Beyond the Screen: Memory, Community, Imagination

A phased expansion and renovation of Pordenone’s renowned arthouse cinema, Cinemazero, brings together three interconnected venues: a refurbished foyer that restores the institution’s iconic entrance, the new community hub SpazioZero, and a remodeled Mediateca that takes visitors behind the scenes of cinematic production and history. With a shared focus on light, materiality, and in particular, a unifying shade of ultramarine blue that recurs in upholstery, dramatic curtains, and details, the venues expand Cinemazero’s role as a cultural and community anchor.

Linked to the main cinema by a covered walkway, SpazioZero marks the first phase of this expansion and sets the tone for the others. The 100-square-metre space is housed in a new building, its floor-to-ceiling windows offering glimpses of talks, screenings, and informal gatherings inside, as well as a visual connection to the park and city beyond. A social and cultural hub, it opens fresh possibilities for collaboration and exchange, hosting everything from festival events to everyday encounters.

At the main cinema, the renovated foyer brings flourish to Cinemazero’s entrance while maintaining its distinctive identity. The design preserves key elements of the original space and establishes an architectural connection to both SpazioZero and the wider renewal, thematically through the distinctive shade of ultramarine blue that runs like a thread through the project. Layered curtains reaching the full nine-metre height of the space evoke theatre drapes, while a luminous lightbox ceiling is framed by a dark-blue surround punctuated with spotlights, creating a play of light and darkness that echoes the cinematic experience.

One of the project’s main challenges was to bring the foyer’s original 1950s character back to the fore while reducing the visual presence of later additions. The design works through subtraction and revelation: vibrant blue curtains discreetly conceal more recent interventions, allowing the original travertine to re-emerge and drawing attention back to one of the foyer’s most iconic features, its historic floor, characterised by a geometric pattern of dark marble inlays. Visitors are welcomed by a central counter topped by a digital screen displaying the programme, while dark openings frame the entrances to the four screening rooms – Sala Grande, Totò, Pasolini and Modotti – dedicated to masters of Italian cinema.

A short walk away, the Mediateca occupies the entire first floor of Palazzo Badini, a 16th-century Venetian building, further extending Cinemazero’s presence into the city’s historic centre. As part of the institution’s overall expansion, the educational space invites visitors to explore the world behind the screen through a media lab, exhibition lounge, archive, VR and gaming room, and an intimate screening space. Highlights include the Media Lab: equipped with a blue screen and professional camera and lighting gear, it supports workshops, talks, and conferences, nurturing the next generation of filmmakers.

From here, visitors enter the Lounge, an exhibition and reading area designed to encourage interaction, where open shelving and wall displays showcase objects from Cinemazero’s collection, alongside a coffee station that reinforces Cinemazero’s role as a welcoming community hub. Access to the archive is through a metal-clad portal, a threshold into a more introspective realm of cinematic history, where an iconic set piece from Federico Fellini’s Satyricon is displayed like a classical sculpture. The sculptural object is in dialogue with a row of vintage cinema seats, celebrating the role of the audience and the art of viewing. The archive’s thousands of DVDs can be borrowed or viewed in the Mediateca’s 20-seat projection room, while a dedicated VR and gaming room – its historic ceiling highlighted by a sleek neon strip – epitomises the project’s dialogue between heritage and innovation.

Threading through SpazioZero, the foyer, and the Mediateca is an intense ultramarine blue, applied to architectural elements, furniture, and details across all three spaces. Together, these venues blend education, creativity, and community, forming a network of spaces where visitors can gather, discover, and be inspired by the magic of cinema – on screen, behind the scenes, and in between.