STAIRWAY CINEMA

Stair­way Cin­ema is the third major instal­la­tion by OH.NO.SUMO.

Our ongo­ing goal is to exper­i­ment with archi­tec­ture and the way it can engage with the pub­lic in unique and excit­ing ways. This project takes inspi­ra­tion from the site and its inhab­i­tants. The site is the busy pedes­trian inter­sec­tion of two inner city streets in Auck­land, New Zealand. It is located between two uni­ver­si­ties and is a place of ‘hard wait­ing’. Bus stops and laun­dro­mats cre­ate a dis­persed hard-scape that results in numer­ous instances of poor qual­ity wait­ing, while simul­ta­ne­ously fail­ing to pro­vide qual­ity space for social inter­ac­tion. Mem­bers of the pub­lic retreat indi­vid­u­ally into the media offered on their mobile phones. This in turn results in greater sep­a­ra­tion and dis­lo­ca­tion from an exist­ing com­mu­nity that is wait­ing to be acti­vated. A com­mu­nity must be linked not only vir­tu­ally but also physically.

Pho­tog­ra­phy by Simon Devitt

Stair­way Cin­ema offers a very sim­ple pro­gram­matic response to recog­nise and counter this larger issue. Short movies, pre­vi­ously shared online, are pro­jected for the pub­lic to enjoy, offer­ing sim­i­lar media to that sought out on their phones. The indi­vid­ual expe­ri­ence is exchanged for the com­mu­nal and social, lead­ing to a shared, fun and archi­tec­turally acti­vated expe­ri­ence. Movies are col­lected from inter­net rec­om­men­da­tions that have been shared by the pub­lic through social media. The pub­lic curate this vir­tual col­lec­tion of media con­tin­u­ously and the cin­ema cap­tures cur­rent trends and high­lights within this realm.

Stair­way Cin­ema uses archi­tec­ture as a way of engag­ing in a dis­cus­sion about cura­to­r­ial prac­tice, oppor­tunis­tic urban­ism and the role of Archi­tects as place-makers and provocateurs.

Pho­tog­ra­phy by Simon Devitt

The struc­ture is a slen­der tim­ber truss frame made con­structed from 24x24mm pine mem­bers. Cov­er­ing this frame is a triple skin sys­tem of fab­ric that pro­vides a water­proof exte­rior, a dap­pled light effect and a soft tac­tile inte­rior sur­face. Sited above an exist­ing exte­rior stair­way, the fab­ric and tim­ber hood cre­ates a new inte­rior within the pub­lic realm; a space that is free to enter and wel­comes all. The inte­rior, soft­ened with cus­tom made cush­ions, offers a repur­posed seat­ing tier. Over the entrance video con­tent is pro­jected onto the screen at the can­tilevered end of the structure.

Pho­tog­ra­phy by Simon Devitt

At the core of the work under­taken by OH.NO.SUMO. is a desire to achieve archi­tec­tural projects which offer an alter­na­tive mode of research.

Hid­den poten­tials of exist­ing spaces are dis­cov­ered through fun and acces­si­ble processes of design and fab­ri­ca­tion which engage the public.

Pho­tog­ra­phy by Simon Devitt

OH.NO.SUMO is proud to bring you the cin­ema expe­ri­ence of the year.