2010 Architecture & the City Film Series | Main Library

Submitted by the Event Organizer

Celebrate the relationship between architecture and celluloid through these documentary films, which spotlight the built environment, the architectural profession and the ever-mythical architect’s ego. Every Wednesday in September at 6:00 pm at the Main Library; Free, registration required.


A Necessary Ruin and Other Architectural Shorts
September 22, 6:00 pm
Free; Registration required.
San Francisco Main Library, Koret Auditorium, 100 Larkin Street, San Francisco

Upon its completion in October 1958, the Union Tank Car Dome, located north of Baton Rouge, Louisiana, was the largest clear-span structure in the world. Based on the engineering principles of the visionary design scientist and philosopher Buckminster Fuller, this geodesic dome was, at 384 feet in diameter, the first large scale example of this building type. A Necessary Ruin relates the powerful, compelling narrative of the dome’s history via interviews with architects, engineers, preservationists, media, and artists; animated sequences demonstrating the operation of the facility; and hundreds of rare photographs and video segments taken during the dome’s construction, decline, and demolition. The evening also features The Image of the City and So What?, among other architectural shorts, followed by a conversation with the filmmaker.

Directed by Evan Mather

50 minutes/color/documentary

Disclaimer: Please double check event information with the event organizer as events can be canceled, details can change after they are added to our calendar, and errors do occur.