dima
  • Chaplin Classic

    In LIMELIGHT, Chaplin’s serio-comic film classic, under the footlights the old vaudevillian dies at the feet of the young dancer:  the past literally gives way to the present and future.  This worn-out warehouse is a physical form of the story’s theatrical allegory - the new bursts upon the scene as public space, conference rooms, and opening corridors that are clustered at its entrance to heighten the wow effect that masks its ultimate utilitarian environment.  Practical work stations have sculptural elements and baffles deflect California sun to further amp up interior kinetic energy.  Walls of translucent fiberglass, coupled with the expansive truss ceiling, natural wood grain cabinetry, and vivid coloration imply a future vision of the producers expressed by designer, Franklin Israel and project architect, Barbara Callas’ masterful modernism.