Location: Maastricht, Netherlands.

Architect: JHK Architects.

JHK Architecten and Verlaan & Bouwstra architecten have transformed the former electric power station and boiler houses of the Sphinx factory in Maastricht into the new accommodation for the Maastricht cinema Lumière. The complex consists of four buildings: the listed machine hall, two boiler houses, and a carpentry workshop. The first floor has been transformed into a café/restaurant facility, while the six new cinemas are stacked according to the box-within-a-box principle. The three large cinemas are equipped with ‘parabolic tiered seating’, which means the seating at the back of the cinema rises up gradually. The entrance to the cinema is housed in the adjacent former carpentry workshop, which is one of the earliest and most slender examples of a ‘Hennebique’ construction.

Outside, a public passageway has been made on the ground floor of the carpentry workshop, connecting the inner courtyard of the building block to the Bassin. The carpentry workshop is one of the earliest and most slender examples of a ‘Hennebique’ construction, and the large cinema has been placed under the level of the Cour by making use of the great height difference between the Cour and the Bassin at the front of the power station. The Sphinx complex has been transformed by combining the basement construction with clever routing to give all areas a new function and make them accessible to the public. Toilets were realized under the heavy masonry arches of a former railway line next to the power station, and the toilets for the cinemas are located in the former alley between the buildings. To preserve the boiler houses in a sound and durable way, the masonry was removed and the steel construction was preserved in its entirety.

The listed machine hall has been restored and renovated as well as possible, without changing the appearance of the monument too greatly. The complex is a unique cinema at a unique location.

Photo credit: Marcel van der Burg.