Living Architectures

Ila Bêka & Louise Lemoine (France / Italy)

“A completely original way to tell a story. Astonishing!” Huffington Post

What’s it like to live inside a work of art? Living Architectures offers fresh and highly entertaining perspectives on some of architecture's greatest hits.

Cult figures in the contemporary architecture world, Paris-based filmmakers Ila Bêka and Louise Lemoine have developed a new cinematographic approach to architecture. Lively, provocative and thoroughly delightful, it lets architecture talk to us from a point of view that is both personal and subjective, rather than removed and analytical.

Living Architectures is series of seven films that examine masterpieces of contemporary architecture – from Rem Koolhaas's Bordeaux villa to Frank Gehry's Guggenheim Museum Bilbao – from a unique, humanistic perspective, bringing us into the everyday life of the buildings, experiencing them from the point of view of the people who actually live in, use, or maintain them every day, from grumpy housekeepers to adventurous glass cleaners.

Unlike most films about architecture, these focus less on explaining the building, its structure and its technical details than on letting the viewer enter into the invisible bubble of the daily intimacy of some icons of contemporary architecture. Through a series of moments and fragments of life, an unusually spontaneous portrait of the building emerges.

“Amusing, levelheaded and ultimately quite rich exception.” Los Angeles Times

On Tuesday 15 October at 6pm, Ila Bêka and Louise Lemoine will speak about their groundbreaking approach to investigating and portraying contemporary architecture within the stylish surrounds of the RMIT Design Hub – the latest award-winning addition to our city’s rich architectural landscape. They will also present a screening of Living Architectures Zip, a one-hour, condensed version of their seven-part film series.

Films in French, Italian and Spanish with English subtitles

Venue: Capitol Theatre

Dates: Sat 12 & Sun 13 October at 12pm – 6pm, Living Architectures

Tue 15 October at 6pm – 8pm, RMIT Design Hub – meet the artists

Duration: Koolhaas Houselife (58 mins)

Pomerol, Herzog & De Meuron (51 mins)

Xmas Meier (51 mins)

Gehry's Vertigo (48 mins)

Inside Piano – The Little Beaubourg (26 mins)

Inside Piano – The Submarine (39 mins)

Inside Piano – The Power of Silence (34 mins)

Tickets: FREE

Bookings: Not Required