The Architecture + Design Film Series | Renzo Piano: The Architect of Light

The Architecture + Design Film Series, shown monthly in Brattleboro and Burlington, continues with a screening of RENZO PIANO: THE ARCHITECT OF LIGHT (2018, Directed by Carlos Saura, Spain, 80 min), which follows architect Renzo Piano during the design and construction of the Botín Art Center in Santander, Spain, on Wednesday, December 11 at 6:30 pm at 118 Elliot in downtown Brattleboro. All film showings are free and open to all.

Called the “high priest” of hi-tech architecture, Italian architect Renzo Piano is the man behind such iconic buildings as Paris’ Pompidou Centre, Kansai airport, the New York Times headquarters, the new Whitney Museum of American Art, and the Shard, London. The Centro Botín, the focus of this month’s A+D Film Series screening, is Renzo Piano’s gift to the northern Spanish city of Santander, a building intended to reinvigorate the city the way nearby Bilbao was revived by its Guggenheim Museum two decades earlier. Nevertheless, the Centro has attracted ardent local critics who accuse Piano of aggrandizing the wealth of the Botín family, a powerful banking dynasty, and of flouting city ordinances. While consensus escapes the Centro Botín, Carlos Saura’s 2018 film makes one thing certain: the building is 100% Renzo—experimental yet efficient, evocative of water’s strength and light’s clarity.

The Architecture + Design Film Series, started six years ago in Burlington, selects diverse films celebrating design in all its various forms.  Their success in Burlington led local architect Jim Williams, who designed the popular 118 Elliot, to extend the series’ reach to the opposite end of the state in Brattleboro with support from the American Institute of Architects Vermont Chapter (AIAVT) and numerous local business and individual sponsors.  Now the monthly screenings are held simultaneously in Burlington and in Brattleboro at 118 Elliot through April 2020. Film showings are free and open to all, presented to foster understanding and stimulate conversation about the impact of design and beauty in our daily lives.

The Architecture + Design Film Series website www.adfilmseries.org tells the history of the film series and presents film trailers for movies in this upcoming season. 118 Elliot is a modern, fully accessible arts and educational center in downtown Brattleboro. Learn more at www.118Elliot.com.