Robert A.M. Stern

Considéré comme l'architecte le plus visionnaire de son temps, Louis KAHN construisit certains édifices les plus importants du 20ème siècle. Après sa mort en 1974, il apparut que KAHN avait mené quatre vies à la fois : son travail, sa famille régulière, mais aussi deux autres femmes et les enfants qu'elles lui avait donnés. Nathaniel KAHN - fils d'Harriet Pattison, une architecte paysagiste qui travaillait dans le cabinet de Louis - avait 11 ans quand son père mourut. Trente ans après, avec My Architect, il part à la recherche de son père et reconstruit, à travers les visites de ses plus grands chefs-d’œuvre, les interviews de ses illustres confrères et les témoignages émouvants de sa famille, le portrait d'un homme complexe et attachant...

This film features some of the most important living Postmodern practitioners, Charles Jencks, Robert A M Stern and Sir Terry Farrell among them, and asks them how and why Postmodernism came about, and what it means to be Postmodern. This film was originally made for the V&A exhibition 'Postmodernism: Style and Subversion 1970 - 1990'.

No understanding of the modern movement in architecture is possible without knowledge of its master builder, Mies van der Rohe. Together with documentation of his life, this film shows all his major buildings, as well as rare film footage of Mies explaining his philosophy. Phyllis Lambert relates her choice of Mies as the architect for the Seagram building. Mies's achievements and continuing influence are debated by architects Robert A.M. Stern, Robert Venturi, and Philip Johnson, by former students and by architectural historians. Mies is seen in rare documentary footage.

The Making of an Avant-Garde presents the creation and existence of the IAUS in the architectural, cultural, and political climate of the time, from the anti-War riots, the Women's Movement to the Paris May '68 revolution and the crime ridden and the bankrupt New York City of the 70's, through rich and abundant footage. The Institute, founded in 1967 with close ties to The Museum of Modern Art, made New York the global center for architectural debate and redefined architectural discourse in the United States. A place of immense energy and effervescence, its founders and participants were young and hardly known at the time but would ultimately become some of the most influential figures in the field shaping architectural practice and theory for decades. The Institute became the most significant and energetic crossroad in the path of rethinking architecture and the city and it's influence is still felt today.

This eight-part, 16½-hour television event explores New York City's rich history as the premier laboratory of modern life. A sweeping narrative covering nearly 400 years and 400 square miles, it reveals a complex and dynamic city that has played an unparalleled role in shaping the nation and reflecting its ideals.