Expedition’s blog

June 25th, 2008

 

Last Friday, a group of us from Expedition yomped across Regent’s Park in search of its newest attraction, the ‘Smallest Cinema in the World…for the Wealthy and the Good’. As we entered the park’s Inner Circle we were all on the lookout for its distinctive butter-yellow curvy form sticking up above the hedges. Then it appeared bright as day, tucked away against the Herbaceous Border, with queue already forming to get inside.  For Simon and I, the engineers who had helped to design this art installation, it was a wonderful moment catching our first glimpse of the finished article which, only a few months beforehand, had been a series of concept drawings.

 

  The ‘Smallest Cinema in the World for the Wealthy and the Good’ was conceived by artist Annika Eriksson. She was inspired by the History of Regent’s Park, originally envisaged by crown architect John Nash as a gated community for the rich but now one of London’s most widely used public parks, open to everyone. Eriksson is creating a series of films throughout the summer that will portray the diverse uses and users of the park. The first film, entitled ‘In the Dark’, was showing over the opening weekend.
 Hopkins Architects and Expedition Engineering worked together to design The Smallest Cinema in the World. The brief was to create a tiny cinema, mobile so that it can be towed to different locations in the park. From the outside the Smallest Cinema was to look like a curious and attractive object that would draw people inside; within it was to have the familiar feel of a cinema.
 Directions to the ‘Smallest Cinema in the World for the Wealthy and the Good’
   The ‘Smallest Cinema in the World for the Wealthy and the Good’ is part of Portavilion, a project to bring art to London’s parks this summer. The other Portavilion projects are Toby Paterson’s ‘Powder Blue Orthogonal’ which will open in Potters Fields on the 5th July and Monika Sosnowska’s ‘The Wind House’ which launches on Primrose Hill on 26th July. The first of the Portavilion projects to open was Dan Graham’s ‘Triangular Pavilion with Circular Cut-Out Variation H’
 The Smallest Cinema’s structure consists of an overlapping bendy ply shells interlinked with a series of ribs that work together to form a stiff and lightweight monocoque. The construction of the Cinema was coordinated by ISG Interior Exterior and undertaken by Wood Newton.
  
More photos from the opening night…

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