Cinema Astara
Cinema Astara belongs to the era before the accession of Shemiran town to Tehran city. Earlier than building this complex in 1962, Shemiran residents had to take a trip to Tehran to see a movie on the screen; Therefore, Astara cinema was built as a response to the peoples’ demands. It had one large salon with a vast balcony.
In the past few years, cinema Astara lost its credit and fame. The salon and the facilities became rusty and out-of-date. Due to their damaged and unusable condition, some rooms were abandoned. The building appeared like ruins in the neighborhood texture, which was a true guess about some of its parts.
The idea of the renovation, was to extend the path which started from the Bazaar entrance, went into the entrance hall, passed the cinema and the restaurant, and reached the alley behind and finally to the neighborhood streets. Assigning a sky blue color to the path, highlighted the project within the chaotic environment. The rooms and spaces are considered as stations attached to the blue path. The ticket sales station, restaurant station, cinema salons stations and others are all connected to this path. The concept invites people to pass and observe; moreover, new functions were proposed for the new requirements.
The only cinema salon was converted to three separate salons; This change occurred by extending the balcony floor and dividing it in half. The access way to these salons was also changed. The narrow staircase transformed to wide access with sitting space. The small ticket sales station outside was substituted with a larger space with three stands. The new restrooms were created in second floor, and make-up rooms were included in them. A café placed beside the iconic stairs. Empty rooms were changed to the owner company office. Finally and for having a color of the past, the remained old brick walls have been exposed and a few of the nostalgic cinema seats were repaired and reused in the waiting hall.
