Articles by Dante A. Ciampaglia

Filmmaker Su Friedrich discusses Gut Renovation, a personal and impassioned documentary about the transformation of a Brooklyn neighborhood. Still from Su Friedrich's documenatary Gut Renovation. This week, When SHoP Architects unveiled plans to overhaul the Domino sugar factory in Brooklyn’s Williamsburg neighborhood, it marked the most recent chapter in the area’s transformation from low-rise industrial zone to inexpensive artists’ enclave to in-demand residential district. In her impassioned new documentary, Gut Renovation, director and Su Friedrich chronicles that change over the course of several years. The film is at once a documentary about 21st century urbanism and an extremely intimate look

A new film charts the fight to redevelop America’s iconic amusement area. Photo © Amy Nicholson A protest on the boardwalk following the announcement of the city’s compromised plans for Coney Island. As it plays out on screen, no civic battle in recent New York history has been as contentious and passionate as the one between developer Joe Sitt and Mayor Michael Bloomberg for the future of Coney Island. The fight was the culmination of a complex tangle of zoning laws, neglect, tradition, class warfare, and lots and lots of money. Director Amy Nicholson's 77-minute documentary Zipper: Coney Island's Last Wild

With his latest Dark Knight film, Christopher Nolan gives us a Gotham for our times. Photo © Ron Phillips/Warner Bros. Pictures/DC Comics Christian Bale as Batman on a Gotham rooftop in Christopher Nolan's The Dark Knight Rises. For nearly 75 years, Batman and Gotham City have been symbiotically connected, one essential to the formation of the other. And each new iteration of the character has brought with it a new city. Gotham began life as an exaggerated New York, but since the 1980s, Batman has become darker and more psychological, and with him, the city has become more conceptual and

Photo © Peter Ash Lee/courtesy Checkerboard Liz Diller, Ric Scofidio, and Charles Renfro are featured in a film being shown at the National Gallery. This week, the National Gallery of Art in Washington, D.C., will host the first retrospective of documentaries by the Checkerboard Film Foundation, a nonprofit founded in 1979 to produce, distribute, and archive films that document American artists and the artistic process. As the title suggests—“Celebrating New American Architecture and Design: A Salute to Checkerboard Film Foundation”—the retrospective will put the spotlight on the organization’s architecture documentaries, with 10 films screened over a two-day period. Related links Five

In its series 'Sometimes Cities: Urban America Beyond NYC,' New York City's Anthology Film Archives explores the intersection of architecture and people. Photo courtesy Anthology Film Archives/Julian Temple Requiem for Detroit? was developed by director Julien Temple to chronicle the “first post-American city.” Related Links: Imploding the Pruitt-Igoe Myth We’re All Doomed (Maybe) Urbanized Surveys Global Cities, in All Their Squalor and Glory When director Chad Friedrichs began work on a documentary about the notorious Pruitt-Igoe housing project in St. Louis, he thought he was making a film about architecture and environmental determinism. But as he did more research, the

Surviving Progress paints a bleak view of humanity’s future Photo courtesy First Run Features The Sao Paulo skyline as shown in the film. Related Links: Review: How Do I Love You, Mr. Foster? Review: New Eames Film Tepid Tribute Review: Imploding the Pruitt-Igoe Myth Questioning whether progress has actually occurred in the past 200 years is an audacious task in a film of less than 90 minutes. But directors Mathieu Roy and Harold Crooks make a noble attempt in their documentary Surviving Progress, which opens in New York on Friday and nationally on April 20. The film, based on the

A new documentary attempts to alter how we look at St. Louis's infamous public housing project. The first Pruitt-Igoe building to be demolished was imploded in 1972. Click on the slide show button to view additional images. The Pruitt-Igoe housing project seen before its demolition. Accepted wisdom will have us believe St. Louis' infamous Pruitt-Igoe public housing development was destined for failure. Designed by George Hellmuth and World Trade Center architect Minoru Yamasaki (of Leinweber, Yamasaki & Hellmuth), the 33-building complex opened in 1954, its Modernist towers touted as a remedy to overcrowding in the city’s tenements. Rising crime, neglected

Photo courtesy First Run Features The DVD version of Eames: The Architect and the Painter was released on December 13. Photo courtesy First Run Features Ray Eames with an early prototype of The Toy, made of cardboard triangles. Related Links: Stamps Commemorate Charles and Ray Eames Under the California Sun, Architecture Blossomed Even without footing in the design world, the name “Eames” is instantly recognizable. The Eames chair was such a game-changer when it was unveiled in 1956 that it has found a place—either literally or through designs it inspired—in countless homes and offices in the United States and around

The new documentary marks the finale of filmmaker Gary Hustwit's design trilogy. Photo courtesy Gary Hustwit The film features scenes from Dharavi, a slum in Mumbai. Photo courtesy Gary Hustwit Hustwit critically assesses the Stuttgart 21 project, which calls for tearing down a landmark train station and handing over a large parcel of public land to private developers. The project has drawn considerable opposition. In the echo chamber of American documentaries, Gary Huswit’s films reverberate for all the right reasons. They are open explorations, not narrow screeds, that encourage insiders and philistines alike to robustly and respectfully debate the cultural