ARO Cinema Room (Patria). Archive details

Thematic File

Archive details

Text by Nicolae LASCU
Drawings: Horia Creangă Archive
Image processing: Daniela PUIA

The ARO (Patria) movie theater was built in 1934 and inaugurated in January 1935, a few years after the construction of the homonymous building. At that time it was the largest movie theater in Bucharest, with a capacity of almost 2,000 seats, and could be used for theatrical performances, conferences, etc. The general trapezoidal shape of the hall (with the side on which the entrances are made having a wide curvature) was covered with a reinforced concrete vault with a 32 m opening, considered at that time a spectacular engineering achievement. The access was provided at the intersection of the volumes aligned to the two arteries - bd. Magheru and str. Pictor ^Verona1.
Through the information they provide, the plans preserved in Horia Creangă's archive allow us to appreciate the coherent, unitary and extremely detailed way in which the hall's design was conceived.
The plans show construction details for two categories of spaces of the cinema, the halls - the entrance and the evacuation halls - and the auditorium itself, detailing the arrangement of artificial lighting. The large area of the ceiling, made of bright white rabbe, is divided into several zones by means of (slits) recesses in which the luminaires are placed. The logic of such an elegant division, which is also the only 'decoration' of the ceiling, is strictly dependent on the need to illuminate the spectators' access and circulation in the hall, while emphasizing the overall shape of the hall. The central part is marked by three bands of identical width, the cross-section of which tapers towards the front of the hall (from 2.40 m to 1.25 m), following its trapezoidal shape. A further trunk is arranged along the two long sides of the hall, but detached from them, also marking the difference in the treatment of the walls (made of sound-absorbing fabric) compared with that of the ceiling, ensuring good lighting of the sides.

Finally, to the right of the balcony are three equal and parallel seats, which follow the wide curve, but are interrupted by the main seats mentioned above.
The entrance of the balcony is designed in direct connection with the access to the hall. The low height of this area (about 3.40 m) creates an interesting spatial contrast with the height and ample dimensions of the hall. The illumination is provided by a single, wide (approx. 4.50 m), single canopy, which accentuates the elegant curve of the balcony, thus providing the necessary lighting to orient the spectators. This lighting organization is accompanied by the discreet arrangement of continuous strips necessary for ventilation.
All the architectural elements detailed in these plans, subtle and carefully concealed in the structure, but powerful through the effects controlled by the architect, constitute the only "decorations" of the hall which, until recently, was the largest and most elegant movie theater in Bucharest.

NOTES

1 Anca Bocăneț, The history of the ARO buildings and the stylistic evolution in Horia Creangă's work, in Centenar Horia Creangă 1892-1992, UAR, 1992, p. 21-44.

SUMMARY OF ARCHITECTURE MAGAZINE, NR.1/2019
Architecture. Film. Cinema