Geneva, June 15, 2023 - Following the renovation of the façade and upper floors of the Mont-Blanc Centre, the complex that houses the Plaza cinema, it's now time for the building's cultural spaces to begin their transformation. Today, the Fondation Plaza brought together architects and authorities from the Canton and City of Geneva to celebrate the opening of the construction site for the future cultural center, which will be inaugurated at the end of 2025.

On Thursday, June 15, the Fondation Plaza organized a ceremony to mark the milestone in the renovation of one of the most iconic pieces of post-war modernist architecture in Geneva. From 2025 onwards, the Plaza will feature a cultural center around the historic cinema, including an immersive room, exhibition spaces, a library/bookshop, a bar-glacier, a restaurant and a cinema-hotel.

In his speech, Sami Kanaan, Administrative Councillor in charge of the Department of Culture and Digital Transition in the Executive Council of the City of Geneva, emphasized that "it is important for the City of Geneva that the Plaza is preserved as a cultural venue. Now, thanks to the Fondation Plaza's project, it will not only be a working space for film festivals, but also a popular venue dedicated to cinema, and more broadly to digital art and animated films [...]. That's the great advantage of this project: it has not been conceived solely for the purpose of screenings, but as a place for exploration and innovation".

Isabelle Gattiker, General Director of the Office cantonal de la culture et du sport, said that "today, we need places of refuge, places where we can come together, vibrate and marvel together. Cultural venues need to be rethought with this in mind. The great strength of the Plaza is that it has already integrated new cultural habits. It will feature a superb cinema, but it will also be an interdisciplinary venue".

Renovating a modern masterpiece
The FdMP architectural firm was commissioned to renovate the Mont-Blanc Centre complex and Plaza cinema following a demanding competition. François de Marignac and Emeline Debackere, partners at FdMP, explain: "We started the project by repositioning the building as an essential crossroads for the neighborhood, as its architect Marc J. Saugey had envisioned from the very beginning. We aimed to rediscover and accentuate the dynamic circulation flows - between public and private spaces - that Saugey had proposed, with, for example, the passageway that cuts through the corner of the street or the access ramp to the building. We opened up new spaces towards Rue du Cendrier and included a new vertical connection allowing easy circulation between the floors of the cinema, the restaurant, the hotel, the exhibition spaces and the new immersive room."

See the construction site from the inside
The Fondation Plaza is offering the public a unique experience: the chance to see the construction work taking place inside the cultural center for the duration of the project. Film director Jimmy Roura is working in collaboration with Douglas Edric Stanley, an artist and media designer. They have installed a device that will follow the transformation of the spaces on a daily basis. 24 hours a day, the public will be able to follow the "operation" via screens set up along the worksite palisade. Like organic probes, the cameras will enter every nook and corner of the future cultural center.

More than a cinema...
By the end of 2025, the Plaza will have become a cultural space built around the historic cinema, with an immersive room, exhibition spaces, a library/bookshop, a bar-glacier, a restaurant and a cinema-hotel. It will be a new place to live, a cultural venue in the heart of Geneva, a few steps from the lake. Jean-Pierre Greff, Chairman of the Fondation Plaza, explains: "The Plaza will not be a traditional cinema, but a place that will focus on cinema-events. It will keep cinema at its heart, in every sense of the word, but explore all its historical or contemporary 'relations' to architecture, the visual arts, digital creation, dance or literature."  He continues: "We plan to forge strong relationships with Geneva's cultural institutions, but also with other institutions in Switzerland and abroad. Starting this year, we will be hosting three international film festivals in the Mont-Blanc Centre building: GIFF, FIFDH and Everybody's Perfect, as well as a number of creative industry organizations."

The Plaza is committed to a lofty ambition: to help invent a new future for cinema and movie theatres, in Geneva and for Geneva, based on the renewal of an outstanding space that is deeply rooted in Geneva's past. Its exceptional architecture, its history, its location at a key point in the city, and finally its cultural program, will make it a lively and vibrant hub of exchange and culture.