Hasta La Ideas

Speaking of Frank Gehry, he has a documentary about him. So does Rem Koolhaas. He has two even. So where’s the cinematic love for equal-starchitect Norman Foster? Fortunately, via Archinect, we learn that there’s finally an answer to that, with the film How Much Does Your Building Weigh, Mr. Foster?, which debuted just this past Saturday in Paris and has started up its festival tour. It was directed by Norberto Lopez Amado and Carlos Carcas and features narration by none other than the Design Museum‘s own Deyan Sudjic (that’s the part that gets us most excited to see it). Here’s a description:

The film traces the rise of one of the world’s premier architects, Norman Foster and his unending quest to improve the quality of life through design. Portrayed are Foster’s origins and how his dreams and influences inspired the design of emblematic projects such as the largest building in the world, Beijing Airport, the Reichstag, the Hearst Building in New York and works such as the tallest bridge ever in Millau France. In the very near future, the majority of mankind will abandon the countryside and live entirely in cities. Foster offers some striking solutions to the problems that this historic event will create.

Clips and photos are available on the site.

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We like to think of late night television, a world dominated by chunky veneered desks and short on distinctive design elements, in retail terms: if Jay Leno is the Wal-Mart of the late-night scene and Conan O’Brien is (well, was) the Target, then Jimmy Fallon is the Gilt Groupe—young, tech-savvy, and on the rise. One of our favorite Late Night sketches is the recurring “Head Swap,” in which Fallon and “the guy from the graphics department” are continually (and hilariously) thwarted in their efforts to Photoshop one celebrity’s head onto that of another. Even more impressive is the attention to detail of Fallon’s “Video Vision” sketches—spot-on parodies of instructional videos, circa 1987. Settle in and enjoy the most recent installment, on the important topic of fire safety. So good you’ll swear you first saw it at a middle school assembly.

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In case you missed it, we highly recommend catching PBS‘ documentary Benjamin Latrobe: America’s First Architect, which premiered last night, but will likely be repeated throughout the month. We give it our official thumbs up because, well, it’s interesting and educational and it certainly couldn’t hurt you to watch something of some redeeming value from time to time (we’ve seen what’s on your DVR and it ain’t pretty), but also because the whole thing is hosted by the New Yorker‘s resident architecture critic, Paul Goldberger, who you should all be madly in love with. If Benjamin Latrobe is “America’s First Architect,” then Goldberger should be the “First Critic of American Architecture Who You Should Read.” He’s great in it and we were very happy to see and hear him, instead his usual existence as a bunch of words on a page. Oh, and also, Latrobe’s a pretty interesting guy too:

Latrobe, who lived from 1764 to 1820, is well-known for his work on the central portions of the United States Capitol building; the design of the Baltimore Basilica, the first Catholic Cathedral built in the United States; and his designs for the White House porticos. His influence on the nation’s capital also included serving as the chief surveyor for the Washington Canal; designing St. John’s Episcopal Church, Decatur House and the main gate of the Washington Navy Yard; and consulting on the construction of the Washington Bridge across the Potomac River. Other distinguished works by him include the Bank of Pennsylvania and the Fairmount Water Works in Philadelphia.

A short trailer is available here and the Washington Post has a nice batch of images here covering the famous architect, his work, as well as a couple of screen grabs from the show itself.

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As you may have deduced, we at UnBeige are rather obsessed by documentary films, and 2009 delivered in a big way: Helvetica director Gary Hustwit continued his beautifully shot journey into the world of design with Objectified, Megumi Sasaki created a tender portrait of Herb & Dorothy, R.J. Cutler helped the talented Grace Coddington grow her fan base by millions with his fascinating The September Issue, and Matt Tyrnauer revealed his brilliance as both a filmmaker and a marketing man with Valentino: The Last Emperor, which deserved every one of the 286 sumptuous fêtes thrown in its honor. Merle Becker‘s American Artifact, as you may recall, chronicles the rise of American rock poster art. And while you go and circle March 27 on your new 2010 calendar as the date of the DVD release, we wanted to share with you an artifactual tale about the making of the film. In this helpful story about how not to interview Frank Kozik, Becker described to us her fateful meeting with the rock poster legend:

Frank Kozik is the artist that is generally regarded as the one who “single-handedly revived the [rock poster] scene.” He helped to make it what we know it as today. Going into Frank’s interview, I knew it was very important to ‘nail it,’ or else a crucial part of the movie would be missing. So, I won’t say I was nervous, but let’s just say, I was extra prepared for this one; questions written and re-written, equipment checked, then checked again, alarm set an hour early…the whole bit.

Click to continue reading. You’ll be glad you did.

continued…

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We’ve long been supporters of design/business/etc. enthusiast Eric Karjaluoto and have linked to his essays for years, be they about Microsoft‘s new ad campaigns or deciding whether or not author Tim Ferriss was fanning the “no spec” flames purely for publicity’s sake. But now, in support of the recent release of his new book, Speak Human: Outmarket the Big Guys by Getting Personal, you can finally hear Eric’s advice the way it was meant to be heard, Canadian accented and all, via his new video series. It’s basically just him speaking to the camera in various settings and about various things, but if you’re a fan of his essays, you’ve come to expect great things and you won’t be sorry. And prolific as ever, he has up nearly a dozen videos already, so you have some watching to get to this morning. Here’s the very first, his introduction:

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