{"id":113662,"date":"2025-08-02T18:39:19","date_gmt":"2025-08-02T18:39:19","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/113662\/"},"modified":"2025-08-02T18:39:19","modified_gmt":"2025-08-02T18:39:19","slug":"michele-de-lucchi-stars-in-a24s-architecton-film-on-fate-of-concrete","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/113662\/","title":{"rendered":"michele de lucchi stars in A24\u2019s \u2018architecton\u2019 film on fate of concrete"},"content":{"rendered":"

the legacy of concrete traced through architecton<\/p>\n

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Architecton, an A24 documentary<\/strong><\/a> directed by Victor Kossakovsky, opens in theaters across the United States today, August 1st, 2025, following its premiere at the Berlin International Film Festival last year. The film traces the material and political implications of construction, specifically concrete<\/strong><\/a>, through the eyes of architects, quarry workers, and the ruins of buildings both ancient and modern.<\/p>\n

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Italian architect Michele De Lucchi<\/strong><\/a> is featured prominently throughout the film, which is mostly silent. He is shown with measured movements, whether sketching or arranging stones in his garden near Milan, while the camera \u2014 handled by longtime Kossakovsky collaborator Ben Bernhard \u2014 travels from war-ravaged apartment blocks in Ukraine to earthquake-rattled structures in Turkey and stone quarries in Baalbek, Lebanon.<\/p>\n

\"Architecton
scene from Architecton (2024), image courtesy A24<\/p>\n

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victor kossakovsky documents stone as witness<\/p>\n

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Architecton<\/strong><\/a> establishes its tone early, as the film opens with a sweeping drone shot over bombed buildings. Walls are torn open to reveal hollowed interiors. A banner reading \u2018Kick Russia Out of Ukraine\u2019 flutters on a facade. The film doesn\u2019t speak in overt political terms, but its images document the damage in detail. The Russian director<\/strong><\/a>\u2018s camera lingers on absences. Missing walls and crushed concrete reveal exposed stairwells and empty living rooms.<\/p>\n

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The scenes from Turkey echo these voids, though here they result from natural disaster rather than war. Newer buildings, many concrete-framed, lie flattened while ancient stone structures nearby remain upright. These observational contrasts are embedded in the texture of the film\u2019s editing and sound design.<\/p>\n

\"Architecton
scene from Architecton (2024), image courtesy A24<\/p>\n

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Toward a Slower Practice<\/p>\n

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Between these scenes of destruction shown throughout the Architecton film, architect<\/strong><\/a> Michele De Lucchi assembling a circle of stones in his Milanese garden. This simple act of creation unfolds slowly, in contrast to the speed and violence of the demolition scenes. This gesture becomes the film\u2019s only real construction sequence.<\/p>\n

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Elsewhere, viewers meet Abdul Nabi al-Afi, caretaker of the Baalbek quarry, and artist Nick Steur, known for his ephemeral stone balances. Their appearances reinforce the director\u2019s interest in how humans handle stone, whether through preservation, balance, or blasting. In one of Architecton\u2019s most important moments, crushed rock suspended midair becomes a detailed visual metaphor for the material on the brink of transformation.<\/p>\n

\"Architecton
scene from Architecton (2024), image courtesy A24<\/p>\n

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Despite its global scope, the film is spare in dialogue. Music by Evgueni Galperine and immersive sound design by Aleksandr Dudarev bear much of the emotional weight. Machines, explosions, and wind often speak louder than humans. Even De Lucchi\u2019s reflections, when they arrive, are brief and quiet as he comments on architecture\u2019s complicity in environmental degradation and resource depletion.<\/p>\n

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The film documents moments of building and unbuilding with an eye toward their consequences. For architects and designers, it brings a timely meditation on the afterlife of structures and the material and environmental costs of new construction.<\/p>\n

\"Architecton
scene from Architecton (2024), image courtesy A24<\/p>\n

\"Architecton
scene from Architecton (2024), image courtesy A24<\/p>\n

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