The sign of the Blauer Stern cinema has remained unchanged for many decades on the Wilhelminian-style building in the lively Hermann-Hesse-Straße in Berlin-Pankow. Much has changed inside. Today, cineastes are greeted by a modern, elegant entrance with a feel-good atmosphere. BATEK Architekten renovated and converted the Blauer Stern cinema, leaving its history and significance for the Berlin neighborhood visible.
A nostalgic neon sign with the outline of a blue star above the entrance tells you where you are. Arrived at the Blauer Stern cinema. When you enter, you are greeted by a warm, classic ambience. To the left is the lounge area with a sweeping bench, seating islands and small tables. To the right, it continues towards the movie theaters. As you enter, you see the counter with cash register, espresso machine, drinks and snack cabinets. The spatial concept is stringent. An intense color concept in Bordeaux red, dusky pink, eggplant and blue lends vibrancy. All in all, a striking setting for a cinema experience. Yet everything feels intimate. The clear lines in the spatial structure are particularly striking. It is carried through to the smallest detail. At the edges of the bar, the height and width development of the furniture and the color surfaces on the walls – the line prevails everywhere. This is also evident in the design of the long corridor leading to the cinemas.
For successful and popular cinemas in times of many cheap streaming services, it is certainly not only the program that is decisive. The location has to be right. It can be eye-catching and individually designed or have a homely feel. The cinema as an interior is part of the visitor experience. Moviegoers want to feel comfortable. The level of service has risen accordingly. Today, cinemas have chic bars, the culinary offerings are decent and food and drink are served in club chairs. The Blauer Stern cinema is now part of the Yorck Group. This is the most important cinema group in Berlin with a total of 14 theaters. All of them are arthouse cinemas with high cultural standards. Cinemas are always special places. They are not, as one might think, cultural buildings like museums, theaters or concert halls. They are classified as cinema buildings and require special treatment.
Studio BATEK Architekten has been centrally located in the Berlin district of Prenzlauer Berg, which is part of the Pankow district, since 2017. BATEK Architekten designs interiors and furniture. The portfolio of the office, which was founded in 1999 by founder Patrick Batek, includes the expansion and conversion of restaurants, bars, hotels, medical practices, offices and private apartments. They often work on existing historical buildings, in buildings with a turbulent history. This is not just a challenge. Anyone who deals with history should also have respect for it, according to the studio’s credo. BATEK Architekten are characterized by functional and clear spatial concepts. For the interiors, they use unadulterated, high-quality materials to create expressive designs. BATEK Architekten’s clients include Michelin-starred chef Tim Raue, fashion group Zalando and digital agency Razorfish. The firm has redesigned a total of four cinemas, three of which belong to the Yorck Cinemas group and are located in Berlin. In addition to Kino Blauer Stern, the conversion of the famous Delphi-Filmpalast in Kantstrasse is a BATEK project and the Yorck Passage cinemas in Neukölln.
The building in which the Blauer Stern cinema has occupied the first floor for over 100 years dates back to 1870. Originally a restaurant and dance hall, the first movies were shown here from 1918. The venue was then called the Bismarck-Lichtspiele and offered 350 seats. After changes of ownership during the Weimar Republic, the dance hall became a cinema with a stage for sound film screenings in 1933 and was given the name Blauer Stern in 1935. The cinema and the residential building were spared during the air raids in the Second World War and operations continued afterwards. From 1960, the VEB Berliner Filmtheater operated the Blauer Stern cinema. Closed in 1986 due to dilapidation, Uwe Feld reopened the movie theater in 1996 with two screens. In 2018, the Yorck Group took over the helm and decided to renovate the Blauer Stern in the Corona era by BATEK Architekten. The aim was to adapt the old building to the requirements of modern cinema operations through targeted interventions.
BATEK Architekten created open spaces from the subdivided areas: in the foyer, they had a glass partition wall removed to create a spacious entrance with a long, curved bench and a bar with a cash desk area. The walls were divided into two colored areas: Up to a height of two meters, they are painted in a deep eggplant, above that in light grey. The historic stucco decoration of the foyer ceiling inspired the architects to create a dynamic lighting design: they recreated the diamond pattern in stucco on the ceiling with suspended LED lighting tracks. The diagonal light tracks continue in the corridor to the two halls and offer movement to the eye. The planners unified the irregular spatial structure of the large auditorium, which had grown over the decades, with a series of round arches. The curtains and ceiling in the large auditorium are a rich Bordeaux red, as is the corridor. The same red prevails in the foyer, as the velvet covering of the curved bench, as the surface of the counter and a mobile snack trolley can be combined with it, which also quotes the rich wine red. The moving motif of the wall covering in the large movie theater is borrowed from an abstract composition by artist Mechtild van Ahlers. The original painting hangs in the foyer, in the auditorium it expands, digitally enlarged, over the entire wall surface.
