Since Wim Wenders’s new documentary “Pina” hit the theaters this month, the online world hasn’t stopped talking about the German film director’s plan to create a 3D documentary film on architecture. In a recent interview with the Documentary Channel, Wenders revealed his plans stating, “I have actually already started a long-term project, another documentary in 3D. It will take several years, but it’s going to be about architecture. I have always wanted to do a film about architecture, and I have a lot of architect friends. But that is another subject I never really knew how to approach with film. I realized through PINA that architecture is something that could have a real affinity to this medium. We started shooting already, but it’s at the very, very beginning. That’s going to be my next documentary project in 3D, but I would definitely also do a narrative film in the future in 3D as well.”
‘And then it became a city…’ is a film series featured at the 2011 Shenzhen & Hong Kong Biennale of Urbanism\Architecture. The Biennale is curated by Terence Riley and just opened last week – on view in Shenzhen through February 18, 2012. And then it became a city… shows the everyday life and activity of six planned cities under sixty years old. The cities featured include Gabarone, Chandigarh, Shenzhen, Almere, Las Vegas, and Brasilia. More trailers on the films about their corresponding cities can be viewed after the break.
Our friends from architectural videos told us about this video of Norman Foster‘s Humanitas, Oxford University Lecture which took place on November 28th. The lecture considers ‘Heritage and Lessons’ where Foster encourages us to imagine how differently we might understand the modern world if we could travel back in time. We would discover that the cathedrals, the castles and the viaducts that form our ‘heritage’ were once new themselves and were seen as quite alien at the time; and that many of the landscapes we revere as ‘natural’ were in fact shaped subtly by man — some the outcome of the Industrial Revolution itself. We would also find that many of the challenges we face now have been met before.
Ryan&Heidi captures the flow of New York City life in one day, from one location and with one camera. The video was filmed from the 51st floor of The Bank of America Tower at One Bryant Park, currently New York City’s second highest location.
The experts at studio/216 have shared with us the Culture of Craft – a pilot for an AIA Committee On Design (COD) series about The Value of Design. The non-profit AIA committee spent this past year discussing this topic, hosting two conferences in Seattle and Japan. In this film, architects Tom Kundig FAIA, Bob Hull FAIA, Annie Han, Prentis Hale and Roy McMakin discuss the value of craft and design in theory and in practice.
Rem Koolhaas and Ellen van Loon discuss their design of the Rothschild Bank headquarters in London. Viewing the bank as a “dynamic system”, the main task was to create an “always efficient and always pleasant” machine that will accommodate all of the Bank’s London staff and reunite its connections with the city, including the St. Stephen’s Walbrook. OMA’s design for the New Court is the fourth iteration of NM Rothschild & Sons’ headquarters, all of which have been built on the dense and narrow medieval alley of St. Swithin’s Lane.
Starting today, you can now watch Urbanized online while it’s still in theaters! If you’ve got iTunes and you’re in the US or Canada, you can watch it via iTunes as a premium rental. If you’re not in those countries, you can rent it directly from Urbanized website via Distrify. You can also embed the film in your website or blog and share it with folks you know.
Zaha Hadid discusses the challenges she has faced throughout her life and career. She talks about the criticism that comes along with being an Arabic woman architect with “unconventional” designs and the unconditional support from her family. Hadid describes architecture as an exciting but painfully demanding field, stating, “All the arts are not respected enough.”
Museum of Architecture and Design has published the first film from the series of six Small and Smart – Expressions of Contemporary Slovenian Architecture in Film: Biotechnical Faculty, ARK arhitektura Krušec (Ljubljana, 2009-2010). Small and Smart consists of six short films, one of each of six built architectural projects. Each employs a simple story – a development, an exchange – to move through and relate the experience of the architecture. As the films move through and document the spaces and exchanges, certain key features of the architectures are revealed and emphasized. All architectures here are recent builds (2006 and later) and are of varied types, programs and scales: private house, row house, industrial facility, sacred, educational/institutional, public/sports. Together they reflect representative currents, developments and practices in the best of Slovenian architecture today.
Prefabricated concrete shells become emergency shelters for flood-ravaged communities in Pathum Thani. The concrete forms are intended to be used for the construction of Bangkok’s elevated skyway. The company that owns the shells has given the temporary residents permission to stay and access to electricity. Residents have expressed preference of the makeshift community over government shelters due to “familiar faces” and more space.
On October 19th Charlie Rose interviewed OMA founding partner Rem Koolhaas (his fifth appearance on the show). The discussion ranges from Koolhaas’ current interest in the countryside, rather than the city, his firm’s newly completed Milestein Hall project at Cornell University, and the launch of the book Project Japan: Metabolism Talks written with Hans Ulrich Obrist and edited by Kayoko Ota. Watch the interview here.
Opening in 2013, the Library of Birmingham will be a major new cultural destination, rewriting the book for 21st century public libraries. Designed by international architects Mecanoo, the Library of Birmingham will be located in the city’s Centenary Square. Recently, the author of the architectural videos blog shared with us his time lapse video of the building.
The husband-and-wife team of Charles and Ray Eames are widely regarded as America’s most important designers. Perhaps best remembered for their mid-century plywood and fiberglass furniture, the Eames Office also created a mind-bending variety of other products, from splints for wounded military during World War II, to photography, interiors, multi-media exhibits, graphics, games, films and toys. But their personal lives and influence on significant events in American life — from the development of modernism, to the rise of the computer age — has been less widely understood. Narrated by James Franco, Eames: The Architect and the Painter is the first film dedicated to these creative geniuses and their work opening November 18th at the IFC Center in New York City.
Shinkenchiku brings you an exclusive inside tour of the contemporary House NA, designed by Sou Fujimoto Architects. Thin, steel poles delicately support the transparent “pile of boxes” at varying heights. In an interview conducted by F.W. Monocle, Sou Fujimoto explains, “In one way the house is like a single space, but each room is also a tiny space of its own. The clients said they wanted to live like nomads within the house – they didn’t have specific plans for each room. The house looks radical but for the clients it seemed quite natural.”
Check out this trailer for what promises to be an awesome documentary on the Eames. This painter and architect duo carved their niche into the history of design, beginning with their famed lounge chair and ottoman, continuing with graphic design, photography, architecture, and visionary ideas for companies such as Westinghouse, Boeing and Polaroid. Directed by Jason Cohn and Bill Jersey, the documentary will run in New York at the IFC Center on November 18, and will have its broadcast premiere December 19 as part of the PBS American Masters series. Narrated by James Franco, Eames: The Architect and the Painter is the first film dedicated to these creative geniuses and their work. As the clip explains, ”They were introducing people to look at the world differently.” Enjoy!
