I think pretty much every major city in the U.S. can find at least one individual that made a remarkable difference on their city. It might be for taking the city from the brink of nothing to a cultural center, or from a sleepy cow town to a metropolis.
In Atlanta, one of the most notable people that had a profound impact on the development of Downtown Atlanta, and on architecture world wide, was John Portman.
Now, people will have an opportunity to learn more about this legendary architect and developer in a new documentary by two-time Emmy winning producer Ben Loeterman, titled, “John Portman: A Life of Building”. The film made its international film festival debut at Architecture Film Festival Rotterdam (The Netherlands) October 8, followed by a repeat showing on October 9.
The documentary will make its United States film festival debut at the Architecture and Design Film Festival in New York October 21, with a second showing October 22. Additionally, the film has been selected for screenings at A Design Film Festival in Singapore in November 2011 and at the Architecture and Design Film Festival in Chicago in 2012. After that, I’m not sure where you may be able to see the film, but this trailer is certainly a GREAT teaser for what the film is like.
To give you an example of his “mark” on Downtown Atlanta, the picture has red dots on some of the buildings he designed and built.
