SCFZ

2.4/ in intro speech, there was also a comparison of Villa Savoye (exemplar of a functionalist dwelling place, from 1928-1931, by Le Corbusier) and AA's Villa Mairea from 1938-39 (no lees modernist than the previous, but with a different vibe – more "organic")...
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Villa_Savoye
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Villa_Mairea

3.12/ in the film was displayed AA's "Maison Louis Carré". Louis Carré was an art collector, who lived in Paris in the house designed by Le Corbusier, LC himself lived not far away from Louis, they were friends. however, when Louis intended to build a house out of Paris to store his art collection, he commissioned AA...
https://www.archdaily.com/356209/ad-cla ... lvar-aalto

-----

based on film, i already mentioned close personal relations of AA with a theoretician Sigfried Giedion
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sigfried_Giedion
now i read on wiki...

Aalto's international reputation was sealed with his inclusion in the second edition of Sigfried Giedion's influential book on Modernist architecture, Space, Time and Architecture: The growth of a new tradition (1949), in which Aalto received more attention than any other Modernist architect, including Le Corbusier. In his analysis of Aalto, Giedion gave primacy to qualities that depart from direct functionality, such as mood, atmosphere, intensity of life and even national characteristics, declaring that "Finland is with Aalto wherever he goes". However, a few more recent architecture critics and historians have questioned Aalto's position of influence in the canonic history. Italian Marxist architecture historians Manfredo Tafuri and Francesco Dal Co put forward the viewpoint that Aalto's "historical significance has perhaps been rather exaggerated; with Aalto we are outside of the great themes that have made the course of contemporary architecture so dramatic. The qualities of his works have a meaning only as masterful distractions, not subject to reproduction outside the remote reality in which they have their roots." Their viewpoint was propounded by their own priority given to urbanism, seeing Aalto as an anti-urban, and thus consequently disparaging what they regarded as peripheral non-urban areas of the world: "Essentially his architecture is not appropriate to urban typologies." Similarly concerned with the appropriateness of Aalto's form language, at the other end of the political spectrum, American postmodernist critic Charles Jencks made a claim for the need for buildings to signify meaning; however, he then lifted out Aalto's Pensions Institute building as an example of what he termed Aalto's 'soft paternalism': "Conceived as a fragmented mass to break up the feeling of bureaucracy, it succeeds all too well in being humane and killing the pensioner with kindness. The forms are familiar red brick and ribbon-strip windows broken by copper and bronze elements – all carried through with a literal-mindedness that borders on the soporific."

critique of AA in his homeland mentioned in a nutshell in previous post as well. wiki elaborates as follows...

But also during Aalto's lifetime he faced critique from his fellow architects in Finland, most notably Kirmo Mikkola and Juhani Pallasmaa; by the last decade of his life Aalto's work was seen as idiosyncratic and individualistic, when the opposing tendencies of rationalism and constructivism – often championed under left-wing politics – argued for anonymous virtually non-aesthetic architecture. Mikkola wrote of Aalto's late works: "Aalto has moved to his present baroque line."

-------

3.13/ after Aino died Alvar made several drawings of his deceased wife on a deathbed. they were displayed in the film. i can't find them online???

today's (last) screening of the festival takes place in CAMP, the Center for Architecture and Metropolitan Planning, which i already made familiar.

there are two other Prague places (galleries) that are devoted to architecture but are not film festival venues.

1/ The Jaroslav Fragner Gallery (GJF)...
https://www.gjf.cz/en/o-galerii/historie/
it bears the name of Bohemian architect JF...
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jaroslav_Fragner

in the past (before CAMP emerged) GJF was the main place presenting architecture to the public in Prague. i attended there MVRDV exhibition and many others. lately, however, i go to GJF rather rarely. one of the latest GJF disappointments was an exhibition where about 20 tablets were hanging on the walls, displaying videos from Vimeo which are accessible online. if GJF would just send out an e-mail with 20 links, one could click and play them all at home without the need to go anywhere. hopefully, GJF will raise from ashes in the future to its past splendor.

2/ VI PER Gallery...
http://www.vipergallery.org/en/about

the abbreviation has a gap between "Vi" and "Per" and i am not familiar with what the abbreviation means, so i pronounce it without gap as "viper". it is a relatively new place (similarly as CAMP, it emerged just few years ago - according to exhibition history it seems like Viper is spitting venom since 2016). i am also not completely familiar with the background, but in my perception, it is a gallery run by ladies. two ladies are mentioned in "contact" section of their website and whenever i attend anything in Viper (be it exhibition or lecture) there are ladies in charge. the other specifics of Viper is its strong political flavor. they usually present architecture with some "political" connotation, f.e. exhibition of architectural spaces where virginity is being restored (investigation how the spaces/clinics where something creepy like this is taking place look like), or f.e. exhibition of architectural spaces where torture is taking place ("forensic" architecture), or f.e. exhibition of logistics landscapes (capitalist apocalypse), etc. etc.

