Curzon Camden Cinema / Takero Shimazaki Architects

Curzon Camden Cinema / Takero Shimazaki Architects - Exterior Photography, Windows, Facade, Arch, Arcade
© David Grandorge

Curzon Camden Cinema / Takero Shimazaki Architects - Windows, FacadeCurzon Camden Cinema / Takero Shimazaki Architects - Interior Photography, Facade, WindowsCurzon Camden Cinema / Takero Shimazaki Architects - Interior Photography, Table, Chair, WindowsCurzon Camden Cinema / Takero Shimazaki Architects - Interior Photography, Stairs, HandrailCurzon Camden Cinema / Takero Shimazaki Architects - More Images+ 26

Camden Town, United Kingdom
Curzon Camden Cinema / Takero Shimazaki Architects - Windows, Facade
© David Grandorge

Text description provided by the architects. Camden’s new cinema represents the adaptation and renewal of the once industrial infill lining its viaducts. The ambition for our second Curzon location sought to retain as much of the landlord's pre-existing shell as possible, re-purposing the building fabric installed as part of the larger Hawley Wharf regeneration. Working with the inherited materials, we inserted new architectural elements with their own language which now define the public spaces of the cinema.

Curzon Camden Cinema / Takero Shimazaki Architects - Interior Photography, Facade, Windows
© David Grandorge

Although working with plywood, galvanized metal, and structural steel, we set out to elevate otherwise modest building materials with the addition of stone and render. Our intention was a sense of ‘otherness’, something different from what was there before. It was important to us and Curzon not to conform to the often appropriated industrial warehouse typology.

Curzon Camden Cinema / Takero Shimazaki Architects - Exterior Photography, Door
© David Grandorge
Curzon Camden Cinema / Takero Shimazaki Architects - Windows, Facade
© David Grandorge

Instead, the interventions are individual arched spaces with expressed facades, colors, material textures, tactility, fabric, light, and shadow. We explored the notion of lightness and weight occurring simultaneously. The existing arches have a sense of material, structural and historical weight. We inserted new elements of lightness - using as little new material and resources as possible. We simultaneously composed a palette of materials from the existing and created architectural gestures of weight through the expression of beams and vertical rhythm.

Curzon Camden Cinema / Takero Shimazaki Architects - Image 22 of 31
Site plan
Curzon Camden Cinema / Takero Shimazaki Architects - Image 23 of 31
Ground floor plan

The relationship of internal and external spaces borne out of the nature of these arches and the separateness of each public space makes for a blurred architectural connection to the urban context. The cinema’s visitors pass inside and out between the fantasy of film, Camden’s urban alleyways, and the more open public bar spaces within a single journey.

Curzon Camden Cinema / Takero Shimazaki Architects - Interior Photography, Stairs, Handrail
© David Grandorge
Curzon Camden Cinema / Takero Shimazaki Architects - Interior Photography, Dining room, Chair
© David Grandorge
Curzon Camden Cinema / Takero Shimazaki Architects - Interior Photography, Table, Chair, Windows
© David Grandorge

The auditoriums, café, and bars are connected, yet separate. They are individual spaces, each with its own door to the street. The project proposes an architectural scenario of urban niche-like parasitic interventions, fitting into the existing industrial infrastructure - adapting into a re-use architecture of lightness and weight.

Curzon Camden Cinema / Takero Shimazaki Architects - Interior Photography, Table, Windows, Beam
© David Grandorge

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Project location

Address:Camden Town, London, United Kingdom

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About this office
Cite: "Curzon Camden Cinema / Takero Shimazaki Architects" 28 Jun 2022. ArchDaily. Accessed . <https://www.archdaily.com/984331/curzon-camden-cinema-takero-shimazaki-architects> ISSN 0719-8884

© David Grandorge

Curzon 卡姆登电影院 / Takero Shimazaki Architects

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