The series Architectures presents a privileged and unprecedented look at the work of superstar architects and some of their most brilliant creations. Architectures 1 vols 1-5 is devised by Richard Copans and Stan Neumann. Co-produced by the European public television channel ARTE France, Les Films d Ici; Centre Pompidou; Ministère de la Culture; Direction de l Architecture et du Patrimoine; Musée d Orsay; and Fondation Sasakawa. Architectures 2 vols 6-8 presents three 26-minute films focussing on architecture and its historical and social functions to reveal its meaning and impact on humanity. The National Dance Centre The mutation of a concrete mastodon, the Pantin Adminstrative Centre (1969) into the French National Dance Centre (2004)...or the successful meeting of Brutus and ballerinas. An architectural overhaul that necessarily owes its success to the monumental strength of the original building. The Citadel of Lille Vauban s Queen of the citadels was the model for military constructions all over France. Built between 1668 and 1671, its exacting and simple design has made it a source of inspiration for major contemporary architects. VitraHaus In 2006, the company VITRA asked the Herzog & de Meuron agency to create a building for its HOME collection. The showroom consists of a pile of 12 houses slotted together to produce surprising spaces. Cologne Cathedral Started in 1247, Cologne Cathedral was completed in 1880 after a 300-year break in the work carried out on it. The Cathedral, which embodies the unity of Germany, is both a Gothic archetype and a building of the 19th century. The Citadel of Leisure, the Pompeia Social Service Centre In the Palmerias district of Sao Paulo, early 20th century former factory-workshops are aligned with strange blocks of cement that stand tall, facing the city. Could the Citadel of leisure be a major work of Architettura Povera ? The Rolex Learning Centre Poised on the shore of Lake Geneva, a wave of cement and glass has inspired many metaphors, from a slice of Emmental cheese to a piece of molecular fabric. The building, a space dedicated to knowledge, resembles nothing else before it.

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