Architects and filmmakers share their stories

{"version":"0.3.0","atoms":[],"cards":[["images-card",{"images":[{"url":"http:\/\/res.cloudinary.com\/dpcbzfiye\/image\/upload\/v1458658869\/g7ob8gasg3nkzpbady6u.jpg","id":"1051"}],"caption":"2015 AIA President Elizabeth Chu Richter, FAIA (center) presented the Look Up Film Challenge awards in Chicago. \u201cThese films,\u201d said Richter, \u201cinspire the world to look up and appreciate the beauty of architecture.\u201d "}],["images-card",{"images":[{"url":"http:\/\/res.cloudinary.com\/dpcbzfiye\/image\/upload\/v1458658964\/qqtfntonqnpl2o2n2glc.jpg","id":"1056"}],"caption":"Grand prize winner, My City Listens, submitted by Andrew Jeric (not pictured) and Soha Momeni (third from right), and starring Azadeh Eftekhari (second from right), explores how cities shape personal identity. Also pictured is film challenge jurors Peter Exley, FAIA (far left) and Miguel Del Rio, AIA (second from left) and Elizabeth Chu Richter, FAIA (far right)."}]],"markups":[["a",["href","http:\/\/www.ilookup.org\/filmchallenge\/","target","_new"]],["em"],["a",["href","https:\/\/vimeo.com\/140461927","target","_new"]],["a",["href","https:\/\/vimeo.com\/140461929","target","_new"]],["a",["href","https:\/\/vimeo.com\/140461317","target","_new"]],["a",["href","https:\/\/vimeo.com\/140461324","target","_new"]],["a",["href","https:\/\/vimeo.com\/140461325","target","_new"]],["a",["href","https:\/\/vimeo.com\/140461323","target","_new"]],["a",["href","https:\/\/vimeo.com\/140461320","target","_new"]],["a",["href","https:\/\/vimeo.com\/140461322","target","_new"]],["a",["href","https:\/\/vimeo.com\/136406500","target","_new"]],["a",["href","https:\/\/vimeo.com\/140461318","target","_new"]],["a",["href","http:\/\/www.ilookup.org\/","target","_new"]],["a",["href","https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/watch?v=zrtfXDk0L8A","target","_new"]]],"sections":[[1,"h2",[[0,[],0,"Look Up Film Challenge winners announced at Chicago Architecture Biennial"]]],[1,"p",[[0,[],0,"The winners of the "],[0,[0],1,"Look Up Film Challenge"],[0,[],0," were announced in Chicago on Saturday as part of the inaugural Chicago Architecture Biennial, sponsored in part by the AIA. "]]],[1,"p",[[0,[],0,"The grand prize winner, "],[0,[1,2],2,"My City Listens"],[0,[],0,", filmed in downtown Los Angeles and submitted by Andrew Jeric and Soha Momeni, is about the interplay between personal identity and the city\u2019s textures. But in "],[0,[1],1,"My City Listens"],[0,[],0,", the city plays two roles: an object to discover and a subject to know. The narrator anthropomorphizes Los Angeles as a young woman\u2019s day unfolds, at times at times blithely, at times determinedly. \u0022Here is my closest friend, always comforting, always lending an ear,\u0022 the film\u2019s narrator says about Los Angeles. \u0022She is all grace [and] it is so difficult to leave her.\u0022"]]],[1,"p",[[0,[],0,"Her journey, we discover, is as much about the fl\u00e2neur\u2019s casual stroll as it is about a stormy interior dialogue about presence and loss. "]]],[1,"p",[[0,[],0,"\u0022When we speak of a city, images of places and people who live there are among the very first images that come to mind,\u0022 says Momeni. \u0022People find attachments and make bonds in certain places, and adopt the characteristics of that place.\u0022 "]]],[10,0],[1,"p",[[0,[],0,"\u0022Personal identity is a complex idea, but one that is reflected and fostered by the world in which we find ourselves,\u0022 says Jeric.\u0022 All around us we are surrounded by design and purpose, buildings and objects that all have an individual story to tell. One by one, these stories help inform specific decisions we make, exploring ideas and inspiring us to try new things. Through each of these choices and experiences, the tapestry of our lives is slowly weaved, ultimately merging into a larger narrative that helps define who we are.\u0022"]]],[1,"p",[[0,[],0,"Second prize went to "],[0,[1,3],2,"The RED Office"],[0,[],0,", a film about San Diego\u2013based real estate development team and submitted by Jeff Durkin and Dragan Radoicic. It looks at how a design-first approach to development leads to architecture that catalyzes community-building. "]]],[1,"p",[[0,[],0,"Third prize went to "],[0,[1,4],2,"Mixed Plate Hawaii"],[0,[],0,", submitted by Kaoru Lovett, Graham Hart, and Ronald Ribao, which looks at how Hawaii\u2019s diverse cultural heritage has proffered a diverse built environment over time, or, as Lovett says, \u0022life in four dimensions.