The architecture documentary of the year: "The Importance of Being an Architect"

With glitz and glamour, the premiere of the documentary about Antonio Citterio and Patricia Viel celebrates the twentieth anniversary of the architecture firm at the Milano Design Film Festival.

The film "The Importance of Being an Architect" by Antonio Citterio and Patricia Viel premieres in Milan.

Antonio Citterio and Patricia Viel are among the most renowned architects of our time. To celebrate the twentieth anniversary of their architectural practice, a documentary film is coming to the screen. For the first time, "The Importance of Being an Architect" is scheduled to be screened at the Milano Design Film Festival on October 18. AD met the two protagonists for an exclusive interview.

Scene image from the film "The Importance of Being an Architect."

Courtesy of Antonio Citterio and Patricia Viel / MyBossWas

"Last year I celebrated my 70th birthday, and 50 years ago I opened my first studio. At that time as a designer, because I had not yet graduated. Now I've been running the architecture firm I founded with Patricia and the other partners for 20 years," Antonio Citterio explains. "The film "The Importance of Being an Architect" reflects on the role of architect:ing and architecture in the society of today and tomorrow. After all, we don't want to just look back!" notes Citterio. "But unfortunately, due to the Covid 19 pandemic, we had to postpone the debut."

Excerpt from the film "The Importance of Being an Architect."

Courtesy of Antonio Citterio and Patricia Viel / MyBossWas

The film is like a chapter in a larger story, says Patricia Viel. To mark the anniversary, a book will also be published - or rather two: one on design and one on architecture. "These publications in particular made us think about telling the story of our work not only through images, but additionally inserting a story that illustrates the relevance of our work," Viel says. "It seemed meaningful and important to us to leave the language of architecture in the process and enter another world - that of cinema, which speaks of chorality. Cinema tells us about an object, but in a kind of tableau vivant that is not just an architectural photograph with straightened parallaxes, a total desert, a blue sky where no one moves. Cinema is more real, it is a transition to a way of communication that is of high actuality, similar to social media or the smartphone. It has nothing to do with the detachment that the representation of architecture too often has." But not only that, "It's images that go inside, through which you perceive the space and understand it," Citterio continues. "I think architecture will have to be communicated in a different way in the near future. We felt the need to start doing that. We started to create a script that runs through our architecture. A path or a kind of red thread. And then there's another extraordinary element: the soundtrack, the music composed for this film."

Patricia Viel and Antonio Citterio in their Milan studio.

"The phrase of the philosopher Friedrich Schimmel comes to mind: Architecture is music in space, a kind of frozen music," adds Cittero. "Giorgio Ferrero, who co-directed with Federico Biasini, is also a composer. So he has a kinesthetic relationship with spaces. You could tell that when he interviewed us or when we talked about the projects he wanted to shoot. Most of the time he already had a narrative in mind. Personally, I think that's an extraordinary ability. And that's what cinema is all about: if the director knows his job, he can convey an incalculable amount of messages in an hour," says Patricia Viel.

Excerpt from the film "The Importance of Being an Architect."

Courtesy of Antonio Citterio and Patricia Viel / MyBossWas

The film was conceived as a virtual dialogue and musical journey in four acts. The first act focuses primarily on the understanding between architecture and nature, with personalities such as Anna Zegna, Massimo De Carlo, Francesco Bonami and Rolf Fehlbaum trying to define the concept of architecture and the social responsibility that this discipline embodies in today's world. In the second part of the film, the former director of the London Design Museum, Deyan Sudjic, reflects on the career of designer and architect Antonio Citterio, which began during the creative boom in Milan in the 1980s.

In the third act, the doors of the ACPV studio open, offering a glimpse into the holistic and multidisciplinary approach to the complexity of design today. The film concludes with a recollection of the great masters Antonio Citterio and Patricia Viel met on their travels. The aim is to raise awareness of how the responsibility of architecture has changed today, which must respond to developments in society and the challenges of globalization.