A throwback to my inspiration for my PhD topic – the graduation projec I did during the final semseter in the university.
The movie making and projection started in the late 19th century, the beginning of 20th as an experiment with a new technological device. As it was presented to the public, its popularity grew fast and so the need to involve more and more professionals from vast variety of arts and science. The movie making process consists of 4 stages, the first of which is only intellectual and does not have any material procedure – it is the birth of a certain idea about a film script. The second stage is the pre-production when the actual script is written, role castings are made and the schedule for the rest of the stages and sub-stages is prepared. Next comes the stage of the production. The decors, props and costumes are manufactured and the different scenes are shot. The last stage is the post-production, when the sounds and the scenes are reviewed, developed, perfected and made whole as one final product – a movie.
In the feasibility studies I reviewed 12 filming studios facilities from all over the world. On panel 2 are shown some typical samples. In general, there can be distinguished 3 types of cinemacenters – “big”, “mid” and “small”. The big ones are similar to those in the valley of Hollywood, located in intense urban areas and leading in the world marked, however, their productions are require every high budget. The trends of development show that the productions are redirected to the mid and small centers, located in calmer areas in the outer rings of the urban areas. The big and mid also act as production studios, executing the full cycle of film production, whereas the small are only rental facilities for incoming producers. On the functional scheme I show the link between the stages of production and the physical environment that they are executed in. In the public section are located the facilities needed for overall control and operation of the site and those needed for the pre-production, where the process starts. After that the actual production is executed in the section consisting the sound stages, warehouses and workshops. The sound stages area are supplied with human resources from the pre-production and with props, decors and costumes from the warehouse and workshop sections. After all the scenes are shot, the process goes back to the administrative section where the stage of post-production finalizes the movie. Of course, in the factory site is included an area for technical infrastructure.
By assignment I have designed a mid cinemacenter that executes the full cycle of the production process. For this purpose I chose a location in the periphery of the city of Sofia, in the industrial area “Iliyantzi”. From north it is bound by the Northern speed tangent according to the city master plan a terrain for grassing, from east – by the rest of the industrial area and the residential area of “Iliyantzi”, from west – by a river and a master plan provisional road, and from south by another project road and an area for landscape architecture. According to the city master plan the land is for high technological industries, as is the film production. In the long rectangular form are distinguished one after another 4 different zones: public, one with sound stages, zone for warehouses and workshops and a zone for technical infrastructure. A 5th zone is formed along the river as a park with integrated lots filming outside and as a buffer zone.
On the next plane is shown in the scale of 1:1000 the master plan of the site. The main entrance is from the Northern speed tangent. Also at the northeast and south-east corners are formed service entrances. In the public zone is located the main administration with the pre- and post-production offices and a business hotel. Attached to this building is a story car park. One of the most emblematic facilities in the site composition is the drive-in cinema. Apart from entertainment to the public outside the downtown, it also acts as a parking area during the day or providing the opportunity to be used for concerts and other events out in the open. Around the drive-in cinema is formed a representative square with water surfaces and green areas. From that point a primary alley begins, that leads to the center of the sound stages area. After that comes the warehouses and workshops zone, again organized around one common open space. The workshops consist one of each type as follows: carpentry, metalworking, paint, SFX, fiberglass modeling, free to rent and sewing workshop. In this zone are also included two specific sound stages as they have a more direct link to the workshops: the green stage and the water tank. In the back of the site lot is the technical facilities and garage area. To the west, along the river is a park environment. With a few corrections to the river bank is formed a more fluid landscape. In here are also integrated stage lots with set structures for mounting temporary props for outside filming. On the other side of the river is formed terraced green screen to act as noise reduction barrier.
In the sound stages zone, the two buildings that are closest to the administrative zone are the stages used for productions own by the studio itself. The first one consists of two stages for filming with an audience and a one-story service part. The main pedestrian approach is from the square and the vehicle is on the opposite side from the service road. To the entrance lobby are included reception desk and wardrobes for the audience. Symmetrically, on both sides of the lobby are star rooms, dressing and makeup rooms, temporary storages and also a technical installations room. The two sound stages are identical and have telescopic tribunes. This symmetry provides the opportunity for two simultaneous productions to be made. Inside the stages are formed the two zones: shooting area and the no obstruction zone. The height of the stages necessitates a catwalk to be included for the service of inside installations. For the one story service part of the building is used standard canst-in-place concrete structure with flat roof, and for the sound stages are used steel frames with secondary beams and three-layer panels with integrated photovoltaic elements for the roof. The walls consist of fireproof drywall, sound insulation, air space and façade three-layer panels. On the facades are missing any window openings as the filming process is done under artificial lighting. The higher volumes of the sound stages are united by the lower and wider volume of the service area. The contrasting white and dark stripes on the façade cladding relate to the beginning of the filming industry, when all movies were black and white. During the night, the integrated LED lights in the cladding create a more dynamic look that relates to the contemporary cinema.
The second building combines in a similar way three sound stages. The main pedestrian approach is again from the square. However, in this case it is emphasized by a colonnade that bares a decorative trellis. The colonnade is used for mounting temporary decors and props as the square is used as on open space filming stage. In front of the building, under the trellis is included a relaxation are. The service part of the building is symmetrically arranged so that it is possible for simultaneous productions to be made. The sound stages are smaller in ground area, but same in height, so there are service catwalks again. The structures are executed in a similar way and the facades remain in the compositional uniformity.
In the sound stages zone are arranged around one common open space numerous buildings to be rented to production teams outside the cinemacenter studio. They consist of various in shape and size sound stages, in order to provide different needs, and service parts that in these cases include offices for the producers and designers. In the next few panels are developed the blueprints of the largest building from this group. The main pedestrian approach is from the common open space, entering the service three-story block. On the ground level are the temporary storages and a small canteen, on the second – a lobby, dressing and make-up rooms, and on the third – the producer team offices. The sound stages are two, divided by a buffering room in order to be able to shoot two different scenes simultaneously. The vehicle entrances are symmetrically for both stages on the two sides from the service roads. As the stages have a higher height, there are two levels of catwalks in this case. Also the two stages can be combined on one space through the sliding hangar doors on both sides of the buffer room. In these stages the span is longer, so steel trusses are used. As for the buffer room – a grid of primary and secondary steel beams is used. The roof and wall layers are similar to the previous used. The facades remain in the compositional uniformity.
In general, for the different volumes and buildings in the site I have used simple rectangular geometries. Only the administrative building, as it is representative for the cinemacenter, is formed in a curved shape in order to make the link with the drive-in cinema and the surrounding fluid park environment. Still, each building is treated in the compositional uniformity of the project.