\u0022 The film also garnered special recognition for its depiction of Diversity \u0026 Inclusion, one of six themed categories that the jury used to call attention to some of the pressing issues of contemporary architectural practice. Those categories and associated films are: "]]],[3,"ul",[[[0,[],0,"Community Impact: "],[0,[1,5],2,"Designing for Progress"]],[[0,[],0,"Design Resilience: "],[0,[1,6],2,"Cradle to Cradle"]],[[0,[],0,"Historic Preservation (tie): "],[0,[1,7],1,"Architect Tim Boden "],[0,[],0,"\u0026 "],[0,[8],2,"Looking"]],[[0,[],0,"Design \u0026 Health: "],[0,[1,9],2,"Hometown Care"]],[[0,[],0,"Diversity \u0026 Inclusion: "],[0,[1,10],2,"Mixed Plate Hawaii"]],[[0,[],0,"Emerging Professionals: "],[0,[1,11],1,"High Line"],[0,[],1," "]]]],[1,"p",[[0,[],0,"\u0022The challenge is a first-of-its-kind competition that encouraged collaboration between young filmmakers and architects to produce films that inspire the world to look up and appreciate the beauty of architecture,\u0022 says 2015 AIA President Elizabeth Chu Richter, FAIA. \u0022Architecture touches all aspects of our lives\u2014and our well-being. We believe that the more people understand how architecture impacts them, the more they will demand and support excellence in design.\u0022"]]],[10,1],[1,"p",[[0,[],0,"A total of 176 individuals from the United States comprising 35 teams registered for the competition, and 26 teams ultimately submitted entries. The jury, composed of architects, filmmakers, and film critics, assessed each entry against a rubric that included storytelling (50 percent), prominent placement of architecture (30 percent), and technical merit (20 percent). "]]],[1,"p",[[0,[],0,"\u0022The diversity of stories, from individual architects to teams, and from buildings to urban design projects made the biggest impression on me,\u0022 says juror Alicia Ravetto, FAIA, an international leader in bioclimatic architecture and principal of Alicia Ravetto Architecture, based in Pittsboro, N.C. "]]],[1,"p",[[0,[],0,"For Ravetto, storytelling is the key to creating positive public perceptions about architecture. "]]],[1,"p",[[0,[],0,"\u0022The stories from the Look Up Film Challenge can inspire young architects to choose a path towards a more sustainable future,\u0022 said Ravetto. \u0022To see that architecture is not all about aesthetics\u2014it\u2019s also about place, and it\u2019s about the experience of living, working, and playing.\u0022"]]],[1,"p",[[0,[],0,"For Carlos Aguilar, a juror, Los Angeles-based film journalist, and a Roger Ebert Fellow at the Sundance Film Festival, cinema and architecture are powerful narrative devices that, he says, are much more than just vessels for human life to exist, but rather [are] spaces that enhance our existence."]]],[1,"p",[[0,[],0,"\u0022If the tangible change that architecture has in a community or in history can be reflected in the powerful imagery that cinema offers, then we might be able to find ways to structure all aspects of our lives in positive, sustainable, and ethical ways, which will eventually become a constant part of the messages we see on the screen,\u0022 says Aguilar. "]]],[1,"p",[[0,[],0,"The AIA launched the film challenge earlier this year as a continuation of the Institute\u2019s multiyear public awareness campaign, "],[0,[12],1,"iLookUp"],[0,[],0,", which rolled out in late 2014 on social media by encouraging people to post what they see when they look up to Instagram. The campaign also became the basis of television advertisements and a series of web advertisements that aired in early 2015, as well as the launching pad for "],[0,[1,13],2,"An Architect\u0027s Story"],[0,[13],1,": Chris Downey"],[0,[],0,", a documentary about Bay Area architect Chris Downey, AIA, who lost his sight yet continues to practice architecture, by filmmakers Reaa Puri and Nelsen Brazill, and University of California, Berkeley architecture student Sana Jahani."]]]]}