In a three day pilot workshop, students from the Architecture and Urbanism School of Mackenzie Presbyterian University in São Paulo took part in an introduction to architecture filmmaking. Coordinated by architects Gabriel Kogan and Pedro Kok, the group spent a day at Lina Bo Bardi's Glass House in São Paulo following theoretical and technical lectures.
The idea was to recreate – now in moving images – an iconic photograph of the site by exploring issues of representation, transparency, interior/exterior, promenades, ways of living and the tectonics of this architectural masterpiece.
Watch the video that was the final result of this first filming architecture workshop above, and read the description of the program below.
filming architecture is an academic itinerant workshop about architecture representation and narratives, developed in partnership with architecture schools around the world. As the final product, the students will produce a short movie filmed at a paradigmatic building of local modernism, coming into contact with the basic techniques of digital cinematography, with a special focus on architectural representation.
The activities are divided into three modules: “Represented Architecture”, “Architecture as Narrative” and “Filming Modernism”. The workshop has programs available with varying durations – depending on the availability of the partner school; one week (short), three weeks (average) and two months (long). The architects Gabriel Kogan, Pedro Kok and Priscyla Gomes head the programme from theoretical activities to the final film project.
The workshop is intended for all architecture students with varied interests including photography, cinematography (directing, editing, camera), scenography, theater, dance, acting, sound engineering (recording, mixing), musical composition, production, literary creation, drawing (technical or free-style), architectural history and criticism. To better develop the activities, we suggest a maximum of 15 student participants. We also welcome partnerships with architecture institutes.
Module I
“Represented Architecture” is a theoretical module about the representation of architecture in cinema, using classic films as the object of discussion and critical construction. Highlighted are major productions as those by Federico Fellini, Jacques Tati, Jean-Luc Godard, Alfred Hitchcock and Michelangelo Antonioni. This module will investigate the different forms of architectural representations, establishing comparisons between strategies adopted to construct images in movement. This will assist the students to begin producing a script through short textual exercises. Coordinator: Priscyla Gomes.
Module II
“Architecture as Narrative”, is a theoretical module which analyzes modern architecture from its narrative bias. The project itself is treated here as a discursive text. Brazilian architecture serves as the object of study for fundamental questions of this module, specifically, looking at the work of two architects: Paulo Mendes da Rocha – with his eminently political ideal that “architecture is a discourse by Man about himself” – and Lina Bo Bardi – with her conceptual projection that focuses on the possible and desired uses of constructed space in the post-occupation. This critical study about the design reveals a possible approach to script writing emerging from the conceptual study of the architectural project. This strategy will be encouraged in the script writing process. Coordinator: Gabriel Kogan.
Module III
“Filming Modernism”, is a practical module for the production of an approximate three-minute film in a paradigmatic building of local modernism. The movie will be included in the archives of the project “Filming Modernism” – done together with other architecture schools worldwide. During the process, students will get in contact with basic concepts of script elaboration, photography and digital filmmaking, art direction, directing, acting and post-production. They will also learn how to operate basic filming support equipment, such as mini-cranes. The activities developed in the first two modules will serve as basis for the script. The film aims to treat architecture as a narrative character, with a central role in the plot. Coordinator: Pedro Kok.
For further information on the workshop, visit filming architecture's website.
Technical Details
Title: The Glass House
Year of production: 2014
Directed by: Gabriel Kogan, Pedro Kok
Release date: December 5th 2014
Runtime: 2m24s
Country: Brazil
Series: Filming architecture / www.filmingarchitecture.com
Youtube URL: https://www.youtube.com/watch?
Cast: Fabiana Perazolo
Participants: Augusto Takahashi, Fabiana Perazolo, Gabriel Ribeiro, Gabriela Estefam, Gabriela Guerra, Ludmila Daher, Natália Krislee, Nathalia Garcia, Pedro Ribeiro, Ricardo Sylos, Thais Coelho, Thais Shiozawa, Thiago Han, Victoria Braga, Vinícius Vitoriano, Yara Bello.
Soundtrack: [Piano solo--march]. (160 rpm) by Performer not given is licensed under a Attribution-NonCommercial 3.0 International License.