Changing the Face

Entry for International Design Competition : DuPont Changing the Face  – 2011.

 

Supporting Text:

 

The Pushkinsky Cinema has been an Iconic Building in Moscow since it’s construction in 1961.  I have tried to remain sensitive to the strong architectural identity of the building, whilst exploring the socio-political foundations of the cinema in the first place.

 

Drawing parallels with cinema being “everyman’s” theatre, and also a further inclusive medium, which can be seen as a predecessor to cinema, folk tales, the idea of gradual changes, layering of stories and inclusivity have been central to how I approached the opportunity of cladding the building.

 

I have suggested steel panels either side of the building, which change shape at every step.  These provide a medium for graphical expression of Pushkin’s “Ruslan and Ludmilla” and also gradually change in colour along the façade, using Alesta coatings.  This was an attempt to represent the gradual changes in images along a cinema reel, and also from person to person, in the telling of folk stories.

 

The panels provide visual ques for people to be able to share the story of Ruslan and Ludmilla with others, and the large screen on the front of the building provides not only highly visible, video advertising, but opens the possibility for showing open air cinema in the summer months.

 

http://www2.dupont.com/Changing_The_Face/en_GB/