Architecture Films: The Latest Architecture and News

The Canadian Centre for Architecture (CCA) recently launched a new research project and institutional collaboration with M+ in Hong Kong titled How Modern: Biographies of Architecture in China 1949–1979. The project unfolds through an exhibition presented in the CCA's Main Galleries from 20 November 2025 to 5 April 2026, a series of commissioned films and oral history videos by artist Wang Tuo, online editorial content, public programming, and a companion book co-published by the CCA and M BOOKS. This collection of content seeks to reframe architectural histories of modernism in the first three decades of the People's Republic of China, revealing how design operated under shifting ideologies and socioeconomic pressures through the perspectives and experiences of architects, institutions, and residents. The project aligns with the CCA's ongoing interest in producing new readings of modern architecture across different sociopolitical contexts and geographical frameworks, including Architecture in Uniform: Designing and Building for the Second World War (2011) and Building a new New World: Amerikanizm in Russian Architecture (2020).

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The Graham Foundation for Advanced Studies in the Fine Arts has announced $573,300 in grants to 39 organizations worldwide. Chosen from more than 200 submissions, the 2025 awards support a broad range of initiatives, including exhibitions, installations, publications, podcasts, student-led journals, international architecture events, and public programs that contribute to advancing architectural discourse and design experimentation. Over nearly seven decades, the Graham Foundation has provided more than $45 million in direct support to over 5,200 projects. With the addition of the 2025 grantees, the Foundation aims to continue to strengthen its international network of individuals and organizations advancing architectural ideas and public engagement around the world.

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Videos

During 2024, the Canadian Centre for Architecture (CCA) launched a three-part documentary and exhibition series titled Groundwork, exploring alternative modes of practice in light of the current climate crisis. The process began with a series of studio visits in search of offices addressing substantial questions for contemporary architecture through practice, culminating in the selection of three projects: Xu Tiantian's "minimal intervention" museum on Meizhou Island, Carla Juaçaba's community pavilions in a coffee field in Minas Gerais, and bplus.xyz (b+)'s European Citizens' Initiative for a new legal framework to facilitate the renovation and transformation of existing buildings. The latter, HouseEurope!, was recently recognized as the winner of the seventh edition of the OBEL Award and was showcased at the international exhibition of the Venice Architecture Biennale 2025.

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The Graham Foundation, based in Chicago, has allocated $390,000 in grants to support 33 innovative projects worldwide. These initiatives include exhibitions, publications, and presentations aimed at enriching the discourse in architecture and its role in society. The projects, undertaken by architects, artists, curators, and educators, span various cities such as Johannesburg, New York, Chicago, and others, reflecting a global perspective on contemporary architectural issues.

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Videos

TRANSFER Architecture Video Award 2023 has just announced the winners of this year's edition of the innovative architecture short film competition. Due to the high quality and the diversity of the entries, the jury has decided to award 4 winners ex aequo and 2 honorable mentions.

The TRANSFER Architecture Video Award 2023 ceremony took place on February 22 in Lausanne, as part of the film festival Écrans Urbains. You can discover the winning, finalist, and shortlisted videos in TRANSFER.

Drawing inspiration from the visual style of acclaimed director Wes Anderson, known for films like "Asteroid City" and “The Grand Budapest Hotel,” this new architectural film chronicles the homeland and landscape of Singapore. Directed by Kevin Siyuan, this is the second volume of “A Wes Anderson-ish Singapore” released. Moreover, the 20-minute documentary will be previewed on Singapore’s National Day and focuses on the urban planning, architecture, parks, and the people of Singapore.

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We are happy to premiere the documentary "Women in Architecture", a project initiated by Sky-Frame, directed by Boris Noir.

A better built environment is also an inclusive one. That's why diversity is key to our profession, as it expands our views of the world and connects us with the real needs of society. So we opened a window into the professional and personal lives of three women in architecture who bring something unique to the world, to inspire others. 

The project has been initiated by Sky-Frame to shed more light on the role of women in architecture, by increasing their visibility and empowering them to realize their full potential.

"To make our world a better place. Everyone should have an idea of how architecture works and what it can have an impact on. We live in the era where humans are changing the planet, architecture is one of the most important tools", stated film-maker Boris Noir about the idea behind the film. 

We reached out to Toshiko Mori, Gabriela Carrillo and Johanna Meyer-Grohbrügge, three architects in three different countries, in different contexts, at different stages of their life and career, but with a lot in common: recognized practitioners, with a passion for education, working with communities, and a sensibility towards the needs of society and the built environment.

ArchDaily and Copenhagen Architecture Festival (CAFx) interviewed project partner Michael Alexander Ulfstjerne from Emergency Architecture & Human Rights (EAHR) on film, architecture and inclusive design.

The world’s biggest social challenges are reflected in the way we design our spaces. Privatization of public space, lack of affordable housing, dark design and spatial segregation are just some of the most common causes and manifestations of urban inequality that characterize contemporary cities. While holding the potential to reproduce these inequalities, inscribing them further into space, design can also work to oppose discrimination, propelling equity and inclusion.

The Architecture Film Festival London, now at its third edition, fosters conversations around architecture, society and the built environment through the medium of film. Along with the International Film Competition, the 2021 programme, debuting on June 2nd and held online, will feature a collection of diverse thematic screenings, essays and events titled "Capsules", which offer a platform to multiple curatorial voices.

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In the last decades, architecture has embraced the medium of film to explore new readings of spaces and atmospheres. Crafting a visual narrative of the underlying design concepts while also establishing a connection with the viewer, architecture films use cinematic camera movements and carefully curated sound designs to convey emotion and create a compelling impression of the built object. The article looks into architecture films as a means of capturing the experience of a space, with films by 9sekunden, a team of young designers who combine their passions for film and architecture into an alternative means of exploring architectural atmospheres.

Videos

The built manifestation of an ideology, the urban landscape left behind by the socialist regimes around Europe are removed from the aspirations of contemporary urban living, thus trigger a unique process of re-appropriation of the post-soviet landscapes. The short film Landscape Architecture: Rethinking The Future out of a Totalitarian Past created by Minimal Movie invites a conversation around urban planning, cultural identity, and community building relating to the urbanism and architecture of Ukraine's Socialist Era.

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Videos

In their newly released architectural film, photographer Laurian Ghinitoiu and filmmaker Arata Mori take viewers on a visually compelling tour of OMA’s MEETT Exhibition and Convention Centre, Toulouse’s new mega-scale parc des expositions. Exploring the design’s multiple facets, from the monumental to the mundane, the film constructs a detailed vision of the project sitting at the intersection of architecture, infrastructure, masterplan and public space.

The Midnight Charette is an explicit podcast about design, architecture, and the everyday. Hosted by architectural designers David Lee and Marina Bourderonnet, it features a variety of creative professionals in unscripted conversations that allow for thoughtful takes and personal discussions. A wide array of subjects are covered with honesty and humor: some episodes provide useful tips for designers, while others are project reviews, interviews, or explorations of everyday life and design. The Midnight Charette is also available on iTunes, Spotify, and YouTube.

This week David and Marina are joined by Jeff Durkin, an architectural designer turned filmmaker, to discuss his transition to filmmaking, working in Hollywood, storytelling, making design films for architects, the importance of marketing, his filmmaking process, and more. Enjoy!