An exploration of some of the world's most famous structures and the inspirations of the architects behind them.
The Art of Architecture finds out how art influences the great designers of our time.
Along the way, the series has privileged access to the exceptional projects shaping the modern world.
Season 1
They are some of the most famous architects in the world. The Art of Architecture finds out how art influences the great designers of our time, from Santiago Calatrava to Sir David Adjaye. Along the way, the series has privileged access to projects as diverse as Battersea Power Station, the new V & A in Dundee, a distillery in Speyside, the National Museum of African American History and Culture in Washington, London’s re-vamped Design Museum and The Vessel – not a building but a grand staircase that is sure to become a new icon of Manhattan.
Season 2
In its second season The Art of Architecture meets more of the world’s leading architects. We look back at the amazing career of the late Zaha Hadid (and find out what her practice is doing now), see the new mosque in Cambridge designed by Julia Barfield, whose practice gave us the London Eye, visit the new Lambeth Palace Library by Clare and Sandy Wright, the opera house and museum in Valencia created by Santiago Calatrava, a concert hall in the Swiss Alps by Christina Seilern, and a music school in Wimbledon from the practice set up 45 years ago by Michael and Patty Hopkins.
Season 3
Another Grand Tour through the work of architects who are shaping the modern world. Season 3 includes ‘starchitects' Norman Foster, Frank Gehry, David Chipperfield, Daniel Libeskind, Liz Diller.
Opera Houses Special
They come in all shapes and sizes – the opera houses of the world. In this special episode of The Art of Architecture we look at La Fenice in Venice – re-built after the fire – Sydney Opera House, the Palau de les Arts Reina Sofia in Valencia, designed by Santiago Calatrava, and an opera house by British architect Robin Snell…that you can pack up and take with you.
Museums Special
It is boom time for the museums of the world. In this special episode of The Art of Architecture Spain’s huge Museum of Arts and Sciences, the Swiss Museum designed by Renzo Piano for one of Europe’s foremost art collectors, and the remarkable ‘collection’ of mini-museums in Germany featuring work by Zaha Hadid, Frank Gehry, Nicholas Grimshaw, Tadao Ando and Herzog & de Meuron.
Saudi Arabia Special
The world’s leading architects are helping the kingdom create a long list of innovative buildings. There’s the biggest mirrored building in the world – an ingenious concert hall in the desert which reflects the ruins of the Nabataean empire and 200,000 years of heritage. On the site of the first commercial Saudi oilfield, discovered in 1938, Norwegian architects Snohetta, have created a centre containing museum, library, theatre and exhibition halls; its appearance is inspired by the internal structural shape of oil-bearing rock formations. From Zaha Hadid there’s a design and research centre in the capital, Riyadh. And, Norman Foster’s practice is behind a massive development on the country’s west coast which will become a riviera on the Red Sea.
Qatar Special
The FIFA World Cup came to Qatar - which means eight football stadiums designed by some of the world’s leading architects have sprung up in and around the country’s capital, Doha, and continue twenty-five years’ tradition of commissioning modern architecture. In this programme we see Jean Nouvel’s National Museum, I M Pei’s Museum of Islamic Art, the Qatar National Library by Rem Koolhaas, and the newly-completed Lusail Towers by the British practice of Norman Foster.