ARCHITECTURE WEEK

Architecture week is a national initiative aiming to get us looking at buildings, thinking about them, why they are built and whether we can
climb them.

programme 1.
presented by The Cabinet
(Mon 21st / 7:30 / £6/5)

THE ARCHITECTURE OF MUD (Caterina Borelli / 1999 / 52 mins)

The Hadhramaut region in the south east of Yemen is well known for its mudbrick architecture. Throughout the centuries, the population has
developed very sophisticated building techniques and created a unique
architectural environment. Spectacular structures such as ten-story
mudbrick tower houses rise up from the valley's floor. In interviews
throughout the documentary, the masons describe their working techniques and the challenges they face with the introduction of new, imported
building materials. The Architecture of Mud documents the vernacular
architecture, the building craft and the society they belong to.

FUTURO: A NEW STANCE FOR TOMORROW (Mika Taanila / 1998 / 30 mins)

The Finnish architect Matti Suuronen designed Futuro in 1968, a house made of plastic resembling a flying saucer and reflecting the 60s optimism of space travel. Mika Taanila's film turns the history of this forgotten milestone in Finnish design into a story full of international colour and drama. It traces the development of Suuronen's "purely mathematical idea" into a multipurpose commodity which is eventually destroyed by time. It chronicles the rise and fall of Futuro alongside the 1973 oil crisis, which rendered the serial manufacture of the plastic house nearly impossible.
holidays away from home. We also feel that there is often little
opportunity to reflect on the less well-known elements of architectural history, which prove to exist as historical documents in the main.