uncube is delighted to be featuring all six episodes of Al Jazeera English’s new documentary series Rebel Architecture. Spanning the globe from Spain to Vietnam, Nigeria to Pakistan and Rio de Janeiro to the Israeli-Palestinian border, each half-hour episode follows an architect pushing the boundaries of the profession, working at the edges of legality and on ways of directly improve living conditions and effecting change. This week we see episode four: Greening the City (directed by Nick Ahlmark) which follows Vo Trong Nghia in his attempt to return greenery to Vietnam’s choking cities and design cheap homes for those excluded from Vietnam’s rapid growth.
Architect Vo Trong Nighia is trying to find support for his vision of a vertical farming city; and at the same time to implement low-cost housing solutions for those worst hit by Vietnam’s urban housing crisis. The episode sees him as he struggles to convince investors of the value of his thinking for a housing development plan and follow him to the Mekong Delta where he searches for ways to improve living conditions for a family of pineapple farmers.
Al Jazeera airs a new episode each Monday at 23.30 (CET) from 18 August - 22 September 2014. For details please visit Rebel Architecture or subscribe to the uncube newsletter, as we also feature each week’s episode here. Follow this link to see Episode 1 “Guerilla Architect” and our extensive interview with the series executive producer Daniel Davies. Watch the full Episode 4: Greening the City below: