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The MediCinema charity aims to create purpose-built cinemas in UK hospitals, to give patients a much-needed respite from the routine of everyday life on the wards. The first of these to be built outside London was at the Royal Hospital for Sick Children in Glasgow.
Space within a hospital is at a premium, so the auditorium had to be truly multipurpose. It would be used not only as a cinema, but also as a post-graduate lecture theatre and as a space for various other events such as aerobics classes.
Audience Systems worked with Architects Armitage Associates to devise a truly multipurpose seating solution for the auditorium. Where loose chairs were previously used, retractable seating platforms were installed - giving the audience the excellent sightlines they would expect in a cinema, but still allowing the management the flexibility to use the space with the tiers of seating folded away.
The Espace 628T chair also was chosen for its inherent flexibility. Although chair has a writing tablet, it can be used with or without the tablet in place. So while postgraduate students have something to write on, patients have nothing to impair their cinema-going experience. The tablet's clever folding mechanism also means that it will tuck neatly out of the way to allow the platforms to retract.
Plenty of flat floor space was left in front of the telescopic platforms to allow room for patients confined to wheelchairs or beds to be brought in. Additional Espace 628T chairs were supplied to add extra seating capacity to this area if needed. Groups of three or four chairs can be slotted into completely removable "Matrix" floorbars - continuing the theme of flexibility, this system can be quickly assembled or completely removed if not needed.
Photographs by kind permission of Armitage Associates and Nisbet Wylie Photographers.
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Gordon Stewart, Armitage Associates
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