The Atelier d’Architecture Lalo recently delivered the new UGC Vélizy 2 multiplex cinema in Vélizy-Villacoublay.
In the redevelopment project for this shopping gallery, Unibail-Rodamco-Westfield and UGC decided to create a new multiplex cinema of national stature for UGC Ciné-Cité with 18 theaters and 3,800 places.
The theaters are laid out around suspended decks in the curved volume of an impressive envelop made of glass “scales”, developed by L35, the shopping gallery architects. They are like cinemas along a street. They are accessed from above, with the exits on the ground floor. Interiors are subdued, with floating, pleated black ceilings. The project is designed to highlight the use of raw materials and sleek finishes.
Each theater entrance possesses a cozy lobby area, creating a gentle transition between corridors and movie theaters. Two decorative escalators assure circulation from one level to the next.
The entrance to a theater is an invitation to penetrate into the world of carefully conceived and crafted artistic images. A giant screen exposes a work of video art signed by Hector Castells Matutano, who sculpts images to create abstract, vibrant and delicate forms thanks to optical processes he invented.
In the heart of a monumental gap, thrusting upward is the highly innovative work of art by Claude Lévêque, specifically imagined for this space, and visible for all to enjoy. It is there to amaze and delight moviegoers before they enter the theaters.
