Photo by Zhang Xiaochun
Cinema architecture plays an important role in the public entertainment space of modern Shanghai. According to the author's rough statistics, since 1908, the Spaniard Antonio Remas set up the Hongkou Active Cinema in the Zhapu Road Skating Rink, and in 1909, the Victoria Grand Theater was set up at the intersection of Haining Road in North Sichuan Road, and reached the peak of the construction of cinema buildings in the 1930s, and by 1942, about 70 independent cinema buildings were built in Shanghai. Cinema buildings of different periods and styles have enriched the appearance of the city. Watching movies has gradually become a new daily entertainment activity in modern Shanghai.
After a 5-year retreat, the Majestic Theatre reopened its doors in 2016.
Let's turn the clock back 80 years.
During the War of Resistance Against Japanese Aggression in Shanghai, various constructions were at a low ebb. However, the Majestic Theater (No. 66 Jiangning Road), which was built in 1941 on Gordon Road (now Jiangning Road) and Maibian Road (now Fengxian Road), is a masterpiece of modern Shanghai modernist architecture in terms of architectural style, form, interior space, cinema facilities and even construction quality, providing people with a temporary escape from reality and an image virtual world in the turmoil of war.
Maggie's viewing space sequence
The Majestic Theater was built on the site of the original Majestic Hotel, funded by Lianyi Co., Ltd., which had built the Beijing Grand Theater and the Nanjing Grand Theater in Shanghai at that time.
The Majestic Theatre is located at the intersection of two streets, and the cylindrical mass on the corner, the rectangular mass on both sides of the cylinder, and its simple façade make it highly recognizable in the neighborhood. The main entrance of the building is located in the circular volume, the cylinder opens the vertical long window, the width of the long window is similar to the width of the wall between the windows, the two are cross-separated to form a vertical line, and the wall between the long window and the window is handed over by the line foot of the division, weakening the solid sense of the cylinder and increasing the sense of transparency. The rectangular mass unfolding along the street is the opposite, and the façade is dotted with several sets of small windows with a small area, and the geometric composition is very comfortable and the sense of volume is full, reflecting two different virtual and real relationships. The decorative motifs of the eaves and windows of the building can be seen in the linguistic characteristics of traditional Chinese architecture. During the day, what is felt is the sense of volume of the building, the vertical long window of the circular foyer introduces natural light into the indoor space, quiet and warm; at night, the architectural atmosphere is reversed, the internal lighting and indoor scenes are revealed, the rectangular volume seems to "disappear" in the street, and the circular volume stands out as the "lighthouse" that dominates the street, showing its gorgeous high-open foyer to the city.
In the early modern cinema buildings, the foyer was very small, and in the subsequent development, the foyer gradually expanded and a separate lounge appeared, forming a spatial sequence of entrance foyer - lounge - auditorium.
The Majestic Theatre has made a new play on this sequence, making full use of the corner terrain and functionalist considerations when organizing the spatial relationship between the entrance foyer, the lounge and the auditorium. The audience hall is arranged along the long direction of the plot, the southeast side is arranged with management office space; the entrance circular foyer is arranged at the corner of the street, and two lounges leading to the performance hall are extended to the two sides, one side connects the first floor of the performance hall, and the other side of the lounge can reach the performance hall of the building through the curved staircase. While meeting the needs of the use of various functional spaces, the area of the lounge was maximized – almost two-thirds of the area of the auditorium, which was more prominent in the cinema architecture of Shanghai at that time and became the focus of space design. The circular entrance hall and the two rectangular lounges are opened up on two levels, connecting the entire public space. The curved staircase connecting the auditorium on the second floor echoes the circular foyer and becomes another focus of the space, and the arc elements are also used in the treatment of other details of the building. The floor of the building is made of terrazzo, which is very simple. In order to ensure the layout and area of the lounge, the number of shops often set up on the street of the cinema building has also been greatly reduced, and the importance of the lounge has been further strengthened. On the one hand, this is due to the functional need to quickly evacuate the audience; on the other hand, it enriches the space experience of the viewers entering the auditorium and strengthens the sense of ceremony of watching the movie.
In dealing with the provision that the floor level of the auditorium must be higher than the street level in the design charter of the theater at that time (the Special Statute on the Theater, etc. stipulates that "the level of the ground floor or the hall seat - in such a house, the ground floor is at least twelve inches above the level of the road canopy of the near highway"), the practice of the Majestic Theater is to set the entrance foyer and the floor level of the city street to the same level, and set a step between the entrance foyer and the audience lounge to achieve the height difference between the auditorium and the street level. This seemingly no height difference between indoor and outdoor extends the city street into the building, so that the entrance hall of the building and the city's street space are integrated to a certain extent, implying that the cinema is an extension of the urban public space. An awning is set up above the entrance, and several gates are separated by several walls below, and the walls point to the center of the entrance hall, with a clear sense of direction, creating a hierarchy of space between the entrance hall and the street, and strengthening people's experience of entering the theater.
