At the end of Steinenvorstadt, Basel’s ‘movie street’, the new cinemas beside the Heuwaage viaduct mark the transition between the city and the green belt that accompanies the Birsig River down to its mouth in the Rhine River. Their insertion in the city should be understood as part of previous proposals by the studio to make the river course through the city tangible. As a pronouncement of its function, the activity it hosts, the reflective envelope of the building projects the play of light and colour produced by the coming and going of the public like a giant screen. The circulations of the building are organised as an urban esplanade that prolongs the cinema street indoors, interpreted as a landscape feature with views of the foyers and the restaurant on the ground floor as well as symbiotically panoramic views of the city. The promenade begins with a ramp/stairway that links Steinpassage on level -3 with the ground floor, from where it rises in a spiral up to the two cinema entrance levels. With the box, the audience amenities and the bar set along this itinerary, this circulation element also adopts the functions of a foyer, providing a stage from where the spectators can both see and be seen...
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