The 24 Best Architecture Documentaries of All Time

Starchitects, housing blocks and a few buildings that never got finished. Some films are portraits, others are arguments about how we should live in cities.

1. 1
   My Architect: A Son's Journey

   Nathaniel Kahn's 2003 Oscar-nominated portrait of his father, the architect Louis Kahn.
   1000pts
2. 2
   Unfinished Spaces

   A 2011 documentary about the ambitious National Art Schools built in Havana after the revolution.
   733pts
3. 3
   How Much Does Your Building Weigh, Mr Foster?

   A 2010 portrait of Norman Foster, covering his work from the Hongkong bank to the Reichstag dome.
   732pts
4. 4
   Koolhaas Houselife

   A 2008 film that tours Rem Koolhaas's Maison a Bordeaux through the eyes of its housekeeper.
   639pts
5. 5
   Architecture of Doom

   A 1989 documentary tracing the link between Nazi ideology and its monumental buildings.
   639pts
6. 6
   Citizen Architect

   A 2010 film on Samuel Mockbee and his Rural Studio, which built homes for poor communities in Alabama.
   639pts
7. 7
   Urbanized

   Gary Hustwit's 2011 documentary on how cities are designed, and the people who shape them.
   523pts
8. 8
   Buckminster Fuller: Thinking Out Loud

   A 1996 documentary on the inventor of the geodesic dome and his vision of design for humanity.
   523pts
9. 9
   Sketches of Frank Gehry

   Sydney Pollack's 2005 portrait of Frank Gehry and how his buildings take shape.
   523pts
10. 10
    Rem

    A 2016 documentary about Rem Koolhaas and his restless approach to architecture, made by his son Tomas.
    523pts
11. 11
    The Pruitt-Igoe Myth

    A 2011 documentary on the rise and demolition of a St. Louis housing project and what really doomed it.
    523pts
12. 12
    Citizen Jane: Battle for the City

    A 2016 account of Jane Jacobs's fight against Robert Moses and top-down urban renewal in New York.
    523pts
13. 13
    Eames: The Architect and the Painter

    A 2011 film on Charles and Ray Eames and their influence on design and architecture.
    0pts
14. 14
    Antonio Gaudi

    Hiroshi Teshigahara's 1984 wordless film exploring the buildings of Antoni Gaudi in Barcelona.
    0pts
15. 15
    Frank Lloyd Wright

    Ken Burns's 1998 two-part biography of America's most famous architect.
    0pts
16. 16
    Oscar Niemeyer: Life Is a Breath of Air

    A 2007 portrait of the Brazilian modernist who designed Brasilia.
    0pts
17. 17
    Big Time

    A 2017 look at Bjarke Ingels and the building of his most ambitious projects.
    0pts
18. 18
    Visual Acoustics

    A 2008 film on Julius Shulman, the photographer whose images defined mid-century modernist architecture.
    0pts
19. 19
    Cathedrals of Culture

    A 2014 anthology in which six directors, including Wim Wenders, let famous buildings tell their own stories in 3D.
    0pts
20. 20
    The Human Scale

    A 2012 documentary following Jan Gehl's campaign to design cities around people rather than cars.
    0pts
21. 21
    Concrete Love: The Bohm Family

    A 2014 portrait of a German dynasty of church architects and their working relationships.
    0pts
22. 22
    Maya Lin: A Strong Clear Vision

    An Oscar-winning 1994 film about the designer of the Vietnam Veterans Memorial.
    0pts
23. 23
    Sagrada: The Mystery of Creation

    A 2012 film on the decades-long construction of Gaudi's basilica in Barcelona.
    0pts
24. 24
    The Infinite Happiness

    A 2015 film following residents of the giant 8 House in Copenhagen designed by BIG.
    0pts

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