It’s All a Plan

This documentary film takes a look back at the life and work of Paulo Mendes da Rocha, the most celebrated living modern Brazilian architect, born in 1928 and having practiced for more than 60 years. He relates his remarkable life story in a series of interviews with his daughter, Joana, during which the two revisit a number of his emblematic architectural sites, and he discusses pragmatically his reflections on urban planning, nature, humanity, art, and technique. His intellectual and logical discourse on architecture, his inventiveness, and his accomplishments, including in design, earned him the prestigious Pritzker Prize and the Golden Lion at the Venice Biennale, elevating him to the pantheon of contemporary architecture. The warm father-daughter dialogue gives rise to confidences and exchanges of ideas that reveal the ingenuity, passion, and tirelessness of a humble and appealing man who casts a gigantic shadow.