hymen restoration spaces
http://www.vipergallery.org/en/exhibiti ... ors-beirut
forensic architecture
http://www.vipergallery.org/en/exhibiti ... e-conflict
logistics landscapes
http://www.vipergallery.org/en/exhibiti ... landscapes

Viper and CAMP and GJF also run small bookshops, selling books solely about architecture.

actually, i made CAMP familiar only from the inside. so, this is how the whole cluster of 3 brutalist "witch houses" on massive "chicken legs" (CAMP occupies part of it) looks like (on the first pic entrance into CAMP)...



it was designed by Karel Prager...
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Karel_Prager

He was one of the most prominent architects of modernist and brutalist architecture in the Czechoslovakia during the second half of 20th century.

he also made brutalist (right) extension of the neo-renaissance (left) building of National Theater...


the federal assembly (parliament of the socialist Czechoslovakia)...


with the change of regime (from authoritarian to democratic) members of the new capitalist parliament moved from this brutalist building to the baroque/feudal palace in the old town. another proof that capitalism has more affinity to neo-feudalism/monopoly than to modernity. for several years it was empty and nowadays it serves as an extension to the neo-renaissance building of National Museum...


i was there recently to see the exhibition of Bohemia's ancient Celtic heritage. Middle Europe was Celtic before to be a Celt was cool in Ireland!
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hallstatt_culture
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/La_T%C3%A8ne_culture
most treasured Celtic artefact of Bohemia is the head of a Celt (which i have seen on my very eyes few weeks ago!)...


considering the above, plus all the plague spreading all around the world, the lockdown, me first taking psychedelic mushrooms this year (having subsequently first "false awakening" dream) and my newly acquired supernatural ability to describe Prague as a magic place (despite it is predominantly a place of filth), i guess i am getting transformed in 2020 into a male witch (a druid, a wicker man who meets the creeper)!
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Druid
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wicker_man

most radical project of Karel Prager for the city of Prague is this...


it is done in the spirit of metabolism...
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Metabolism_(architecture)

unfortunately, it was not realized in Prague (which is a proof inhabitants of Prague are mostly shitheads) but as a derivation in Tbilisi (Bank of Georgia)...
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bank_of_Georgia

last chapter of the current outburst of civic online journalism...
https://letterboxd.com/film/tokyo-ride/

film about Ryue Nishizawa (he, *1966)...
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ryue_Nishizawa
with the appearance of Kazuyo Sejima (she, *1956)...
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kazuyo_Sejima
having together SANAA studio...
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/SANAA

as opposed to the many examples of an older husband-architect overshadowing a younger wife-architect, in this case, the constellation is somewhat different (she is older than him, they are only professional partners and not romantic at the same time = getting the recognition both)...

After apprenticing with Toyo Ito, Sejima established Kazuyo Sejima & Associates in 1987. One of her first hires was Ryue Nishizawa, a student who had worked with Sejima at Toyo Ito and Associates. After working for Sejima for several years, Sejima asked him to form a partnership. In 1995, the two founded the Tokyo-based firm SANAA (Sejima and Nishizawa and Associates). ... In 2010, she was awarded the Pritzker Prize, together with Ryue Nishizawa.

this black-n-white film (a one-day long road-movie in the streets of Tokyo) has a very light tone, is witty (typical feature of Beka&Lemoine films, their "Koolhaas Houselife" is almost an architectural slapstick comedy), is a perfect conclusion of the festival. Ryue drives vintage alfa-romeo, plays Verdi and chats with the filmmakers, his fellow passengers, about anything and everything. occassionaly they stop to see some building (below are not mentioned all)...

1/ frog grave/shrine??? (i can't spot it now)

2/ the dwelling place of Kazuo (designed by Ryue)

3/ Yoyogi National Gymnasium (by Kenzo Tange, considered by Ryue the most noteworthy Tokyo building, Ryue also mentions the rivalry between Kenzo Tange and Eero Saarinen)...
https://www.archdaily.com/109138/ad-cla ... enzo-tange

4/ and the film ends on a terrace of Moriyama house (designed by Ryue, featured in B&L "Moriyama-San" movie i mentioned before)...
https://www.dezeen.com/2017/04/14/edmun ... se-houses/

i feel sympathetic to Japanese playfulness, their ability to look as if absent-minded and suddenly out of the blue to crack a joke (or to utter something unintentionally funny). Ryue addresses this in one of his remarks while driving the car. he says Japanese are "child-like", "naked" as opposed to Europeans who are "mature", "armored", "having a facade". architecture on the continent (Europe, China) compares to a "noun". as opposed to the architecture of the island (Japan, Indonesia) which is more like a "verb". Le Corbusier is a "giant", Mies van der Rohe "king", Oscar Niemeyer "communist". Hiroshi Hara being mentioned. etc., etc., etc.

in the last shot Mr. Nishizawa and Mr. Moriyama are gazing at the Moon with the melancholid tune being played alongside. it is a staged scene just to make fun.

