The Berlin architectural office of Matthias Sauerbruch and Louisa Hutton is well-known for the color accents of the façade design. Their buildings are designed for ecological efficiency and without any dogma the form language of modernity is obliged. About 60 people work in the company. In part, they are involved in 20 parallel projects – from a competition for the construction of several high-rise buildings in France with offices and apartments to door and window latches for a museum. Almost every day, meetings are held, mostly in the presence of the leading architects. For these meetings, plans and perspectives are displayed. Models – which are given preference before computer simulations – are edited and set up. All this is done with as much care as an exhibition is prepared.

The documentary Sauerbruch Hutton Architects accompanies the discussions on six projects in different phases – from concept design to acceptance by the builders. All stakeholders are keen to make the facts as complete and apt as possible – they also try to make “linguistic modeling” in order to make the respective project clear and re-examine. It happens not infrequently that Matthias Sauerbruch is doubtful about a long-established solution, or that Louisa Hutton insists on the examination of a detail that has already been established.

The ideal is a comprehensible construction – a claim that Farocki also puts on his film. Harun Farocki, born in 1944, studied at the German Film and Television Academy in Berlin and was an editor and author of the magazine Filmkritik in the 1970s and 1980s. In his numerous award-winning films, he uses the means of direct cinema and the essay film to make clear the connections between technology, business, politics and society.