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It's on a par with the goggle box in the corner but larger of cinemas we used to frequent have largely gone forever:
picture and bigger sound! like the ornamented rococo picture palaces or the modern-
istic art deco cinemas and the Jijce. I suppose it took the
The true home cinema experience demands more than this! ubiquitous anonymous multiplex to realise just what we
Appropriate decor, a proscenium to set off the screen, cur- had lost!
taining, a neutral screen surround, a sensitive lighting-de-
sign and conect perspective. The sort of elements that have Architecture in the Home Cinema
really only become more widely appreciated after the types Overseas we now have the amazing phenomenon of spe-
cialist designers, like well-known Theo Kalomirakis, who
make a living from designing and building (generally o11ly
for the very rich) custom-made home cinemas, or "thea-
tres" as the Americans call them. Some of the stories of
Theo's amazing constructions involve whole houses being
rebuilt (or built from the ground up) around the cinema
itself. His well endowed clients range from business ty-
coons in Florida or California, to others in Canada, France
and even the Ukraine!
Perhaps the ultimate development of home cinemas is found
in Ireland, where a complex (one might even say a
megaplex !) of home cinemas has been in existence for some
Above: The author's "Star Theatrette" in Kew, Vic. years on the outskirts of Belfast. It's been estimated that
(garden shed version) there are some fifteen to twenty in a small suburban area.
with each cinema owner specializing in his own particular
Below: Later version of "Star Theatrette"
aspect of cinema, whether horror, science fiction, westerns
(with mairns power projector)
or musicals. Apparently this extraordinary phenomenon
had its origins in the IJ-ish Troubles when it was difficult
for people to go to the pictures and few cinemas were oper-
ating in Belfast. The "Tudor", for example, is operated by
a Mr. Noel Spence. built in a former chicken shed! Mr.
Spence's passion is for horror films!

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Today, most elaborate architectural home cinemas (of the
Kalomirakis kind) are largely for video projection. At the
top of the scale the standard equipment seems generally to
comprise tlu-ee lens video projectors working from video
disc with line doublers or even quadruplers to improve the
definition of the projected video image. It's aU pretty high-
tech. high budget stuff. a far cry from relatively inexpen-
sive film projection. Unfortunately for the diehard film
purist, it's going to become more and more difficult to ob-
tain quality film prints of modern cinema releases for screen-
ing. Increasingly current releases are only being distrib-
uted non-theatrically on videotape or video disc.

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