By Tim Verlaan.
Reyner Banham Loves Los Angeles is a fascinating 1972 documentary about Los Angeles, in which architectural historian Reyner Banham is our tour guide. Driving around in a rented Chevrolet, he admits a passionate love affair with the city’s highway system, praising the qualities of an urban environment that is still derided by most architecture critics.
The documentary came out just one year after the publication of Banham’s seminal book, Los Angeles: The Architecture of Four Ecologies, in which he dissects the metropolis into typologies of beach, basin, foothills and freeways. Being the cheeky hipster that he is, Banham claims the city ‘simply works’, blatantly ignoring its continuous traffic jams and gargantuan ecological footprint.
In the framework of our MA course on Architecture Criticism, the Architecture department hosts a public screening of the documentary. Come and enjoy an hour of dubious L.A. celebration with us!
Wednesday March 15th | 16:00h – 17:00h | HG14A00 (main building) | Free entrance
VU Art & Culture 