Books and cultural items about Architecture
The Architectures series explores the most ambitious architectural achievements of the 19th and 20th centuries. This documentary, which can be viewed in English, French and German, features exceptional archival images, scale models and interviews with the greatest architects of our time.
Architectures 3 presents six twenty-six minute films focussing on important works by major architects:
The Jewish Museum, Berlin by Daniel Libeskind: Nicknamed "Blitz" (flash of lightening) by Berliners, this is the most astonishing building in new Berlin. Its extraordinary broken line evokes a fracture in history: the emptiness left by the extermination of the Jews in Europe during World War II.
The Garnier Opera by Charles Garnier: The largest and most prestigious building constructed in Paris duing the 19th century, the Garnier Opera is at the pinnacle of the Beaux-arts style, transfigured by the excessiveness and exuberance of an architect mad about theatre and a proponent of spectacular architecture.
The Convent of La Tourette by Le Courbusier: Le Courbusier, whose only religion was architecture, created this convent for the Dominicans of Lyons: a retreat for study, prayer and meditation.
The Casa Milà by Antoni Gaudi: A block of flats in Barcelona, the Casa Milà is an extraordinarily sculpted work created by the great Spanish architect Antoni Gaudi for the Milà family.
The Auditorium Building in Chicago: Louis Henry Sullivan, the father of American architecture, built what was then the tallest building in Chicago for a few months. This complex includes a deluxe hotel, an office building and the world's largest opera house, a "democratic" auditorium which was revolutionary in its very conception.
The Municipal Centre of Säynätsalo by Alvaar Alto: One of the 20th century's greatest architects, Alvar Aalto, designed this municipal building for a town of 3,000 inhabitants in the heart of Finland. A humanist masterpiece, this building is a modern homage to the Ideal City of the Italian Renaissance.
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