documentary

Building the Gherkin

Can a single building impact the career of an architect, the image of a global company and even the skyline of a big city?

www.buildingthegherkin.com

Synopsis

Can a single building impact the career of an architect, the image of a global company and even the skyline of a big city?

Just a month and a day after the disastrous attack on the World Trade Center in New York, the first steel beam of a new tower is erected in London. One question is on everybody’s mind: is it the right decision to build a new iconic tower in the midst of London’s financial district, on a site that has already been bombed before?

The 40-storey steel and glass tower sparks further controversy. Norman Foster, one of Britain’s most visionary architects, calls his design for the new Swiss Re London headquarters ‘radial – socially, technically, architecturally and spatially’. In fact, its size and shape are so radical that it is almost immediately nicknamed ‘the erotic gherkin’.

Will the Gherkin become the landmark they all dream of?

Crew

Mirjam von Arx

Director and Executive Producer
Mirjam von Arx

Mirjam von Arx studied journalism and worked for close to two decades as a writer for various magazines. In 1991, she moved to New York and started directing her first films. She founded ican films in 2002, through which she has produced several award-winning theatrical documentaries, including VIRGIN TALES, winner of the Zurich Film Prize 2012 and finalist of the Maysles Brothers Award 2012, and THE SCENT OF FEAR (2022) which is narrated by Katja Riemann and Oscar nominee Sophie Okonedo and won the Migros Culture Percentage Swiss Documentary film competition. Her latest film HOME IS THE OCEAN (2024, directed by Livia Vonaesch) had its world premiere at the Int. Documentary Competition of the 20th Zurich Film Festival 2024.

Mirjam von Arx is a member of the European Film Academy and the Swiss Film Academy.

Janet Mccaig Taylor

Editor

Trained in the BBC, Janet Mccaig Taylor became a Chief Picture Editor in News and Current Affairs, working mainly on weekly programmes. She left in 1993 to edit a wider range of documentaries. Since then she has been working with many dedicated film makers and has edited documentaries in the USA, Switzerland and Turkey.

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