在这部远大前程纪录片片中,GREAT EXPECTATIONS introduces us to the most significant architectural movements and personalities of the 20th century, including, among many others, Le Corbusier's functionalist cities, Buckminster Fuller's lightweight geodesic domes, Moshe Safdie's Habitat '67 prefab apartments, Rudolf Steiner's Goetheanum and other anthroposophy buildings in Switzerland, Oscar Niemeyer's sleek urban designs for Brasilia, Paolo Soleri's archology; of crystal-like desert cities, Antti Lovag's curved surfaces of Palais Bulles in France, Jacque Fresco's utopian Venus Project in Florida, and Peter Cook and Colin Fournier's biomorphic Kunsthaus Graz in Austria. Using archival and contemporary footage, animation and interviews, GREAT EXPECTATIONS tells the fascinating story of these grand architectural visions, both realized and unrealized, as explained by great thinkers with revolutionary, if not always successful, ideas.
This film takes the viewer on a journey through possible and impossible architecture projects - from the beginning of the 20th century to today. From concrete illusions of grandeur to round grass covered dwellings under ground. The viewer will meet world famous architects and visionaries like Buckminster Fuller and Le Corbusier and experience their visions and ideas of how to build us a better world. With the help of animations unrealized projects come to life in this documentary that shows astounding visions of a world - as it could have been. Since the end of the 19th century industrialized man has been confronted with new kinds of possibilities and problems, all of which in one way or another are the consequences of a storm of technological progress. Amidst the smoke and wars, architects and artists saw early on that this was a world full of possibilities, with plenty of room for visionary ideas. They were motivated and driven by the problems of the day, be it a shortage of housing, urban decay or pollution. Their visions brought changes in our ways of living and dwelling that challenged our concepts of the good, the true and the beautiful. In this documentary we encounter the Anthroposophist head quarters in Switzerland, the functionalist cities of Le Corbusier and Archigram's projects where pop-art meets architecture. We also meet the self-taught inventor Buckminster Fuller and his light weight constructions, and Antti Lovag - the protector of round houses. Also we visit Habitat 67 - a building conceived from LEGO, Superstudio and their world without objects, Paolo Soleri's crystal like cities in the desert, and ecological housing under ground. Great Expectations is a film about architecture projects and visions which have brought changes in our ways of living and dwelling that challenged our concepts of the good, the true and the beautiful.