"I Build the Tower" is the true story of the life and work of Sam Rodia, the Italian immigrant who built the world-famous Watts Towers on a residential lot in South Central Los Angeles. These mosaic-covered spires of reinforced cement rising to almost one hundred feet were once scheduled for demolition by the City Building Department. The towers survived to become a symbol of the community in which they stand and they are now recognized throughout the world as a unique embodiment of the structural principles found in nature.
This documentary provides an astonishing journey through innovative, futuristic, utopian and sometimes bizarre architecture projects—including concrete illusions of grandeur and Lego-like modular apartments to an Instant City Airship and round, grass-covered subterranean dwellings—from the beginning of the 20th century to today.
Ecological Design: Inventing the Future features the ideas and prototypes of pioneering designers who have trail-blazed the development of sustainable architecture, cities, energy systems, transport, and industry.
Architect, engineer, geometer, cartographer, philosopher, futurist, inventor of the famous geodesic dome and the dymaxion car, Buckminster Fuller was renowned for his comprehensive perspective on the world's problems.