LICHT - Edition 05/2014

The name of the Munich interior designer Anne Batisweiler has been synonymous with the redevelopment and/or conversion of cinemas for a number of years now. One of her latest projects was the redevelopment the historic Museum Lichtspiele cinema and the glamorous Gloria Palast cinema in Munich.

Interior designer Anne Batisweiler’s scope of work is broad and multi-faceted. It includes offices, restaurants, stores, clinics, exhibition spaces and private homes. Above all, however, she has made an illustrious name for herself far beyond the borders of Germany – Batisweiler’s company is one of the leading architectural firms for the redevelopment and conversion of cinemas – including the technology. These cinemas include the Royal-Kino, the Atlantis, the Gabriel-Lichtspiele, Constantin Film or Paramount Pictures, the Cinedom in Ulm, the Ambo in Stuttgart, the Cinedom in Cologne, the Deutsche Filmhaus in Wiesbaden and the Cineplex in Memmingen. The Gloria Palast and the Museum Lichtspiele, both located in Munich, are among the most recent projects.

GLITZ AND GLAMOUR
In the 1950’s and 1960’s, movie stars from around the world gathered for glamorous opening nights at the historic “Gloria Palast” in Munich. The Gloria Palast cinema, the fulfillment of long-held cinematic dream for Ilse Kubaschewski, the grand dame of German cinema was the Mecca for the glitz and glamour of the beautiful, rich and famous of the German movie industry.

Ground plan

Impressive waterworks with alternating coloured lights, where the fountains used to be accompanied by music played by a live organist before the curtain rose used to be part of the glamorous design. This cinema too suffered from the ravages of time until interior designer Anne Batisweiler from Munich was commissioned with its redevelopment. One thing became clear to her right away: The idea of the water fountains had to stay. So wall and ceiling light fixtures were created using light-reflecting rhinestones and glass pendants, radiating drops of light all around – in the lobby as well as in the hallways and the auditorium. The special light fixtures developed by firstLight in Munich are equipped with Philips LEDs with 2700 k in various intensities. Grandiose lighting fixtures coupled with deep red carpeting and walls shimmering in mother-of-pearl soft champagne tones are complemented by indirect cove and pilaster strip lighting. The cove lighting is provided by extremely powerful “IsY-net P14-LeD-stripes” from Seebacher, Bad Toelz, that are controlled by only one “IsYGLT” LED driver.

Section: cinema and foyer

The counter fronts are upholstered, stitched and decorated with rhinestones in the swing of the 1950’s. Lighting of their contours and pedestals is provided by Mario Dressel GmbH in Siegritz, who was also called on for lighting of floors and display cases. New accents were also set in the design of the auditorium: deep-pile dark brown carpet, extra wide, custom designed leather armchairs, foldable tables and on request, pillows and blankets ensure a movie experience of the highest caliber. Once the two curtains, held in red and a warm white open, it time to “Roll film!”

Views foyer ground floor and first floor

HORROR IS CULT HERE
“Museum-Lichtspiele”, the second oldest cinema (1910) in Munich, is one of the most legendary cult cinemas. The »Rocky Horror Picture Show« has been running here every week for the past 40 years. And, since 1980 even in an auditorium custom decorated for the movie. Not only did this catapult the cinema into the Guinness Book of Records, it has also made it world-famous.

To further underline the horror castle impression like in the movie “Rocky Horror Picture Show”, special wall-mounted candelabras and chandeliers were designed and custom-made by a model maker.

Incidentally, the name Museum Lichtspiele comes from its location close to The Deutsches Museum in Munich. Being over 100 years old, the famous-infamous cinema was becoming a bit long in the tooth and urgently needed a renovation. The focus for this conversion was the foyer of the cinema together with the old counter, which created a bottleneck in the lobby causing long line-ups. “The main objective of the renovation was to restore the look of the old castle of horror, but with a modern interpretation,” according to Anne Batisweiler. In line with objective, the counter was fitted with a black-red bodice “laced-up” with black laces in the front.

“Enter at your own risk”:  The Rocky Horror Picture Show has been running every week at the “Museum-Lichtspiele” for almost 40 years – since 1980 even in an auditorium custom-decorated for the movie.

Spotlights from SLV Elektronik were chosen for recessed lighting of ceiling and counter. The Triton 6 Gimble spots are fitted with 6x PowerLED 1w, a colour temperature of 3,000 k and a luminous flux of 680 lm. The wall lights under the ceiling are also from SLV (“DomeLED Ceiling”) and have over 6x PowerLED 1w, in warm white.

Counter foyer with changing lighting

Spotlights from SLV Elektronik were chosen for recessed lighting of ceiling and counter. The Triton 6 Gimble spots are fitted with 6x PowerLED 1w, a colour temperature of 3,000 k and a luminous flux of 680 lm. The wall lights under the ceiling are also from SLV (“DomeLED Ceiling”) and have over 6x PowerLED 1w, in warm white.

Ground plan foyer

These are from Technik und Design GmbH and are equipped with “LeDcandle” 4 w, 2785 k, 273 lm. Golden columns and half-columns, ornate mirrors and painted quotes from the movie above the entrance to the Rocky-Horror auditorium as well as pitch running down the movie posters amplify the slightly spooky, yet enchanting overall feel. Emergency and signage lighting is from RP-Technik Notstromsysteme (Emergency Power Systems) and is also LED-based.