The Museum of Modern Art (MoMA) in New York has acquired all 16 films produced by directors Ila Bêka and Louise Lemoine. Their films, collectively titled “Living Architectures,” focus on the unseen inhabitants of famous buildings –housekeepers, window washers, concierges and more – fighting the long standing stereotype that architectural criticism is the sole domain of the intellectual elite. The collection, which is less than 10 years old, has remained in the spotlight for its contemporary commentary on architecture.
French-Italian Duo Bêka & Lemoine. Image Courtesy of Bêka & Lemoine
The recent acquisition by MoMA represents “the culmination of a journey both characterized by much coherence and rich in formal trials,” state the filmmakers in a press release. Their playful, tongue-in-cheek style has made bounds in the contemporary relationship between architecture and cinema. Beginning with “Koolhaas Houselife” – a cult classic that follows housekeeper Guadalupe at the Maison Bordeaux by Rem Koolhaas – the duo has worked their way up since to a variety of scales and programs, exploring new ways of capturing the unique perspectives of each building. See their complete filmography and accompanying trailers below.
Sought After is a private residence renovated by AIM. It is located in Milan, Italy and was completed in 2015. Sought After by AIM: “The project comes out of the need to reorganize the space and to solve structural problems related to the age of the building located in the centre of Milan. The structural refurbishment affects the whole pavement and the load-bearing beams of the ceiling, which have been..
Concrete Loveis a film about the Böhm family. Shot at their residence in Cologne, Germany, and on location at their projects—both completed and under construction—around the world, the film’s Swiss director, Maurizius Staerkle-Drux, spent two years in close quarters recording scenes and conversations that offer a profound insight into the world of Pritzker Prize-winning architect Gottfried Böhm, the late Elisabeth Böhm, and their three sons.
Read on to be in with a chance of winning a copy of the film.
An elderly man sits at the head of the table, arms folded. He looks stern. A middle-aged man is presenting a model. “What you’re doing is not good,” says Gottfried. His son Paul Böhm looks up, sits down beside him, folds his arms too and replies: “but it’s how I want it.” Concrete Love is a calm, observational documentary about the Böhms, a German family of architects where work, private life and family are inextricably woven together. Gottfried is the son, grandson, husband and father of architects.
“A connection between my relatives in Cologne and the Böhm family meant that I already had a long-standing friendship with them before the film was even conceived,” recalls Staerkle-Drux. “In Gottfried Böhm I saw a formidable artist full of youthful curiosity – a contemporary in spirit, if you like, despite the (70-year) age difference between us.”
“Gottfried still works every day on construction projects with his sons—Stephan, Peter and Paul—who are also architects, operating their own offices from within the same family home.” From the very beginning of the process, Staerkle-Drux became deeply interested in the ways in which the Böhm family (almost) seamlessly meld their personal lives with that of their work.
For over two years Staerkle-Drux shot the film at the Böhms’ residence, designed by Domenikus Böhm, in Cologne. “I wanted to explore the personal stories that lie behind the façades of their buildings, and to show that these mighty constructions also express considerable emotion.” Concrete Love “documents the moment at which the family loses its emotional heart: Elisabeth who, as well as an architect, was also a wife and a mother – and their most important source of inspiration.” He didn’t expect that, following her passing aged 94, Gottfried would embark on a journey back to the significant buildings which marked milestones in his life. And he was there to capture it all in film.
Giveaway
ArchDaily readers have the opportunity to win one of three pre-release DVD copies of the film, courtesy of the team behind Concrete Love. To be in with a chance of winning, leave your name and contact address below. The giveaway will be open to enter between April 28 and May 5, 2016.
Structural Engineer: Eckersley O’Callaghan Local Structural Engineer: Marcussen and Cocksedge
Services Engineer: DSA Engineers Ltd
Local Services Engineer: Lage Consultants
Lighting Consultant: BDP Lighting
Quantity Surveyor: Matrix Quantity Surveyors
Contractor: Elevate
Budget: £1.2m
Sforza Seilern Architects, an artistic collaboration between Studio Seilern Architects and Muzia Sforza, completed their first African project: a house on a rock. The 1’500sm building is situated atop a granite rock overlooking a large man-made dam, or reservoir for the extensive surrounding farmland. The area is, to say the least, breathtaking and awe-inspiring, and deserved a piece of architecture that is equally awe-inspiring.
The views and the drama of the granite cliff plunging into the dam were the inspiration for the concept, where oversized cantilevered roofs and extensive terraces frame the views and shelter from the vertical African sun.
The house consists of three basic elements
– Two granite blocks, enclosing bedrooms and support spaces, anchor the building into the rock, and become part of the surrounding topography.
