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Synopsis
An ongoing series of films devoted to the most remarkable achievements in modern architecture, from the works that heralded the birth of the modern style at the end of the 19th century to the latest designs from today's top architects. By examining each building in detail, the series brings to light the role each has played in the history and evolution of architecture.
Themes
Episodes
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- E1 The Villa Dall'AvaNext upSep 19, 1996 · 26 min
Synopsis
Rem Koolhaas built a unique villa on the heights of Saint-Cloud.
- E2 Nemausus 1Sep 26, 1996 · 26 min
Synopsis
In Nîmes, Jean Nouvel conceived a block of tenement houses reminiscent of a cruise liner. An architectural utopia that pokes fun at the truisms of council housing.
- E3 The Iron HouseOct 3, 1996 · 26 min
Synopsis
In late 19th century Brussels, the Art Nouveau movement was laying the foundations of a new concept in architecture, and Victor Horta was the movement's grand master. Of all his works, the Hotel van Eetvelde features the boldest display of his modernity.
Guest stars: Nini Crépon (Narrator (voice))
- E4 Charlety, a Stadium in the CityOct 10, 1996 · 26 min
Synopsis
Bruno and Henri Gaudin have broken with the classic design of a closed stadium, and created a bridge between Paris and its suburb. The Charlety Stadium's airy outline stands out in an otherwise densely urban area.
- E5 Pierrefonds, the Architect's CastleOct 17, 1996 · 26 min
Synopsis
Middle Aged castle rebuilt by Viollet Le Duc for the Emperor Napoleon III. A reconstruction that paradoxically opened the way for modern architecture.
- E6 The Vienna Savings BankJul 2, 1998 · 26 min
Synopsis
At the turn of the last century, Otto Wagner designed one of the first 20th century modern office buildings, representing a radical break with the previous tradition in bank-architecture.
- E7 The Georges Pompidou CentreJul 23, 1998 · 26 min
Synopsis
A giant meccano-like structure designed by Richard Rogers and Renzo Piano, a museum-factory that has become one of the most notable landmarks of the historical Parisian architectural landscape.
- E8 Family Lodging in GuiseAug 13, 1998 · 26 min
Synopsis
The philanthropist company boss Andre Godin built a workers' housing estate with a palatial air. Social housing is born.
- E9 A House in BordeauxAug 27, 1998 · 26 min
Synopsis
Designed by the architect Rem Koolhaas for a couple whose husband became disabled following a road accident, the architect's plan for this ultra-modern house is shaped by the need to adapt to the husband's mode of travel.
- E10 The Dessau BauhausMar 3, 2001 · 26 min
Synopsis
Walter Gropius' main achievement is the buildings of the Bauhaus, built in 1926. His pioneering architecture saw the birth of one of the most innovative schools of art of the 20th century.
- E11 Satolas - TGVMar 10, 2001 · 26 min
Synopsis
An astonishing concrete and steel structure designed for an open field in the Lyon countryside. An astonishing feat undertaken by Calatrava, which sees trains race through at speeds of 190mph.
- E12 The Johnson BuildingMar 17, 2001 · 26 min
Synopsis
These famous office buildings were designed and built between 1936 and 1939 for the wax manufacturer Johnson, by one one of the 20th century's greatest architects Frank Lloyd Wright.
- E13 The Paris Fine Art SchoolMar 24, 2001 · 26 min
Synopsis
In the heart of Paris, architect Duban's 'École des Beaux-Arts' provides its students with an architectural "temple" representing a 19th century style widely copied throughout the world.
- E14 The Siza SchoolApr 14, 2001 · 26 min
Synopsis
The Portuguese architect Alvaro Siza built Porto's Faculty of Architecture, a mediation on space and light in a futuristic "agora". Alvaro was once a student and still teaches there today.
- E15 The Stone Thermal BathsApr 21, 2001 · 26 min
Synopsis
The Spa of Vals-les-Bains, designed by Peter Zumthor, redefines the very concept of public bathing, a mise en scène of water in all its aspects.
