The 90’s, episode 205: Architecture And Design

Episode 205 of the award-winning TV series The 90's. This episode is called "ARCHITECTURE AND DESIGN" and features the following segments:

00:00Copy video clip URL Start Episode 205.

02:27Copy video clip URL “Measurements of Oxford” by Barry Kimm. The filmmakers engage the residents of Oxford, Iowa in measuring parts of their town. Residents end up revealing little tidbits about themselves and the history of the town based on what they decide to measure.

05:48Copy video clip URL “Solicited Response” by Margaret Graham. This documentary examines the situation of panhandlers in Philadelphia through personal interviews which are contrasted with the harsh and disapproving views of the people on the street. A surprisingly compassionate view of a group of people who rarely are given the opportunity to defend themselves. “I don’t know what the answer is. I know all the questions. The answers I don’t know.”

11:51Copy video clip URL “Just Another Solution” by Nancy Cain. Cain talks to a man from Venice Beach, California who has designed a tent that is towed by a bicycle. It’s “an RV for homeless people. It’s better than giving them a check.”

13:30Copy video clip URL Stanley Tigerman commentary. Chicago architect Stanley Tigerman voices his concerns about the role of architects in a world with so many problems. He worries about a culture that disregards AIDS, the homeless, the elderly, the underclass. He’s concerned that all efforts of the late 1960s and the goal of an egalitarian society have been forgotten and that architects are amnesiacs only interested in money.

15:29Copy video clip URL “A Simple Idea” by Maurice Jacobsen. Students from the Southern California Institute of Architecture design experimental plywood cubicles to temporarily house the homeless. “They’re transitional, and they’ll get the homeless off the street.”

18:48Copy video clip URL “Paul Cezanne” by Cindy Keefer, with music by The Special Guests. A music video celebrating Cezanne, the Father of Cubism.

21:47Copy video clip URL “Measurements of Oxford” continued. The townsfolk measure a slide and a satellite dish. A boy is enlisted to measure anything in town that is important to him.

22:48Copy video clip URL Grant Kester commentary by Eddie Becker. At Georgetown Park shopping mall, architecture critic Grant Kester talks about the way architecture works on a symbolic level to represent the unconscious mindset of a city. He uses the example of this new shopping mall, which is designed to resemble Victorian town streets, as a starting point for his analysis of the new Washington. “Architecture represents cultural values. Early Washington, DC architecture focused on historical monuments. Then the focus shifted to the economy with mixed use of shopping malls etc. Most recently, new buil dings evoke the historical detail of the Victorian era.”

25:32Copy video clip URL “McMoscow” by Linda & Alan Schulman. Feb. 1, 1990. McDonald’s opens its first fast-food outlet in the Soviet Union. There are lines out the door as everyone scrambles to try the new restaurant.

27:30Copy video clip URL “Remember Flavor” by Paul Tassie. Experimental black and white piece.

29:08Copy video clip URL “Nature” by MICA-TV. Two visionary architects describe their piece which attempts to meld nature with urban architecture.

30:18Copy video clip URL “‘Clean’ Dan Grandusky” by Jim Sternfield. A builder from Denver, Colorado voices his concerns about environmental change, likening the current situation to a global war. “The significant problem with the urban landscape is our cars, our highways. World War III is being waged right now. We are the last generation who can save the planet.”

32:05Copy video clip URL “Joshua Cohen: What I Think” by Maxi Cohen. Second grader Josh tells us what he thinks about the American educational system. “The quality here is not as good as Asia. Kindergarten and first grade is good, but high school and college is no good, except Princeton.”

33:19Copy video clip URL “Vito Acconci” by MICA-TV. The New York artist explains his philosophy of urban architecture and his “cars in collision” sculpture. “The only way to change the urban landscape is to take elements and have them collide, attack each other.” We witness the installation of the sculpture, which invites the curiosity of passers-by.

35:22Copy video clip URL “Measurements of Oxford” continued. Kids measure a school bus, a gas station attendant measures his pump.

36:08Copy video clip URL “Video Postcard: Greetings from the World’s Largest.”  By Dana Atchley. A documentary showing us images of “the world’s largest” – roadside sculptures of giant dinosaurs, cowboy boots, etc.

37:33Copy video clip URL “To a Theater Near You” by Matt Gilson & Tony Medici. We witness the demolition of Chicago’s grandiose Granada Theater while people reminisce about its glory days. An angry activist yells on the construction site about the fact that the site is being turned into a parking lot. The segment also deals with the preservation of the Uptown Theatre, which has so far been successful.

41:08Copy video clip URL “The New Oz Park” by Dana Hill. Time lapse photography shows the construction of a new playground in Lincoln Park, a project which was completed entirely by the community.

44:12Copy video clip URL “Rev. Calvin O. Butts” by Esti Marpet. In Harlem, Rev. Calvin Butts and his Abyssinian Baptist Church organize a campaign to whitewash cigarette and alcohol advertising on billboards. He feels that poor communities are disproportionately targeted by this type of advertising.

49:02Copy video clip URL “Through the Looking Glass” by Juan Downey. A video art piece examining the relationship between architecture and nature.

52:20Copy video clip URL A prize-winning commercial for King Gee trousers.

52:49Copy video clip URL “Measurements of Oxford” continued. The boy returns with his results.

53:52Copy video clip URL More from Stanley Tigerman. “Good architecture deals with excellence, integrity. Architecture is a moral, ethical pursuit. Once architects start doing it for money, it can’t be good.”

55:11Copy video clip URL More from “Remember Flavor.”

55:25Copy video clip URL “Frankfurt Airport” by Skip Blumberg. Two musicians perform under credits.

57:21Copy video clip URL :30 Promo.