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Hi all,

I am in the process of scouting possible locations for a smallish (1-4 screen max) "art" theater. We have some nice historic mill buildings close to our downtown. I was wondering what would be the minimum ceiling height you folks would suggest I look for. Thanks.

We had a discussion on this when the Cinema Design forum first opened. You can Click Here for more information.

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"Would you like fries with that?"

12-14' seems about as extreme low as you can go.

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Michael Hurley
Impresario

Thanks much all.

You want to clear the heads of anyone tall standing in the front row, as well as in front of the projection port. Best to draw it out to scale, to predict the sightlines. The Schneider Lens Calculator is very useful in predicting image size and distortion. It's difficult to have good sightlines with a non-sloped floor, unless you are willing to have people crane their necks upward.
http://www.schneideroptics.com/software/

Do NOT crop the image from the standard aspect ratios:
http://www.kodak.com/US/en/motion/newsletters/pytlak/spring2001.shtml

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John P. Pytlak, Senior Technical Specialist
Worldwide Technical Services
Entertainment Imaging
Research Labs, Building 69, Room 7525A
Eastman Kodak Company
Rochester, NY 14650-1922
Telephone: 585-477-5325 Cell: 585-781-4036 Fax: 585-722-7243
E-Mail: This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it
Website: http://www.kodak.com/go/motion

Dear CrowTRobot

Sorry for the long delay getting to the question you posed. We have designed a number of art house cinemas in very tight spaces. If you really want a decent cinema, it is tough to do anything in under 16 feet, clear. In some cases, we have used sidewall bulkheads to deliver cooling, so as to be able to use the full height to the underside of slab wherever possible. Lighting can also be handled from the side walls. Sometimes, where column spacing is narrow, we have exposed the columns inside the cinema and run our aisles outside the columns. This way, the ceiling can be dropped over the aisles and the space used for ductwork, etc.

Let us know if you need anything more specific.

mesbursmith