Christoph Schaub

Architecture has fascinated Swiss director Christoph Schaub for many years. His first architectural documentary,I Girasole-A House Near Verona, on a experimental rotating house in Italy, was awarded the 1st prize at the 1995 biennaleFilm and Architecture in Graz (Austria). Since then, Schaub has realized nine more films of varied length on architects and their buildings:

Place, Function and Form-The Architecture of Gion A. Caminada and Peter Zumthor
(1997), a portrait of these two internationally acclaimed architects;

White Coal
(1997),on the construction of hydroelectric power stations in the Swiss mountains after WW II, with their massive dams, miles of tunnels, underground machinery halls, and masts

The Vrin Project
(1999), on the very special economic, social, and architectural culture and policy of a remote village in the Swiss mountains

Santiago Calatrava's Travels
(2000), following the controversial Spanish engineer-architect on his journeys to building sites around the world

The Art of Justification-Jurg Conzett
(2002), showing the renowned structural engineer in his attempt to defy gravity

The Shift of Meanings-Meili, Peter
(2002), documenting Marcel Meili and Markus Peter's search for the best, and sometimes unusual, solutions in urban planning and development

Brasilia-A Utopia of Modernity
(2007), on the exhilarating experience of building this unique place and its nature also as a museum of memory for those participating in it

Bird's Nest-Herzog & de Meuron in China
(2008), on the celebrated Swiss architects and their iconic olympic stadium for Beijing

Schaub's documentaries prove that architecture can actually be captured in a film. His moving images, his way of looking at and showing architecture captivates the viewer instantly.

The DVDs offer each film in its original version with subtitles in English, French, and German. The booklet includes a short essay on Schaub's work in this field and brief introductions of the ten films.