Sequences in architecture. How to use cinema to design the experience of space and time

An article on Sequences and 4 selected videos, published on ArchitecturePlayer.com

THE SEQUENCE IS A METHOD OF COMPOSITION.

It is a system of juxtaposition of a series of elements of similar nature, according to a meaningful scheme. It is a process that we define and recognize first and foremost as an interdisciplinary tool, a theoretical method of approach to the infinite possibilities of composition or creative construction.

Theorized by different scholars as useful system of composition, the sequential method makes possible to maintain the uniqueness of the elements organized in succession, creating at the same time a unified and meaningful total piece of art. Considering in particular architecture, the sequence allows to understand and to design the movement, the experience through space, and time. Similarly, in cinema the sequence permits to construct and to arrange the same idea of movement and experience. But how can cinema be used in order to express architectural sequences? In which way can this interdisciplinary system of composition be exploited to underline the main architectural qualities of a project through a video?

Nowadays, the several connections between cinema and architecture are too often used as simple set of references. The potentialities related to the concept of sequence demonstrate how strong and dense is the relationship between the two disciplines, and how could be powerful the use of cinema in order to describe architecture if the creation process is bounded to the same sequential method of design. In this text we analyze 4 videos, each one realized following a different kind of sequence. All these examples are perfect attempts of cinematic compositions which replicates the sequential method related to the architectural idea of composition.

Full Version (with videos)