IT'S OVER!

but tomorrow starts...
Architecture Film Festival Rotterdam

The Architecture Film Festival Rotterdam takes place at LantarenVenster film theatre from 7 to 11 October 2020.

someone from Netherlans to continue???

jiri meetsTheCreeper wrote: ↑Mon Oct 05, 2020 6:02 pm omg, they might even mix carrot with banana in the future to make a brand new carrot cake! rather to stop thinking about the future.

this is fine. i am allergic to strawberries. also i never worry about leaving the stove on (it's been broken for 8 years) but i at least once a week walk to the end of my road and back to my front door to check that i've locked it.

& i don't think finnish architecture had much effect on the north of england, the next village along got a matti suuronen house once, but only because the local factory manufactured his plastics and it was generally treated like a circus and didn't stay long



also there is no light-hearted gill sans or johnston up here



the last time i saw this exact type was a couple of days ago in the brilliant biograph watching a train go to conw(a)y castle in 1898.

AND HURRAH FOR ALL ARCHITECTURE AND FILM FESTIVALS

twodeadmagpies wrote: ↑Tue Oct 06, 2020 9:19 pm & i don't think finnish architecture had much effect on the north of england, the next village along got a matti suuronen house once, but only because the local factory manufactured his plastics and it was generally treated like a circus and didn't stay long

i hope they exchanged matti suuronen for haus-rucker...

twodeadmagpies wrote: ↑Tue Oct 06, 2020 9:19 pm the last time i saw this exact type was a couple of days ago in the brilliant biograph watching a train go to conw(a)y castle in 1898.

omg, i am more delusional than i thought!

i guess i can use this thread (in the meantime between the festivals) to post all i watch about architecture...

ARCHITECT ATHFIELD (Sam Neill, 1977)
https://letterboxd.com/film/architect-athfield/

Examines the practical philosophy, the achievements and frustrations of one of New Zealand’s most lively and innovative architects, Ian Athfield. The film provides a portrait of the architect and his work both in New Zealand and his project to design housing for 140,000 squatters from the Tondo area of Manila in the Philippines, for which Athfield won an international competition in 1975.

Ian Athfield (1940-2015)
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ian_Athfield

films portrays all kinds of Ian's projects but i was most impressed by his own house (labyrinth) in Wellington.
https://www.stuff.co.nz/life-style/home ... ture-award

The Athfield Home and Office is one of the great stories of New Zealand architecture. In 2000, when the already sprawling house had been spreading for more than 30 years, the editor of The Architectural Review described it as “one of the most wonderful houses of the twentieth century”. It is impossible to separate the house from its creator; in many ways the building is Ath’s built manifesto, his own narrative in concrete. The house says so much about Ath’s philosophy of living, as well as his approach to architecture, not that, in his case, the two can be separated. Over time, the house became a village, a site where many people live and even more work, and where Ath tried things out for 50 years, attempting to reconcile the pleasures of communal life with the need for privacy, wrestling with the challenges of completion, and even reaching an eventual understanding with the local council.

on first pic is a model of the house, the rest are pics of the house...



his office also designed (not realized) few high-rise buildings with delightfully picturesque parter...

CITY OF DREAMS (Belinda Mason, 2000)
https://letterboxd.com/film/city-of-dreams-2000/

This documentary explores the collaboration between Marion Mahony, the first registered woman architect in the world and the longest-serving designer in Frank Lloyd Wright’s practice, and husband Walter Burley Griffin.

Marion Mahony Griffin (1871-1961)
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Marion_Mahony_Griffin
Walter Burley Griffin (1976-1937)
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Walter_Burley_Griffin

both born in Chicago, Marion 5 yrs older than Walter (they married in 1911, Marion 40, Walter 35), socialists by political conviction (or "social idealists" to use the phrase of those terrified by the "s-----ism" word)...

