Since 2017, the Cyprus School of Architecture (CYSOA) holds a series of architectural competitions of installations and design implementations on the public beach of Geroskipou, Greece.
2018’s winning proposal by Russian firm KATARSIS Architects presented a beach cinema project titled Sky Cinema, a translucent structure that serves as both a canopy and screen.
KATARSIS Architects wanted to preserve the melancholic sensation of lying down on the sand surrounded by the sound of waves and sea breeze. To be able to do so, the proposed design is a light and permeable structure that does not interfere or distort the natural surroundings.
The structure consists of one upper ring mounted on racks, along with two other rings suspended on it, stretched, and attached by ropes to the ground. The screen, which also serves as a canopy, is made of translucent fabric with motifs of traditional Cypriot lace.
The most natural way to spend time on the beach is to lie and look at the sea and the sky. In particular, at night - to the stars. Think of the intangible and the sublime. The projection of the film onto the clouds is perfect. Sky cinema ... Spectators lie directly on the sand, and look up at the screen. Our cinema is an image of real, poetic cinema, the best examples of which are a kind of dreams. The film unfolds somewhere in height, like a dream, and the screen itself becomes a canopy, a material projection of the imagination, its thin translucent fabric separates the viewer from starry infinity. – KATARSIS Architects
