Sketchy Archy: A Cinematic Masterpiece by CM Jao and Ken Cheung

Transforming Sketches into Architectural Marvels: A Silver A' Design Award Winner

The design team, including Samantha Chan, was inspired by the idea that sketches are the first stage of creativity. They wanted to bring these often overlooked pieces of art to the main stage. The cinema is designed with plain colors to mimic the essence of sketching, highlighting the authentic beauty of sketches. The designers imagined the countless rounds of amendments, pencils, and rubbers scattered on the working table during the sketching stage of interior design and movies.

The cinema has two lobbies, one on the third floor and the other on the fourth floor. A whirlpool structure, a spiral staircase, connects the two floors. This structure represents the pool of thoughts during brainstorming sessions before sketches are drawn on paper. The whirlpool is made of black painted ceiling feature with concealed lighting, bronze bead blasting stainless steel with bronze hairline stainless steel trimming.

The Emperor Cinema, where Sketchy Archy is located, sits in a building called 'Entertainment Building', which was completed in 1846 and was the first generation of the Hong Kong Club. The building has been serving as an entertainment hub ever since. In 1928, one of the first cinemas was constructed. Through the stream of time, the building had been altered, demolished, reconstructed into different uses; until now, the third generation in history, a cinema emerged once again.

The design faced challenges in placing lines and curves separately and independently, to represent the freedom in freestyle sketching. The designers wanted the sketches to speak for themselves, and they wanted them to speak loud! The project was a tribute to the art of sketching, and it successfully brought sketches to the forefront, celebrating their raw beauty.

The design was awarded the Silver A' Design Award in 2018, a testament to its creativity and innovation. The award is given to top-of-the-line, creative, and professionally remarkable designs that illustrate outstanding expertise and innovation. These designs, admired for their strong technical characteristics and splendid artistic skill, showcase a remarkable level of excellence and introduce positive feelings, amazement, and wonder.