iWonder September Highlights: The Architecture Edition

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‘Tadao Ando – From Emptiness to Infinity’, delves inside the mind of the famous minimalist architect and his connection with nature; ‘Architect of Infinity’, takes a cinematic and reflective look at the intersection of architecture and spirituality; while 'Mario Botta – The Space Beyond', seeks to understand one of the few architects that has built places of prayer for each of the three main monotheistic religions (Christianity, Islam and Judaism).

Then in this September’s iWonder What Top Five we pull together 5 films looking at a wide range of styles, influences, and cultures in architecture from around the world.

Top 20 Architects alive today (and featured here):

1. Norman Foster [UK | High Tech]
2. Rem Koolhaas [Netherlands | Modern/Avant-Garde]
3. Renzo Piano [Italy | High Tech]
4. Frank Gehry [Canada/USA | Deconstructivism]
5. Tadao Ando [Japan | Minimalism]
6. Jean Nouvel [France | Contextual]
7. Herzog & de Meuron [Switzerland | Contemporary]
8. Bjarke Ingels [Denmark | Innovative/Pragmatic]
9. David Adjaye [Ghana/UK | Context-driven]
10. Kengo Kuma [Japan | Natural/Local materials]
11. Shigeru Ban [Japan | Sustainability]
12. Peter Zumthor [Switzerland | Minimalism]
13. Kazujo Sejima & Ryue Nishizawa [Japan | Minmalism]
14. Toyo Ito [Japan | Conceptual]
15. David Chipperfield [UK | Minimalism]
16. Steven Holl [USA | Phenomenological]
17. Thom Mayne [USA | Deconstructivism]
18. Moshe Safdie [Israel | Modernism]
19. Mario Botta [Switzerland | Minimalism]
20. Alvaro Siza [Portugal | Modernism]

Tadao Ando - From Emptiness to Infinity

#Tokyo #Philosophy #Spiritual

19 SEP 2024 LAUNCH

This documentary examines the mind and work of renowned Japanese architect Tadao Ando, one of the world’s greatest living architects.

Known for his minimalist designs and profound use of light and space, Ando's work embodies a deep connection with nature and a philosophy rooted in the concept of emptiness.

The film explores his most iconic buildings, offering insights into his creative process and the spiritual and cultural influences that shape his architecture. Through interviews and stunning visuals, the documentary presents a poetic journey into the life and legacy of Tadao Ando.

Architecture of Infinity

#Spiritual #Humanity #Cinematic

24 SEP 2024 LAUNCH

This film featuring some of the world’s most visionary architects, including Peter Zumthor and Álvaro Siza, explores the intersection of architecture, spirituality, and the concept of infinity - taking viewers on a journey through sacred spaces.

Through stunning cinematography and reflective commentary, it looks at how architecture can evoke a sense of the infinite, transcending the physical to touch the spiritual, while examining the emotional and philosophical impact of these spaces, and how human experience connects us to something greater.

Mario Botta - The Space Beyond

#Profile #Religion #Enigmatic

26 SEP 2024 LAUNCH

This documentary is a rare, in-depth artistic journey into the work of internationally acclaimed Swiss Architect Mario Botta. We explore Botta’s ever growing curiosity and reflections on the contradictions of society, through his sacred spaces. Why does a globalised society feel the urge to build such spaces?

Passionate, tireless, Botta is one of the few Architects who has built places of prayer for the three main monotheistic religions. After building many churches, chapels and a synagogue, he is now working on a mosque in China. Through his reflections and his interactions with artists, colleagues, clients and family members, the viewers have a glimpse of the man behind the Architect.

iWonder When

13th September 1955

On the 13th of September 1955, the winner of the international design competition for the Sydney Opera House was announced. Danish architect Jørn Utzon's innovative and daring proposal was picked from over 200 entries. Utzon's design, which features a series of interlinked concrete shells, has become one of the most iconic and recognisable structures in the world, symbolising the creativity and ambition of Australia. The Sydney Opera House is now a UNESCO World Heritage Site and one of the top tourist drawcards in the country, drawing in millions of visitors each year to marvel at its striking architectural brilliance.

iWonder Who

Tadao Ando

The subject of 'From Emptiness to Infinity', launching on iWonder this September, Tadao Ando is a celebrated Japanese architect renowned for his minimalist and poetic approach to design. Born in 1941 in Osaka, Japan, Ando is self-taught, having initially pursued careers as a boxer and carpenter before discovering architecture.

His work is characterised by a profound understanding of light, space, and natural elements, often using raw concrete to create serene, contemplative spaces. Key projects include the Church of the Light in Osaka and the Pulitzer Arts Foundation in St. Louis. Ando's designs emphasise harmony between the built environment and nature, reflecting his deep philosophical beliefs. In 1995, he was awarded the prestigious Pritzker Architecture Prize, solidifying his status as one of the most influential architects of his generation.

