National Film Theatre

Client: British Film Institute
Cost: £1.5m
Status: Completed 1994

Following the success of the Museum of the Moving Image, Avery Associates were commissioned to reconstruct the main cinema and foyers to the adjacent National Film Theatre. This included new staff facilities, control rooms, ticketing and display counters, a new bookshop, public toilets and signage. To create sufficient space for this the main public staircase was re-routed and the existing staff changing rooms relocated into a deep ceiling void above.

In designing the bookshop, a purpose made ceiling was developed to maximise the available headroom. It was based on a grid of perforated beams and mirrored glass which incorporated air-conditioning and lighting into a much smaller zone than that required in a more orthodox ceiling. The resulting 2.25m high volume was proportioned and co-ordinated with the shelving and counter designs to create a new space of 'allusive illusion'.

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