Woman shaped statues, human shaped columns and caryatids flourish all over Paris. In a time when Baudelaire had already gone out of fashion, Agnès Varda recites for us some of his verses. Part of Le cœur battant de la ville. A short film selection by film critic Joachim Lepastier for the programme „La Semaine des…
Starting from 1961, Justo Gallego spent over 60 years building a cathedral the size of the Sagrada Familia using waste and recycled materials in Mejorada del Campo, Spain. He worked mostly alone, without any expertise in architecture or construction, while his community labeled him a madman
Former lead architect OMA Floris Alkemade interrupted his upward career to represent his innovative ideas at the decision-making level as Chief Government Architect of the Netherlands. The independent filmmaker André de Laat accompanied him behind the scenes for three years. He followed him to attics, cellars and construction sites where…
During the last century, the destruction of cultural heritage has had catastrophical consequences all over the world, and said war against culture is far from over. Unfrotunately, it’s impact is growing. In both Syria and Iraque, the so-called ”cradles of civilization”, thousands of years worth of cultural heritage dissappear as…
During the last century, the destruction of cultural heritage has had catastrophical consequences all over the world, and said war against culture is far from over. Unfortunately, it’s impact is growing. In both Syria and Iraque, the so-called ”cradles of civilization”, thousands of years worth of cultural heritage dissappear as…
London, 1972 – the city is growing, and with it the need to house working populations. Post-war values of social welfare make experimenting with new forms of housing possible, ushering in an era of modernist, utopian projects. Among the most daring and innovative, Peter and Alison Smithson’s Robin Hood Gardens…
London, 1972 – the city is growing, and with it the need to house working populations. Post-war values of social welfare make experimenting with new forms of housing possible, ushering in an era of modernist, utopian projects. Among the most daring and innovative, Peter and Alison Smithson’s Robin Hood Gardens…
Laurence Wilfred Baker (1917–2007) was a British-born Indian architect and artist. Renowned as an eccentric pioneer of cost-effective, energy-efficient design, and organically expressive brickwork, his humanitarian architecture—although humble—refused to be boring. In this fascinating film, directed by the architect’s grandson, Laurie Baker himself tells his remarkable life story, while giving…
A visually mesmerizing documentary that takes us to the underground Madrid, into a startling maze of tunnels, vast vaulted spaces, and railroad tracks. It presents a world of drastic defamiliarization, transforming the world that exists underneath the city into an imposingly strange and eerie scenery, as if looking into some…
How do we construct homes in today’s worldwide hotspots which are facing the challenges of climate change, globalization and migration? How do people create shelters and feel at home with others and in their bodies? Boris Benjamin Bertram’s film The Human Shelter, explores different people’s ways of creating their homes…
The Idea Is Paramount. The Architectural Passions of Andrzej Wajda uncovers the so far unknown interests of a remarkable filmmaker Andrzej Wajda. However, it is not a biographical film but a story of passion, architecture and fascination with the culture of Japan and the Far East. Andrzej Wajda, the Academy…
What does life look like within one of the world’s most interesting residential complexes? Built in the Copenhagen suburbs by the famous Danish architect Bjarke Ingels (BIG), “8 House” has changed the lives of those who inhabit it. Just like a game of lego, The Infinite Happiness draws the lines…