- E16 The Galleria Umberto IMay 19, 2001 · 26 min
Synopsis
Built in Naples, this is one of the last and largest covered passageways to be constructed in Europe, providing the swan song for a grand invention of 19th century architecture.
- E17 The Saint Pancras StationJun 2, 2001 · 26 min
Synopsis
In the 19th century in London, the Midland Company had Saint Pancras and a luxury hotel built. Engineer W.H. Barlow carried out a major feat, creating a 73 meter single-span hall, with no columns or pillars. As for architect Sir George Gilbert Scott, his Midland Grand Hotel was a neo-gothic manifesto.
- E18 The Wind BoxJun 9, 2001 · 26 min
Synopsis
The Fort de France Education Authority is the only example of a contemporary architectural building in Martinique. It is also the only official building to be naturally ventilated by the trade winds. Christian Hauvette has created a totally open building, in which the boundaries between exterior and interior are blurred.
- E19 The Garnier OperaJun 16, 2001 · 28 min
Synopsis
The Garnier Opera by Charles Garnier This is Paris's most prestigious 19th century building, the pinnacle of the "Beaux Arts" style with its ornamented facade, transfigured by the excesses of a theatre-mad architect in the mid-1800s.
- E20 The Jewish Museum BerlinJul 5, 2003 · 26 min
Synopsis
The Jewish Museum in Berlin, by Daniel Libeskind, tackles the emptiness left by the extermination of Europe's Jews during the Second World War. His response is an architecture of absence.
- E21 The Convent of La TouretteJul 26, 2003 · 26 min
Synopsis
With the Convent of La Tourette, commissioned by the Dominicans of Lyons, Le Courbusier was charged with the task of creating this rural convent retreat. A reinvention of religious architecture, its rough concrete form houses one hundred sleeping rooms plus recreational spaces.
- E22 The Auditorium Building in ChicagoSep 6, 2003 · 26 min
Synopsis
At the end of the 19th century, Louis Henry Sullivan, the father of American architecture, built the world's largest opera house, a "democratic" auditorium which was revolutionary in its very conception.
- E23 The Municipal Center of SäynätsaloSep 13, 2003 · 26 min
Synopsis
Built in 1952 by Alvaar Alto, this town hall building lies in the heart of a rugged landscape in Finland. It represents a humanist masterpiece, and pays modern homage to the Ideal City of the Italian Renaissance.
- E24 The Casa MiláSep 20, 2003 · 26 min
Synopsis
A block of flats in Barcelona, the Casa Milà is an extraordinarily sculpted work created by the great Spanish architect Antoni Gaudi. The Art Nouveau apartments are expressionistic, fantastic, organic forms with undulating facades and roof lines.
- E25 The Glass HouseFeb 26, 2005 · 26 min
Synopsis
In 1928, Pierre Chareau built the poetic and remarkable Maison de Verre, one of the unique buildings of the 20th century. Inserted into an existing building, the views dissolve through semi-transparent materials, juxtaposing metal and glass, almost taking it into the realms of Surrealism.
- E26 The Abbey Church of Saint Foy at ConquesMar 5, 2005 · 26 min
Synopsis
Built in 1050, the Abbey is one of the foremost pilgrim churches of the Christian world. Rational, svelte and light-filled Romanesque architecture that flies in the face of cliches.
- E27 The Guggenheim Museum in BilbaoMar 19, 2005 · 26 min
Synopsis
Known for his strange and deconstructed forms, Frank Gehry designed this monumental, but chaotic and abstract-looking sculpture in 1967. Covered in titanium, the curves on the building have been designed to appear random in order to catch the light.
- E28 The Royal Saltworks of Arc-et-SenansApr 2, 2005 · 26 min
Synopsis
The visionary architect Claude Nicolas Ledoux, one of the earliest exponents of French Neoclassical design, built a monumental factory for the king of France at the end of the 18th century. It is pragmatic and utopian, an aesthetic revolution.
