“To Build Law” is the title of the documentary produced by the Canadian Centre for Architecture (CCA) as part of their Groundwork series. Guided by an urgency to understand the fundamental ways that architects are enacting change in the built environment, curator Francesco Garutti, alongside film director Joshua Frank, present a layered reportage of HouseEurope! as a movement that aims to change the conditions of the architectural discipline in Europe.

The construction industry accounts for at least 38% of carbon emissions globaly, operating with narrow methods geared toward profit. Buildings are held as assets, torn down, and redeveloped, with limited consideration of community and environmental impacts. Meanwhile, housing crises escalate. Evidently, a systemic shift in the way we build and value our built environment is urgently needed. The documentary follows HouseEurope!, on their quest to propose industry reforms and shift cultural norms. “To Build Law” closely observes the campaign team during various phases of conceptualization and development of a European Citizens’ Initiative conceived to incentivize renovation over demolition and new construction. Through this bottom-up legal tool, architecture becomes an open process of establishing partners, drafting legislation, filming stories, strategizing communications, coordinating campaigns, collecting votes, and building a movement.

To Build Law is the second chapter of Groundwork, a three-part film and exhibition series exploring the conceptual development and field research of contemporary architects cultivating alternative modes of practice. Together with political scientists, writers, economists, filmmakers, lawyers, artists, students at station.plus, and other collaborators, the HouseEurope! campaign team works toward the social and ecological transformation of the built environment.