The Mirage Cinema is a new space on Petrograd Side in St  Petersburg; it has emerged as part of the rethinking of an iconic  and historically important urban location.

All implemented solutions are unique within the existing building,  which contained many historical and cultural layers, thus, an  important task was to create a new open space while maintaining  the spirit of the place.  

A lot of work was put into creating a new structure for the cinema,  which resulted in redesigning the space and introducing  numerous additional features.  

The main space of the project, the two-storey lobby, which  gathers all the spectators and from where they disperse to the  auditoriums, was completely redesigned. We also radically  changed the main staircase that connects the two floors, adding a  visual connection between them and making the space more  open and viewable. The intuitive feeling of the space was very  important to us, and this is how we achieved it.  

As part of the renovation of the cinema, it was possible to  reorganise not only the external flows of visitors, but also the  internal service areas for staff, projectionists, and waiters. A new  MKitchen format was introduced: food service and delivery  directly to the cinema.  

At the core of the new image concept was the light that united,  inspired and upon which the history of film technology was built.  Light became the source for building the relationship between the  new space and the viewer, the latter’s navigation from the  entrance to the seat in the cinema.  

The space of the two-storey lobby is made as clean and laconic  as possible, welcoming guests with silver colour on the ground  floor and smoothly fully painted in the signature red colour on  the first floor. This colouring creates a spectacular backdrop and  amplifies the emotion. 

Yet, the most important thing here is the filling of this pure base  with large-scale light cubes. All cubes change their colour and  can be adjusted to suit different tasks. The basic scenario we see  on the shoot - the cubes are lit with even white light and fulfil the  function of navigation, drawing attention to the key functional  areas of the space. During the premiere, however, the light  settings change and adjust to the main colours of the film. The  cubes shimmer and change colour, creating a spectacular  backdrop for the action. It is a very vigorous and vibrant space  that can be adapted through flexible lighting control to the  atmosphere of different events.  

Each cinema hall has its own unique character with light and  sound effects when the visitors enter and wait, and before the  film begins.

The chamber staircases that lead to the cinema halls have been  historically constructed, and we have added a red light to refer  to the film developing rooms.  

The venue is designed to interact with the emotions that people  go to the cinema for. The cinema can change and adjust to  premieres and further absorb bits of new films or iconic  cinematographic works in the form of passages.  

Mirage on Bolshoi is a place where every trip to the cinema will  be completely new.