- E29 Jean Prouvé's HouseApr 30, 2005 · 26 min
Synopsis
In 1953, while going through his worst life-crisis, French designer Jean Prouvé built "his" house. Designed in haste, it embodies his most innovative ideas.
- E30 The Multimedia Library of SendaiMay 14, 2005 · 26 min
Synopsis
A glass cube, built in 2001 by Toyo Ito, this library provides an example of immaterial and evanescent architecture. The multimedia library is located on a tree-lined avenue in Sendai, Japan. Its transparent facade allows for the revelation of diverse activities that occur within the building.
- E31 The Alhambra, GrenadeMar 11, 2007 · 26 min
Synopsis
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.
- E32 Phaeno, Building as LandscapeMar 18, 2007 · 26 min
Synopsis
The sculptural power of the science center in Wolfsberg, Germany, in which the plan is a landscape - the landscape of Zaha Hadid's experience. The building is the realization 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.
- E33 The House of SugimotoApr 1, 2007 · 26 min
Synopsis
Built in Kyoto 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 built during the Meiji period.
- E34 The Reception and Congress Building in RomeApr 15, 2007 · 26 min
Synopsis
In the most ambitious of the Mussolini regime's buildings, the leader of Italy's modern movement Adalberto Libera attempted the impossible combination of fascism with modernity. It reflects Libera's great ability to design ambiguously in a space, metaphysical language that sits on a knife-edge between modernism and neo-classicism.
- E35 The Yoyogo Olympic GymnasiumsMay 20, 2007 · 26 min
Synopsis
For the 1964 summer Olympic Games in Tokyo, Kenzo Tange designed two concrete gymnasiums which evoke a sense of movement. Famous for their suspension roof design, they are regarded by many as being among the most beautiful buildings of the 20th century.
- E36 The Villa BarbaroJun 17, 2007 · 26 min
Synopsis
By inventing the villa, a new type of housing, in 1550, Palladio sought to combine aesthetics with utility. This rigorous and innovative approach was to have a lasting influence on Western architecture.
- E37 The Royal Mosque at IsfahanFeb 11, 2009 · 26 min
Synopsis
In 1598, King Abbas planned an immense urban project. His royal mosque captured his unprecedented wealth, an art of living, the king's power, and the talent of the architect Ali Akbar Esfahani.
- E38 The Menier Chocolate FactorySep 13, 2009 · 26 min
Synopsis
The Menier factory at Noisiel, outside Paris, was the largest chocolate factory in the world between 1870 and 1914. Throughout its three successive states, it tells the story of a veritable laboratory of industrial architecture in the second half of the 19th century.
- E39 The Pyramid of Pharoah Djoser at SaqqaraSep 20, 2009 · 26 min
Synopsis
The Djoser pyramid, the work of legendary architect Imhotep, is the oldest in Egypt, and bears witness to the first steps of architecture as a scholarly pursuit. It was a revolution when built in 3000 BCE, born out of a desire to perpetuate tradition.
- E40 The German Pavilion in BarcelonaSep 27, 2009 · 26 min
Synopsis
How and why did this minimalist structure end up embodying 20th century modernity? Between rigor and free form, Ludwig Mies van der Rohe's first masterpiece is a poetic work of spatial flow and intervals.
- E41 The SAS Royal HotelOct 11, 2009 · 26 min
Synopsis
The SAS Royal Hotel tower marked Denmark's entry into post-war modernity. It is a major work that combines functionalism, simplicity and elegance, and in which everything, from the ashtrays to the buildings volumes, were created and designed by Arne Jacobsen.
- E42 Roissy 1Oct 25, 2009 · 26 min
Synopsis
Opened in 1974, Roissy 1 was the first time architecture had entered the realm of airport construction. The building is the work of Paul Andreu, who was 29 years old at the time. It was his first building and the start of a long series of constructions, which would eventually make him one of the greatest 20th century airport architects.
