Michael Blackwood Architecture Collection

Michael Blackwood Architecture Collection

Independent documentary filmmaker Michael Blackwood has produced and directed films aiming to create a permanent record of some of the leading figures in the cultural landscape of our time.

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Michael Blackwood Architecture Collection
  • A Day with Zaha Hadid

    While guiding us through her retrospective exhibition, "Zaha Hadid Has Arrived"‚ the renowned architect recalls her career from its beginning, discussing her education, inspiration and technique. The exhibition, located at The MAK in Vienna, features a new sculpture from Hadid entitled ‚ "Ice Sto...

  • Frank Gehry An Architecture of Joy

    Frank Gehry: An Architecture of Joy illustrates the unique intertwining of art and architecture throughout Gehry's spectacularly eclectic career. In this portrait, Gehry explores his work of the 1990's including The Guggenheim Museum in Bilbao and the Frederick R. Weisman Museum in Minneapolis, a...

  • Tadao Ando

    Japanese architect, Tadao Ando, roots himself in cultural visions of space, landscape, and juxtaposition. Inspired deeply by his home and heritage, Ando proposes an international architecture that he believes can only be conceived by someone Japanese. Believing in the importance of carpentry and ...

  • Louis Kahn Silence and Light

    With the participation of William Jordy, Jonas Salk, Aldo Rossi, Arata Isozaki, Tadao Ando, Robert Venturi, Denise Scott-Brown, Brendan Gill, and others.



    As an architect, educator, and philosopher, Louis Kahn played a prominent role in the history of 20th century architecture. An examinati...

  • The State of Architecture at the Beginning of the 21st Century

    The State of Architecture at the Beginning of the 21st Century documents a historic two-day conference organized in March, 2003 by Bernard Tschumi, who was then Dean of the Columbia Graduate School of Architecture. Some of the greatest minds in architecture assemble to discuss theory, method and ...

  • The New Modernists 9 American Architects

    This installment of The New Modernists looks at nine American-based innovators and their work for housing projects, commercial architecture, private houses and renovations from California to Italy to Japan and beyond. New York architect Billie Tsien, who participates in the film along with her hu...

  • The New Modernists 6 European Architects

    Featuring six young, renowned innovators, The New Modernists: 6 European Architects explores the ideology, method, and influence surrounding modernism. Critic Kenneth Frampton sees this group of architects, working from Seville to Finland, understanding and interacting with the ideas and structur...

  • Stirling

    James Stirling takes us from Germany, to London, to Boston, guiding us through three of his widely famed museums. Though the buildings designed and created by the established architect contain some of the world’s most notable works of art, Stirling reminds us that architecture serves as its ver...

  • Robert Venturi and Denise Scott Brown

    Driven by their mutual admiration of classical architecture, Robert Venturi and Denise Scott-Brown have worked together to create a space of unique post-Modernist construction. Filmed during the design and realization of the Sainsbury extension to the National Gallery in London, the husband and w...

  • Richard Meier

    Abstract architect and artist, Richard Meier, guides us on a detailed retrospective of his famed white buildings. Throughout his career, during which he designed a number of private homes and public establishments, Meier cites names such as Corbusier, Wright and Mies as his heaviest influences. S...

  • Peter Eisenman Making Architecture Move

    With the participation of famed architects such as Frank Gehry, Daniel Libeskind and Zaha Hadid, Peter Eisenman: Making Architecture Move provides an intimate look into the work of the daring and controversial creator. Filmed in the U.S. and Germany, Eisenman takes the viewer through several of h...

  • Mies

    No understanding of the modern movement in architecture is possible without knowledge of its master builder, Mies van der Rohe. Together with documentations of his life, this film reviews all his major work and offers rare footage of Mies explaining his philosophy. Phyllis Lambert relates her cho...

  • Kisho Kurokawa From Metabolism to Symbiosis

    Serving as a detailed portrait of the acclaimed Japanese architect, this film engages with Kisho Kurokawa, who employs Buddhist ideas in a symbiosis of traditional forms and western modernism to achieve an intercultural architecture. In a merging of philosophy, culture, space and narrative, Kurok...

  • John Hejduk Builder of Worlds

    Renowned American architect, John Hejduk, has built a riveting career around his unique and striking creations. A poet among architects and an innovator among educators, Hejduk sits down for a conversation with poet David Shapiro at The Cooper Union where the two review Hejduk's sketches and stru...

  • Japan Three Generations of Avant-Garde Architects

    In an examination of Modernism, Japan: 3 Generations of Avant-Garde Architects studies seven innovative minds who fuse Japanese traditions with modern materials and technology. Bonded by a belief in architectural savagery and brute minimalism, Itsuko Hasegawa, Arata Isozaki, Toyo Ito, Tadao Ando,...

  • Frank Gehry The Formative Years

    Narrated by the architect himself, Frank Gehry: The Formative Years explores his long standing career and unique eye. The film looks at a number of Gehry's projects from private homes to complex public institutions, all of which echo his experimental style and vision. Works such as The Norton Hou...

  • David Chipperfield Form Matters

    When the Tuscan city of Pisa commissioned David Chipperfield to create a master plan that would bring new vitality to this historic place on the Arno, an exhibition of a selection of work produced by him in the last 25 years was also invited. Chipperfield chose "Form Matters" as a title for the e...

  • Cecil Balmond Visionary Engineer and Architect

    Cecil Balmond: Visionary Engineer and Architect is a compelling documentation of a unique thinker and practitioner at the height of his architectural career. Through his conversation with architecture theorist and critic, Sanford Kwinter, Balmond reveals his vision and talent while the two tour h...

  • Beyond Utopia: Changing Attitudes in American Architecture

    While visiting four architectural practices in 1982, we discuss the postmodernist movement through its meaning and motives. Beyond Utopia: Changing Attitudes in American Architecture features Robert Venturi, Denise Scott Brown, Frank Gehry, Michael Graves and Peter Eisenman, all of whom are proté...

  • Bernard Tschumi Architect and Theorist

    Filmed at his final lecture as Dean of Columbia University's Graduate School of Architecture, Bernard Tschumi: Architect and Theorist documents a compelling and driven discussion of space, time, and movement. Despite his time-consuming responsibilities as Dean, Tschumi managed to produce an impre...

  • Arata Isozaki Early Work in Japan

    Renowned architect, Arata Isozaki creates with a rare and specific hand, blending his Japanese culture and education with classic Western aesthetics. Inspired deeply by the architecture he saw in Europe, Isozaki's buildings appear both grand and delicate, entirely aware of the space they occupy. ...

  • Alvaro Siza Transforming Reality

    In Alvaro Siza: Transforming Reality Portugal's renowned architect reviews his work with architectural historian, Kenneth Frampton as they tour fifteen projects, including the Serralves Museum and the Aveiro University Library. Siza discusses his approach to architecture with Frampton, explaining...

  • Aberrant Architectures? Diller + Scofidio at the Whitney Museum

    Elizabeth Diller and Ricardo Scofidio established the architectural firm of Diller + Scofidio in the late '70's. For fifteen years they focused on performance; collaborations with choreographers, writers and directors; and architectural projects realized in an art world setting. Considered among ...