Design & Construction
Konover Meets O’Neil Theatre
Construction Schedule
Konover Construction Corporation (860-232-4545) completed construction of an O’Neil
Theatre 41,000-sq.ft., 12-screen cinema complex, Westbrook Cinema 12, located in the
Westbrook Factory Stores shopping center in Westbrook, Connecticut. The theater is the
first O’Neil location in New England and the first theater in Southern Connecticut to
feature stadium-style seating.
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The theater development was a joint venture with Charter Oak Partners of Vienna, Virginia and O’Neil Theatres of Slidell, Louisiana. The partnership selected Konover Construction Corporation as general contractor of the project due to the company’s 40-year track record of quality, fast-track construction projects completed on time and on budget. The construction schedule for the theater was ambitious, with the May 14, 1999 opening planned little more than six months after the groundbreaking date. The phased construction for the 12-screen cinema began in November and continued throughout the inclement winter months, increasing the complexity of construction logistics. |
The cinema was developed in four phases — cinemas 1
through 4, 5 through 8, 9 through 12, and finally, the projection room and lobby. This
staged sequence allowed heat to be provided during the critical early phases of
contruction, enabling workers to complete the site work and foundation construction in the
frigid winter temperatures.
“Construction of this state-of-the-art theater was more complicated than construction
of a typical cinema,” explains Bill Sullivan, Konover’s project supervisor.
“To achieve the owner’s ambitious construction deadline, it was critical that we
closely coordinate the sequence of construction activities that took place. Everyone on
this job pulled together, including the architects, the subcontractors, and the
tenant’s vendors, to bring the project to fruition on time.”
Approximately 30 subcontractors met the challenge of the aggressive theater construction
plan, including electricians, plumbers, and painters, drapery installers, projectionists,
sound people, and seating contractors. Stadium-style seating is especially time consuming
to construct, as it involves not only preparing a cement foundation, but also erecting the
metal framework that holds the increasingly vertical rows of seats.
Since the theater’s opening in May, it has had a positive impact on the shopping
center and the local community. In its first month of operation, traffic to the Westbrook
Factory Stores shopping center increased substantially, according to Nina Regan, manager
of marketing and management for the 260,000-sq.ft. center. “Since the theater opened,
the center’s traffic has increased by 20 percent overall. We’ve seen the most
dramatic change in the evening, as people stop to do a little shopping before or after
they attend a movie.”
MCG Designs Sunset Strip Location
for Los Angeles Sporting Club
| MCG Architecture (310-473-0303) designed the new
Sunset Strip, Hollywood, California location for Los Angeles Sporting Club, an upscale
purveyor of athletic apparel and accessories that has served the affluent Hollywood
community for more than a decade. MCG principal and senior designer Mark Tweed comments, “Like the original location, the new Los Angeles Sporting Club was designed to appeal to a hip, yet discriminating clientele, for whom working out is as much about fashion as it is about fitness.” MCG’s bold exterior design for Los Angeles Sporting Club turned a hidden, bottom-floor location into an attention-gathering storefront that becomes a focal point of the center. Customers are drawn in by the eye-catching, oversized graphics and signage, while a large canopy extending from the rooftop enhances the landscape and complements the rich sepia tones of the exterior signage. |
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Once inside, shoppers are greeted by an arching line of
lifelike mannequins that lend energy and motion to the environment. The store functions as
a wall-less gallery, with larger-than-life color supergraphics portraying men and women
living the lifestyle that is inspired by the clothing. As an alternative to signage
conveying the store’s different departments, graphic images serve as a guide to the
store’s offerings.
Tweed notes, “Our design for LA Sporting Club articulates the store’s image in a
way that is highly visual and experiential, yet cost-effective.” For example, the
interior picks up elements of
the center’s Italianate design, incorporating raw industrial materials such as
brushed aluminum and canvas that modernize it and serve to control construction costs, as
do the open floor plan and exposed ceiling.
MCG Architecture provides a worldwide clientele with a full scope of architectural, urban
planning and interior design services from early program development to final design
documentation and construction administration. The firm has offices in Beverly Hills,
Pasadena, Irvine, San Francisco, Denver, Long Beach, Las Vegas, San Diego, New York and
Cleveland.