Firm： Atelier(s) Alfonso Femia

Type： Commercial › Exhibition Center Cultural › Hall/Theater Hospitality + Sport › Movie Theater

STATUS： Concept

SIZE： 10,000 sqft - 25,000 sqft

BUDGET： $50M - 100M

Photos： Rudy Ricciotti Architecte (8)

Is it city or territory? Is it place or memory? Is it present or past?

The loneliness of a building that hides, like a magical box, what responsibly doesn't need to be shown, and stands in the apparently secluded, but at the same time strong and magical, place - it looks at Venice through a dragon-fly's wing.

We are not afraid of metaphysics, loneliness and dreaming. That is Cinema. But that tries, by means of magic realism, to become Architecture.

This competition has a dual nature. On the one hand, there is a need for visibility and international expressivity; on the other, the respect for the extraordinary wealth of the Venice-Lido system. The solution to such dualism is based on the firm belief that it would be scandalous to destroy the green area of the Lido or try to compete with the Casino and the Palazzo del Cinema. Venice is not an underdeveloped city. It doesn't need violence or formal prevarication. Thus, realism (Carrà) becomes an expressive solution; the opaque and earth-like appearance of the room harmonizes with the green areas of Piazza del Cinema and Giardino del Cinema, and with the two buildings. On the other hand, the basement, which is a functional solution for all the technical requirements of the competition, is sensual and luxurious: the image of a dragonfly wing has been used for the glass wall of the Hall overlooking the garden, materials and images from the world of Cinema such as gold, velvet and leather have been used for Foyer, the catwalk, the Cinema marketplace and the Bar. This answer to the duality of the competition represents a compositional and perceptive unicum, binding together respect and expressive strength, metaphysical realism and sensuality.