Synopsis

Windshield: A Vanished Vision lands the viewer in the 1930s to reveal an intimate portrait of a client couple, a leading modern architect, and the story of the ill-fated house that they create. John Nicholas Brown's fascination with modernism, innovation and the rapidly-evolving American building scene spurs him to commission what he hopes will be a “distinguished monument in the history of architecture.” Brown and his wife Anne, herself a daring and eccentric figure, select the young and ambitious Richard Neutra to build them a house that they name “Windshield.” Patron and architect discuss every detail of the house’s design and together pursue cutting-edge technology, much of which had only previously been used in commercial architecture. Then, just weeks after the Browns move in, tragedy strikes.

Windshield: A Vanished Vision explores the impact of the house on Neutra’s career and takes the viewer on a journey with a couple caught between the values of their upbringings and their evolving social ideals. Visually supported by John Nicholas Browns’ evocative home movies, the film features a J. Carter Brown lecture about the summer house of his youth and voices of architectural historians such as Thomas S. Hines and Dietrich Neumann.

Film running time: 46 minutes

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This screening will be held at 6:00 pm on Friday, April 7, at BSA Space (290 Congress Street, Boston) and is the sixth film in the 2016–2017 BSA Space Film Series documenting some of the ways that architecture and design can engage communities, inspire vision, and provoke change. Complimentary refreshments and popcorn will be served. All proceeds from the series support the BSA Foundation.

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