Architecture & Urbanism
Documentaries about architecture and urbanism in general
List activity
229 views
• 0 this weekCreate a new list
List your movie, TV & celebrity picks.
91 titles
- DirectorEric BrickerStarsFrances AndertonWim de WitBeth Edwards HarrisNarrated by Dustin Hoffman, VISUAL ACOUSTICS celebrates the life and career of Julius Shulman, the worldÕs greatest architectural photographer, whose images brought modern architecture to the American mainstream.
- DirectorGary HustwitStarsAmanda M. BurdenRem KoolhaasNorman FosterA documentary about the design of cities, which looks at the issues and strategies behind urban design and features some of the world's foremost architects, planners, policymakers, builders, and thinkers.
- DirectorThom AndersenStarsEncke KingBen AlexanderJim BackusA documentary on how Los Angeles has been used and depicted in the movies.
- DirectorTom CordellStarsJohn AllanDickon RobinsonPatrick Abercrombie70 years ago, a group of young idealists came together to construct a new world from the ruins of the old. They united around a vision of using science and art to create a city of equal citizens.
- DirectorGeorgia Wallace-CrabbeAs China emerges as the new economic powerhouse of the 21-century, no one can disrupt the biggest construction boom in the world's history. We marvel at the Beijing's bright new face as international architects create new icons - the Watercube, Birds Nest, Stadium, and National Theatre. The architects of the iconic buildings and their visions for the future contrast with those of heritage activist Zhang Jinqi. His photography exhibition 'Memories of China' documents the last heritage districts of the old city which are soon to be demolished. With 400 cities of the size of Beijing to build by 2020 the China has little time to reflect on the past.
- DirectorJoseph HillelStarsSamuel BronfmanArthur EricksonCharles-Édouard Jeanneret-GrisCity Dreamers is a film about our changing urban environment and four women architects, inspiring trailblazers with over 60 years of experience each, who are working, observing and thinking about the transformations that are shaping the city of today and tomorrow.
- DirectorMika TaanilaStarsLiisa AminoffMatti KuuslaGoldy OlanderFollows the rise and fall of Futuro: a pre-fabricated house; a product of post-war Finland, reflecting the period's optimism in technology and attempted subjugation of space.
- DirectorDavid KrantzArchiculture takes a thoughtful, yet critical look at the architectural studio. The film offers a glimpse into the world of studio-based, design education through the eyes of a group of students finishing their final design projects.
- DirectorRob LindsayRelics of the Future is a documentary featuring internationally renowned photographer Toni Hafkenscheid, as he explores hidden stories behind iconic architectural structures once considered "Visions of the Future" from the 1960's. This film is a light-hearted look at the way we perceive life and embrace modern advancements. It is a photography expose that becomes a personal journey of self-discovery while exploring innovative Visions of the Future that celebrate memories of Toni's, and our, collective past.
- DirectorRuby Ofori Edward ScottArchitect, Naigzy Gebremedhin takes the audience on a tour of his beloved city, Asmara, in Eritrea, showcasing the stunning rationalist architecture left by Italian colonizers from the 1930s, and the lifestyle of Asmarinos living in and around these buildings. Inspired by Mussolini's dream of recreating the Roman Empire in Africa, Asmara and her architectural splendors now symbolize something totally opposite to what the Fascist regime had in mind. The city has survived 30 years of civil war but may now become a victim of the decaying effects of poverty and time. 'City of Dreams' explores the ambiguities of the city's architectural legacy which, though treasured by her inhabitants, also holds bitter memories of racial segregation, memories that are recalled through personal testimony and stunning archival footage.
- DirectorMichael BlackwoodStarsVito AcconciStan AllenAndrew BernheimerAfter September 11th: Reimagining Manhattan's Downtown follows twenty of the fifty architects invited, by the Max Protetch Gallery, to submit their proposals for a new World Trade Center and memorial. Showcased in an exhibition entitled "A New World Trade Center: Design Proposals" the ideas opened up a communal dialogue and allowed the city to imagine a future in a moment when moving forward seemed impossible. Architects such as Billie Tsien, Hugh Hardy and Monica Ponce de Leon reveal their views on design, the urbanism of downtown Manhattan and the political fallout following September 11th.
