Katorza Cinema
Marie-Astrid de Mallet
Art-house cinema Katorza screens numerous films throughout the year. The entrance hall, although restricted by its size, welcomes incoming visitors. The proposition is to reorganise the hall and waiting spaces and to integrate a bookshop, from the Biens-Aimés bookshops, which are specialists in cinematographic works.
Managing incoming visitors is not limited to the interior but also extends to the exterior, and is concerned not only with waiting spaces but also places to cohabit.
The hall is made up of several staircases that break up the space – the project uses existing features and reinterprets them. Staircases of different heights serve different uses.
The hall being the heart of the cinema, the central tier organises the central space to be deployed towards the walls. The spatial organisation is concentric, and circulation is circular.
The Bien-Aimés concept is to have books accessible to all, like a library. This is why the project takes on this principle: viewers can wait while reading a book and then buy it. The central tier structures the hall, the circulation and the waiting public and welcomes a space of exchange and debate.
