Al Jazeera English, Rebel Architecture, REALITY BITES

Al Jazeera English’s TV Rebel Architecture series presents its fifth episode, “REALITY BITES” about Nigerian architect Kunlé Adeyemiand his work in his home country



In the fifth episode in the “Rebel Architecture” series aired by Al Jazeera English, award-winning South African filmmaker Riaan Hendricks takes a look at Nigerian architect Kunlé Adeyemi, famous for his Makoko Floating School.





After years working abroad with OMA architectural studio, Adeyemi returned to Nigeria to found his own architecture and design company, NLÉ, meaning “at home” in Yoruba, the language of the African people known for their medieval city of more than 100 thousand on the Nigerian coast.



To solve the problems of overcrowding and flooding afflicting hundreds of thousands of people in Nigeria and other countries, Kunlé Adeyemi created models of floating houses.





The prototype is a school in Makoko, a slum district in Lagos: the “Makoko Floating School” (link to SpazioFMG exhibition), which has been seen all over the world, won numerous awards and been praised by the critics. Though the model is easy to build, costs very little and is sustainable, and could considerably improve living conditions in the slums on the water, Kunlé Adeyemi is battling the authorities to obtain official approval for use of his new model of floating home. 





In the meantime, he is also working on a floating radio station for an NGO in Port Hartcourt, an area which is being redeveloped by the regional government without taking into consideration the future of its current residents.
Riaan Hendricks’s episode is empathic, revealing Kunlé Adeyemi’s work from close up in his everyday battle to improve the quality of life of the local community with his architecture: “constantly inspired by solutions we discover in every­day life in the world’s developing cities”.

Episode No.: (5)  
Episode Title: Reality Bites
Broadcast date: 15^th September
Dir: Riaan Hendricks http://vimeo.com/user5409805
Location: Nigeria 
Languages: English / Yuroboid (English) 
Company: Neil Brandt, Fireworx, S.A.
Practice Website: http://www.nleworks.com/category/architecture-design/  
Dedicated Website: http://www.aljazeera.com/programmes/rebelarchitecture/