- DirectorJesper WachtmeisterStarsTadao AndôSverre FehnKristian GullichsenKOCHUU is a visually stunning film about modern Japanese architecture, its roots in the Japanese tradition, and its impact on the Nordic building tradition. Winding its way through visions of the future and traditional concepts, nature and concrete, gardens and high-tech spaces, the film explains how contemporary Japanese architects strive to unite the ways of modern man with the old philosophies in astounding constructions. KOCHUU, which translates as "in the jar," refers to the Japanese tradition of constructing small, enclosed physical spaces, which create the impression of a separate universe. The film illustrates key components of traditional Japanese architecture, such as reducing the distinction between outdoors and indoors, disrupting the symmetrical, building with wooden posts and beams rather than with walls, modular construction techniques, and its symbiotic relationship with water, light and nature. The film illustrates these concepts through remarkable views of the Imperial Katsura Palace, the Todai-Ji Temple, the Naoshima Contemporary Art Museum, the Sony Tower, numerous teahouses and gardens (see link below for complete list), as well as examples of the cross-fertilization evidenced in buildings throughout Scandinavia, and shows how 'invisible' Japanese traditions are evident even in modern, high-tech buildings. KOCHUU also features interviews with some of Japan's leading architects as well as Scandinavian contemporaries including Pritzker Prize winners Tadao Ando and Sverre Fehn, Toyo Ito, Kazuo Shinohara, Kristian Gullichsen and Juhani Pallasmaa (see link below for complete list and bios). KOCHUU is a compelling illustration of how the aesthetics of Japanese architecture and design are expressed through simple means, and also shows that the best Japanese architecture, wherever it appears, expresses spiritual qualities that enrich human life.
- DirectorAngel Borrego CuberoStarsNorman FosterFrank GehryZaha HadidA raw account of how some of the best architects in the world, design giants like Jean Nouvel, Frank Gehry or Zaha Hadid, struggle to beat the competition for the National Museum of Art in Andorra. While nearly as old as the profession itself, architectural competitions became a social, political and cultural phenomenon of the post-Guggenheim Bilbao building bubble. Taking place at the dramatic moment in which the real estate bubble became a global crisis, this is the first competition to be documented, producing an unclassifiable piece of art that may be an intense thriller, an ethnographic report as well as a cult movie around the icons of the contemporary architecture
- DirectorJesper WachtmeisterStarsPeter CookJacque FrescoBuckminster FullerThis film takes the viewer on a journey through possible and impossible architecture projects - from the beginning of the 20th century to today. From concrete illusions of grandeur to round grass covered dwellings under ground. The viewer will meet world famous architects and visionaries like Buckminster Fuller and Le Corbusier and experience their visions and ideas of how to build us a better world. With the help of animations unrealized projects come to life in this documentary that shows astounding visions of a world - as it could have been. Since the end of the 19th century industrialized man has been confronted with new kinds of possibilities and problems, all of which in one way or another are the consequences of a storm of technological progress. Amidst the smoke and wars, architects and artists saw early on that this was a world full of possibilities, with plenty of room for visionary ideas. They were motivated and driven by the problems of the day, be it a shortage of housing, urban decay or pollution. Their visions brought changes in our ways of living and dwelling that challenged our concepts of the good, the true and the beautiful. In this documentary we encounter the Anthroposophist head quarters in Switzerland, the functionalist cities of Le Corbusier and Archigram's projects where pop-art meets architecture. We also meet the self-taught inventor Buckminster Fuller and his light weight constructions, and Antti Lovag - the protector of round houses. Also we visit Habitat 67 - a building conceived from LEGO, Superstudio and their world without objects, Paolo Soleri's crystal like cities in the desert, and ecological housing under ground. Great Expectations is a film about architecture projects and visions which have brought changes in our ways of living and dwelling that challenged our concepts of the good, the true and the beautiful.
- StarsFrançois MarthouretGuy ChapellierJean Nouvel23 episode documentary, each focusing on one distinguished building and its architect, from the 19th and 20th centuries.
