Streaming with open captions
To design structures that won’t collapse, engineers have to imagine them in a pessimistic world of constant blizzards, storms, earthquakes and floods. Obsessed with these considerations, an anonymous engineer travels from the site of a long-demolished bridge in Bavaria to ambitious constructions in Paris. There, he muses about the complex architecture of the Centre Pompidou, wonders at the fabric-and-steel structure of “The Cloud” under the Grande Arche de la Défense and meditates on the delicate equilibrium of a glass edifice in the Parc de la Villette. All these buildings found a perfect way to balance opposing forces and offer a utopian vision that stands in stark contrast with the social tensions haunting Europe. Deftly tying in the fracturing of French society under the yellow vest protests, this captivating essay—part homage, part melancholic travelogue—captures humankind’s obsession with constructing worlds and its failure to preserve them. Charlotte Selb
This film includes a pre-recorded Q&A.
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