- E43 The Maisons CastleNov 15, 2009 · 26 min
Synopsis
Although its posterity has now rendered its image commonplace, the Maisons Laffitte Chateau revolutionized French architecture. It is the masterpiece of the brilliant architect Francois Mansart.
- E44 The Luxembourg PhilharmonicDec 6, 2009 · 26 min
Synopsis
The elliptical shaped Philharmonic, with its filter of white columns and colorful cliffs, houses the Grand Auditorium in the manner of a jewel in its display case. It is one of the most beautiful building from architect Christian de Portzamparc.
- E45 VitraHausOct 2, 2011 · 26 min
Synopsis
In 2006, the company Vitra asked the "Herzog & de Meuron" agency to create a building for it's "Home" collection. The showroom consists of a pile of 12 houses, slotted together to produce surprising spaces.
- E46 The Igualada CemeteryOct 9, 2011 · 26 min
- E47 The Citadel de LilleOct 16, 2011 · 26 min
Synopsis
Vauban's "Queen of the citadels" was the model for military construction all over France. Built between 1668 and 1671, its exacting and simple design has made it a source of inspiration for major contemporary architects.
- E48 The Sainte-Geneviève LibraryOct 30, 2011 · 26 min
Synopsis
Breaking away from the 19th century neoclassical trend, Henri Labrouste erected a powerful public building in which stone featured along side a material that was used prominently and glorified for the first time - iron. A major milestone on the path to modern architecture.
- E49 The Church of Notre-Dame du RaincyNov 13, 2011 · 26 min
Synopsis
In a country ruined by World War I, Auguste Perret took up the challenge of building a church. In concrete. It was a shunned material, used hitherto exclusively in industrial construction. This "Holy Chapel of Concrete" revolutionized architectural vocabulary.
- E50 Ewha, the Seoul Hidden UniversityDec 4, 2011 · 26 min
Synopsis
With this building, Dominique Perrault continues a concept that is dear to him, the absence of architecture. The urban dimension and the way the surrounding land is organized prevail over the construction. The landscape supplants the architecture.
- E51 The Rolex Learning CenterMay 5, 2013 · 26 min
Synopsis
Poised on the shore of Lake Geneva, a wave of cement and glass has inspired many metaphors, from a slice of Emmental cheese to a piece of molecular fabric. The building, a space dedicated to knowledge, resembles nothing else before it.
- E52 The National Dance CenterMay 19, 2013 · 26 min
Synopsis
The mutation of a concrete mastodon, the Pantin Administrative Center (1969) into the French National Dance Center (2004)... Or the successful meeting of Brutus and ballerinas. An architectural overhaul that necessarily owes its success to the monumental strength of the original building.
- E53 The Cologne CathedralMay 26, 2013 · 26 min
Synopsis
Started in 1247, the Cologne Cathedral was completed in 1880 after a 300 year break in the work carried out on it. The Cathedral, which embodies the unity of Germany, is both a Gothic archetype and one of the most magnificent buildings completed during the 19th century.
- E54 The Citadel of Leisure, the Pompeia Social Service CenterJun 23, 2013 · 26 min
Synopsis
In the Palmeiras district of São Paulo, early 20th century former factory workshops are aligned with strange blocks of cement that stand tall, facing the city. Could the "Citadel of Leisure" be a major work of "Architecture Povera"?
- E55 The Hotels de Soubise and de RohanJul 7, 2013 · 26 min
Synopsis
From 1705 to 1752, the house of the Princes of Soubise was the setting for wild ambition and dreams of grandeur, with the dual purpose of transforming and renaming the Hotel de Guise for the Prince's heir, and of building a second mansion for his fifth son, the Prince Bishop of Strasbourg.
- E56 The French Communist Party HeadquartersAug 30, 2015 · 26 min
Synopsis
A mysterious white dome and an undulating glass facade, the headquarters of the French Communist Party, built between 1965 and 1980, by Oscar Niemeyer. A fine example of the curtain wall designed by Jean Prouve, an extraordinary Central Committee room under the dome, and some of the finest Parisian architecture of the period.
