Trade Secrets: Warner Village

Client: Warner Village Design and architecture: Jestico & Whiles Shopfitter: Martek The recent completion of Jestico & Whiles-designed ground and first floor ticket hall, reception and bar for the cinema group Warner Village completes the fir

Client: Warner Village

Design and architecture: Jestico & Whiles

Shopfitter: Martek

The recent completion of Jestico & Whiles-designed ground and first floor ticket hall, reception and bar for the cinema group Warner Village completes the first phase of redevelopment for London’s Leicester Square site.

The design serves to unify the disparate elements into a coherent sequence, from the street level ticketing on to the entrance concession stands and via a mezzanine bar area before you come to the main screens.

Having established a dynamic architectural language earlier in the year with Village Cinema International in Prague, which boasts 1800 seats and eight screens, the Leicester Square project combines a sense of luxury and quality alongside the need for durability in what is a ‘high-traffic’ building.

The mezzanine Red Bar features an illuminated wall system with sweeping curved glass and stainless steel, complemented by a black and white photographic frieze of historic premier nights in London’s film district. The 230m2 project was completed by Martek in two eight-week phases, enabling work and six weeks final fit-out to proceed while the site remained open. Tony Ingram and David Perera of Jestico & Whiles are clear on what is needed for a fast track project to progress to a successful conclusion. ‘We feel the two issues which designers should acknowledge are the production of clear, concise information at a pre-tender stage and the establishment of a creative working relationship with the contractor,’ they say. I doubt any shopfitter would disagree with those sentiments.

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