Renovations for Videology Bar & Cinema required a seamless transformation of its existing video store into a multi-faceted venue featuring an independent micro-cinema and events space with food and drink service during events, and a separate bar-café area with its own cinematic appeal. Alongside the new functions of the establishment, DVD rentals were to retain a presence in the final build-out and remain viable and accessible to the local community throughout the makeover process. Renovations were undertaken and realized on a design-build basis. Special care was taken to dovetail design concepts with building techniques sensitive to the ongoing video store business. Through strategic planning and phasing, the renovations were accomplished with only one week of downtime to the business prior to its relaunch.
Phase 1 began the process by transforming a once uninhabitable basement into an efficient facility to accommodate bar and kitchen back-of-house storage and refrigeration needs, a small office, and storage-retrieval for nearly 35,000 DVDs. Completion of Phase 1 allowed the office functions of the DVD rental business and half of the DVD collection to be moved from the ground floor to the basement, freeing up half of the floor for ground floor renovations to begin. Phase 2 focused on the build-out of a multi-use events space in the newly vacated portion of the ground floor while the other half of the floor continued to operate as a video store. Once the events space was completed, the video rental operation was moved (overnight) into the events space and continued to operate there for the duration of Phase 3 work, which included the build-out of the bar, kitchen, sound lock, toilets, and a new DVD checkout desk and box office booth.
A modest budget, along with an indigenous warehouse vernacular, inspired a rustic saloon aesthetic for the project, creating a warm, relaxed atmosphere for the consumption of archival film footage, food, and libations. Among a handful of custom items required for the project were wood sound-lock doors, which were inexpensively fabricated on-site using common materials and basic construction techniques.These doors, used in conjunction with acoustic curtains, provided a sound-lock between the bar area and the screening room-event space.The sound-lock, when fully closed, achieved an STC rating of approximately 70, allowing simultaneous adjacent functions to coexist; when fully open the sound-lock created a portal uniting the bar and events space for larger, less formal functions. Upon the completion of its renovations and relaunch, Videology Bar & Cinema became home to daily programmed film screenings and events, informal bar gatherings, and continued the tradition of brick-and-mortar video store renting.
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