A is for Architecture Podcast

It’s Christmas, and just past Hanukkah, and in recognition of that, Episode 183 of the A is for Architecture Podcast , is a conversation with architect, photographer and writer Gili Merin, about her extraordinary and exquisite book, Analogous Jerusalem , which came out with Humboldt Books earlier this year.   In Analogous Jerusalem , Gili explores how the sacred topography of the Jerusalem of the...

In the 182nd episode of the A is for Architecture Podcast , Andreea Mihalache joined me to discuss her new book, Boredom and the Architectural Imagination: Rudofsky, Venturi, Scott Brown, and Steinberg , which she published with the University of Virginia Press in 2024.   Exploring the boundaries of boredom, Andreea and I discuss Bernard Rudofsky, Robert Venturi and Denise Scott Brown and Saul Ste...

For Episode 181 of the A is for Architecture Podcast , I was joined by the Berlin-based artist, Larissa Fassler whose work explores through imagery and sculpture - aesthetic, layered, ambiguous maps, models and interventions - the social and political spatialites of cities and their everyday encounter by people there. Larissa’s work has intrigued and delighted me for quite a long time, so it was a...

For Episode 180 of the A is for Architecture Podcast, the extraordinary Australian architect, Peter Stutchbury , joined me to speak about a little of his work, his origins, his purpose and his ethic. It’s an extraordinary story, beautifully told by a wonderful man, a worthy addition for this, a jubilee episode.  Peter’s work is deeply rooted in the land and culture of his homeland, and all the com...

Episode 179 of the A is for Architecture Podcast is a fascinating, expansive discussion with scholar, planner and architect, Dr Shiben Banerji, associate professor in the Department of the History of Art at UC Berkley, about some small parts of his sprawling and wonderful Lineages of the Global City: Occult Modernism and the Spiritualization of Democracy , which he published with the University of...

In Episode 178 of this incessant podcast, Adam Sharr , Professor of Architecture at Newcastle University, discusses his 2007 book, Heidegger for Architects , published by Routledge. Heidegger’s ideas haunt architectural discourse, practice and education, which remain inwardly wedded to concepts like dwelling , place , authenticity , world and building , ideas that are rooted in his work. Arguably,...

In this new episode of the  A is for Architecture Podcast , writer and organiser, Alva Gotby, discusses her recent latest book, Feeling at Home: Transforming the Politics of Housing , published by Verso in January this year. Feeling at Home  is rooted in Marxist feminism, and approaches housing as more-than-shelter, but rather as a key site for reproducing labour power under capitalism, perpetuati...

The  A is for Architecture Podcast’s  latest episode is a discussion with the architect, writer, teacher and broadcaster, Piers Taylor. It is Piers’ second time on the show, but rather than his practice, this time we discuss his freshly minted book, Learning from the Local: Designing responsively for people, climate and culture , published by RIBA Publishing last month. In  Learning from the Local...

In the latest episode of the A is for Architecture Podcast  Jeana Ripple, Chair and Vincent & Eleanor Shea Professor in the School of Architecture at the University of Virginia, joined me to discuss her recent book, Type V City: Codifying Material Inequity in Urban America , published by the University of Texas Press in August this year.  In Type V city, Jeana describes how building codes or r...

The   A is for Architecture Podcast’ s   newest episode is a conversation with North American scholars, social scientist Patrick Lynn Rivers and design historian Kai Wood Mah, about their book, Situated Practices in Architecture and Politics , published by Dalhousie Architectural Press in 2024. In our conversation, Patrick and Kai speak of the importance of situated learning and practice, which in...

In the latest episode of the A is for Architecture Podcast  Amsterdam-based architect Hans van der Heijden discuss themes of his design work and writing. Founder of Hans van der Heijden Architect s, a practice which track context through deep research realised in, as I see it, a sort-of fitting architecture. Hans and I connected over a mutual interest in the pursuit of the/ a common city. Our conv...

In this episode of the A is for Architecture Podcast  the journalist, writer and Deputy Editor at Inside Housing, Peter Apps discusses his very recent book, Homesick: How Housing Broke London and How to Fix It , published by One World Publications in September this year. Peter became something of a big noise when he won the Orwell Prize for Political Writing in 2023 for his book,  Show Me the Bodi...

In the A is for Architecture Podcast’s  latest episode, Stefano Boeri - architect, urban planner, Professor of Urban Planning at Milan Polytechnic , President of the Future of the City Foundation and former editor of Domus (among some other things…) - joined to speak about his upbringing and education in Milan and Venice, his influences, mentors and inspirations, and the development of his design...

