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I was wondering if anyone had good cinema designs, or if one particular layout of a theater is better than another? What would you change about your theater? We are building our new 3 screen and need some good ideas! HELP!!!

(OPTION 1) My biggest suggestion for you is to put the box office by the entrance doors, and make sure anyone in your building has paid and had their ticket rip.

From experience, it makes it much easier compared to the (OPTION 2) theatres where you can hang out in the building and then have your ticket ripped just before you enter your theatre down a particular hallway.

In a large theatre operation, I don't like that system because people can "get lost" in the lobby after their show and miraculously turn up in another show, so the option 2 works a lot better.

Your theatre (3 screens) is small enough to have (option 1) three theatres in a row, with a lobby in front of them and a box at the side or front (depending if you're in a mall or whatever).

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Since 1987

Please hire an experienced theatre architect.
Don't try and do this without one. You will be very sorry in the long run.

Many theatre architects are members of either or both of these theatres-buffs' organizations:

The Theatre Historical Society of America: www.historictheatres.org

and

The League of Historic American Theatres: www.lhat.org

With the former you can solicit interest via their NewsFlash service advertised in the bottom left corner of their front page. With the latter, you must join which opens up a classified listing on their web site once you register there. Either of these methods should find you fellows with portfolios of photos of their jobs to show you. I'm not sure that the American Institute of Architects membership will help in selecting such a man, due to the very specialized area you are interested in, but you might contact them: www.aia.org Best Wishes. Jim

<BLOCKQUOTE><font size="1" face="Verdana, Arial, helvetica">quote:</font><HR>Originally posted by Andrew McCrea:
<B>(OPTION 1) My biggest suggestion for you is to put the box office by the entrance doors, and make sure anyone in your building has paid and had their ticket rip.
</B><HR></BLOCKQUOTE>

This is good advice, however, depending on where you live, the climate may influence this option. Here in Seattle, patrons hate it when they have to wait in line outside in the rain and would much prefer to line up in the lobby. The same would hold true for very hot or very cold climates.

If there was a design that would enable everyone to wait in line indoors, yet not be allowed in the general lobby area without a ticket, you would have a real winner.

Another issue is seating. Everyone wants larger, more comfortable seating with more leg room and distance between strangers, yet you want to get as many people as you can squeeze in. This is the part I'm currently struggling with. After looking through some old cinema pictures, I'm actually wondering if designing a very comfortable, plush curved bench/pew system would be best. You could put as much distance between each other as you want, yet squeeze in a lot of people during blockbusters. Couples can realy cuddle up, too. You could also put your "stuff" (coats, purses, popcorn, etc.) beside you- a problem with folding seats. The only issue I can see is where to put the cupholders.

Whatever the design you end up with, I agree, get professional help and think out of the box. Make it unique and interesting instead of square and boring.

Roxy speaks: hire a theatre architect! Or you will be sorry. We did an expansion and the arch (our friends) did a great job except on riser height and width and we had to redo it. If you know what you are doing you may get by but if you are new: seek experienced help.

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Michael Hurley
Impresario

Of course hiring a theater architect is key, but it's ultimately up to the theater owner on what type of design they are going for. I believe ajgalbraith98 was looking for general ideas, not technically how to construct it. A theater design can be retro, antique, new-age, etc. For example, I'm currently in the midst of creating a new theater design which is a large log structure made of 12" dia logs and includes a wood floor (easy to clean- no carpet), lots of huge windows (lots of natural light), and a rock waterfall (for kids to throw "wishing" money into- always looking for unique sources of revenue!). It will fit in well for the Pacific Northwest, but other designs will fit in nicely with other areas of the country as well. Have fun with it!

Anything is possible nowadays, but Mike is right, a professional architect with experience in theater design is critical.

Cinemateer... do you mean like this?
http://www.gov.mb.ca/chc/hrb/prov/p072.html http://discoverclearlake.com/members/park_theatre.htm

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Since 1987

Very similar Andrew, but it will have high peaked ceilings, the entrance is about 70% glass, and the logs are stained a lighter color and are much larger. But yes, the basic idea is similar. This is a picture of a home, but it is very close in concept:
http://www.lodgelogs.com/gallery/img_ex/ex-custom05_550w.jpg


Just FYI, an interesting advantage to using logs that I recently found out is that since they are round, sound is reflected in all directions instead of straight back toward the audience, so we don't believe sound absorption materials will be needed. Also, if large logs are used, they work very well for naturally soundproofing between screens.

Just a quick heads up about the 70% glass for your entrance. Our foyer was made with large windows to let in the natural light. We have had to block several out due to several reasons.
1. It gets VERY hot in summer like a greenhouse

2. the sunlight comes in and blinds the serving staff and any customers who happen to look that direction

3. the sunlight coming in melts the chocolate bars

4. It can be so bright that when the customers move in to the auditoriums they cannot see even with the interior lights on.
So just be aware that problems do arise with lots of windows

Those are excellent points, Pieman. If the windows had a UV/shade film on them, I wonder if that would help with the sunlight issues. I was also wondering about being able to see well, not necessarily when entering the auditoriums, but when they come out- the possibility of being blinded.

So I guess the trick is to modify the windows in such a way as to keep them, but limit the amount of sunlight and heat from coming in. Excellent points, thanks a bunch!