Architectures 5

The series Architectures presents a privileged and unprecedented look at the work of superstar architects and some of their most brilliant creations.

Architectures is devised by Richard Copans and Stan Neumann.

Co-produced by the European public television channel ARTE France, Les Films d’Ici; Centre Pompidou; Ministère de la Culture; Direction de l’Architecture et du Patrimoine; Musée d’Orsay; and Fondation Sasakawa, this series of 5 DVDs looks at architecture and its historical and social functions to reveal its meaning and impact on humanity.

Architectures 5 (2005-2007) presents six twenty-six minute films focussing on important works by major architects:

The Alhambra, Granada

Worried that their dynasty would disappear, the Nasrid sultans built this Red Castle in a strategic location over the city of Granada, ensuring that it became a paradise lost, dedicated to art, poetry and beauty.

A film by Frédéric Compain.

The House of Sugimoto, Kyoto

Built in 1743, this traditional Japanese architectural masterpiece portrays a different understanding of architecture and building. It is a typical ‘machiya’ (Kyoto traditional townhouse) and was one of the largest rebuilt during the Meiji period.

A film by Richard Copans.

The Reception and Congress Building in Rome by Adalberto Libera

One of the most ambitious buildings of the Mussolini regime, the leader of Italy’s modern movement attempted the impossible in combining fascism with modernity. It reflects Libera’s great ability to design ambiguously in a spare, metaphysical language that sits on a knife-edge between modernism and neo-classicism.

A film by Stan Neumann.

The Yoyogi Olympic Gymnasiums by Kenzo Tange

Designed for the 1964 Summer Olympic Games in Tokyo, Kenzo Tange’s two concrete gymnasiums are famous for their suspension roof design His Pritzker Prize citation described it as “among the most beautiful buildings of the 20th century”.

A film by Richard Copans.

The Villa Barbaro (villa di Maser) by Andrea Palladio

Through inventing the villa, a new type of housing, in 1550, Palladio sought to combine aesthetics with utility in transforming the Venetian Medieval Palace of Maser into a splendid country residence. His rigorous and innovative approach would have a lasting influence on Western architecture.

A film by Richard Copans.

Phaeno Science Center in Wolfsburg by Zaha Hadid

The sculptural power of the science center in Wolfsberg, Germany in which the plan is a landscape – the landscape of Zaha Hadid’s experiences. The building is the realisation of an imaginative world that we know vividly through twenty years of abstract images. It permits us to experience space in ways that never seemed possible before.

A film by Richard Copans.