Read more on Tadao Ando:

Biography: Tadao Ando | The Pritzker Architecture Prize
Tadao Ando of Osaka, Japan is a man who is at the pinnacle of success in his own country. In the last few years, he has emerged as a cultural force in the world as well. In 1995, the Pritzker Architecture Prize was formally presented to him within the walls of the Grand Trianon Palace at Versailles, France. There is little doubt that anyone in the world of architecture will not be aware of his work. That work, primarily in reinforced concrete, defines spaces in unique new ways that allow constantly changing patterns of light and wind in all his structures, from homes and apartment complexes to places of worship, public museums and commercial shopping centers. “In all my works, light is an important controlling factor,” says Ando. “I create enclosed spaces mainly by means of thick concrete walls. The primary reason is to create a place for the individual, a zone for oneself within society. When the external factors of a city’s environment require the wall to be without openings, the interior must be especially full and satisfying.” And further on the subject of walls, Ando writes, “At times walls manifest a power that borders on the violent. They have the power to divide space, transfigure place, and create new domains. Walls are the most basic elements of architecture, but they can also be the most enriching.” Ando continues, “Such things as light and wind only have meaning when they are introduced inside a house in a form cut off from the outside world. I create architectural order on the basis of geometry squares, circles, triangles and rectangles. I try to use forces in the area where I am building, to restore the unity between house and nature (light and wind) that was lost in the process of modernizing Japanese houses during the rapid growth of the fifties and sixties.” John Morris Dixon of Progressive Architecture wrote in 1990: “The geometry of Ando’s interior plans, typically involving rectangular systems cut through by curved or angled walls, can look at first glance rather arbitrary and abstract. What one finds in the actual buildings are spaces carefully adjusted to human occupancy.” Further, he describes Ando’s work as reductivist, but “… the effect is not to deprive us of sensory richness. Far from it. All of his restraint seems aimed at focusing our attention on the relationships of his ample volumes, the play of light on his walls, and the processional sequences he develops.” In his childhood, he spent his time mostly in the fields and streets. From ages 10 to 17, he also spent time making wood models of ships, airplanes, and moulds, learning the craft from a carpenter whose shop was across the street from his home. After a brief stint at being a boxer, Ando began his self-education by apprenticing to several relevant persons such as designers and city planners for short periods. “I was never a good student. I always preferred learning things on my own outside of class. When I was about 18, I started to visit temples, shrines, and tea houses in Kyoto and Nara, there’s a lot of great traditional architecture in the area. I was studying architecture by going to see actual buildings, and reading books about them. “ He made study trips to Europe and the United States in the sixties to view and analyze great buildings of western civilization, keeping a detailed sketch book which he does even to this day when he travels.
The Pritzker Architecture Prize
Tadao Ando | Biography, Architecture, Buildings, & Facts
Tadao Ando, one of Japan’s leading contemporary architects, best known for his minimalist concrete buildings. These include the Pulitzer Arts Foundation in St. Louis, Missouri, and the Modern Art Museum in Fort Worth, Texas. Ando was the recipient of the Pritzker Prize in 1995.
Encyclopedia Britannica

Selected Works by Tadao Ando

iWonder What

Atlas of architecture

This September’s iWonder What Top Five includes a range of new films taking in products, buildings, places, people, politics and societies from around the world through the lens of the characters behind the constructions and their all-important cultural context.

1) The Power of Utopia

#India #Urban #Culture

26 SEP 2024 LAUNCH

With the construction of the Indian planned city of Chandigarh, the Swiss and French architect Le Corbusier completed his life's work 70 years ago. Chandigarh is a controversial synthesis of the arts, a bold utopia of modernity. The film accompanies four cultural workers who live in the planned city and reflects on Le Corbusier's legacy, utopian urban ideas and the cultural differences between East and West in an atmospherically dense narrative.

2) Having A Cigarette with Álvaro Siza

#Virtuoso #Politics #Conversation

17 SEP 2024 LAUNCH

Talking about architecture with Álvaro Siza Vieira, recipient of the Prizker Prize and one of this century’s finest architects, as well as socialist and passionate smoker. The film spotlights his early work and allows the viewer to gain insight in Siza's way of working and thinking.

3) Konstantin Grcic - Design Is Work

#Up-Close #Journal #Business

10 SEP 2024 LAUNCH

Konstantin Grcic is considered one of the most innovative and profound product designers worldwide.

"Design is Work" accompanies the designer for the duration of a year in the various segments of his working world: while designing in the studio with his team or deliberating over the right decision with a client; among the tumult of “Salone” (furniture fair, Milan) or during the planning of an exhibition for the Pinakothek der Moderne in Munich.

4) The New Bauhaus

#Technology #History #Innovation

12 SEP 2024 LAUNCH

"By the end of the movie you won't just admire Moholy-Nagy - you'll want to be just like him" - Forbes

An odyssey through the life and legacy of László Moholy-Nagy, the innovative artist and educator whose pioneering approach to integrating technology into design continues to influence and inspire.

Motivated by the challenge of creating within the limitations of the Great Depression and then World War II, Moholy’s embrace of artistic versatility and technological possibility continues to reverberate in the artworld today.

5) Islamic Art: Mirror Of The Invisible World

#Culture #History #Islam

Narrated by Academy Award-winning actress Susan Sarandon, this film explores the richness of Islamic art in objects big and small, from monumental mosques and palaces, to exquisite ceramics, carved boxes, paintings and metal work. This film also examines how Islamic art turns calligraphy and the written word into masterpieces and develops water into an expressive, useful art form.