In his latest documentary, filmmaker Jan Louter follows architect, landscape architect, and urban planner Winy Maas for two years. The film has become an intimate look at a person who works passionately to create the city of the future – through buildings and urban plans all over the world, as well as through investigations with students and researchers. The director flew around the world in the wake of the co-founder of MVRDV and director of The Why Factory, and was given access to usually private meetings with clients, design teams, and students during their research.
Under Tomorrow’s Sky is a candid, open-hearted documentary about the highs and lows of the profession, the broad and the narrow, the visionary and the practical, and shows the architect as he is rarely seen. “You can’t practice this profession without optimism”, says Maas. “For me, designing is not a job but a way of life.” Under Tomorrow’s Sky follows Winy Maas through his many daily activities, from working on MVRDV projects to meetings with students from The Why Factory, the think tank he founded at TU Delft.
Image © Winy Maas
Director Jan Louter travels with Maas to Korea and China, among other places, and visits the construction sites of the geologically inspired apartment building Valley located in Amsterdam Zuidas and the first publicly accessible art depot in the world the Depot Boijmans Van Beuningen in Rotterdam – both buildings that made headlines around the world long before they opened. The viewer is treated to glamourous building openings such as that of the Imprint nightclub in Seoul, in the presence of celebrities like the American artist Jeff Koons.
The film also shows the “raw” side of the profession, from consultations with students to client presentations and internal meetings; the obstacles and the tough negotiations that are sometimes necessary to get innovative designs realised. Under Tomorrow’s Sky shows above all the passion and enthusiasm of Maas, who sees it as his mission to design better cities for the future. Source and images Courtesy of MVRDV.
Image © Winy Maas 
Documentary 
Winy Maas in his study 
Winy Maas in his study 
Winy Maas 
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