She graduated (in architecture) from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (M.I.T.) in 1894. She was the second woman to do so

Walter was "THE" environmental activist already in the cradle...


they met in Frank Lloyd Wright's office, she was a super exquisite draftsman (draftswoman) making the flourishing visualizations of the projects...


after they started their own business, they made themselves comfortable somewhere (halfway) between prairie school and art deco...


their biggest professional achievement was winning an international competition for the masterplan of Canberra, the newly conceived federal capital of Australia (where they moved in 1913 to supervise the execution of the project)...


being already in Australia they spread the beauty not only in Canberra but also in Melbourne (Marion's decorative interior design of Melbourne Capitol Theater)...
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Capitol,_Melbourne


ultimately they settled in the (nowadays) suburb of Sydney, called Castlecrag, where they led a somewhat Bohemian lifestyle full of (drugs i suppose - tho the doc is silent about this), Walter's adultery (Marion left Walter in 1930, going back to Chicago, but in 1932 she returned), Marion's embrace of anthroposophy, and all-around dressing up pastimes...
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Castlecra ... outh_Wales


but this Castlecrag idyll didn't last for a long, Walter died in 1937 and Marion returned to Chicago (this time for good).
widowed Marion's main hobby was "hubby-cancel culture", or inking out hubby's name from drawings-visualizations (done by her) of the (common) projects (with Walter's sole signature) to balance their mutual legacy in the history of architecture.
she was black-blocking her deceased hubby's name beautifully, with utmost attention (which is proof it was a deliberate emancipatory act — not a fit of hysterical anger that would be expressed by a rather gestic style of erasure).

jiri kino ovalis wrote: ↑Wed Dec 30, 2020 9:42 pm being already in Australia they spread the beauty not only in Canberra but also in Melbourne (Marion's decorative interior design of Melbourne Capitol Theater)...
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Capitol,_Melbourne

I've caught a few film screenings there! I think it's now mainly used as a lecture hall during the day.





I've also lived in Canberra for a few years. Unfortunately, the highly planned nature of the city has come to breed sterility and parochialism (though the locals seem to like it!).

i like the Capitol Theater interior! from the pictures it gives a "being inside a grotto" feeling.

and related to Canberra, the documentary says the following:
1/ Walter Griffin won the competition with his design.
2/ however, this winning project was re-worked by a local committee of "bureaucrats" and intended to be implemented (without Walter) in crippled form.
3/ previous step (2) triggered an uproar in local & international architectural circles.
4/ with the change of Australia's prime minister (Andrew Fisher being replaced by Billy Hughes) Walter Griffin was back in the game (installed as the head of the executive committee).
5/ however, he was permanently struggling with the opposition of the "bureaucrats" and with the outbreak of World War 1 there was also a scarcity of funds.
6/ in sum, Canberra as it was conceived by Walter is not completely the same as Canberra in reality.

tho even if Walter's project would be fully implemented, "sterility and parochialism" would be probably still there (tho maybe in a lesser degree) because conceiving the whole (capitol) cities (be it Canberra or Brasilia) "from the table" can't probably give "natural" results.

DT. wrote: ↑Thu Dec 31, 2020 6:56 am I've caught a few film screenings there!

according to a still from the above-mentioned documentary, the very first screening in Melbourne's Capitol Theater (opened in 1924) was "The World's Mightiest Dramatic Spectacle" (1923) by Cecil B. Demented.

after (the previous) CITY OF DREAMS, i watched (for a change) DREAM OF A CITY.

DREAM OF A CITY (Manfred Kirchheimer, 2018)
https://letterboxd.com/film/dream-of-a-city/
NYC city symphony.
footage from 1958-1960, edited in 2018.

just copy-pasting it here from another thread (1997 poll viewing No13)...

PHILIP JOHNSON: DIARY OF AN ECCENTRIC ARCHITECT (Barbara Wolf, 1997)
https://letterboxd.com/film/philip-john ... architect/

a doc about Philip C. Johnson's experimental houses (on the pics below is the "Library") built on his estate in New Canaan, Connecticut.

http://djhuppatz.blogspot.com/2011/02/p ... d-new.html
While the Glass House is an undisputed icon of modernist architecture, the other structures on Johnson’s New Canaan estate are less well known. More than simply a country retreat, Johnson’s estate functioned as a forum for ideas for over fifty years as it grew from an original five acres to forty acres as Johnson bought adjoining properties. Structures on the estate built by Johnson were: the Glass House and Guest House (both 1949), the Lake Pavilion (1962), the Painting Gallery (1965), the Sculpture Gallery (1970), the Library (1984), the Lincoln Kirsten Tower (1985), the Ghost House (1985), and Da Monsta (1994). These various buildings and follies can be seen as an autobiographical map tracing Johnson’s professional life, not only as an architect, but also as a connoisseur, tastemaker, and historian.

1988 poll viewing No15:
FRANK GEHRY: THE FORMATIVE YEARS (Michael Blackwood)
https://letterboxd.com/film/frank-gehry ... ive-years/

I was always rather indifferent to (and subsequently ignorant of) FG's work so I expected the "worst".
However, the film was "surprisingly" fine (there were many things I could relate to).
Maybe it has something to do with my ambiguous perceptions of Postmodernism in architecture.
There are two seminal theoretical treatises about Postmodern architecture (there are more — but there are two by Robert Venturi).
A/ "Learning from Las Vegas" (Robert Venturi, Denise Scott Brown, Steven Izenour, 1972) which I still resist to read (resist to take any "Las Vegas lessons").
B/ "Complexity and Contradiction in Architecture" (Robert Venturi, 1966) which is one of my very favorite readings about architecture.
After watching this documentary my "Las Vegas resistance" somewhat weakened and I actually might read the other too (once).

