Time to rethink architecture...
how the architect wants to contribute to society?... For sure this kind of 'star architects' competitions are not the answer...
Synopsis
*(the red comments reflect only my personal opinion)
An almost uncomfortable but intensely fascinating account of how some of the best architects in the world (I'd rather say the most famous (the architectural star system) what does not absolutely mean the best... Anyway, the best for who and under what parameters and contexts?), design giants like Jean Nouvel or Frank Gehry, toil, struggle and strategize to beat the competition. While nearly as old as the profession itself, architectural competitions became a social, political and cultural phenomenon of the post-Guggenheim Bilbao museums and real estate bubbles of the recent past. Taking place at the dramatic moment in which the bubble became a crisis, this is the first one to be documented, in excruciatingly raw detail. But does the jury have the last word?
Jean Nouvel, Frank Gehry, Dominique Perrault, Zaha Hadid and Norman Foster are selected to participate in the design of the future National Museum of Art of Andorra, a first in the Pyrenees small country. Norman Foster drops out of the competition after a change in the rules that allow the documentary to happen (Anything to hide Sir Foster...?). Three months of design work go into the making of the different proposals, while, behind doors, a power struggle between the different architects and the client has a profound impact on the level of transparency granted by each office to the resident documentary crew, and which has a definite influence in the material shown in the film.
Director’s biography
Angel Borrego Cubero (Spain, 1967). While trained in architecture, with a PhD from ETSA Madrid and a MArch from Princeton University, where he was a Fulbright scholar, Borrego Cubero has been developing an interdisciplinary body of works that deal with issues such as the contemporary urban condition, the negotiations between private and public space, violence, surveillance, fictions in architecture, etc.
After succeeding in a big international competition, in a process which was akin to a thriller, Angel Borrego Cubero decides to make a documentary of this recurring architectural procedure. During four years, intense work was dedicated to find, document and edit one into film format. “The Competition” is the first movie of this Spanish director and is also the first film documenting the tense developments that characterize architectural contests.
Cast of participant architects:
Frank Gehry
Jean Nouvel
Zaha Hadid
Dominique Perrault
Norman Foster
Team
A production by Office for Strategic Spaces (OSS) www.o-s-s.org
Director and Producer: Angel Borrego Cubero
Technical Director and Editor: Simon Lund
Music: Cesar Bartolomé
Assistants to edition: Gaël Urzáiz, Cristina Hortigüela
Funding and collaborations: Fundación Arte y Derecho, Govern d’Andorra, Lord Culture, Universidad Politécnica de Madrid, Ateliers Jean Nouvel, Dominique Perrault Architecture, Zaha Hadid Architects, Gehry Partners
Cameras: Gaël Urzáiz, Loreto García, Sara Verd, Simon Lund, Angel Borrego Cubero
Trailer: Angel Borrego Cubero, Simon Lund
Promotion & PR: Simona Rota
Year of completion: 2013
Date of release: 10th of October 2013, World Première at the Architecture Film Festival Rotterdam (AFFR)
For press requests contact: pr@o-s-s.org