Norman Foster Building the Gherkin

video topic: skyscraper

video type: documentary

video no: 01

architect featured: Norman Foster

video title: Building the Gherkin

run time:

file size: 618.91 mb

reference: shortgrownspire.blog.friendster.com

description and preview: 

Can a single building impact the career of an architect, the image of a global company and the future of a major city? Building the Gherkin chronicles the design, planning and construction of the controversial Swiss Re building, an ‘ecological skyscraper’ designed by renowned British architect Norman Foster.

Just a month and a day after the World Trade Center attack in New York, the first steel beam of 30 St Mary Axe (as its officially known) was erected in London on a site that had seen two previous IRA bombings. One question was on everyone’s mind: was it the right time and place to build a new iconic tower?

Sparking further controversy was the building’s design. Meant to address spatial, environmental, and social concerns, its unique design was so radical that it quickly became the target of ridicule in the British press, earning its nickname, ‘the erotic gherkin.’

Building the Gherkin is a fascinating documentary that covers the four-and-a-half year development period. Documenting everything from the initial blueprint design to the give-and-take between client and architect to the furnishing of the workspace, the film provides an essential, rarely-presented, overview of the entire architectural process.

So has the Gherkin become the landmark they all dreamt of? Since its completion in 2004, the building has won a number of prestigious architecture awards, and was voted the most admired new building in the world by fellow architects. But perhaps more importantly, the Gherkin has punctured the zeitgeist. It has been prominently featured in two Hollywood films (Woody Allen’s Match Point and Basic Instinct 2), a comic book, a video game, and has even been blown up by aliens in a popular British science-fiction television series.

Size : 618.91 MB

the file is split between 7 [.]rar segments each has a size of around 100 mb (except the last one)

file host : rapidshare

Download:

segment 1: gherkin 1

segment 2: gherkin 2

segment 3: gherkin 3

segment 4: Gherkin 4

segment 5: Gherkin 5

segment 6: Gherkin 6

segment 7: Gherkin 7

Preview:
the following preview is taken from the introduction part of the film.

source: Youtube
ref: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SBju9X6wqZc