Great Expectations

From the late 1800s onward, forward-thinking architects and artists found themselves confronted with the need to solve lingering social problems around the world, and began drumming up unusual and innovative ways to change modes of living. In the process, they expanded architecture itself beyond commonly-accepted notions of "good" and "beautiful." Spanning the beginning of the 20th Century through the outset of the 21st Century, the documentary program Great Expectations examines some of the more unusual architectural creations wrought by avant-garde designers, including an Instant City Airship, subterranean dwellings covered in grass, modular apartments constructed of Lego-like bricks, and much more. The program includes biographical profiles of such innovators as Paolo Soleri, Antti Lovag, Jacque Fresco, Oscar Niemeyer and Buckminster Fuller.