Not that many films can have the amount of high-end architecture as location for their scenes. In “The International” the characters goes to a secondary position – through architects’ eyes - since the movie is a showroom of well known buildings and cities.

The mythic Guggenheim Museum in New York by Frank Lloyd Wright serves as the space for one of the main scenes, jumping to the Phaeno Science Center by Zaha Hadid in Wolfsburg, Germany. Cities where the movie was filmed include Istanbul, Berlin, Lyon, Milan, and New York, showing us an impressive catalogue of “international” architecture.

Let us know your thoughts about the movie and international architecture. What does this concept mean today? Or was it only an utopian modern movement?

The Processing Environments symposium is organized by the Architectural Association in collaboration with the Guggenheim Museum Bilbao and sponsored by the Bilbao Municipality and the Institut Français in Bilbao. It will take place next 19th June at the Guggenheim Museum Bilbao.

The symposium is directed by Maider Llaguno and Clara Olóriz and some of the invited speakers are Alejandro Zaera-Polo (ex FOA, currently AZPA), Juan Herreros, Iñaki Begisitain, Eva Castro & Alfredo Ramirez (Groundlab), Philippe Rahm, and Efrén García Grinda & Cristina Díaz Moreno.

The admission is free.

More information and the complete program after the break

The second film by Sofia Coppola was acclaimed by the critics, and with fair reasons. It shows in a subtle but deep way the contrasts between Japanese and American cultures, utilizing the amazing city of Tokyo as a background for this.

Characters are immerse in a quite different environment, which atmosphere is shown through the scenes where they interact with the foreign surroundings. This atmospheres are represented in a way beyond the typical approach of other films, trying somehow to really understand how this spaces are perceived.

As always, we wait for your comments about the movie and specifically about this culture shock concept and architecture.

A couple of years ago, we mentioned an interesting documentary about Parkour, and how such contemporary discipline is able to make reading the urban space in a different way.

The film was recorded mainly in Copenhagen, using locations such as the Mountain Dwellings designed by BIG. It also includes some conversations with Bjarke Ingels, discussing about his understanding of urban space. It has been selected as part of the films program of the RIBA 2012. If you’re in London, you will have the chance to watch it next June 26th.

More info after the break

This week we will propose the first documentary of the list within our section of Films & Architecture. There is not much to say about the figure of Kahn, since it has been worldwide recognized. Nevertheless this is a film that captures in a magnificent way the greatness of Kahn’s work through his son’s journey. I guess everyone related somehow with architecture will feel touched by this extraordinary recording. Let us know in the comments what is (or was) your experience watching the film.

Starting tomorrow, the 12th version of the Serpentine Gallery Pavilion will be open at the Hyde Park in London. As we announced some months ago, the design was commissioned to Herzog & de Meuron and Ai Weiwei. The final proposal was published just at the beginning of this month, showing an interesting ground work. This year’s pavilion is half sunk into the landscape, as if it were carved in the terrain and covered with a liquid layer, reflecting the the surrounding light and landscape.

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More info and images after the break

Today we had the chance of attending the opening of this impressive exhibition. As we mentioned previously some weeks ago, the Victoria & Albert Museum in London prepared this event focused on the work of the British firm Heatherwick Studio, responsable for the last Shanghai 2010 British Pavilion, as well as the Rolling Bridge, or the New Bus for London that was just released in the 38 route. The exhibition comprises a large range of different scales of design, going from specific objects or furniture, to large infrastructural and urban projects. It will be open for the public from next Thursday 31st.

Following with the list of films we propose every week, as The Belly of the Architect, Blade Runner, and Gattaca.This week we are going back to the times when technologies didn’t allow yet the sound or even color to be part of films. Metropolis, one of the classics by the German director Fritz Lang, is a film that shows a future where the city is structured in vertical layers according to the different social strata. Something that could be recognized in the current situation of several cities today… Do you know about any example? Do you think this will be the actual future pattern of our cities?

Two weeks ago we started proposing films relevant to our field for you to primarily enjoy and also to encourage its discussion. First with “The Belly of an Architect”, and then “Blade Runner”, this week is the turn for a slightly more contemporary movie written and directed by Andrew Niccol, Gattaca. The film presents a future were the human condition is already defined in DNA, therefore human’s opportunities for life development are pre-established. Beyond the interesting ethical issue, the architecture where this story occurs is carefully selected in order to fit the director’s image of the future. Locations include the Marin County Civic Center by Frank Lloyd Wright and the CLA Building by Antoine Predock.

This next Wednesday 16th, the book “Resilience”, number 32 from the Pamphlet Architecture series will be launch at the Architectural Association Bookshop.

The competition for Pamphlet Architecture 32 centred on the theme of resilience. By addressing the capacity to cope, the ability to bounce back, and the mitigation and management of risk, participants were asked to showcase a fresh understanding of the architectural opportunities found in resilience. James A Craig and Matt Ozga-Lawn’s winning entry successfully takes on the topic through an investigation of the ravaged city of Warsaw. By identifying, interrogating and ultimately reinforcing both the physical and immaterial conditions of the landscape, the project allows the space to become something new and yet hold on to what it is, truly exhibiting resilience.

Following with the films we will recommend every week, this time we want to introduce “Blade Runner”. Another classic from the ’80 that shows a future Los Angeles with an atmosphere that intents to shape the urban space within which we will move in the current century. The soundtrack, composed by Vangelis deserves to be mentioned as it plays a fundamental role in the comprehension of this futuristic American city.

More info after the break.

The workshop Filmare l’architettura, just concluded in Florence. It took place in the home-studio by Leonardo Savioli and was aimed at educating videomakers in documenting the architectural space. The results of this experience, promoted by the Region of Tuscany, produced by Festival dei Popoli and led by Filippo Macelloni, will be presented to the public on May 15 at the Faculty of Architecture in Florence.

In ArchDaily we have mentioned films, whether because of its content closely related with Architecture, or because of the space, photography, atmosphere, or any other relevant feature to our practice that could mean a certain value through an Architect’s eyes.

From this week and on, we will propose a film for you to watch – enjoy – and comment if you want to share your thoughts about the movie with us. We have already a starting list which still open for your recommendations.

The first movie to introduce is a classic from the ’80, “The Belly of an Architect” by the British director Peter Greenaway.

More info after the break.

The exhibition dedicated to Bas Princen‘s work will be open at the Architectural Association in London until May 26. The photographer based in Rotterdam, who was previously trained as an architect, is particularly focused on the dialogues between architecture and the landscape, from dramatic contrasts to blurred merging typologies.

“The award-winning Dutch photographer’s work has become increasingly familiar: images that blur the artificial and natural, where the real and imagined are hard to separate. Less known – and never previously exhibited – are the A5 booklets Princen makes, consisting of a series of reference images. The booklets are between 24 and 32 pages long and contain images downloaded by Princen from the internet of famous or completely unknown or already long-forgotten scenes and objects involving landscape and architecture, their low resolution disallowing reproduction any larger than 6 x 9 cm.