A dark, disturbing tale of two Chicago families from opposite ends of the socio-economic spectrum whose fates become suddenly intertwined, The Architect is a multilayered, American family drama played out against doleful urban and suburban settings. Its cast of emotionally distressed characters includes two gay teenagers, Martin and Shawn, whose difficult life situations complicate their struggle to come to terms with their gay identities. They are arguably the most tragic figures within the film.

Based on the play of the same name by David Greig, The Architect marks the feature film directorial debut of producer Matt Tauber. The film premiered in April at the 2006 Tribeca Film Festival and opens in theaters in limited release on Dec. 1.

In Tauber's hands, The Architect is presented as an ensemble film, somewhat along the lines of Ordinary People. Anthony LaPaglia (Without a Trace, Frasier) plays Leo Waters, a successful architect and well-meaning family man. His family lives in a beautiful house (designed by Leo himself) in a nice neighborhood on Chicago's affluent north side. The Waters family includes Leo's very unhappy wife, Julia (Isabella Rossellini); their sexually awakening teen daughter, Christina (Hayden Panettiere); and their sexually conflicted teen son, Martin (Sebastian Stan).

On the other side of Chicago, Tonya Neely (Viola Davis) lives in a run-down, crime- and drug-ridden, poorly planned public housing project. In her battle to have the project's unsafe buildings torn down and decent housing constructed, she seeks out the project's original architect — Leo Waters — to gain his public support to have the offending structures razed.

Tonya's confrontation with Leo stirs up a host of difficult race and class issues for all involved. It also intensifies the depression and alienation within both Leo's family and Tonya's.

Through his interaction with Tonya, Leo is forced to recognize not only the weaknesses within his architectural work, but also the weaknesses within the architecture of his own family. In addition to his disintegrating marriage and his inappropriate attraction to his pubescent daughter, one of Leo's key problems is his inability to see the sexual identity crisis occurring in his son.

Martin, who is in denial about his possibly gay sexual orientation, has just quit college and returned home. He is plagued with indecision about his life. Martin distances himself more and more from his family, and he especially avoids his father's attempts at parental bonding. When Martin's sister notes that the tone of his voice sounds like he “needs someone,” he sighs, “I've been trying my whole life to sound like that.”

At one point Martin secretly travels to the other side of town to see the public housing project, where he meets a young black man named Shawn (Paul James) who happens to live in the project. Shawn offers to take Martin there.

Shawn is gay, streetwise and accustomed to anonymous sexual hookups with older, local men. Perceptive and wise beyond his years, he at first assumes that the closeted Martin is just a rough-trade type of stranger looking for sex. Initially Martin denies he is gay and spurns Shawn's attempts to get closer to him. But when Martin returns to the project a few days later, he opens up to Shawn, and the two begin a tenuous friendship.

Together they retreat to the roof of the housing project, where they engage in sex. Shawn helps Martin to discover himself, but their relationship proves to be life-altering for both young men.

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