1/ First FG's noteworthy project is "Danziger Studio and Residence", Los Angeles, 1964/65.
https://www.domusweb.it/en/architecture ... 64-65.html
It is his first project and also his last one made solely of cubic shapes (based on the orthogonal grid).
https://www.architecturaldigest.com/gal ... os-angeles
Louis Kahn (1901-1974) was the inspirational source here.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Louis_Kahn

2/ Then there was a glimpse of another early house that I didn't identify yet.


3/ "Sirmay Peterson House", Thousand Oaks, California, 1984/86.
http://www.atlasofinteriors.polimi.it/2 ... a-1984-86/
Postmodern dwelling place and the historical reference (a Romanesque sacral building)...


4/ "Loyola Law School" and the reference to ancient Rome (ruins of the Forum Romanum)...
https://www.archiweb.cz/en/b/loyola-law-school


5/"The Winton Guest House", Wayzata, Minnesota, 1983/87.
It is an homage to Philip C. Johnson's experimental houses, New Canaan, Connecticut, which are coincidentally mentioned in the post above (viz PHILIP JOHNSON: DIARY OF AN ECCENTRIC ARCHITECT).


6/ "Gehry Residence", Santa Monica, California.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gehry_Residence
I am always highly interested in buildings when an architect is his own client (when he builds something not for others to satisfy their silly demands, but exclusively for himself).


7/ The (serious, or mean) references in Postmodernism are not always sublime (f.e. historic buildings of ancient Rome or of Romanesque style).
Sometimes, there is an (ironic) reference to something trivial (f.e. a simple lifeguard cabin on the beach).
https://www.archdaily.com/337607/ad-cla ... rank-gehry
In the first segment the inspiration (a lifeguard cabin), the rest "Norton House" (with special attention to the "home-office", the lifeguard-like workspace of the writer William Norton)...


8/ FG also designed a Mexican restaurant with two big black crocodiles and one huge red octopus adorning the inside (otherwise, in general, Frank is fond of fishes and their smooth shapes)...


9/ Or he attached above the entrance to the "California Aerospace Museum" an airplane which is heading to the ground (just a few milliseconds before its crash), but the investors preferred something more (deludingly) optimistic, and thus ultimately the entrance is adorned by an airplane aiming up (high to the sky)...


10/ Last project displayed in the film was a design of the skyscraper conceived on the spot of the Penn Station, New York (not sure if at all, or in what shape it was built — I can't find being realized anything similar to the model on display). This project is a harbinger of FG's later large (iconic) landmarks (as opposed to those previous 1-9 small, or rather "small" buildings — in skyscraper's comparison)...

Architecture MoM on KG coming soon! stay tuned!

1988 poll viewing No32:
THE CITY (Rein Raamat)
https://letterboxd.com/film/linn/
A spectre is haunting the city — the spectre of free-market-neoliberalism, Part 1.

Review by Ryan McSwain ↓
A surreal urban nightmare. People live in a normal city, until a giant obelisk begins pushing buildings closer together, shrinking the rooms around the inhabitants and creating towering skyscrapers. The throng of city dwellers fight back, forming a composite giant. But the obelisk has its own means of spreading its unstoppable, soulless control.

https://youtu.be/hmw3y-l-hHA

1988 poll viewing No33:
KOWLOON: THE WALLED CITY (Hugo Portisch)
ltbxd 1989, imdb 1988
https://letterboxd.com/film/kowloon-walled-city/
https://www.imdb.com/title/tt11170736/
A spectre is haunting the city — the spectre of free-market-neoliberalism, Part 2.

The Walled City of Kowloon has no visible wall around it, but it is as clearly defined as if there were one made of hard, high steel. It is instantly sensed by the congested open market that runs along the street in front of the row of dark run-down flats—shacks haphazardly perched on top of one another giving the impression that at any moment the entire blighted complex will collapse under its own weight, leaving nothing but rubble where elevated rubble had stood.
—Robert Ludlum, The Bourne Supremacy, p. 149

