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Lorne, Victoria
2024
Scope: Concept Development, Project Management & On-Site Delivery
Words: Right Angle
Photography: Annika Kafcaloudis & Jack Younger
Since 1937, Lorne Theatre has entertained locals and visitors along the Great Ocean Road. Its history reads like a script: a travelling picture show man runs out of funds and has his equipment purchased by locals who start running movies in a hall before deciding to build a resplendent picture palace.
Flash forward to 2023. A new family takes the reins of the Lorne Theatre with the view to work with the community to retain both form and function as a cinema for the next century.
The built environment at Lorne Theatre an ongoing process that’s being undertaken in collaboration with Heritage Victoria, with Right Angle’s in-house architect Keith Little coordinating the light-touch fit-out. Decades of DIY renovations have been stripped back to let the building’s original form and materiality shine once again. Faded pastels have been restored to their formerly rich tones, while the joinery and lighting echo with the Modernist optimism that gave way to the golden ages of both film and architecture. Finally, the candy bar is loudly inspired by the pasticceria – Italian pastry shops that let their technicolour wares do most of the talking.
Bringing the evolved Golden Age brand into and throughout Lorne Theatre is done most clearly space through the light-touch signage and wayfinding strategy. The simplicity of these designs allows the art direction to pull focus. Large-format stills, captured by Right Angle collaborator Annika Kafcaloudis, celebrate the venue’s lived-in materiality and are curated throughout the building.
The Right Angle and Golden Age teams spend a lot of time thinking about the cinema-going experience and the atmosphere we create. This goes well beyond the film. It’s the auditorium playlist as patrons shuffle in, the ambient messaging that's projected on screen and the custom Worktone’s merchandise adorned on staff uniforms. These brand touchpoints have become the Golden Age signature and signal to each and every visitor that, yes, the good old days are now.
