Moving Image Centre

Designer(s): Je'Anne Angus

Cross Roads is one of Kingston’s primary commercial and transportation cores, overflowing with intensified pedestrian activity. Centred around the intersection of five major arteries, it is a critical node in the socially fragmented city of Kingston that connects Uptown and Downtown. The 1990s conversion of three cinemas to commercial entities marked Cross Roads as once the prime destination to enjoy and collectively engage the ‘moving image.’ The Moving image centre exploits this existing entertainment culture, particularly feeding the landmark Carib Cinema, and the proposed pop-up cinemas in the clock tower square within a five-minute walking radius of the contextual masterplan. Also in close proximity are other proposed developments: the market and arcade, transport centre, civic centre, children’s museum and performance theatre.

Aiming to achieve the masterplan vision of ‘Reshaping Cross Roads into a premier destination for accessing culture and social integration;’ potential constructs of passive and direct exchanges in the concept of a looking glass were explored, to tangibly create a catalyst for change in the way Jamaicans see themselves personally & collectively. The Moving Image Centre brings together the community with individuals interested in stories of the people; filmmakers. Jamaica’s visually arresting and diverse culture can be preserved, while social relationships are created and nurtured.

The target Cross Roads community included both permanent residents within and beyond the ideal five-minute radius, and daily transient users navigating the northern and southern parts of the city, business professionals and students. The spatial construct produced will allow users to become equal filmmakers and critics.

As a cinematic architectural expression, design generators were creating a collection of visual narratives; and manipulating common ephemeral qualities of architecture and film: time, space, light and colour. A total of 5,846m2, with large technical spaces, the massing deliberately articulated volumetric views generated by specific cinematography terms. A corner lot at the major intersection housed the site where the street maintained visual engagement with production, community building, and viewing activities of the centre. The most technical spaces sensitive to lighting and sound with no views in or out, were elevated. The street level opened up while fragmenting the strong urban vertex.

Cross Roads, Kingston, Jamaica: Approaching the Moving Image Centre


Cross Roads 'Re-imagined': Moving Image Centre in Proposed Masterplan Context


Context Diagrams + Level 1 & 2 Floor Plan


Cinematography & Social Interaction: Massing & Generation of Views


Urban Vertex: Through Circulation by Cine Foyer


South West Street Elevation along Half-Way Tree Road & Cross Section


'Cine' Foyer view from circulation spine above


'Cine' Foyer Detail: Articulating Ephemeral Qualities of Cinematic Architecture

text and photos from :http://www.archiprix.org/2015/index.php?project=3408