The City is co-sponsoring a free screening of the documentary “Infinite Space, the Architecture of John Lautner” showing at the Wheeler Opera House at 5:30 pm on March 1. Lautner designed the 1982 Turner house visible from the roundabout here in Aspen.
Infinite Space, a new documentary feature film, traces the lifelong quest of visionary genius John Lautner to create “architecture that has no beginning and no end.” It is the story of brilliance and of a complicated life – and the most sensual architecture of the 20th century.
As a young man, Lautner broke from his mentor, Frank Lloyd Wright, and went west to California to forge his own unique style. His life was marked by innovation and inspiration, endless battles with building codes, an accidental leap into the epicenter of pop culture, bitterness at lost opportunities, and finally – monumental achievement. Lautner was idolized by young modernists, criticized by academics, and beloved by the clients who worked side by side with him to build their houses. It was a life in pursuit of beauty.
Renowned architectural filmmaker Murray Grigor explores Lautner’s dramatic spaces with choreographed camera moves, as Lautner himself provides the commentary, speaking with insight and wit in recordings culled from archival sources. Other voices join him: Frank Gehry on how he was influenced by Lautner, the emotional memories of original clients, owners and builders, the recollections of actor Sean Connery on filming in a Lautner house, the remarks of Julius Shulman who famously photographed all the great modernists, as well as the droll comments of young Dutch architects as they pursue their quest to see every Lautner house in the world.
Amongst the many avant-garde buildings John Lautner designed during his 50 year career is the 1982 Turner house, here in Aspen, visible from the roundabout. The Turner house is featured in the film, and after the screening a Q&A is planned to include Bill Poss, and members of his firm who acted as the local architects and provided construction drawings for the project.
The film is generously sponsored by The City of Aspen, The Wheeler Opera House, Rowland + Broughton Architecture and Urban Design, Kim Raymond Architects, Inc., Aspen Art Museum, and Bluegreen.
Find out more here: http://www.infinitespacethemovie.com/.