The auditorium adopts a bell-shaped plane, with two floors, more than 1,000 seats on the first floor, and more than 500 seats on the floor, with a total of more than 1,500 seats and a height of 19 meters. The interior of the auditorium features luxurious tones that contrast sharply with the clean tones of the exterior. Many theater buildings in modern Shanghai, in order to maintain operational flexibility, did not completely separate film screenings and theatrical performances, and often had both stages and screens in the auditorium, and the Majestic Theater was no exception. The screen is suspended behind the stage, and there is no other functional space in the lower part of the stage. When the screen gradually became an important controlling factor in the design of the auditorium, the design of the interior and stage of the auditorium was simplified, and at the same time, under the influence of decorative arts and modernism, the complicated classical decorative language was gradually abandoned, and the ceiling of the auditorium adopted a streamlined type, combined with lighting design, which led the audience's attention to the stage.
Floor plan of the first floor of the Majestic Theatre (Gong Wenjing drew based on the archival drawings of the Shanghai Urban Construction Archives)
Floor plan of the second floor of the Majestic Theatre (Gong Wenjing drew based on the archival drawings of the Shanghai Urban Construction Archives)
The design of the auditorium auditorium also considers the requirements of stage performances and film screenings, and the seats are divided into three blocks according to the middle and two sides: the middle part of the auditorium is parallel to the screen, the width is roughly the same as the screen, and the seats on both sides are slightly inclined to echo the curved edge of the stage; the front and rear seats are staggered from each other, and the ground floor gradually rises from close to the stage to away from the stage, so as to ensure that the line of sight of the rear audience is not blocked by the front audience. As can be seen from the construction drawings at that time, the longitudinal distance of the audience hall is controlled by the position of the platform.
In the design and reorganization of the public space and viewing sequence of the theater, the treatment of the indoor and outdoor height difference of the Majestic Theater reflects the participation in the urban space and emphasizes a kind of publicity; the separation of the entrance hall and the side hall further enhances the sociality and ceremony of the movie viewing internally.
Maggie's modernist design
Majestic Theatre is one of the few cinema buildings in modern Shanghai designed by Chinese architects with modernist and Art Deco styles, its designer is the famous architect Fan Wenzhao, the structural engineer is Yang Kuanlin, and the Fuji Construction Factory founded by Tao Guilin. Fan Wenzhao graduated from St. John's University in Shanghai and later studied at the University of Pennsylvania in the United States, and is the first generation of Chinese architects to return from studying abroad. In 1930, Fan Wenzhao and Zhao Shen collaborated on the design of the classical-style Nanjing Grand Theater (now the Shanghai Concert Hall).
Courtesy of Maggie
If you compare the Nanjing Grand Theater and the Majestic Theater slightly, it is not difficult to find some similar clues, continuous thinking and overall reflection in terms of architectural style and the arrangement of the functional flow of the theater building. Both buildings occupy the corner of the street, and both halls are bell-shaped, with lounges on the side of the hall. In the Nanjing Grand Theatre, the building cut a corner at the corner of the street, set up shops, and the main entrance was arranged in the center along the side of Aidoya Road (now Yan'an East Road), so that it could calmly complete the symmetrical classical composition, and keep the building from the entrance foyer to the auditorium on the same axis. For functional reasons, a circular space was set up between the street corner shop and the lounge on the long side of the auditorium to connect. In the Majestic Theater, under the influence of modernist architecture, getting rid of the shackles of classical architecture on the layout and façade composition, the circular transition space in the Nanjing Grand Theater was replaced by an independent circular foyer, the combination of the circular foyer and the square side hall made the layout more flexible, the circular corridor between the side hall and the circular foyer made the foyer and the side hall separated continuously, the functional division of labor was more reasonable, the spatial relationship was more clear, and the fluidity of the space emphasized by modernist architecture was shown; in terms of appearance, The cylindrical massing dominates the street corner space of the building, highlighting the mass relationship of the building.
From the Nanjing Grand Theater to the Majestic Theater, it embodies Fan Wenzhao's design concepts in different periods and has also become one of the representative works of his different design concepts. In some other design practices, we can also see the gradual transformation of Fan Wenzhao's design concept from classicism to modernism.
Fan Wenzhao pointed out in his 1933 article "The Charm of Chinese Architecture" that architectural art exists around us, but is often ignored, reading architecture can read history from it and experience beauty from it; the artistic characteristics of traditional Chinese architecture are unparalleled; the design should fully understand the harmony of Chinese and Western, classical or modern styles, "The conception of architecture should be from the inside out, not from the outside to the inside"...
