Busan Cinema Center
Busan’s main film-culture complex and the home venue of BIFF, combining cinemas, a performance hall, an outdoor theater and a vast roofed public plaza in Centum City
Film screenings, repertory and independent cinema, BIFF events, performances, outdoor screenings, film-library visits and architecture-focused stops in Centum City
A three-building cultural complex organized around Cine Mountain, BIFF Hill and Double Cone, with indoor cinemas and performance spaces opening onto a huge roofed plaza and outdoor theater
The 85-metre cantilever has a clear job: it keeps a huge plaza open for festival ceremonies and outdoor events. The cinemas and performance spaces around it keep the complex active through the rest of the year
Character
The Big Roof extends 85 metres from its Double Cone support, leaving a large column-free plaza beneath it. That covered space and the adjacent outdoor theater give Busan Cinema Center room for BIFF ceremonies and screenings, while indoor theaters keep film programming running through the rest of the year
Coop Himmelb(l)au arranged the complex as three main buildings — Cine Mountain, BIFF Hill and Double Cone — linked by open public space. Cine Mountain contains movie theaters and a performing-arts hall; the outdoor theater sits under the smaller roof nearby
After dark, 42,600 LEDs illuminate the underside of the Big Roof, turning the roof into a large light surface above the plaza
The experience
A normal visit can be split between the architecture and whatever is on that day. The exterior gives you the Big Roof, Double Cone, plaza and outdoor theater at full scale; inside, the program may include regular films, repertory cinema, performances, exhibitions or the film library
The annual film festival changes how the same spaces work. BIFF uses the center as its main venue, and plazas designed for circulation become ceremony and audience space. Outside the festival, the campus returns to regular film, performance and library use
History
Busan launched an international competition for a permanent cinema center in 2005, when BIFF was already established as one of the city’s major cultural events. Coop Himmelb(l)au won with a scheme that placed separate buildings around large roof structures and open public space
Construction began in 2008. The complex was inaugurated in September 2011, and BIFF moved its main venue to the new center. The Big Roof’s 85-metre cantilever was certified by Guinness World Records, making the engineering itself one of the building’s best-known features
The center has operated year-round since opening, with cinemas, performance spaces and outdoor areas serving regular programs as well as BIFF
Before you go
Check the program before deciding how much time to allow. Screening, performance and exhibition schedules determine which indoor spaces are useful on a particular visit. The exterior spaces also work as an architecture stop when you are not attending a program
Centum City Station is the simplest public-transport approach. The center is close to the larger Centum City shopping and cultural district, which makes an architecture-focused stop easy to combine with nearby visits
- Hours
- The center is open year-round, but operating hours vary with film screenings and other programs. Check the current schedule for the indoor space you plan to use
- Admission
- General entry to the complex is free; films, performances, exhibitions and other programs may have separate fees
- Transit
- Take Busan Metro Line 2 to Centum City Station. Busan’s city guide lists exits 6 or 12, followed by about a five-minute walk to the center