A Day with Zaha Hadid

Reimagining A Buffalo Landmark(en)

The Richardson Olmsted Campus, a former psychiatric center and National Historic Landmark, is seeing new life as it undergoes restoration and adaptation to a modern use.

Funkiskungen(sv)

Gray Matters(en)

Gray Matters explores the long, fascinating life and complicated career of architect and designer Eileen Gray, whose uncompromising vision defined and defied the practice of modernism in decoration, design and architecture. Making a reputation with her traditional lacquer work in the first decade of the 20th century, she became a critically acclaimed and sought after designer and decorator in the next before reinventing herself as an architect, a field in which she laboured largely in obscurity. Apart from the accolades that greeted her first building –persistently and perversely credited to her mentor–her pioneering work was done quietly, privately and to her own specifications. But she lived long enough (98) to be re-discovered and acclaimed. Today, with her work commanding extraordinary prices and attention, her legacy, like its creator, remains elusive, contested and compelling.

Architect Athfield(en)

Examines the practical philosophy, the achievements and frustrations of one of New Zealand's most lively and innovative architects, Ian Athfield. The film provides a portrait of the architect and his work both in New Zealand and his project to design housing for 140,000 squatters from the Tondo area of Manila in the Philippines, for which Athfield won an international competition in 1975.

Frank Lloyd Wright: Phoenix From the Ashes(de)

A portrait of Frank Lloyd Wright (1867-1959), a genius of modern architecture, whose life passed between glory, scandal and tragedy.

The Sea of Itami Jun(ko)

"Hello. I'm Itami Jun. I apologize for my poor Korean." Itami Jun (Yoo Dongryong), a Korean architect who was born in Japan. This film follows his life through heartwarming architectures for people that he had tried for all his life. The architecture of time that exists for the people, space and the story of an architect who walked his own way between Korea and Japan, Shimizu and Jeju.

Places for the Soul(en)

An intimate portrait of Christopher Alexander, a critic of modern architecture on a lifelong quest to build harmonious, livable places in today’s world. The film tells the story of two projects – a spectacular high school in Japan and an innovative homeless shelter in California. For Alexander, feelings come first, users are deeply engaged and process is paramount. We discover what happens when an architect’s unconventional method collides with standard practices in his profession.

Bird's Nest - Herzog & de Meuron in China(en)

Schaub and Schindelm’s documentary follows two Swiss star architects, Jacques Herzog and Pierre de Meuron, on two very different projects: the national stadium for the Olympic summer games in Peking 2008 and a city area in the provincial town of Jinhua, China.

Lasnamäe(et)

The director asks straightforward questions in a phone call to the lead architect of the district of Lasnamäe, Malle Meelak. The topics include the bureaucracy, planning and living quality in the brutalist district of panel houses. He gets surprisingly straightforward answers because Meelak doesn't know that the call is being recorded. Later, in a public interview conducted in front of the camera, Meelak's answers are quite different.

Kubota(en)

A film featuring architect, sculptor, and musician Nobuo Kubota in a sound-sculpture performance. From within a cage-like structure filled with traditional musical instruments and sound-making devices fashioned from ordinary objects and toys, Kubota creates an aural/visual montage of musical notes and noises. Praised by music educators as a valuable tool for teaching creativity in sound exploration and musical innovation, the film reveals the infinite percussion possibilities of simple objects and presents a portrait of a versatile performer whose imagination has led him far beyond the confines of conventional music. Directed by Jonny Silver - 1982 | 20 min

DUE SEGNI(it)

A film commissioned by architects Vitangelo Ardito and Nicoletta Faccitondo (Polytechnic University of Bari) as a companion piece to the book 'Umberto Riva. Perciò è sempre una sorpresa - 19 conversazioni'.

Richard Meier(en)

Meier guides the viewer on a retrospective of his white buildings, from private houses of the 1960s to the Frankfurt and Atlanta Museums of the 1980s--all variations on his trademark spatial and planar treatment. His influences from Corbusier, Wright, Mies, and Baroque Germany are shown. Clients and colleagues offer opinions.

A City at Chandigarh(fr)

Documentary on the construction of Chandigarh, the new capital of the Indian Punjab region, planned by Albert Mayer and Swiss architect Le Corbusier.

Peter Eisenman: Building Germany's Holocaust Memorial(en)

This documentary explores the creation of the Holocaust Memorial in Berlin as designed by architect Peter Eisenman. Reaction of the German public to the completed memorial is also shown.

Antonio Gaudí(ja)

Catalan architect Antonio Gaudí (1852-1926) designed some of the world's most astonishing buildings, interiors, and parks; Japanese director Hiroshi Teshigahara constructed some of the most aesthetically audacious films ever made. With camera work as bold and sensual as the curves of his subject's organic structures, Teshigahara immortalizes Gaudí on film.

Architect Joze Plecnik: 1872-1957(sl)

Plečnik in photographs, Plečnik's house, Trnovo bridge, Trnovo port, Ljubljana castle, shoemaking bridge, triple bridge, market, lock, church of St. Jožef, church in Šiška, Church of Cyril and Methodius in Bežigrad, football stadion, baptistery of the church in Črnuče, church at Barje, NUK, Roman wall, Križanke, Vegova, Peglezen, Tivoli, Chamber of Crafts, mutual insurance company, Žale.

Villaggio Eni(en)

Documentary two men united in creating a social and architectural experiment unique in its kind.

Jørn Utzon: The Man & the Architect(en)

The documentary tells the story of Sydney Opera House architect Jørn Utzon's unique gift, brought to the world with the unending support of Lis, the love of his life. His story is told by the people who were closest to him: his children, close colleagues and friends, who share their open, honest anecdotes, and experiences of him as an architect and a man. The film is a portrait of a devoted humanitarian and a sensitive and loving soul.

Mario Botta. The Space Beyond(en)

A rare, in-depth artistic journey into the work of internationally acclaimed Swiss architect Mario Botta. The film explores Botta's ever growing curiosity and reflections on the contractions of society through his sacred spaces, a subject very dear to him. Why does globalized society feel the urge to build such spaces? The directors traveled to China, South Korea, Israel, Italy, and Switzerland to discover a passionate and tireless artist, his buildings, and part of his creative process. Botta is one of the few architects who has built places of prayer for three main monotheistic religions. After building many churches, chapels, and synagogue, he is now working on a mosque in China. Through his thoughts and his interaction with artists, colleagues, clients, and family members, the viewers have a glimpse of the man behind the Architect.

Architects Herzog and deMeuron: The Alchemy of Building & The Tate Modern(en)

Visiting examples of Herzog and de Meurons ground-breaking style, this film reflects their capacity to astonish and explore the way in which they transform what might otherwise be ordinary through new treatments and techniques.