Open City

In this episode, technical editor and deputy architecture editor of the Architects’ Journal Fran Williams is joined by Dinah Bornat, an architect and co-founder of ZCD Architects. She’s also the author of All to Play For: How to design child-friendly housing, published by the RIBA in February this year. Together they discuss: A new House of Commons report demands a greater role for children in urb...

In The Room at Accelerate Debates is a new podcast from Open City, broadcasting the live debates from Accelerate, Open City’s free educational programme. In this episode, you’ll hear our first debate of the year, “Designing A Safer City”, asking: what does safety in the public realm really mean? Moderators Siraaj Mitha and Jasmin Yeo are joined by five guest speakers: Gaia Crocella, senior researc...

This week on The Brief Sahiba Chadha is joined by the BBC broadcaster, writer and journalist Samira Ahmed to discuss the biggest stories in architecture, conservation planning news: A 21st century almshouse in Southwark wins the Stirling Prize // How Labour ministers are consistently rejecting Historic England’s listing advice // A bid to save Nottinghamshire’s landmark cooling towers flounde...

In this episode, the finale in a trilogy to mark 60 years since the end of the London County Council, Matthew Lloyd Roberts was joined by Dr Rosamund Lily West, Lecturer in Architectural Studies at the University of Manchester. They discussed Plumstead Common, a municipal park in South East London, the site of riots over access to green space by the organised working class communities of Woolwich...

In this episode, host Fran Williams is joined by Jos Boys, a disability design activist who co-founded Matrix Feminist Design Co-operative and is co-director of The DisOrdinary Architecture Project. Together they discuss: The government reveals the sites for its first new towns // A £5 billion pound fund is launched to revive ‘overlooked’ communities // The Royal Institute of British Architec...

In this episode, host Merlin Fulcher is joined by Dr Jane Hall, architectural historian and founding member of the Turner Prize-winning collective Assemble. Together they discuss: Lords call for stronger leadership for the government’s new towns // The UK’s largest architecture firm reports record-breaking turnover amid a surge in global projects // Campaigners against the old Museum of London’s d...

In this episode, host Sahiba Chadha is joined by architecture and design writer and features editor at STIR. Anmol Ahuja. Together they discuss: Can the new housing secretary deliver on the government’s 1.5 million homes pledge? // The shortlist for this year’s RIBA Stirling Prize is revealed // Greenwich and Kent merger to create the UK’s first ‘super-university’ // And a Finnish architect wins t...

In this episode Matthew Lloyd Roberts was joined by Nigel Smith, who runs ‘Memory Palaces’, a website and programme of walking tours to explore the history of London’s cinemas. They discussed the Carlton Cinema on Essex Road, Islington, which first opened to the public in a grand ceremony in 1930, and represents the changing fashions and fate for cinema-going throughout the 20th-century. Nigel wil...

In this episode, host Fran Williams is joined by Open House Festival Director Celia Mead. Celia is a management consultant who has run major organisations and cultural heritage festivals to discuss: Less than ten days until Open House Festival 2025 // Environmental concerns over plans to redevelop Liverpool Street Station // An unexpected fall in UK house prices // And Donald Trump’s campaign to ‘...

Buzzwords is a new pilot podcast from Open City, produced in collaboration with the arts and culture podcast EMPIRE LINES. The podcast unpacks words and phrases often overused in the fields of art and architecture. Produced by curator, writer, and researcher Jelena Sofronijevic, each episode invites artists, curators, architects, and academics to consider what we really mean when we use terms like...

In this episode, host Merlin Fulcher is joined by the Head of Climate Action and Public Health at Love Design Studio and Shade the UK, Polly Turton. Together, they discuss the biggest stories this week in architecture and planning news: Warnings over dangerously hot UK homes amid a fourth heatwave this year // The search begins for design teams to upgrade Oxford Street // Brick Lane regeneration p...

In this episode, the second of a trilogy to mark 60 years since the end of the London County Council, Matthew Lloyd Roberts was joined by Dr Ruth Lang. They discussed London County Hall, the purpose-built home of the London County Council which sits on the south bank of the Thames at Westminster. It was designed by Ralph Knott and built from 1911–1939 and was the home of London’s Municipal governm...

In this episode, host Merlin Fulcher is joined by the architecture journalist and co-host of The Brief Fran Williams. Together, they discuss the biggest stories this week in architecture and planning news: Kew Gardens opens a brand new carbon garden and pavilion // Conservation groups unite to rescue a Brutalist gem in the Scottish borders // Restoration plans for Bexhill’s De La Warr Pavilio...

