Documentary – "Archiculture"

“Archiculture, the feature-length documentary that examines the role architecture and design plays in our daily lives by following five architecture students during their final thesis semester, returns this September to host a roundtable discussion and trailer premier celebration event.

Entitled “Architectural Education vs. Professional Practice,” the roundtable will focus on how generational recessions have affected design training in the past and how we can evolve the profession under the current economic landscape for a better design future. The panel will include one of the directors, as well as two of the students featured in the film, and select members of architectural academia and established professionals.

The launch of the new Archiculture film trailer will proceed following the discussion. The event will include refreshments and an open bar throughout the night, as well a band performance by The Dirty Urchins and music by DJ Tim “Love” Lee.

This event takes place on Wednesday, September 2, 2009, from 5:45pm to 9:00pm at the Center for Architecture, located at 536 LaGuardia Place in New York. A $10 donation is required at admission, and all proceeds will go towards the finishing funds needed to complete this film.

Archiculture captures the turbulent final semester for five unique architecture students as they struggle and succeed in this rigorous training. The documentary focuses primarily on the diverse, dynamic student characters, as well as their interactions with friends and faculty, and their intimate relationships to the projects they ultimately create. Subplot topics will be woven into the high-pressure storyline through the issues that arise during their design process to shed light on the current topics impacting our built environment. The audience gets an in-depth look into the unknown and misunderstood process of becoming an architect and the creative yet competitive process students go through while immersing themselves into the passionate pursuit of design excellence.

Key interviews included in the feature length film include: Zaha Hadid, Bryan Bell of Design Corps, David Byrne of Talking Heads, Sway Calloway of MTVnews, Phil Bernstein of Autodesk, Maurice Cox of the NEA, Thom Mayne of Morphosis, John Cary of Public Architecture and ArchVoices.org, Mayor Joe Riley, founder of the Mayor’s Institute on City Design, Joe Brown, CEO of EDAW, and Toshiko Mori.”

For more information on the movie…

For really some really great “goodies” for your desktop…

P.S.: As a sidenote, can’t wait for the movie to be shown in Montreal (hopefully)! Aaaaahh, studio life…

(Source: Canadian Architect)