From neighbourly disputes over garlic-heavy cooking to memories of Ceaușescu’s heatless winters, this film explores the rich social and material universe of a Romanian apartment building. It follows the story of the block’s administrator, in his effort to mediate relationships between neighbours and maintain peace and order. In doing so,…
The Bubble explores life in the largest retirement community in America, a sunny and meticulously maintained paradise, featuring 54 golf courses and 70 swimming pools, sprawling over nearly 100 square kilometers and home to more than 150,000 residents. Yet life in this place is not as…
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…
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…
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…
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…
The First Siza is a documentary about the Four Houses, the first project by Álvaro Siza, designed while he was still a student, and the impact of architecture on people’s lives. Through the reunion, 60 years later, between the architect and Fernando Neto — his first client and owner of…
The First Siza is a documentary about “The Four Houses in Matosinhos”, Álvaro Siza’s first completed project, designed while he was still a student. Sixty years after the completion of the four houses, Siza revisits them alongside his first client, who owns one of the homes. This reunion offers an…
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…
