Make No Little Plans explores the life and legacy of visionary architect

and city planner, Daniel Hudson Burnham (1846-1912).  A century ago, as

Chairman of the McMillan Commission, Daniel Burnham helped develop a

plan for Washington, DC that shaped the National Mall that we enjoy today.

As America’s “front yard,” the National Mall is the site of some of the most

significant civic, cultural and political gatherings in the nation’s history.

Daniel Burnham

Burnham also developed city plans for Cleveland, Chicago, San Francisco

and Manila and Baguio City in the Philippines. Classically inspired and often

monumental in scale, his plans sought to reconcile things often thought

opposite the practical and the ideal, business and art and efficiency and

beauty. At the center of it all was the idea of a vibrant urban community.



Joan Allen, actress and Academy Award Nominee, narrated Make No Little Plans with music by composer Michael Bacon. The Archimedia Workshop produced the film. Kartemquin Films and scriptwriter Geoffrey C. Ward were consultants on the project. WETA Washington, DC is the presenting station for the September 6, 2010 PBS national broadcast. The film was directed and produced by Judith Paine McBrien.

Copyright 2004 - 2011 • The Archimedia Workshop

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