A few people who spent time in Kowloon Walled City have written accounts of their experiences. Evangelist Jackie Pullinger wrote a 1989 memoir, Crack in the Wall, about her involvement in treating drug addicts within the Walled City. In his 2004 autobiography Gweilo, Martin Booth describes his exploration of the Walled City as a child in the 1950s. In addition to such accounts, many authors, game designers, and filmmakers have used the Walled City to convey a sense of oppressive urbanization or unfettered criminality. In literature, Robert Ludlum's novel The Bourne Supremacy uses the Walled City as one of its settings. The City appears as a virtual reality environment (described by Steven Poole as an "oasis of political and creative freedom") in William Gibson's Bridge trilogy, and as a contrast with Singapore in his Wired article "Disneyland with the Death Penalty". In the manga Crying Freeman, the titular character's wife travels to the Walled City to master her swordsmanship and control a cursed sword. The manga Blood+: Kowloon Nights uses the Walled City as the setting for a series of murders. The 1984 gangster film Long Arm of the Law features the Walled City as a refuge for gang members before they are gunned down by police. In the 1988 film Bloodsport, starring Jean-Claude Van Damme, the Walled City is the setting for a martial arts tournament. The 1992 non-narrative film Baraka features several highly detailed shots of the Walled City shortly before its demolition. The 1993 film Crime Story starring Jackie Chan was partly filmed in the deserted Walled City, and includes real scenes of building explosions. A walled neighborhood called the Narrows in the 2005 film Batman Begins was inspired by the Walled City. The 2006 Hong Kong horror film Re-cycle features a decrepit, nightmarish version of the Walled City, complete with tortured souls from which the protagonist must flee. The anime series Street Fighter II V featured Kowloon Walled City as the location of an underground fighting circuit.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kowloon_Walled_City

1988 poll viewing No39:
ART IN THE PUBLIC EYE: THE MAKING OF DARK STAR PARK (Nancy Holt)

https://www.eai.org/titles/art-in-the-p ... -star-park
This piece documents the process behind the creation of Holt's major public art installation, Dark Star Park, in Arlington, Virginia. The park, which features giant concrete spheres and pipes, allows the visitor to reconsider the experience of space, earth and sky within an urban context. It also serves as a kind of contemporary Stonehenge: once a year, on August 1 at 9:30 am, the shadows of the objects exactly align with outlines on the ground.

Landart and real estate development joining forces (and the whole universe stops for a moment)...
https://youtu.be/FaZfrEVR844

1988 poll viewing No42:
TADAO ANDO (Michael Blackwood)
https://letterboxd.com/film/tadao-ando/

1/ Church on the Water, in Tomamu, east of the city of Sapporo, 1988
https://www.archdaily.com/97455/ad-clas ... tadao-ando

2/ Tomishima House, in Osaka, 1973
https://ofhouses.com/post/144331596578/ ... house-oydo

Tadao Ando (Pritzker Prize 1995) debuted with this design for a single-family house in the Oydo neighborhood of his native Osaka. When the house proved unsuitable for the growing Tomishima family, Ando bought it and refurbished it as headquarters for his architectural practice. The structure will undergo several extensions and further modifications in the 80s, until being finally taken down in 1991 to make way for the seven-storey building now known as ‘Atelier in Oyodo II’. Reportedly, Ando has plans for yet further reconfiguration and expansion of the building.

3/ Times Building, in Kyoto, 1983-1984 (completed in two phases, the final in 1991)
https://www.archiweb.cz/en/b/time-s-i-ii

This building was the start of a recurring theme in Ando's talk, involving his persistence. Originally it was supposed to be a renovation, but Ando didn't think much of the building he was supposed to renovate. He admitted that he doesn't think about what the client wants. He does what he wants -- he wants to make it better. He thinks about how he can change the environment, change the block. Kyoto has shallow rivers, so he put in stairs down to the river. The client was worried about floods causing damage to the store merchandise, but Ando wanted the building to have as close a relationship with the water as possible. The final design has the building appear to be floating on a river, like a boat.
After he finished the Times building, he started dreaming up designs for the Chinese restaurant behind it (without the owner's request or approval). He approached the restaurant owner, who was angry with him. After four years of approaching the owner, Ando got permission to redo that building, and thus was born the Times II, which further extended his design down the riverfront. Ando then pointed out the building behind the Chinese restaurant and showed us his designs for that building (apparently that owner is still too angry); Ando is still hoping.
From the very first day Ando wanted to create a riverfront, to change the environment, to create a public space, and he fought for it.

4/ Galleria Akka, in Osaka, 1985-1988
http://studiopham.com/galleria-akka-tadao-ando-osaka
(Piranessian spatial drama.)

5/ Kidosaki House, in Setagaya, Tokyo, 1982-1986
https://architectboy.com/kidosaki-house-tadao-ando/


6/ Chapel on Mt. Rokko, in Kobe, Hyogo, 1985-1986
http://architecturalmoleskine.blogspot. ... rokko.html

This small chapel located on Mount Rokko, near Kobe, completes the trilogy of Christian religious facilities designed by Tadao Ando in the mid-eighties. While not enjoying the same fame as the Church on the Water or the Church of Light, the chapel at Mount Rokko becomes a synthesis of its predecessors and stresses the architect’s effort to establish a link between the religious space and nature.