- E57 The Unal HouseSep 6, 2015 · 26 min
Synopsis
Designed by Claude Hausermann-Costy, and built by Joel Unal between 1972 and 2008, it's a bubble house without a single right angle. The technique used was the application by hand of a layer concrete, without forms, on top of a metal frame. The house is part of a movement known as "sculpted architecture".
- E58 The Van Nelle Factory in RotterdamSep 13, 2015 · 26 min
Synopsis
A cross between Taylorism and Bauhaus, the Van Nelle factory at Rotterdam was built between 1926 and 1931. Designed by the architects Jan Brickman and Leendert Van der Vlugt, the factory is the most important and the most accomplished example of industrial architecture in the modern movement.
- E59 The Glass GalleonSep 20, 2015 · 26 min
Synopsis
On the fringes of the Bois de Boulogne in Paris, a grand galleon with 12 glass sails, billowing in an imaginary wind, towers above the treetops. It is a new building, designed by Frank Gehry, dedicated to contemporary art that offers visitors an architectural tour.
- E60 Itimad-ud-Daulah, the Mughal MausoleumOct 4, 2015 · 26 min
Synopsis
The mausoleum of Itimad-ud-Daulah, built of white marble encrusted with semi-precious stones, in Agra the capital of the Mughal Empire. Islamic funeral rites are strictly observed in a structure that combines representations of paradise.
- E61 The Home for All at RikuzentakataOct 11, 2015 · 26 min
Synopsis
After Japan's 2011 tsunami, a group of architects led by Toyo Ito launched the "Home for All" project, providing community centers for the inhabitants of the devastated towns. Three architects, Su Fujimoto, Kumiko Inui and Akihisa Hirata, each built one of these homes in Rikuzentakata.
- E62 The Wa Shan GuesthouseOct 18, 2015 · 26 min
Synopsis
The Wa Shan, literally "Tile Mountain", is an astonishing guesthouse, built by Chinese architect Wang Shu, who pursues the aim of sustainable architecture. His experimental practice and his works, which blend modern and traditional building methods, earned him the Pritzker Prize in 2012.
- E63 The Glasgow School of ArtOct 25, 2015 · 26 min
Synopsis
Built at the dawn of the 20th century by Charles Rennie Mackintosh, the Glasgow School of Art is a masterpiece that combines the constructive rationality, art-nouveau, subjectivism, obsessive attention to detail and a decorative fantasy. Its influence is without parallel in early 20th century architecture.
- E64 The Sante, a Prison in ParisOct 8, 2017 · 26 min
Synopsis
La Sante prison (1861-1867) is a unique and impressive work of architecture. At the cutting edge of reflections on imprisonment, it was at the time the ultimate "modern prison", the stone embodiment of 19th century penitentiary obsessions.
- E65 The Bamboo School of BaliOct 15, 2017 · 26 min
Synopsis
An astonishing structure in which three cones flow together into one roof that protects a school building made of bamboo. An ambitious program built only with an entirely renewable material.
- E66 Médiacité - a Designer MallOct 22, 2017 · 26 min
Synopsis
Seen from the sky, a long stained-glass window structures the commercial center. At Médiacité, the experimental, provocative Israeli designer Ron Arad has set out to conquer architecture, putting his ideas into practice on a bigger scale and reinvigorating the often criticized genre of retail architecture.
- E67 The Phillips Exeter Academy LibraryOct 29, 2017 · 26 min
Synopsis
A masterpiece of geometry and of architectural precision, the library is one of Lous Kahn's last works. Louis Kahn reinvented library layouts by placing readers close to daylight on the periphery of the building, and by creating a vast central atrium.
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Reviews · from TMDB members
sillybuntMay 15, 2019
This Architectural series is, in my opinion, a simply wonderful production. Delightful to watch and highly informative, watching this series will bring anyone fully up to speed with the last several centuries of Architectural design. This series will also teach you the language of design, which will give you profoundly new eyes through which to see the built world around us. Fantastic stuff.