A Celestial-Inspired Cinema Takes Flight In Nanjing
2025 Best of Year Winner for Entertainment
Its concept drawn from cosmic timelines and the circular patterning of stars streaking across the predawn sky, the 24,450-square-foot movie theater Orbital Dawn in Nanjing, China, offers a truly celestial experience. Crafted by Design Action, the adventure begins in the lower-level lobby, with a layout organized into flowing curves that soar patrons through ticketing, concessions, and waiting areas. Light-colored metallic walls and glossy surfaces maximize available light while also reflecting the LED screens promoting films, cleverly merging cinema and architecture. An escalator transports moviegoers upstairs to the four theaters, which are accessed by way of a corridor lined in gradient glass—intended as a transition from the regular world into the immersive entertainment to come.
See Interior Design’s Best of Year Winners and Honorees
Explore must-see projects and innovative products that took home high honors.
read more
Projects
From Convent To Chic Retreat: Inside OTJ Architects’s Historic Hotel Conversion
A Catholic convent becomes a 65-key boutique hotel restored to perfection by OTJ Architects with the help of church officials and historians.
Projects
Meyer Davis Studio Brings Signature Glamour to Poltu Quatu, Italy
Having worked their magic on the vivacious W Rome, Will Meyer and Gray Davis have reprised the brand collaboration, this time in coastal Sardinia.
Projects
AvroKO Redefines The Hotel Restaurant With High-Style Interiors
At the SLS Barcelona, AvroKO has cooked up an instant neighborhood classic in L’Anxova Divina, a 3,600-square-foot tapas bar.