Developer Weston Homes has unveiled a series of movie themed glass sculptures set in a landscaped piazza known as Celluloid Plaza, and a new Art Deco atrium, at the transformed Denham Film Studios, which is now a £120 million Art Deco and movie inspired residential address.
The launch of Celluloid Plaza and the new Art Deco atrium was undertaken by Bob Weston, Chairman & CEO of Weston Homes, and Katharina Kubrick, alongside attendees from Warner Bros. Pictures and other guests.
Fronting onto the North Orbital Road in Denham, providing easy commuter access into central London, the redeveloped Denham Film Studios is now a 10.7 acre (4.3 hectare) residential address providing 224 converted and newly built homes including 154 apartments and 70 houses. The launch of Celluloid Plaza and the Art Deco atrium has been undertaken alongside the release of a new phase of family houses at the Denham Film Studios providing four and five bedroom homes.
Celluloid Plaza is the first of two public artwork installations being created at the Denham Film Studios, the second being Fame Square. Celluloid Plaza consists of a 7,352 sqft (683 sqm) paved and landscaped piazza providing movie-themed glass sculptures created from large format plates of glass (1.6m high by 4m long), containing scenes from movies produced at the film studios. The glass is backlit so that the sculptures can be illuminated at night.
The glass sculptures in Celluloid Plaza celebrate iconic images taken from the movies of legendry Hollywood film director Stanley Kubrick including stills from his movies 2001: A Space Odyssey (1968), The Shining (1980) and Full Metal Jacket (1987). Outside seating and tree/green planters sit alongside the sculptures so that residents and visitors can enjoy and spend time in the piazza.
The new Art Deco atrium is located within the restored Grade II listed former studio HQ and laboratory building designed by Walter Gropius (1883-1969). Now known as Korda House, after Alexander Korda, founder of the film studios, the 66,740 sqft (6,200 sqm) three storey white render building now contains 49 apartments.
The new Art Deco atrium is a spectacular 3,875 sqft (360 sqm) open, triple height space, with a waterfeature on the ground level and a glass roof which allows natural light to cascade into the atrium. The first and second floors are bordered by internal balconies and the floors are connected by two helical staircases. Korda House also contains an Art Deco style entrance foyer, movie museum/community hall, restored Art Deco cinema and a new Art Deco cocktail bar.
Given the movie-themed nature of the restored Denham Film Studios, Weston Homes have a programme of film-linked features being unveiled at the new residential address. Each of the roads within the development is named after a Hollywood producer or actor, and therefore in January 2018, Katharina Kubrick opened the first of these new roads within the project named after Stanley Kubrick.
Now the new Celluloid Plaza has been opened, and in February 2019, there will be the unveiling of Fame Square, a new square containing brass plaques bearing the names of producers and actors linked to Denham, embedded into the sidewalks, just like the Walk of Fame at Hollywood & Highland in Los Angeles.
Bob Weston, Chairman & CEO of Weston Homes, said: “The opening of Celluloid Plaza and the atrium at Denham is part of the evolution of the former studios into a vibrant new residential address, inhabited by people, homes and movie-themed amenities. The plaza’s glass sculptures pay tribute to Stanley Kubrick, a phenomenal director who has such strong ties to Denham. Through his films, Stanley Kubrick has had a lasting impact on our culture and it is therefore highly fitting that the plaza commemorates his work at the site where so many of his movies were completed.”
Katharina Kubrick, Stanley Kubrick’s daughter, said:
I’m sure dad would be pleased to know that people will be able to sit in Celluloid Plaza alongside images from his movies and it’s the type of space where millennials and future generations who are unfamiliar with his movies may be inspired to seek out his films and become the next generation of Stanley Kubrick fans.”
Nicki Adams, Worldwide Kubrick Estate Manager for Warner Bros. Pictures, said:
Stanley was part of the Warner Bros. family for over 28 years and it is wonderful to know that nearly 20 years after his last film Kubrick is still current and relevant”.
Founded in 1936 by film producer Alexander Korda as a movie-industry complex for making and producing films, the Denham Film Studios operated until 2014 where the place where numerous Oscar winning movies were made or edited including Brief Encounter, Eyes Wide Shut and The Great Escape, as well as films from the Bond, Superman and Star Wars franchises.
Since the development’s launch in February 2017, more than 85% of the project’s 154 apartments have been successfully sold, with purchasers eager to own their very own slice of movie history. Leveraging this success, Weston Homes are now releasing and focusing on marketing the development’s executive and family housing, which provides 70 four and five bedroom family townhouses.
The housing element of the project is located around the eastern side of the Denham Film Studios and consists of avenues of new three and four storey terraced housing, and to the northern section, two and three storey detached townhouses, all overlooking communal landscaping and private gardens.
Fame Square, launching in February 2019, is bordered by houses, with the homes looking into a new Hollywood-themed landscaped central square whose sidewalks will containing brass plaques bearing the names of producers and actors linked to Denham, just like the Walk of Fame at Hollywood & Highland in Los Angeles.
Visitors interested in purchasing a house at the Denham Film Studios can visit the 1,560 sqft four bedroom show home includes James Bond themed bedrooms, bathrooms and entertaining spaces, featuring limited edition James Bond prints, memorabilia and gadgets.
Apartment prices start from £405,000 for a two bedroom apartment and from £510,000 for a three bedroom apartment. House prices start from £699,995 for a four bedroom house with private gardens, garage and driveway parking.
