The Red Cinema

A CEDIA 2022 Award Finalist Entry Category II. This cinema is an impressive example of the luxury, comfort and immersive visual and audio experience that can be created in your own home.

The client had requested a cinema with the purpose of being used regularly, not just for that full cinematic experience to watch movies but also for everyday watching of TV series and content. They had requested that not only there be enough seating for the whole family to enjoy this space but also additional seating so they could share this with their friends. They wanted as much of the up-to-date technologies as they could fit into the 6x4m footprint making it a comfortable private cinema rather than “movie night with friends cinema”. At the time of designing this cinema Dolby Atmos had only recently been released and was now a request of the clients to be included into the room.

The clients requested not only a cinema that sounded amazing but also felt comfortable and captured the other senses as soon as you enter the room, so the visual and tactile experience was also an important design aspect. The clients prefer a minimalistic feel with clean lines that flow throughout a space, a theme that is felt right through the home, hence this cinema was designed to have that movie theatre feel without been too overpowering.

The architect had given the team complete control of the design of the cinema room, and to make the most of the smaller space with a clear set of goals we worked with another cinema designer with many years of experience in cinema layout and design to capitalise on the space and get the best results for our client.

The idea was to get lost in the comfort of the seating without the isolation and seating restrictions of conventional cinema recliners. A custom designed U-shaped lounge in the upper seating (included 2 chase lounge areas) and two custom chase lounges in the front centre, was designed, allowing the clients flexible seating arrangements no matter who was using the cinema. From intimate, cosy romantic seating, to a relaxed lounging experience or one filled with lots guest and a party vibe, the seating could accommodate it all.

The complete immersive sound and picture quality the client desired was easily achieved in this smaller room. With very efficient Klipsch in wall speakers and a Denon receiver, the sound completely transported you into what was happening on the 130” Cinema scope screen.

In the small space we were left to work with, it was not possible to match the Subwoofers with the same brand as the wall speakers without reducing the room size further, because bass was also an important part of the room and something we did not want to overlook, we turned to the compact Sunfire HRS8’s to allow the best quality sound keeping within the space and budget constraints.

To ensure this cinema met with the highest standards of ambient and external noise control as well as creating a well-controlled environment to get the most out of the installed equipment, a room was built within the room, with air gaps between the core filled blockwork and stud wall on the interior, then finished with a double layer of fire check plaster.  Acoustic treatments were also used behind the fabric wall panelling to keep the rooms style and aesthetics unaffected by the look of the acoustic tile treatments.