The project for a new performance space for the Jian Li Ju Theatre Company nestled in the heart of a complex and historic Shanghai context is an interesting study on typology. The concept for its execution is based on the shaping of light and shadow to create the drama and tension in a 1950s Hollywood thriller. The theatre company specializes in offering unique spectator experiences where the audience plays an integral role in their performances and productions. As such the brief for their new premises in Shanghai demanded a careful architectural approach to the relationships between space, event and movement.

More Design Office takes the cinematic expression of film noir and applied its heightened sense of drama to the atmosphere within creating a sequence of contrasting spaces that read as a montage of screenshots from a film reel.

The required functional spaces are organized in a linear arrangement, where the visitor must always move forward in order to heighten the sense of journey and expectation. Visitors are given only a time, location, a character and a script. Once inside, individual changing rooms are lit by a number projected from a pinhole aperture providing a unique threshold between life outside and the production within.