An award-winning garage cinema in Bath.

A dedicated reference cinema in Bath, built into an unwanted garage shell. The owners had seen another of our cinemas at a previous client’s, and visited our showroom; the brief that followed was uncompromising — modest in footprint, not in performance.

The work was as much architecture as it was AV. We dropped the ceiling to allow for absorption, lighting and concealed cabling; brought the front wall forward to create depth for acoustic treatment and to improve the room’s proportions; and dedicated more of the floor plan to bass-trapping than most installers would accept. In a small room, the acoustic decisions are the design — there is nowhere for a compromise to hide.

Every trade that touched the room was coordinated in-house: the shell conversion, HVAC, a full electrical rewire, joinery and the AV installation. That is the pattern on all of our cinemas, and it mattered more here than usual — a garage conversion at this level is a sequence of trades that each depend on the one before.

The room went from garage shell to an internationally recognised cinema. Wisdom Audio Sage Line 2 carries the front three channels, with P4i on sides and surrounds and StormAudio Core 16 processing; an Innuos Zen Mini Mk3 with a linear power supply serves music, because the room earns its keep between films too.