This major renovation transformed an existing 42,000-square-foot retail building into a luxury cinema and dining venue, redefining the moviegoing experience in La Jolla. The project introduced seven screening rooms with a total of 362 seats, each designed for comfort, clear sightlines, and premium acoustics. A key structural component was the integration of built-up stadium seating into the existing building shell—requiring precise analysis to ensure the original structure could accommodate the new concentrated loads and vertical geometry.
To achieve the conversion from open retail floor plates to tiered theater spaces, we implemented structural modifications that seamlessly worked with the existing framing. Reinforcement was added where necessary to support the seating platforms, projection rooms, and associated mechanical systems. The adaptive reuse also demanded careful coordination between structural, architectural, and acoustic requirements—balancing the need for column-free viewing areas with space for back-of-house functions such as storage, kitchen facilities, and technical rooms.
