Project: Proposal for rehabilitation, extension and converion of “Arta Cinema” and its summer garden into theatre
Client: Csiky Gergely Hungarian Theatre
Location: Timisoara
Area: 5202 sqm
Project team: SDAC studio
Responsibilities: design proposal

“Arta Cinema” [built in 1926] is part of the city’s interwar period heritage. Located in the Josefin district, it also had a summer garden for open-air shows. When Timisoara was chosen as 2021 European Cultural Capital, one of the city’s main objectives in its cultural development strategies is defined by raising awareness of built heritage, rehabilitating and emphasizing it. In the same time, a better connection of the city to the national and international cultural dynamic is desired.

The ensemble of buildings on the site of the cinema consists of three existing buildings, only one of them being a performance hall. Since the mid ’90s it had multiple uses, but lately, it stands abandoned and degraded.

The project is aimed at reviving the performance hall through theatre and dance shows, cinema, contemporary culture projects, educational as well as community programmes.