Commissioned by The Plaza Theatre, McKinley Studios conducted an interior remodel of the historic cinema in Calgary, Alberta. The local staple required modern design with attention to the history of the building and its weight in film-culture, whilst still functioning as an efficient and popular movie theatre in a small square footage. Also required, was the new incorporation of a day-to-night immersive ability for the business: the capacity to transform the room’s ambiance from café to speakeasy without notice.

The biggest challenge of this space was meeting the crossroads of history, modernity, and functionality within a small budget and tight square footage. After immeasurable time put into research, the McKinley design team landed on a final design intention: to feature the nostalgia, emotion, and whimsy through monolithic immersion. With the aim to project an indivisible, and uniform space, the final intention of the project was best achieved through the use of colour, specifically pink.

From the exterior, The Plaza is historic and eccentric, doting a false front and antique finishing. McKinley chose to repaint the front exterior of the building a sedate cream with deep green accents to echo The Plaza’s historic colouring. The designers of this project then aimed to capitalize on the lack of interior sightline from the street level by aiming to transport the guest into a drastic and characteristic new environment upon entry. When attending a public movie theatre, there is a cohesive involvement between each film participant that McKinley designers aimed to replicate. “You don’t know the people around you, but you know exactly what they’re feeling. This is the grand promise of film”. The chosen use of monochromatic pink was a deliberate extension of this philosophy. When entering The Plaza Theatre, the outside world disintegrates and what is left is one shared and cohesive experience, projected onto them through blush walls and rose furnishings. Entering a monochrome and eclectic space extends the feeling of entering into a new world – bringing the movie out of the screen and into the room.

Historically, pink has been integrated into theatre and film culture since the early 1960s. Evoking perceptions of comfort and invitation, theatres began dressing their grandiose facades and exterior lighting in fluorescent pink to draw in crowds. This ultimately became synonymous with feelings of warmth, relaxation, and a welcoming atmosphere. This association of pink in venues eventually went by the wayside, making room for modern cinemas cloaked in dark hues. When remodeling the Plaza, the value of the colour pink was specifically chosen as an homage to the building’s historic ideals. Embracing the modern blueprint of the present-day theatre was ultimately chosen as an unviable design option, and instead modernity was achieved through deliberate artwork and functional furnishings, coloured to evoke a contemporary spin.