InterCities is a six-part podcast series from Open City. In it, we travel to a number of cities and boroughs around the world that have transformed over time to discover what we can learn from these places’ achievements, struggles, successes and mistakes. In this episode, our host Owen Hatherley is joined by Brian Hioe, a Taiwanese-American writer and academic based in Taipei, known for co-foundin...

In this episode, host Sahiba Chadha will be joined by guest Mike Althorpe, an architectural researcher at Karakusevic Carson Architects and the mastermind behind The London Ambler tours. They will be discussing: The programme for this year’s Open House Festival goes live // Bold plans to pedestrianise London’s West End revealed // A last chance to save Milton Keynes landmark pyramid from demolitio...

In this episode of Deconstructed, host Matthew Lloyd Roberts is joined by Shukri Sultan, a lecturer at Westminster University, to explore the story of Al Manaar Mosque in West London. Together, they unpack how this unassuming building became a vital hub for faith, community, and resilience — especially in the wake of the Grenfell Tower fire. Correction, the correct meaning of the word masjid is no...

In this episode, host and Open City architectural director Merlin Fulcher will be joined by guest Sarah Carrington, the new Director of The Line, a public art trail that connects Queen Elizabeth Olympic Park and The O2. They will be discussing: Norman Foster picked to design Queen Elizabeth’s memorial // The majority of architects are now using AI according to a new study // A major low-carbon hea...

InterCities is a six-part podcast series from Open City. In it, we travel to a number of cities and boroughs around the world that have transformed over time to discover what we can learn from these places’ achievements, struggles, successes and mistakes. In this episode, our host Owen Hatherley is joined by the Israeli-born, UK-based academic and writer Dr Yair Wallach who specialises in the urba...

In this episode, host Sahiba Chadha is joined by Sharon Giffen, Head of Design at The Earls Court Development Company and an architect with more than 20 years experience leading large scale masterplans and infrastructure projects. They will be discussing: Plymouth high street regeneration wins the 2025 Davidson Prize // From ‘living wage’ to ‘living hours, how an architecture firm is changing...

In this episode of Deconstructed - the first of a trilogy to mark 60 years since the end of the London County Council - Matthew Lloyd Roberts is joined by Dr Dawn Pereira, historian of architectural sculpture and author of a forthcoming monograph on the artist William Mitchell. They discuss Crystal Palace Park, from its origins as the home of Joseph Paxton’s Crystal Palace, which was moved from th...

In this episode, host Sahiba Chadha is joined by Billy Reading, Inspector of Historic Buildings and Areas for Historic England to discuss: A major estate agent casts doubt over Labour’s housebuilding targets // Hawkins\Brown wins the contest to upgrade St Pancras // Campaigners call for Central YMCA’s listing // And Norman Foster celebrates his 90th birthday Subscribe to the Open City Podcast...

InterCities is a six-part podcast series from Open City. In it, we travel to a number of cities and boroughs around the world that have transformed over time to discover what we can learn from these places’ achievements, struggles, successes and mistakes. In this episode, our host Owen Hatherley is joined by the Ukranian architect and urban historian Ievgeniia Gubkina. Gubkina was born in the nort...

In this episode, host Fran Williams is joined by the architect Daniel Innes, committee member of Architecture LGBT+ to discuss: The Mayor of London concedes to green belt housing // Five competing visions for a new Queen Elizabeth II memorial revealed // New plans announced to upgrade the Barbican Centre // And a sneak peek inside LGBT+ issue of the Architects’ Journal’s Subscribe to the...

In this episode of Deconstructed, Matthew Lloyd Roberts is joined by Calvin Po, Strategic Lead at Dark Matter Labs, Unit Master at the Architectural Association and architecture critic at The Spectator. They discuss 159 Marlborough Road, a house on a typical suburban street in Romford, which was the scene in 1954 of a tragic death resulting from Compulsory Purchase powers created by the 1947...

In this episode, host Fran Williams is joined by Stella Mutegi, founding director of Cave Bureau and co-curator of the British Pavilion at this year’s Venice Architecture Biennale. Architecture and ‘colonial afterlives’ take centre stage in this year’s British Pavilion at Venice // Gaza’s reconstruction hangs in the balance as Israel vows 'indefinite' military occupation // Proliferating spac...