Caitlin MacGregor

This movie theater and film history museum was designed for people of all ages so they can see parts of film history in the museum portion while also viewing new movies that could be a part of that same history someday. The site for the project is the Car Barn in Georgetown which has its own bit of film history with the Exorcist Stairs from The Exorcist running up the west side of the building. The Exorcist Stairs themselves can be seen inside through a three-story tall, glass wall running the entire length of the stairs to incorporate them as an exhibit feature in the museum. The main concept for the space was inspired by the aperture of a movie camera. The theaters are tucked away from sunlight, much like film in the exposure compartment of a camera, but they are also lit up by the screens inside the theater like film being exposed to light coming through the aperture of a camera. This inspired a three story atrium with a skylight at the top that casts light down through the space during the day. Theaters on each floor overlap this atrium’s cutout to create the look of an abstract aperture which guests will see as they look up through the space. The materials palette was greatly inspired by the film noir genre due to its high contrast in black and white and its dramatic lighting which all became main design features in the project.