In the newest episode of the A is for Architecture Podcast , I got to speak to Derek Jones and James Benedict Brown, two of five scholars responsible for the very recently published Studio Properties: A Field Guide to Design Education , published by Bloomsbury this year and also available as an open access publication on the Bloomsbury website.  Alongside Elizabeth Boling, James Corazzo, Colin M....

For the latest episode of the A is for Architecture Podcast , I spoke to architectural historian, writer and curator, Sir Charles Saumarez Smith CBE about his forthcoming book, John Vanbrugh: The Drama of Architecture , which is due out with Lund Humphries in November this year.  Sir John Vanbrugh (1664–1726) was an English dramatist turned architect, best known for designing Castle Howard and Ble...

For this week’s episode of the A is for Architecture Podcast , I spoke to Berlin-based writer, architect and activist Anna Kostreva who, with Alex Head, leads Plural Studio, ‘a studio for critical inquiry, publishing and architectural design’. We met to talk about Anna’s novel, Seeing Fire | Seeing Meadows , which she published in 2023. Seeing Fire | Seeing Meadows uses architecture – and an archi...

In Episode 167 of the A is for Architecture Podcast , Holly Smith, historian and Research Fellow at/ in St John’s College, University of Cambridge, discuss bits of her forthcoming book, Up in the Air: A History of High Rise Britain ,  which is out with Verso towards the end of October this year. In Up in the Air , Holly charts the story of Britain’s multistorey council housing—from the post-war co...

In this new episode of the A is for Architecture Podcast , Charlotte Malterre-Barthes spoke with me about her recent book, A Moratorium on New Construction , published by Sternberg Press in 2025 as part of their Critical Spatial Practices series. If a book starts with, ‘To build is to destroy’, things are liable to get pretty exciting (for an architecture fan).  As the bumf puts it – and our chat...

In this week’s release of the A is for Architecture Podcast , Wayne Hemingway MBE logged on to discuss one of his latest initiatives, The Housing Assembly , a growing movement seek paths out of the housing crisis by amplifying the voices of folk excluded from secure, affordable homes. Aiming to transform lived experiences into influential action and through grassroots initiatives The Housing Assem...

In the newest episode of the A is for Architecture Podcast , I spoke to the architect, historian and theorist Dr Marianna Charitonidou about her fairly recent book, Architectural Drawings as Investigating Devices: Architecture’s Changing Scope in the 20th Century , which she published with Routledge in 2023.  In the book, Marianna explores how evolving modes of architectural representation reflect...

For this summer’s latest episode of the A is for Architecture Podcast , I spoke to the writer Michael Euade to discuss his 2023 book, Antoni Gaudi , part of Reaktion Books’ Critical Lives series. Gaudi has recently been beatified by the Catholic Church, making him one step short of being declared a saint. But for what? Gaudi is unquestionably a monumental figure in the pantheon of named architects...

In the newest episode of the A is for Architecture Podcast , I was joined by Piers Gough and Sophie Ryder , both of CZWG . Piers is the original G of CZWG and it is for that we speak, a firm he founded in 1975 with Nick Campbell, Rex Wilkinson and Roger Zogolovich.  CZWG turned 50 years old this year, having become known for bold, characterful designs. Their work was at the vanguard of the postmod...

In Episode 161 of the A is for Architecture Podcast , Dr Géraldine Borio - Swiss architect and assistant professor in the Department of Architecture at the University of Hong Kong - discusses her exquisite, enigmatic and hugely inspiring book, Looking for the Voids: Learning from Asia’s Liminal Urban Spaces as a Foundation to Expand an Architectural Practice , published by Park Books in 2023. Géra...

In this, the 160th episode of the A is for Architecture Podcast , I was joined by Professor Christian Schmid, geographer, sociologist, urban researcher and until recently Professor of Sociology in the Department of Architecture at ETH Zurich. Christian’s scholarship is wide and deep and includes, among many other things, co-authoring the remarkable Switzerland. An Urban Portrait, with Jacques Herz...

In the this episode of the A is for Architecture Podcast , Emirati architect and co-founder of Holesum Studio , Azza Aboualam discusses her curation of Pressure Cooker , the National Pavilion of the United Arab Emirates' 2025 contribution to the 19th International Architecture Exhibition at the Venice Architecture Biennale.  Pressure Cooker  examines the UAE’s evolving relationship with food p...