FILM NIGHT: THE SOCIALIST, THE ARCHITECT & THE TWISTED TOWER
Fiona Mckay
The Autumn movie series came to a close with the screening of ‘The Socialist, The Architect & The Twisted Tower.’ This is a dramatic, behind-the-scene-story about the building of Santiago Calatrava's 'Turning Torso' in Malmö, a 190 metre high, twisted residential building which was appointed "World’s best residential building project" at Mipim in Cannes, 2005. Filmmaker Fredrik Gertten documents the construction of the visionary Turning Torso public housing structure. In 1999 Johnny Örbäck saw celebrated architect Santiago Calatrava's "Twisting Torso" sculpture and immediately knew what he wanted for the construction of a proposed residential building. Determined to construct a skyscraper based on the same concept, Örbäck contacted Calatrava and convinced him to design the building. This documentary highlights the difficulty in seeing such an ambitious project through to completion. The attendees loved the movie, and we had our longest post-movie discussion to date! Many thanks to all who attended.
The film nights will commence next year on Wednesday 10 February, 1900hrs at the BFI. Please refer to the AIA website early next year for the film we shall be screening. As always we welcome film suggestions you may have, and we look forward to seeing you at our next screening!
Author: Chris Musangi