Paradoxically, in my (on-screen) perception, TA's (labyrinth-like) residential houses or commercial buildings seem much more mysterious than his (overly rational) sacral (Christian) shrines.

7/ RAIKA Headquarters Building, in Suminoe, Osaka, 1986
(Pantheon-form-n-size space inside.)

8/ Koshino House, in Ashiya, Hyogo, 1979-1981
https://www.archdaily.com/161522/ad-cla ... tadao-ando

9/ Rokko Housing, in Kobe, Hyogo, I. 1978-1983 (II. till 1991, III. till 1999)
https://architectboy.com/rokko-housing-1234/
(Considered by TA as his "most important" project.)


10/ TA, in his forties, still living in the same wooden house (in Osaka) where he grew up.


11/ Tea House, in Osaka (near Tomishima House), 1985
("Eventually, I'd like to make a tea house underground, covered with earth." —TA)

12/ Beside a book about Le Corbusier from a second-hand book shop, the main inspiration source for young TA was the (Second, 1923–1968) Imperial Hotel in Tokyo by Frank Lloyd Wright (mostly demolished in 1968).
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Imperial_Hotel,_Tokyo

13/ Last but not least, TA, the elder of the twin brothers, influenced by his maternal grandmother's values, was a self-taught architect who called his dog "Le Corbusier" and urged his employees to do physical exercises in front of the studio.

"To make architecture is to make war.
The only difference is that in architecture there is no victory." —TA

"I believe that darkness enriches your soul.
I'm sorry that modern architecture eliminated this aspect." —TA

1988 poll viewing No43:
LYON, INSIDE OUT (Bertrand Tavernier)
https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0189701/

Shown as a part of The Director's Place series, this meditation on Lyon and life passing is both a love affair to a home city and a strident denunciation of some of its darker secrets. With moving moments as director Bertrand Tavernier shares thoughts and feelings with his father.

1/ In the first half of the film, Tavernier (René) & Son (Bertrand) recollect about their family house that doesn't exist anymore. During WW2, its attic became a shelter of Louis Aragon and Elsa Triolet. While René talks about those times (on the spot where the house was standing), among the attentive listeners is also a local deer who is photobombing the scene behind René's left shoulder (to remind us of Louis Aragon's affiliation with surrealism).


2/ The second half consists of the psychogeographical exploration of the city of Lyon as a whole. In particular, it shares (f.e.) the sensual experience connected with entering the Lyonesse apartment houses (thus we can savor the secrets of some of the Lyonesse households).


3/ Those fond of "The Watchmaker of St. Paul" (taking place in Lyon) will find in this documentary some behind-the-scenes tidbits.

2015 poll viewing No8:
SICK BUILDING SYNDROME (Chen Chun-tien, Yang Chen-yu)

https://vimeo.com/127732837

2021 Pritzker Architecture Prize laureates announced.

https://www.pritzkerprize.com/laureates ... ppe-vassal
Anne Lacaton (1955, Saint-Pardoux, France) and Jean-Philippe Vassal (1954, Casablanca, Morocco) met in the late 1970s during their formal architecture training at École Nationale Supérieure d'Architecture et de Paysage de Bordeaux. Lacaton went on to pursue a Masters in Urban Planning from Bordeaux Montaigne University (1984), while Vassal relocated to Niger, West Africa to practice urban planning. Lacaton often visited Vassal, and it was there that the genesis of their architectural doctrine began, as they were profoundly influenced by the beauty and humility of sparing resources within the country’s desert landscapes.

2007 poll rewatch:
DREAM HOME (Anthony Discenza)

Digital video loop, 2007. Constructed from still images found by searching Google under the phrase "Dream Home."

https://vimeo.com/1488393

10TH EDITION
FILM AND ARCHITECTURE
PRAGUE
30. 9. – 4. 10. 2021
http://filmarchitektura.cz/en/

i expect to see:
Unexpected Modernism: The Architecture of the Wiener Brothers (Gregory Kallenberg, 2020)
Villa Empain (Katharina Kastner, 2019)
Dear Esther (Nora Stone, 2020)
Mario Botta. The Space Beyond (Loretta Dalpozzo, Michèle Volontè, 2018)

https://youtu.be/YTYrm5Gmj58

and later maybe also:
Another Kind of Knowledge (Marc-Christoph Wagner, Simon Weyhe, 2021)
that is not part of the local festival but the opening film (simultaneously screened in Prague) of...
Copenhagen Architecture Festival
7.-17. October 2021
https://en.cafx.dk/

https://youtu.be/YXPXv1OeJQo

-------------------------------
besides, AFFR (Architecture Film Festival Rotterdam) 6 - 10 OCT. 2021 should not be ignored! https://www.affr.nl/en/program/

is this our default architecture thread aside from the cup one which is too perfect to interfere with?

