Architecture and Film: Publications

Architecture and Film looks at the ways architecture and architects are treated on screen and, conversely, how these depictions filter and shape the ways we understand the built environment. It also examines the significant effect that the film industry has had on the American public's perception of urban, suburban, and rural spaces. Contributors to this collection of essays come from a wide range of disciplines. Nancy Levinson from Harvard Design Magazine writes on how films from The Fountainhead to Jungle Fever have depicted architects. Eric Rosenberg from Tufts University looks at how architecture and spatial relations shape the Beatles films A Hard Day's Night, Help!, and Let It Be. Joseph Rosa, curator at the National Building Museum, discusses why modern domestic architecture in recent Hollywood films such as The Ice Storm, L.A. Confidential, and The Big Lebowski has become synonymous with unstable inhabitants. I.D. Magazine writer Peter Hall discusses the history of film titling, focusing on the groundbreaking work of Saul Bass and Maurice Binder. Editor Mark Lamster examines the anti-urbanism of the Star Wars trilogy. The collection also includes the voices of those from within the film industry, who are uniquely able to provide a "behind the scenes" perspective: film editor Bob Eisenhardt comments on the making of Concert of Wills, a documentary on the construction of the Getty Museum; and Robert Kraft focuses on his work as a location director for Diane Keaton's upcoming film about Los Angeles. Also included are interviews with David Rockwell, architect of numerous Planet Hollywood restaurants worldwide and designer of a new hall to host the Academy Awards ceremony; Kyle Kooper, who created title sequences for Seven and Mission Impossible; and motion picture art director Jan Roelfs, whose credits include Gattaca, Orlando, and Little Women.