– An oversized timber platform and a cantilevering roof frame the exterior spaces and the panoramic views. These are designed to focus the eye to the horizon, while creating shaded exterior spaces for living and dining areas.
– Finally two glass boxes span between the deck and roof, and the natural granite topography. These enclose the winter living areas at the upper level and the master bedroom suite at the lower level. They are transparent enclosures that again emphasise the views and the feeling of living within the surrounding landscape. A small horizon pool at the lower level visually integrates the dam reservoir with the lower levels of the house.
All elements are orientated in such a manner as to create physical adjacencies and visual privacy where required.
The cantilevers roofs and stretched terraces give the house the appearance of being gently floating above the rock. The roofs protect the floor-to-ceiling glass from direct sun radiation.
The project had to deal with issues of hyper-inflation and lack of available material. All materials were sourced locally, except for specialist items such as the glass and the roof waterproofing. The granite used to clad the two anchor blocks were the ‘crusts’ cut-off that came from the granite excavation. The dynamite drill holes are still apparent and tie the building to the area of excavation. Using the granite from the site also insured that the building blended harmoniously with its surroundings.
Inspired by the rich local culture of basket weaving, a garage cover was devised using different sized rebars and weaved to form a sun-shading canopy over cars. This canoly is supported by simple I-beams on one side and anchored to a large existing bioulder on the other side. Climbing flowering creepers are envisioned to cover the whole canopy, softening greening the steel weave. The owner being a musician required a place to retire and compose/record her music. Again taking inspiration in the natural granite cliff overhanging the house, we decided to hand a granite cube in the middle of the dense green jungle at the base of the cliff. Strategically placed windows, creating corners and band cuts into the granite cube offer dramatic views of the cliff and the jungle below.
Ap Alves is a renovation project carried out by RSRG Arquitetos. The home is located in São Paulo, Brazil and was completed in 2014. Ap Alves by RSRG Arquitetos: “Apartment Alves is a small residence with spacious balcony which can be defined as a typical modern apartment. The owner is a young and single sport addict that was looking for a vast ambient where he could comfortably host get-togethers and..
The building, try to solve the existing urban void, while giving continuity public relationship between the headspace of the Alcazaba and Plaza de la Cava Alta, by the provision of a side to the projected building staircase linking these levels.
The main entrance of the three-storey building is from the Plaza de la Cava Alta, while on the top floor has an access on the opposite end of the plant, which provides a record tangentially on the high plane of the Alcazaba.
The projected building of longitudinal plant, is concentrating its circulation in the bottom dug into the ground, so that stairs and elevator, supported by the retaining wall that indicate clearly marked longitudinal stripes layout skylight on their decks, from the natural light to invade all the space on the three floors and circulations each. The facade of a plant on the Alcazaba, presents an overhang that protects the inner glass and the decline in public stairway. It is expected in the future that this lodge may have continuity with the rest of the interventions on the adjacent buildings.
About Trasgrisolías Street, two large holes terraced resolve the entry of natural light to the number of defendants in the program offices.
From the architect. This project is located at the east side of Beijing Jing Yuan Arts Center. The owner wants to turn the first and second floors of the office building into a “free Café” where customers can stay and communicate freely. Because the first Shan café is located at the foot of Fragrant Hills of Beijing, so this café downtown could smell the “hills” as well.
Budget for such a café is limited, so while building this space we could only use common materials. What is very interesting is that the storey height for the first floor is 3.8 meters, which is too high for one floor, and not high enough for two floors, so the design of this space is full of challenge. The word “Shan (mountain)” reminds us of a poem of Su Shi: “From the side, a whole range; from the end, a single peak; Far, near, high, low, no two parts alike. Why can’t I tell the true shape of Lu Shan? Because I myself am in the mountain.” so a crazy idea came to our mind suddenly, we dug down one meter at the center of the space, and then built a mezzanine over it. When customers walk into the dug “basement” through the mezzanine, an experience of “walking into the mountain” is presented. The floor height of the mezzanine is low, so inside it customers could only sit or lie; it is a good place for chatting for a couple of friends.
A log cabin is built under the stairs leading to the second floor, and the stairs are hidden behind the log cabin. The second floor is divided into several small spaces, instead of using solid partitions, we use shelves of green plants. The natural shapes of the plants are changed as time passes by. Sit under the sunlight and with winds breezing, it must be the most cozy and comfortable experience!
This is the freely-organized, flexible space that we built, which is able to grow as it was alive. Every brick and wood here are signs of the workers’ efforts, and they are having a kind of dialogue with people within this space.
