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BBC Four

Peter Sweasey

Nicolas Kent

The Brits Who Built the Modern World: Episode 1: The Freedom of the Future

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Factual: Arts, Culture & the Media: Arts

The Freedom of the Future

Episode 1

Episode 1: The Freedom of the Future

The Brits Who Built the Modern World

BBC Four - The Brits Who Built the Modern World, The Freedom of the Futuresearch

The radical 1960s and 70s experiments of an exceptional generation of British architects.

A look at some of the stunning recent work of an exceptional generation of British architects born in the 1930s, led by Norman Foster and Richard Rogers.

How an exceptional generation of British architects, led by Norman Foster and Richard Rogers, conquered the globe with their high-tech vision. 

The first episode includes glimpses of some of their most stunning recent work, such as London's new 'Cheesegrater' skyscraper, Spaceport America and the KK100 skyscraper in China (the tallest tower ever built by a British architect), before looking in detail at some of their revolutionary projects from the 1960s and 70s.

Foster, Rogers, Nicholas Grimshaw, Michael Hopkins and Terry Farrell were born within six years of each other in the 1930s; shaped by both the optimism of the postwar years and the sixties counterculture, these pillars of today's establishment began their careers as outsiders and radicals. Rogers and his collaborators tell the story of one of the most influential buildings of the 20th century - the Pompidou Centre in Paris - the result of a contest he didn't want to enter and no-one ever thought they would win.  

Other early projects featured include Norman Foster's glassy Willis Faber & Dumas Headquarters in Ipswich, Farrell & Grimshaw's corrugated aluminium tower block next to Regent's Park in London and the industrial-style Hopkins House in Hampstead.

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BBC Four reflects arts, music and culture with an ambitious range of intellectually and culturally enriching programmes, taking an expert and in-depth approach to its subjects.

The story of five of the most successful and globally recognised British architects.

Series telling the story of how an exceptional generation of British architects, led by Norman Foster and Richard Rogers, conquered the globe with their high-tech vision.

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