Architecture is often taken less seriously as an art form than poetry, painting or sculpture, perhaps because it has practical and technical aspects. But arguably it affects our daily lives more than most categories of art, as we constantly interact with built structures and architectural design in a way that we don’t with fine art or dance.

Programmers have consistently told me that documentaries about architects and architecture draw large audiences; films like The Proposal, (a conceptual project by Jill Magid about the Mexican architect Luis Barragán) and Coast Modern, a film about the pioneers of West Coast Modernist Architecture, were both hits at Vancouver festivals. I expect a similar level of interest for Neutra - Survival Through Design, a survey of the life and work of Richard Neutra, who created beautiful and influential modernist buildings from the late 1920s until his death in 1970.

While dozens of artists on the cutting edge are known to the mainstream, only a few architects (Frank Lloyd Wright, Frank Gehry) rise to that level of public prominence. Many viewers probably don’t know Neutra, an architect born in Austria who did most of his work in southern California. A few years ago I visited Neutra VDL Studio and Residences, the home he built and designed for himself, in the Los Angeles neighborhood of Silver Lake, which is full of modernist buildings. This building exhibits the clean lines, continuity, and simplicity that defined Neutra’s work. He made use of natural lighting, glass walls, and mirrors to make the house and rooms spacious.

Neutra started practicing architecture in Los Angeles in 1929, and attracted much attention for his first big project, Lovell House, made with a steel skeleton, which was partly pre-fabricated and then assembled on site on a hillside. His work was innovative and caused a stir—15,000 people came to see the house in December 1929. Though it was a large, expensive house, Neutra wanted the techniques and features to be relevant and transferrable to the building of a humble bungalow. He and his family had a vibrant social life; he spent time at the Bauhaus in Germany and was part of an eccentric California crowd which included many artists and Hollywood people.

As a documentary, Neutra - Survival Through Design is informative and comprehensive, if a little dry at times. American filmmaker P.J. Letofsky leans a little too heavily on Talking Heads, when the film might have benefitted from silence to let the architecture speak for itself. The shots that we do see of Neutra buildings are all breath-taking. This documentary does provide a thorough and colourful biography, using Neutra’s sons and other architects influenced by him.

The film shows September 27th at 9:00 PM SFU Goldcorp and September 28th at 3:30 PM at SFU Goldcorp.

Watch the trailer.