Can a single building impact the career of an architect, the image of a global company and even the skyline of a big city? Just a month and a day after the disastrous attack on the World Trade Center in New York, the first steel beam of a new tower is erected in London. One question is on everybody’s mind: is it the right decision to build a new iconic tower in the midst of London’s financial district, on a site that has already been bombed before? The 40-storey steel and glass tower sparks further controversy. Norman Foster, one of Britain’s most visionary architects, calls his design for the new Swiss Re London headquarters ‘radial – socially, technically, architecturally and spatially’. In fact, its size and shape are so radical that it is almost immediately nicknamed ‘the erotic gherkin’. Will the Gherkin become the landmark they all dream of?

On the occasion of the official 200th anniversary celebrations, this documentary is the first cinematic journey through the rooms, stories and emotions of one of the most visited museums in the world. Its wealth of over 8000 art treasures is a spell-binding experience drawing almost 3 million visitors to Madrid every year. Magnificent masterpieces tell the story of Spain and of an entire continent. We are in one of the temples of world art. Its collection tells the story of kings, queens, dynasties, wars, defeats and victories, as well as the story of the feelings and emotions of the men and women of yesteryear and of today, whose lives are intertwined with the museum’s: rulers, painters, artists, architects, collectors, curators, intellectuals, visitors. This heritage is universal and includes the works of Vélazquez, Rubens, Titian, Mantegna, Bosch, Goya, El Greco, to name just a few. Oscar winning actor Jeremy Irons will be guiding spectators on a discovery of a heritage of beauty and art.

「每一件事情都能激發我的靈感，有時候我感覺我能看到別人看不到的東西 。」Norman Foster。英國建築師 Norman Forster 為高技派代表人物，曾提出建造世界第一大廈的前衛觀點，是當代建築中最具遠見的思想家，這部電影即紀錄 Norman Forster 的生平，以及他致力用設計讓生活更多采多姿的堅定追求。本片探 Norman Foster 的代表作，及其創作靈感來源，如中國北京首都國際機場、柏林國會大廈修復工程、環保概念為出發點的紐約赫斯特大樓，以及位於法國擁有世界上最高橋樑之稱的米洛高架橋。影片也找來曾獲普立茲克建築獎 Richard Rogers、藝術家 Anish Kapoor 、抽像雕塑藝術大師 Anthony Caro、哲學家Alain de Botton ，甚至邀請了樂隊 U2 主唱 Bono 在電影中分享他們對 Norman Foster 的見解。

As his life comes to its end, famous Hollywood director Orson Welles puts it all on the line at the chance for renewed success with the film The Other Side of the Wind.