- DirectorHarry LynchStarsKevin AlterTadao AndôPeter ArendtFort Worth, Texas: a little known museum Mecca in the heart of the American West, home to three of the most important collections in the United States. Here in 1997, the Modern Art Museum of Fort Worth set out to build a new home, which was to become the second largest modern art museum in the US, behind New York's MOMA. They selected as their architect the visionary new modernist, Tadao Ando. Practically unknown in America, Ando has won every major international architecture prize and is a celebrity in his home country of Japan. But would his Eastern-influenced designs translate to this most Western of towns? Would his difficult and painstaking construction techniques confound the American construction team? This compelling High Definition documentary follows the design and construction of this masterpiece, Ando's largest and most ambitious work outside of Japan, while divining the secrets of his unique style through a study of his previous work. Shot on location in Japan, Germany, Washington DC and of course, Fort Worth, the film captures the beauty of Ando's architecture in its many settings and follows the design team as they test the building's specialized lighting structures. Edited without a narrator, the film relies on action and the voices of its characters - among them renowned architects Richard Meier and Frank Gehry, and sculptor Richard Serra - to tell the story of this remarkable building.
- DirectorAndreas DalsgaardStarsJan GehlRob AdamsRobert DoyleHalf of the human population lives in urban areas. By 2050, this will increase to 80%. Life in a megacity is both enchanting and problematic. Today we face peak oil, climate change, loneliness and severe health issues due to our way of life. But why? The Danish architect and professor Jan Gehl has studied human behavior in cities through four decades. He has documented how modern cities repel human interaction, and argues that we can build cities in a way, which takes human needs for inclusion and intimacy into account. 'The Human Scale' meets thinkers, architects and urban planners across the globe. It questions our assumptions about modernity, exploring what happens when we put people into the centre of our planning.
- DirectorPeter RosenStarsBruce FowleKevin RocheFollows the work of the architects from all over world who came together to design the UN Headquarters in New York.
- DirectorHeinz EmigholzForty-two architecture projects with Austrian origins.
- DirectorMichael BlackwoodStarsPeter EisenmanFrank GehryMichael GravesWhile visiting four architectural practices in 1982, we discuss the postmodernist movement through its meaning and motives. Beyond Utopia: Changing Attitudes in American Architecture features Robert Venturi, Denise Scott Brown, Frank Gehry, Michael Graves and Peter Eisenman, all of whom are protégés of Philip Johnson. Guided by their mentor, these innovators rejected the European modernism of Mies and Corbusier in search of alternative directions. The architects show and discuss their buildings of the time both in their personal offices and on location.
- DirectorMichael BlackwoodStarsStan AllenWiel AretsMichael BellThe State of Architecture at the Beginning of the 21st Century documents a historic two-day conference organized in March, 2003 by Bernard Tschumi, who was then Dean of the Columbia Graduate School of Architecture. Some of the greatest minds in architecture assemble to discuss theory, method and design, each presenting ambitious cutting edge concepts and ideas.
- DirectorMichael BlackwoodStarsPaul AferiatPreston Scott CohenDouglas Garofalo"The New Modernists: Folds, Blobs and Boxes, Architecture in the Digital Era" approaches the topic of artistic technological advances, and the modern architects who were educated with this new influx of electronic techniques. In this detailed portrait we visit the exhibition entitled Folds, Blobs + Boxes at the Carnegie Museum of Art where ten architect/designers discuss their approaches to digital architecture with curator of the exhibition, Joseph Rosa. By abandoning the traditional notions of aesthetic beauty, scale and proportion, a new freedom has formed amongst these contemporary creators.
- DirectorMichael BlackwoodStarsJean NouvelAntonio CruzKristian GullichsenFeaturing six young, renowned innovators, The New Modernists: 6 European Architects explores the ideology, method, and influence surrounding modernism. Critic Kenneth Frampton sees this group of architects, working from Seville to Finland, understanding and interacting with the ideas and structures of Aalto, Saarinen and Mies to form a confident new European identity.
- DirectorBenjamin MurrayAlysa NahmiasStarsVittorio GarattiRoberto GottardiRicardo PorroCuba's ambitious National Art Schools project, designed by three young artists in the wake of Castro's Revolution, is neglected, nearly forgotten, then ultimately rediscovered as a visionary architectural masterpiece.
- DirectorBregtje van der HaakStarsRem KoolhaasArchitect Rem Koolhaas and a team of students from The Harvard Project on the City, went to Lagos regularly to research the type of urbanity that is produced by uncontrolled, explosive population growth. In this documentary filmed over two years, director van der Haak wanted to take a look inside the head of Koolhaas and through his eyes, a look at Lagos. She says, Lagos is "a city that holds up a mirror to him [Koolhaas], a city that is endlessly flexible, terribly creative and constantly improvising". Using small digital cameras, the filmmaker documented Koolhaas documenting Lagos to grasp and convey a sense of the new urban life that was being invented there.