Cinesite Vancouver

Cinesite is an international animation and FX studio with headquarters in Montreal, Vancouver, London, and Munich. We were thrilled to design the new home for their Vancouver team—a group of over 200 creative talents.

Specialty lighting was a major consideration in this design. A full theatre was built into the space, complete with stepped seating and full black-out capabilities. Special light-control requirements for certain departments were addressed by collaborating with their internal lighting department as well as our own lighting consultants. The end result achieves the perfect color-rendering environment using specialty wall finishes to eliminate reflection and indirect lighting to cut out ‟light noise.”

The long floor plate produced odd angles, which we chose to embrace rather than fight. Basing our concept on the idea of line work—something key to their own process—we created a series of linear elements, including wood slat ceilings, asymmetrical doorways, and geometric wall paneling details.

One of our main inspirations was the work of local printmaker Kari Kristensen, who we commissioned to create one of her signature mountainscape murals for the space. Echoes of her black and inky blue line work are found throughout in the form of geometric shapes and 3D cuts in the areas with wood accents.

Practical finishes abound, including in the main kitchen, which is hard‑wearing but still a visual feature of the workplace. Communal tables and wood seating at the windows reinforce the sense of the studio as a West Coast expression of the Cinesite brand.