Rebel Architecture - The Pedreiro and the Master Planner

Filmmaker May Abdalla calls pedreiro (mason) Olivera a "real rebel architect," since he "has built over 100 houses with no formal training while utilizing the most basic tools, all within his local community of Rocinha, Brazil's largest favela." Viewers are treated to scenes of Olivera plying his self-taught trade and showing off some of the 100 structures he has built within the thick of the informal settlement that climbs the hillside southwest of downtown Rio. Toledo, on the other hand, shares his designs for community projects, some realized, and his vocal opposition to a tram proposed in lieu of hospitals and a sewage system for Rocinha. Their efforts play out across the backdrop of the Brazilian government's efforts to "pacify" the favelas in time for the 2016 Olympics.

Watch The Padreiro and the Master Planner below or at Al Jazeera.

Other films in the Rebel Architecture series: