Documentary: Architecture

2011 "The Pruitt-Igoe Myth" explores the rise & fall of titular housing complex in St. Louis, examining racism & gov. Policies through interviews with former residents & historical footage. Ft racism, urban poverty & inequality in America.

The film traces the rise of one of the world's premier architects, Norman Foster, and his unending quest to improve the quality of life through design.

Director Nathaniel Kahn searches to understand his father, noted architect Louis Kahn, who died bankrupt and alone in 1974.

An architect supervising an exhibition starts to have mysterious stomach pains while his life slowly falls apart.

Rarely has an architect caused as much sensation outside of the architecture community as Rem Koolhaas. His outstanding creations--such as the Dutch Embassy in Berlin, the Seattle Library and the Casa da Musica concert hall in Porto--are working examples of the Dutchman's visionary theories about architecture and urban society. But Koolhaas' work is as much about ideas as it is about constructing buildings; he is equally celebrated as a writer and social commentator. For Koolhaas, what is essential is not to create individual masterpieces, but to provoke and excite through the wide range of his activities. REM KOOLHAAS: A KIND OF ARCHITECT is an engaging portrait of a visionary man that takes us to the heart of his ideas. Directors Markus Heidingsfelder and Min Tesch have made a visually inventive, thought-provoking portrait of the architect, prompting Rem Koolhaas to state, "It's the only film about me that I have liked."

What happens to a house designed by a Starchitect? How is it maintained, how does it age? What problems could there be? Could there be any problems?

A documentary about legendary architect and master provocateur Rem Koolhaas.

REGULAR OR SUPER is a fascinating and informative introduction to the work of Mies van der Rohe (1886-1969), one of the 20th century's most influential architects, and a thought-provoking demonstration of the social and artistic contributions that architecture at its best can make to our urban environments.

A documentary about the design of cities, which looks at the issues and strategies behind urban design and features some of the world's foremost architects, planners, policymakers, builders, and thinkers.

Narrated by Dustin Hoffman, VISUAL ACOUSTICS celebrates the life and career of Julius Shulman, the worldÕs greatest architectural photographer, whose images brought modern architecture to the American mainstream.

An award-winning documentary that explores the encapsulating experiences of simple construction laborers, who find themselves building Palais Royale, the TALLEST building in India.

Half of the human population lives in urban areas. By 2050, this will increase to 80%. Life in a megacity is both enchanting and problematic. Today we face peak oil, climate change, loneliness and severe health issues due to our way of life. But why? The Danish architect and professor Jan Gehl has studied human behavior in cities through four decades. He has documented how modern cities repel human interaction, and argues that we can build cities in a way, which takes human needs for inclusion and intimacy into account. 'The Human Scale' meets thinkers, architects and urban planners across the globe. It questions our assumptions about modernity, exploring what happens when we put people into the centre of our planning.

A film about famous Italian-Brazilian architect Lina Bo Bardi, who created poetry through architectural precision. Told in a series of interviews in Portuguese with English subtitles on the eve of her 100th birthday, Bo Bardi's colleagues and friends recount the sociopolitical constraints and personal events that would lead to the timelessness of her work. This cinematic journey through her most important architectural projects in Sao Paulo and Salvador da Bahia poses the question of what remains of a person in the work they leave behind.

Copenhagen's "8 House", an ultramodern loop of apartments created by architect Bjarke Ingels, reinvents the concept of "home". It's 500 residents can traverse all nine floors by bike while their kids attend kindergarten on the ground floor. This exuberant documentary profiles the (mostly) happy residents, offering a hopeful, inspired picture of communal living by design.

A tribute to the late German choreographer Pina Bausch, as her dancers perform her most famous creations.

Germany's most important architect, aged 94 works every day on construction projects with his sons Stephan, Peter and Paul. He's been preventing them from becoming independent, but then the family loses its emotional center: Elisabeth - who was also an architect - wife, mother and their most important source of inspiration.

Werner Herzog gains exclusive access to film inside the Chauvet caves of Southern France and captures the oldest known pictorial creations of humanity.

Curated by Swiss architects Herzog and De Meuron and Ai Weiwei, Ordos 100 is a construction project located in an inner Mongolian community. The film documents three site visits to Ordos, marking January 25, 2008 as the first one.

An examination of Venice, Italy, its rise as a tourist attraction and its linked decline as a functioning city.

In 1971 hundreds of young people claimed the 85 acres of an abandoned military base in Copenhagen, Denmark. Finding it politically unpopular to evict the young settlers, the Danish government declared Christiania a 'short-term social experiment.' Following 40 years of tense relations with the government, much of it focusing on Christiania's open hashish trade, Christiania is on its way towards becoming a legitimate, though still alternative and self-governed, community. But will legitimacy compromise their fundamental values? Christiania - 40 Years of Occupation explores this journey from the varied perspectives of longtime Christiania residents and government and police officials who have long argued the legality of Christiania's occupation while viewing Christiania as a symbol of freedom that they both cherish and fear.

In "Álvaro Siza Transforming Reality", Portugal's renowned architect discusses his work and tours 15 projects with architectural historian Kenneth Frampton, who has referred to Siza as "one of the most important architects working today". In 1974 the end of the dictatorship in Portugal opened up this previously isolated part of the world to current ideas about design, architecture and urban planning. 'Critical regionalism', or the melding of indigenous architectural forms with international ideas defined the architectural revolution in and around Oporto, Portugal. This movement became know as 'the Oporto School' of which Siza is the leading figure. Siza's approach to architecture is centered around the idea that the setting of a building is integral to its design, and that a structure's design should reinforce its surroundings by both enhancing and highlighting its potential. Frampton discusses with Siza his most significant architectural innovations at the actual sites in Portugal, including his large-scale housing project in Evora, the architecture school of the University in Porto, the Teachers' College in Setúbal and the recent Serralves Museum in Porto .

Microtopia explores how architects, artists and ordinary problem-solvers are pushing the limits to find answers to their dreams of portability, flexibility - and of creating independence from the grid. Microtopia deals with contemporary urgent ideas that are addressed, and solved, in very surprising ways.

This documentary looks at architecture and design team Diller Scofidio + Renfro through the lens of two important urban projects - the High Line and Lincoln Center for the Performing Arts.