Scala Theater

Single screen movie houses, a popular building type for expressing exuberant mid-century modernism, are disappearing around the globe, being replaced by ubiquitous multi-screen movie complexes. The Scala Theater, built in 1969 and designed by Chira Silpakanok is no exception. This theater, with its opulent 1,200 seat interior, is arguably one of the finest modern movie houses still extant but is now under pressure. Ironically, the new multi-screen complexes themselves are often being subsumed into even larger shopping malls, thereby losing their own form as individual buildings.

Submitted by Ginevra Boatto