In 1934, Fan Wenzhao completed the work of transforming the Beijing Grand Theater into the Lido Grand Theater, and in 1939 designed the Huguang Cinema on the south side of the racecourse, located on Aidoya Road and Songshan Road. In Lido and Huguang, it can be seen that architects have tried the architectural language of modernism, whether it is the curved wall of Lido or the flat wall of Huguang, with simple continuous square windows, no excessive line feet, no strict symmetry, complex column, three-segment composition, replaced by a more free modern geometric composition and a window design that faithfully reflects the function. At the same time, some abstract traditional Chinese architectural languages appear as decorations in the details of window frames, cornices, and rain shelters on the façade, which also makes the building show some Art Deco style. After the Nanjing Grand Theatre, Fan Wenzhao designed the Xiefa Apartment (1934), and after the Majestic Theater, he designed the Jiya Apartment (1942), both of which are also modernist-style buildings.
Maggie's performance memories
The unique modernist atmosphere, flexible and comfortable space layout and first-class performance facilities made the Majestic Theater one of the first round of theaters in Shanghai at that time to screen Western films, known as the "first in Asia" theater. English majestic has the meaning of magnificent, majestic and noble, the original Majestic Hotel's English name is Majestic Hall; although the English name of the theater follows the Majestic, the word "Majestic" used Chinese comes from more than 2,000 social names received by the theater, expressing the meaning of "beautiful and beautiful, qiyu flawless", and similar to the English majestic pronunciation. The American song and dance film Moon Over Miami, which premiered on October 15, 1941, was translated as Moon Ki Blossom, echoing the name of the theater. Such marketing methods should have been a unique "modern" approach at the time.
As a holy place for watching movies and theatrical performances, the stage of the Majestic Theater also maintained an unusual "record": in September 1942, the domestic film "Spring" was screened for the first time; it was the performance venue for the Peking Opera master Mei Lanfang to return to the stage after eight years after the victory of the Anti-Japanese War; in November 1945, Mei Lanfang performed excerpts such as "Broken Bridge" and "Dream in the Garden" and performed for many days; in August 1954, the First People's Congress of Shanghai was held at the Majestic Theater; in September 1966, it was renamed Beijing Film Theatre In May 1979, the 30th anniversary of the liberation of Shanghai was celebrated, and the Shanghai Opera House performed the opera "Madame Butterfly" here; in early 1985, the original name was restored; in January 1988, Beijing Renyi performed the drama "Tea House"... The Majestic Theater is unique among the many cinema buildings in modern Shanghai, occupying an important place in the development of modern architecture in Shanghai, recording the modern architectural practices of the first generation of Chinese architects; it also plays an irreplaceable role in the daily life and cultural life of Shanghai citizens, witnessing the process of urbanization of Shanghai.
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All of this has gone into the depths of Shanghai's urban collective memory.
In 1989, the Majestic Theater was announced as a cultural relics protection unit in Shanghai, and on November 24, 2018, it was selected into the third batch of China's "20th Century Architectural Heritage Projects" list.
Maggie's repair and transformation
The 80-year-old Majestic Theatre has undergone several equipment updates and renovations, and the relatively large-scale ones have undergone technical transformation of stage facilities from July 1994 to May of the following year; from March to October 1999, The Majestic Theater has renovated and expanded the stage and backstage, and the area and construction area have increased significantly.
From 2011 to 2016, the Majestic Theater closed its doors again and completed the largest renovation project since its completion, and the famous architect Zhang Ming was the general manager of this project. Mr. Zhang Ming presided over the completion of the protection and restoration of many historical buildings in Shanghai, including the reconstruction and translation project of the Nanjing Grand Theatre that Fan Wenzhao co-designed. The renovation and renovation of the Majestic Theatre has completed the reinforcement of the overall structure, the renovation of the interior spaces and facilities to adapt to contemporary functions, and the restoration of the historical style. Professor Zhang Ming and his team not only studied the drawings of the construction of the Majestic Theater, but also studied the several renovations that the theater underwent, and formulated a plan for repair and transformation. Increase and improve the functional space required by the audience and cast members; update the performance equipment, such as sound, lighting, air conditioning system, in order to adapt to the lighting arrangement of theatrical performance, the ceiling of the auditorium has changed greatly, from the original streamlined shape pointing to the stage, to the glyph; increase the seat spacing, increase the air conditioning outlet under the seat, improve comfort; replace the marble material covering the floor and wall of the entrance hall and the lounge in the previous renovations, and restore the original cream terrazzo material on the ground and walls. The decoration that did not conform to the original style was removed and replaced by a restrained Art Deco style pattern; the beautiful pattern in the center of the floor of the circular foyer was also restored by the design team according to the ingredients and craftsmanship of that year, and it was reproduced; the chandelier hanging high in the circular foyer was quite architectural, which was quite suitable for the foyer space...
From the first round of theaters to the "selected theaters", the restored Majestic Theater has returned to the audience's attention with the historical drama "Shangmartin", returning to the streets of Shanghai and returning to shanghai's urban life, looking forward to her opening another "beautiful, flawless" journey.
Author: Zhang Xiaochun (Associate Professor, School of Architecture and Urban Planning, Tongji University)
Editor: Zhou Minxian