generous space. Even each of the restrooms, as described by John Regan of Douglas Wallace, is similar to that of a “cocoon” space, as movie-related music and sounds play in the background.

The cinema’s layout was designed and organized on the idea of “a journey to the auditorium,” with “transit zones” and “pause points,” according to an FX article. Transit zones are areas through which visitors walk to go directly from one point to another; and pause points are areas involving focus, e.g., the bar or box office.

Transit zones are designed — via blue lighting and high ceilings — to encourage movement; and “an illusion of lower ceilings — and more intimate spaces — has been created in pause points by lighting suspended at a lower level,” said FX. The brightly colored pause points, Regan told FX, also function as visitors’ landmarks for orientation assistance. “We wanted to keep the signage to a minimum. I think if an interior’s design is working efficiently, you hardly need any.” As such, columns with large, blown-up numbers are another easy way the building’s architecture design signals the location of different screens and the like.

The EYE complex offers 1,200 stadium-planned seats across nine screens. Interesting, upward views at two transparent glass “bridges” allow visitors to see the projectionists at work; basically, visitors are in a way offered a visual of the mechanics of how the complex works (as well as another visual to avert their eyes toward when dragged to the latest Jennifer Lopez movie).

EYE Cinema, which shows both Irish art films and major-studio blockbusters, was developed by Edward Holdings and operated by its subsidiary company. The EYE building was recently short-listed for the “Best Single Use Leisure Scheme” category in the Retail & Leisure Property Award in the UK.

For images inside the theater.

For images outside the theater.

References

About EYE Cinema
EYE Cinema Web site
http://www.eyecinema.ie/cinemas/location_facilties.asp?SessionID=8FBB0C576ABA4FE9BF7792A522E86275&cn=1&ci=2&ln=1

Douglas Wallace Awards
Plan Magazine, July/August 2005
http://www.planmagazine.ie/julyaugfeat.htm

Ireland Eye
by Terri Whitehead
ArchitecutreWeek, Nov. 9, 2005
http://www.architectureweek.com/2005/1109/design_2-1.html

Screen Print (Hotel & Leisure: EYE Cinema)
by Dominic Lutyens
FX, June 2005
http://www.eyecinema.ie/cinemas/docs/EyeFXArticle.pdf