Architectural History

This is the first episode of our new miniseries, The Public Architect , an RIBA-funded project exploring the past and present relationship between the architectural profession and the public sector. In this episode, we speak to the historian John Gold about post-war architecture in Britain, its relationship to the state and local government, and some of the common misconceptions surrounding this p...

In the final episode of our miniseries on Architecture & Media we discussed architectural criticism in the age of the internet, the shifting landscape of architectural discourse, and the new ways of thinking about the built environment that it has brought. Support the SAHGB by becoming a member:  ⁠https://www.sahgb.org.uk/support-us⁠ . Kate Wagner is the architecture critic at The Nation and t...

In this episode we talk about architecture on television in Britain in the twentieth and twenty-first centuries. Support the SAHGB by becoming a member: https://www.sahgb.org.uk/support-us . Contributors: Gillian Darley is an architectural historian, author and broadcaster, whose books include  Excellent Essex  and biographies of Sir John Soane, John Evelyn and Octavia Hill. Gillian has written ex...

In this episode we talk about architectural and aurality, asking what impact radio had on architecture, architects and public audiences. Support the SAHGB by becoming a member: ⁠https://www.sahgb.org.uk/support-us⁠ . Our Contributors: Olga Touloumi is Associate Professor of Architectural History at Bard College. Her research concerns questions of globalization and media in twentieth architecture. ...

In this episode we discuss the press, periodicals and magazines in architectural history from the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries.  Support the SAHGB by becoming a member: ⁠https://www.sahgb.org.uk/support-us⁠ . Our contributors are:  Dr Anne Hultzsch is an architectural historian and leads the ERC-funded group ‘ Women Writing Architecture 1700-1900 ’ (WoWA) at ETH Zurich. With a PhD from the...

In this episode we introduce the theme of our miniseries, architecture and media. We talk about our own research interests and what the study of media, in all its various forms, has to offer architectural history.  Jessica Kelly’s book about modern architecture and the media is called  No More Giants: J.M. Richards, The Architectural Review and modernism  and is published by Manchester University...

This miniseries of the Architectural History podcast has been produced to mark the SAHGB Conference 2023: 'Constructing Coloniality: British Imperialism and the Built Environment'. The conference takes as its theme the coloniality of architecture and heritage in relation to the British Empire, from the early years of expansionism and the escalation of the slave trade in the seventeenth and...

This miniseries of the Architectural History podcast has been produced to mark the SAHGB Conference 2023: 'Constructing Coloniality: British Imperialism and the Built Environment'. The conference takes as its theme the coloniality of architecture and heritage in relation to the British Empire, from the early years of expansionism and the escalation of the slave trade in the seventeenth and...

This miniseries of the Architectural History podcast has been produced to mark the SAHGB Conference 2023: 'Constructing Coloniality: British Imperialism and the Built Environment'. The conference takes as its theme the coloniality of architecture and heritage in relation to the British Empire, from the early years of expansionism and the escalation of the slave trade in the seventeenth and...

This miniseries of the Architectural History podcast has been produced to mark the SAHGB Conference 2023: 'Constructing Coloniality: British Imperialism and the Built Environment'. The conference takes as its theme the coloniality of architecture and heritage in relation to the British Empire, from the early years of expansionism and the escalation of the slave trade in the seventeenth and...

This miniseries of the Architectural History podcast has been produced to mark the SAHGB Conference 2023: 'Constructing Coloniality: British Imperialism and the Built Environment'. The conference is taking place from the 12th–14th May 2023, and tickets may still be available:  https://www.sahgb.org.uk/whatson/annual-conference-constructing-coloniality . The conference takes as its theme th...

In this episode we discuss living in cities through examples of the different buildings and spaces built and occupied in London since the second world war.  Our contributors are: John Boughton is a social historian whose book Municipal Dreams: the Rise and Fall of Council Housing, drawn from his long-running blog Municipal Dreams that charts the history of council estates across the country,...

In this episode we talk about the relationship between architecture and energy and how architectural history can reveal new perspectives on buildings,  energy use and the climate disaster. Our contributors were: Barnabas Calder is a historian of architecture specialising in the relationship between architecture and energy throughout human history. He is Senior Lecturer in Architecture at the...

In this episode we discussed the role played by architecture and the built environment in relation to political protest movements. Whether at the Battle of Cable Street, Chartist demonstrations in the 19th century, protests against racist police violence in the 1980s or Extinction Rebellion, protests always take place in specific architectural environments that shape and determine the course of po...

In this episode we talk about spaces for leisure and socialising. The pandemic has radically altered our experience of public spaces for socialising. Now we are out of lockdown and spaces for nightlife and indoor socialising are open again, they have taken on new meanings and significance. So we wanted to look at how spaces for leisure and socialising have always been shaped by the cultural values...

In this episode we discussed the connection between Architecture and Faith, by talking to three historians, writers and heritage professionals about new approaches to considering the history of buildings used by communities of faith. Religious architecture has always been central to architectural history, because human societies have always been inspired to build beautiful and high status building...

Over the past year, the connections between our built environment and our health have been made clearer than ever before. In this episode we will be examining the changing way that societies through history have addressed these problems by building institutions that provide different forms of healthcare. Our contributors discussed what lessons we can learn from the history of architecture and heal...

In this episode we talk about Architecture and Empire. Our contributors discuss how the legacies of imperialism are manifested in the built environment from London to India and Beirut. We talk about the spectacular buildings of the state and the mundane buildings of bureaucracy, as well as temporary displays of imperialism and the educational institutions built by missionaries. Contributors: Elsie...

In this episode, recorded for Women’s history month, we think about the apparent lack of women in architectural history. We explore the stories of women working in architecture in an attempt to rebalance this absence. Our contributors talk about what it means to present more diverse stories about who creates our built environment. Contributors: Sarah Akigbogun is an architect and a filmmaker. Sara...