this isn't a film but i love this:

https://publicdomainreview.org/essay/a- ... rchaeology

never really paid much attention to piranesi but am now raiding amazon

twodeadmagpies wrote: ↑Sat Feb 12, 2022 2:37 pm is this our default architecture thread?

i hope it is!
festival only takes place a week (or two) so it would be a crime to keep this thread abandoned in the meantime...

neon ickyshonky wrote: ↑Tue Dec 29, 2020 3:02 am i guess i can use this thread (in the meantime between the festivals) to post all i watch about architecture...

when i visited Piranesi exhibition in 2014 (viz ↓)...

neon ickyshonky wrote: ↑Sat Dec 12, 2020 8:58 pm 1963poll viewing No9:
JOSEPH KILIAN (Pavel Juráček, Jan Schmidt)

Just a little "kinoeye quotidian" detail.
The house into which the main character enters to look for comrade Kilian...

is a Clam-Gallas Palace.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Clam-Gallas_Palace

I love that baroque palace and I love the Hercules statues at the entrance.
The palace is currently owned by Prague municipality and the exhibitions are held there.
In 2014, I visited the exhibition (of Piranesi) there and made these 3 pics with Hercules' details...

... i was mesmerized by the "imaginary prisons"!
and besides making 3 pics of the herculanean statues at the doorstep, i also did plenty of pics inside.
besides "imaginary prisons", i also like his urban labyrinths...



and the way he depicts the clouds...



in the past, i attempted to make "reference sources to architecture" online encyclopedia called "Mies Anything" (mies van der rohe anything or miss anything) — originally called "Get Loos" (get adolf loos or get lost) — that turned out to become too ambitious project that nowadays exists only in the rudimentary state (in ruins) and for visuals i used exclusively my piranesi pics from the exhibition!
f.e. https://sites.google.com/site/miesanyth ... j/typology
https://sites.google.com/site/miesanyth ... ment_ratio
https://sites.google.com/site/miesanyth ... metabolism
https://sites.google.com/site/miesanything/g-subj
etc. etc.
so, i can completely understand the piranesi frenzy!

that is an epically ambitious site, no wonder it defeated you, lovely ruin tho it is!

i really need to see this piranesi stuff on something other than a pc screen, hence have ordered books in lieu of being able to see such things as 'exhibitions'...

and since last year, or the year before, i read that one (1) book on tiepolo and became an instant expert, i saw those piranesi hatchings, eg clouds and thought aha! and yes, apparently piranesi worked a brief time in tiepolo's studio. what foment of insanity those two together must have been! *devours everything*

2009 poll highlights:

DOSHI (Premjit Ramachandran)

in 2018, one of the biggest surprises in the history of the Pritzker Price happened.
instead of some (usual) star architect (regular of the key western architectural journals), Balkrishna Doshi was announced.
→ https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/B._V._Doshi
despite i love Kahn (and he collaborated with Kahn), i must admit that i was (also) completely unfamiliar with B.V. Doshi.
and, as i was not the only one, there was a big hype (after the announcement) of looking for anything about B.V. Doshi.
and, thus, this particular documentary from 2009 suddenly became an invaluable resource in 2018 (the time when i watched it).

Balkrishna Doshi Named 2018 Pritzker Prize Laureate
https://www.archdaily.com/890126/balkri ... e-laureate

Pritzker Price, 2018
https://www.pritzkerprize.com/laureates ... shna-doshi

https://www.imdb.com/title/tt1326764/

The architect Balkrishna Doshi has mirrored the evolution of contemporary Indian architecture. Doshi's first job under Le Corbusier had a profound impact on him but he sought to interpret local conditions of site, climate and technology.

https://youtu.be/3uI4ShaLg-E

today (actually, yesterday already, i.e. Mar 10), the lady (Alena Šrámková) who tutored/impacted me (during my unfinished architectural studies) died (1929-2022).

as far as i know, there are two documentaries about her.

1/ tv doc called THE FIRST LADY OF CZECH ARCHITECTURE (Jana Chytilová, 2017, 52 min).
i don't think it has Eng subs and even if it would have those subs i don't think it is anywhere available right now.

2/ the other is called HOUSE IN ORDER (Hedvika Hlaváčková, 2011, 17 min) and it can be viewed either on DocAll/dafilms
→ https://dafilms.com/film/8213-house-in-order

or on vimeo ↓
https://vimeo.com/32755926

holdrüholoheuho wrote: ↑Fri Mar 11, 2022 12:17 am it can be viewed either on DocAll/dafilms

grrr no subtitles, so thanks for the vimeo link.

love how everyone just hates the building lol