Linking the green belt
The revitalization, regeneration, and preservation of the historic Pushkinsky Cinema is predicated on the significance it performs as the hub of today’s increasingly dynamic network of urban public spaces. The urban green belt rings radiating from Moscow’s center run largely uninterrupted, with Pushkin Square being the exception. Rather than maintaining this as an exception the design seeks to blur the distinction via a proposed ‘tree facade’ that will nest diverse public and private activities in varieties of scale thereby enriching the spatial experiences of Pushkin Square while bridge the disjunction of the green belt interrupted by the cinema and adjacent building blocks.
Projecting horizontal façade
The design is inspired by an urban landscape strategy of tree canopies to reframe and transform the street facade and city spaces. The ‘tree facade’ of Pushkinsky Cinema is conceived as a horizontal facade floating above the square that engages the patrons as they ascend the steps into the cinema. The density variations of the horizontal ‘tree facade’ from porous to semi-opaque will constantly reveal or conceal the cinema’s facade to varying degree and as a result construct multiple and temporal readings of the cinema facade. This procession of approaching and entering to the cinema is essential to the experience and historically defined by the Beaux Arts central plaza and grand staircase on axis with the cinema. Therefore by placing the ‘tree facade’ based on the pedestrian sight lines, the cinema facade will always be perceived through the fifth facade.
Constructing sustainable performance
it applies a new light absorbing material that absorbs both the electric and the magnetic components of electromagnetic radiation in specific frequencies of the microwave spectrum. Thereby promoting the release of heat during the winter to keep the main circulation paths ice free while during the summer the ‘tree facade’ will shade the heat during the day and release the stored energy as light in the evening.
Preserving historical value
The existing cinema facade is carefully restored to its original state with sustainable new materials and Dupont SentryGlas for the curtain wall. Thus, despite being adapted to perform an active role in a dynamic urban proposal, the Pushkinsky Cinema shall still poetically maintain its original architecture characteristic without compromising its cultural value as a historical landmark.