A survey of the representation of modern architecture in the cinema

Christopher S. Wilson

doi:10.47818/DRArch.2022.v3si071

A survey of the representation of modern architecture in the cinema

Authors

Christopher S. Wilson Short Bio Ringling College of Art and Design

Dr. Christopher S. Wilson is an Architecture and Design Historian at Ringling College of Art + Design in Sarasota, Florida, USA. He is also the “Scholar-in Residence” of the non-profit Architecture Sarasota, a recent merger of the Sarasota Architectural Foundation and the Center for Architecture Sarasota. Wilson holds a BArch from Temple University, Philadelphia/USA; an MA from The Architectural Association, London/UK, and a PhD from Middle East Technical University, Ankara/TURKEY. Before entering the world of academia, Wilson worked as an architect in Philadelphia, Berlin, and London, and is registered with RIBA. Most recently, Wilson has written the Sarasota chapter in a monograph on the life and work of Sarasota School architect Victor Lundy, published by Princeton Architectural Press (2018), and an analysis of the usage of modern architecture in the TV 1970s series The Rockford Files (Design History Beyond the Canon, Bloomsbury, 2019). In January 2023, Intellect Books will publish Re-Framing Berlin: Architecture, Memory-Making and Film Locations by Wilson and co-author Gul Kacmaz Erk.

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.47818/DRArch.2022.v3si071

Keywords:

James Bond Films, modern architecture, cinema, Alfred Hitchcock, Jacques Tati, Jean-Luc Godard

Abstract

Modern architecture, a reaction to the industrialization of the 19th-century, is characterized by a lack of applied decoration, exposed structural members, materials kept in their natural state and “flat” roofs. It developed in Europe in the 1920s and 1930s, particularly in Germany, the Netherlands and France, and spread to the rest of the world after World War II. Depending on your point of view, Modern architecture can either be exciting and exhilarating or inhuman and oppressive. This article surveys these two opposite representations of Modern architecture in the cinema, beginning from its first appearance in the 1920s until today. Films directed by Marcel L’Herbier (The Inhuman Woman, 1924), Alfred Hitchcock (North by Northwest, 1959), Jacques Tati (Mon Oncle, 1958, and Playtime, 1967), Jean-Luc Godard (Contempt, 1963, Alphaville, 1965, and Two or Three Things I Know About Her, 1967), as well as several from the James Bond series (Dr. No [Terence Young, 1962], Goldfinger [Guy Hamilton, 1964], and Diamonds are Forever [Guy Hamilton, 1971]) are highlighted. Culminating in a survey of like-minded films since the 1980s, the article concludes that Modern architecture in the cinema is here to stay and will continue to play an integral role in the making of films.

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Published

2022-12-30

How to Cite

Wilson, C. S. (2022). A survey of the representation of modern architecture in the cinema. Journal of Design for Resilience in Architecture and Planning, 3((Special Issue), 60–65. https://doi.org/10.47818/DRArch.2022.v3si071