“Foster’s third eye” is what the Neue Zürcher Zeitung called director Mirjam von Arx when her second film Building the Gherkin (2005/2006) came out in Swiss, German and English theaters and was awarded a prize at the International Festival of Films on Art (FIFA) 2006 in Montréal.

The film documents the development of the new Swiss Re corporate headquarters in London and accompanies the controversial project by star architect Norman Foster over four and a half years. Von Arx recognizes from the beginning of the project the dramatic potential arising from the given constellation of players. With Lord Foster, the managers of Swiss Re and the City of London three parties are involved; each has different motivations for wanting to achieve and construct something extraordinary: the first skyscraper to be built in the City of London in 30 years.

The conflict-laden, but creative basis gives Building the Gherkin a human dimension that draws more than just architecture fans into the cinemas and in front of the television. The English Times wrote: “What makes (the film) enthralling is that the process is seen from the inside. Von Arx must be a persuasive young woman, because she seems to have charmed her way to within whispering distance of every key meeting, every moment of agony and ecstasy.”

The enormous international success of the film broadcast in a succession of over ten international television channels and shown at numerous festivals has become a trailblazer for other architectural long-term studies and commissioned projects.

Would you like more information about ican films? References and a detailed description of our services can be obtained by contacting: ucan@ican-films.com