Helix

A cinema experience blurring the city edge. This experimental theater typology allows visitors to view screens

indoors and outdoors, privately and separately.  A surface parking lot on the fringe of downtown is fractured to integrate the city edge. This allows for a confluence of Cherry Creek with the concrete cinema structure and for direct access to the bike path and water below.

Context and natural motion of the site informed the circulation and volume of the Cinema, shaping the space to Capture, Release, and then Return.  Helix creates a moment for dissolution of defined city boundaries.  The idea of Capture, Release, and Return of space was the key influencer of tectonics, expressing the idea in the dynamic building facade and spiral circulation pattern that guides visitors through the tower.

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The landscape is fractured and sunken down to the river level, giving an organic pull toward the water. The ground plane of the cinema floats out over the pathway, creating a cavernous entry to the river. The cinema breaks through the ground and twists away from the city. The main staircase spirals around the tower, as visitors ambulate up the different sized cinemas.