Gloria Community and Educational Center (Cinema) UAUIM Diploma Project 2014

Promises

Community and Educational Center (cinema) Gloria
Diploma Project UAUIM 2014

Student: VICTOR PREOTEASA
Project supervisor: conf. dr. arh. DAN MARIN
Structure consultant: prof. dr. eng. MIRCEA CRIȘAN

Bucharest's neighborhood movie theaters are currently on the borderline between demolition and "small opportunity" - a reality that I became aware of during a workshop project whose site was located near the Floreasca Cinematograph. It was then that I noticed with displeasure the dilapidated state of the former "Cinemascope Floreasca". Since then, I have also been paying attention to other cinemas in Bucharest: the same phenomenon of decay, abandonment, lack of interest, ruined buildings. What happened? What are the causes of this phenomenon? Could this state of affairs have been avoided? What should be done in the current situation? Would it be appropriate to "reactivate" the local cinemas?

Argument

Putting the problem in a concrete hypostasis, it is worth noting that Bucharest, as well as other large cities in Romania, is facing a difficult urban planning situation: in the "happy" cases, the tendency of society to ignore emblems of communism; in the sadder cases, abandonment or even demolition as a reaction of aversion towards anything that might remind us of those times, without taking into account a third, softer option: their revitalization.
I considered that the third option, revitalization, could be the solution for the former Gloria Cinema, which could be reconsidered and updated conceptually and functionally, transformed into a neighborhood attraction pole (as it was, in fact, under the socialist regime) in a correct symbiosis with the existing, in order to bring back into the collective mind the usefulness of neighborhood centers as an alternative to the apparently uncontrolled expansion of shopping malls.
In my dissertation I present the existing situation and possible solutions. One of them is the association of the existing (in this case, the movie theater) with the necessary equipment for a process of "alternative education", a fashionable idea of late, with application in the creative industries. The term "alternative education" refers to liberal activities such as photography, design, advertising, marketing, fashion, radio & television, audio & video production, manufacturing, etc., which find it very difficult, if not impossible, to find sources of training in a conventional education system, hence the opportunity and the need to create spaces dedicated to specialized courses of this type.

Neighborhood cinemas in Bucharest. Brief analysis and state of play

Following a more detailed analysis, we have come to the conclusion that the decline of neighborhood cinemas in Bucharest is due to
- The decrease in public interest due to the lack of funds needed to purchase quality projected materials;
- the development of technology, which has increased the accessibility and convenience of watching movies at home, on TV, cable, video cassette or DVD;
- the emergence of multiplexes in shopping malls, equipped with modern equipment, with many cinemas, very good viewing conditions, including 3D and films of very good technical quality, and the possibility of combining activities.

From our analysis, in Bucharest, more than 20 neighborhood cinemas are in an advanced state of decay, closed, transformed or demolished:
Capitol, Bulevard, București, Corso, Lumina, Festival, Festival, Union - University area, Bulevard Elisabeta; Intim - Kogălniceanu; Buzești, Feroviar, Dacia, Grivița (burned down in the 1990s, now looks like a real ruin, cannot be demolished because it is part of the national heritage, but it is not rehabilitated either); Popular - Mătăsari; Viitorul - Mihai Eminescu; Volga (after '90s, until 2015 Studio Martin operated there) - Bd. Iancu de Hunedoara; Lira - Calea 13 Septembrie; Flamura - Șoseaua Giurgiului; Favorit - Drumul Taberei; Gloria - Balta Albă; Cultural - Berceni; Cosmos - Aleea Bucovina (after '90, it was the headquarters of the Universal Church); Aurora - Obor-Avrig area (under construction for almost 10 years); Vergului - Piața Muncii (nowadays, restaurant-club for maneliști "Million Dollars"); Melodia - Bulevardul Ștefan cel Mare (transformed into Club Bellagio, but the owners kept the name "Melodia", reorienting towards house music and "fancy" parties); Cinemascop Floreasca - Floreasca (Club Kristal Glam for 7 years); Club Drumul Sării - Zona Plevnei; Doina (former Blanduziei Gardens, former children's cinema, now restaurant, opposite the National Bank); Excelsior - Chibrit Square (now Antena 1 studio); Pacea - Militari and Brotherhood between Peoples - Bucharesti Noi (now the headquarters of Masca Theater).

Location
The Gloria commercial and cultural complex (Gloria cinema and the adjacent shopping center) is located in the 3rd sector of Bucharest, at the intersection of Baba Novac Street (to the South) and Bucovina Avenue (to the North-East, towards the National Stadium), in the Balta Albă district, emblematic of the group of districts built in Bucharest in the 60s, based on urban plans that practiced a free urbanism with blocks and micro-regions.

Project
The initial project was realized by the Institute for Typical Projects and Constructions (I.P.C.T.) in 1964 (author: architect Nicolae Vlădescu) and was built in the same year. Other cinemas (in Berceni, in Floreasca) and in other cities, such as Turnu Severin, etc., were built on the same structure. At that time, such type projects were frequently used for the cultural and commercial equipping of new neighborhoods, hence their repetitive character.

Current status
The in situ study revealed the advanced state of decay of the whole complex, due to repeated vandalization, neglect and lack of maintenance of the buildings. Although the movie theater has kept its original function, there are now parasitic buildings with mixed functions (bar, hairdresser, manele club, bingo hall, etc.) around the movie theater, which are unduly crowding the area, blocking some accesses and contributing to the degradation of the finishes.

Diagnosis
Taking into account the precarious existing condition, a revitalization of the whole ensemble of buildings (cinema and shopping complex) has proven to be urgent, by removing all unjustified constructions, restoring the cinemas and equipping them with modern audio and video technology, converting them in order to preserve their original architectural value, but also to ensure the continued use of the space, as well as adding adjacent public interest functions to create, through synergy with the cinema, a viable ensemble for the residents, in other words, by transforming it into a "neighborhood community center".

The architectural insertion is composed of two functional areas: workshops for classes in the north area and ancillary spaces for students (library, conference room, room for motor activities - ballet, dance, aerobics, etc. - and the exhibition hall in the west area (the bar), thus dedicated exclusively to the presentation of acquired skills. By transforming the cinema hall into a flexible space where a variety of activities can take place, in dialog with the cultural and commercial ancillary spaces (which can have a specific adapted to the activities carried out in the workshops), a deep synergy with the existing one is achieved.

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