Architecture

Examines gentrification, a process by which an underdeveloped neighborhood is `upgraded' by real estate speculation, with higher income individuals moving into and improving existing properties, but also displacing many of the neighborhood's longtime residents.

Depicts the efforts of Latino residents of New York's Lower East Side who have taken over their own buildings abandoned by landlords. Organizing themselves into Tenants' Associations, they undertake the repair and renovation of their decaying tenements and provide their own services.

Examines the plight of `squatters' in Brooklyn, NY as they try to claim buildings abandoned by the city and to transform them into habitable dwellings.

Filmmaker Nora Jacobson spent eight years documenting Hoboken's battles over gentrification, from boom in the '80s to bust in the '90s. This epic, dramatially engrossing documentary features a real-life cast of long-time residents, newly arrived Yuppies, tenants' organizers, real estate developers, street people, immigrants from around the world, and local politicians.

Written and hosted by Jamake Highwater, a world renowned author on Indian culture, this film examines the differences between Native American and Western cultures, including their contrasting views of nature, time, space, art, architecture, and dance.

From the first concept to the final rivet, The Statue of Liberty was the creation of volunteers. Strange to say, no government was involved. This documentary tells the exciting story of who was involved: hundreds of thousands of ordinary citizens from all walks of life, even children, gave their small earnings to realize Miss Liberty, first in France and then in the U.S. It took 14 years to consummate.

Documents the efforts of a group of American volunteers--including architects, artists, teachers and psychologists--in building and operating a primary school in a poor Tiajuana neighborhood.

This historical documentary chronicles New York real estate developer William Levitt's postwar construction of affordable housing for returning WWII veterans and their families in Levittown and other Long Island communities, thereby establishing the prototype for modern suburbia.

Documents the life and work of Harry Devlin, whose long and varied career as a commercial and fine arts artist has spanned more than half a century, with work in virtually every medium in the fields of syndicated cartooning, publishing and advertising.

Documents the making of a public art piece that raises questions about the meaning of private and public space and the role of public art.

Chronicles the history of neon, the luminescent gas discovered in 1898 by a British chemist, showing how neon is utilized today by designers, photographers, artists, sculptors and architects.

This video, which documents a controversy over plans to alter the original architectural design of the Whitney Museum of American Art, examines some of the problems raised by the decision, including Modernist and Post-Modernist styles, architecture as art, the responsibility of art museums to the public, and the role of the architect.