New to Shelter this August

SHELTER’s content encompasses everything from stories of design, to a deep dive into sustainability, history, and real-life aspirational stories. It offers audiences a range of fascinating ‘must-watch’ options from feature length films to television series, short series, Shelter Originals and premium magazine video content from green magazine. Shelter also has a range of flexible subscription options, with a new 12 month subscription now available.

The battle to save two inner-Sydney public housing towers is in filmmaker Claire Lewis’ sights with THERE GOES OUR NEIGHBOURHOOD.

When the New South Wales state government unveiled “renewal” plans to demolish the public housing tower blocks in the Sydney suburb of Waterloo in February 2016, the announcement was met with public outrage.

The redevelopment would involve demolishing the homes of thousands of residents – many of whom are either elderly or severely disadvantaged – and tripling the current housing density. Of the 7000 new dwellings built, 70 per cent would be privately owned.

The Government would surely have been expecting a fight from the residents. However their weapon of choice surprised all: art. Local residents and artists banded together to create #WeLiveHere2017: a large-scale collaborative community artwork within the estate’s iconic 30-storey Matavai and Turanga towers.

The artwork involved more than 300 residents installing multi-coloured LED lights in their apartment windows as a way to symbolise their diversity, unity and strength; capture the wider public’s attention; and hopefully save their community from destruction – while daring the Government to demolish a living work of art.

Next we shift to the creation of an inclusive theatre space creating locally-produced and nationally-acclaimed stage productions in DESIGN VS BUILD.

Located in the town of Fayetteville – in the rolling hills of Northwest Arkansas – TheatreSquared is a world-class theatre dedicated to creating in-house productions for an intimate and inclusive environment, with a core-ethos that “theatre ought to be enjoyed by everyone.”

Founded in 2005, the company met, grew and put on shows at the Walton Arts Centre for 14 years,  before deciding it was time to expand in 2019, and build a new theatre across the road.

The company landed a once-in-a-lifetime grant from the Walton Family Foundation, giving them the opportunity to work with world-renowned architects and theatre designers to create the perfect space.

TheatreSquared’s award-winning home unites two intimate theatres, rehearsal space, a three-level commons and café, outdoor gathering spaces, production workshops, offices, and artists’ apartments; and has created a vibrant new artistic space for the local community.

From Arkansas, next we head north-west and across the border to British Columbia with FORM & PLACE.

This bite-sized series of shorts profiles some of the incredible people, places, and things that have left their mark on British Columbia’s design and architecture history.

Through a design and architecture perspective, the people of Vancouver and the wider British Columbia Province attract a number of historical viewpoints. Seen as a place of newness for settlers, an environment where traditions held less sway, a place where innovation and inventiveness thrive, and a location that has attracted a particular kind of person.

From the creator of COAST MODERN, the series considers these unique stories and their relationship to these factors, illuminates the underlying cultural themes, and investigates how significant their impact has been to the Western settlement of the region.

Finally this month for Shelter, we take a look at the cutting-edge of scientific knowledge and the wonders of nature with NATURE = FUTURE.

Take a deep dive with this series of 30 five-minute episodes, and discover how the leading scientific advancement is seeking to reproduce unique properties from our natural environment to provide a more intelligent and more sustainable tomorrow: all through design.

NEW TO SHELTER IN AUGUST:

• THERE GOES OUR NEIGHBOURHOOD (57 mins) Australia 2018 – (Available from August 2)

There Goes Our Neighbourhood is the powerful, funny and uplifting story of a team of public housing locals who come together with a hope to unite their neighbourhood, convince residents and the outside world of the value of their community through an ambitious art project, in an attempt to prevent the destruction of their suburb Waterloo. The film explores the formidable forces stacked against them: the government, developers, real estate agents as well as the middle class gentrifiers who now covet convenient inner-city addresses previously occupied by the urban poor.

• DESIGN vs BUILD (32mins) USA 2021 – (Available from August 9)

Tucked away in the rolling hills of north-west Arkansas is a world-class theatre dedicated to creating in-house productions for an intimate and inclusive environment. When it came time to expand, they landed a once-in-a-lifetime grant from the Walton Family Foundation, giving them the opportunity to work with world-renowned architects and theatre designers to create the perfect space.

The new theatre was awarded the 2020 American Architecture Award, the AIA New York State Honor Award, an Interior Design Best of Year Award; and is widely held as a cultural landmark in Northwest Arkansas.

• FORM & PLACE (6 x 8mins) Canada 2020 – (Available from August 16)

From the writer, director and producer of Coast Modern comes a series of shorts about people, places, and things that have left their mark on British Columbia’s Design and Architecture history.

• NATURE = FUTURE (30 x five mins) France 2016 – (Available from August 23)

From nature to high-tech, there’s only one tiny step. Let’s take that step with Nature = Future, a series that is all about scientific knowledge and the wonders of nature. We discover how scientists reproduce these unique properties from the living world to give us a future that will be more intelligent and more sustainable through design.

shelter.stream