»Architecture starts when you carefully put two bricks together. There it begins.«

Ludwig Mies van der Rohe

Blog Agenda

Rebel Architecture 6

The Pedreiro and the Master Planner

  • Ricardo de Oliveira is an untrained yet highly regarded and accomplished architect who's built over a hundred houses in his community of Rocinha in Rio de Janeiro. (All video stills: Al Jazeera) 1 / 11  Ricardo de Oliveira is an untrained yet highly regarded and accomplished architect who's built over a hundred houses in his community of Rocinha in Rio de Janeiro. (All video stills: Al Jazeera)
  • Rocinha is Brazil’s largest favela. 2 / 11  Rocinha is Brazil’s largest favela.
  • Completely unplanned, its vernacular infrastructure is a result of creative responses to overpopulation and lack of resources. 3 / 11  Completely unplanned, its vernacular infrastructure is a result of creative responses to overpopulation and lack of resources.
  • Most inhabitants have built their own homes, or hired someone like de Oliveira to do so. 4 / 11  Most inhabitants have built their own homes, or hired someone like de Oliveira to do so.
  • Ricardo sets an example in his community... 5 / 11  Ricardo sets an example in his community...
  • ...and acts as consultant, architect and engineer. 6 / 11  ...and acts as consultant, architect and engineer.
  • He even built his sister’s house and has already started plans for his and his mother’s home. 7 / 11  He even built his sister’s house and has already started plans for his and his mother’s home.
  • The documentary also traces the counterpart story of master planner Luis Carlos Toledo. 8 / 11  The documentary also traces the counterpart story of master planner Luis Carlos Toledo.
  • Toledo’s city plan helped focus international attention on the situation. 9 / 11  Toledo’s city plan helped focus international attention on the situation.
  • In this final episode we experience first-hand what it means to live in Rocinha...   10 / 11  In this final episode we experience first-hand what it means to live in Rocinha...  
  • ...where the good and the bad fit together like a Rubik’s cube. 11 / 11  ...where the good and the bad fit together like a Rubik’s cube.

Over the last six weeks uncube has featured each episode of the new documentary series Rebel Architecture, produced by Al Jazeera English. We have been following these portraits of architects pushing the boundaries of the profession, working at the edges of legality to directly improve living conditions and affect change. This week leaves us with the final episode, in which we accompany the producers to Rio de Janeiro to meet Ricardo de Oliveira, an untrained yet highly accomplished architect who's built over a hundred houses in his community, the city's largest favela of Rocinha.

The documentary also traces the counterpart story of master planner Luis Carlos Toledo, whose plan for the city (so far mostly stuck in the pipelines due to poor policy making) helped focus international attention on the situation. In this final episode we dive into the informal arteries of the favela and experience first-hand what it means to live – and be an architect – in Rocinha. 

-  Leigh Theodore Vlassis

This is Al Jazeera’s final episode in the Rebel Architecture series – at least for now, as we definitely hope they will produce a second season of this astonishing series. For further details and links to previous episodes, please revisit our blog section, where you can read about and watch all six episodes. 

Watch Episode 6: “The Pedreiro and the Master Planner”, directed by May Abdalla, below:

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