Flatpack Festival Film Palais
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Temporary cinema auditorium in Old Deritend Library, Birmingham
Flatpack Festival is an annual event celebrating films, cinemas and everything in between in unique venues across the City. Co.lab instigated the collaboration with the festival to develop a proposal for their palais – one of their key venues for the event. The brief comprised of a multifunctional cinema space and bar in a converted library in Digbeth to accommodating over 120 guests per event.
The ‘living room’ concept defined the emphasis of the design to make the seating as comfortable and intimate as possible whilst watching a film with 100+ strangers. Ensell + Hall were commissioned to produce fabric covers for the seating with students from BA (Hons) Textile Design.
Co.lab developed the construction proposal using rented pallets and reclaimed timber planks. Queen and Crawford, a local design fabricator, collaborated further with the students during an intense assembly period to complete the build to fit within three days.
Data
- Begun: Mar 2013
- Completed: Mar 2013
- Sector: Arts and culture
- Total cost: £9,500
- Funding: support from Willmott Dixons, BCU, and a Kickstarter campaign
- Address: Old Library, Gibb Street, Birmingham, B9 4AA, United Kingdom
Professional Team 
- Architect: Birmingham School of Architecture
- Client: Flatpack Festival
- Project manager: Birmingham School of Architecture
- Fabricator: Queen & Crawford
Suppliers
- Material Supplier: Willmott Dixon Group
