theloudestvoice:

You all know I love the heyday of the movie palace, so I really enjoyed a few of the quotes from this article about Hong Kong cinema designer Alexander Wong:

Alexander Wong wants to visit Hong Kong’s UA iSquare theater next week - not so much to see a film as to admire the theater he designed. The 45-year-old believes the old idea of a cinema as a place with seats and a screen is outdated. Movie theaters, he says, should be as visually appealing as the films viewed in them…

“The cinema of the future is a modern-day pleasure palace or cathedral where people go and select artificial experiences they infuse with their own memories,” he adds…

“It demonstrates an underlying multiplicity of meanings for filmgoers as opposed to the increasingly one-dimensional style of other contemporary cinemas. Here, the cinema is where their personalized versions of reality will be accessible.”

Wong says there aren’t many good cinemas on the mainland according to the “four Vs” he uses to evaluate movie theaters - variety, vitality, visual excitement and vogue.

“A cinema should be conceived of as a theme park,” he says.

“It must have multiple layers of meaning and many surprises, so its designs can’t be easily and quickly experienced by a few visits.”

These were just a few highlights for me - full article and some design photos at the link!

(via)