ArchitectureTalk

"All of those natural materials - stone, wood - we've always seen ourselves in them, in some way." Today we engage in a broad-ranging discussion on the contemporary and future applications of what are considered to be vernacular or traditional materials with architect and professor Elizabeth Golden . Besides their structural, economic and political entanglements, our conversation also veers toward...

"[Transversality] can assert itself at any time into reality and not stay in a utopian mode."       Today we embark on a magical journey between cultures, between times, and between conceptions of time and space in a fascinating conversation with architectural historian Shima Mohajeri, who has just published a fantastic book entitled  Architectures of Transversality: Paul Klee, Louis Kahn and the...

"We have to not take things as given, but rather tap into [our] own imaginaries, into [our] own yearnings, and longings, as an alternative world."   Today we discuss the potential of architecture as the work of the perennially unfinished project, as a site for transgression, as the other to utopia and fundamentalism.  Nicole  Huber is Associate Professor of Architecture at the University of Washin...

  "Isn't this desire for objectivity a modernist sentiment?" - VP "Where does one enter, and where does one exit out of the modern?" - MJ   In today's episode, we engage in a far-ranging and open-ended discussion on the question of the global with my longtime collaborator Mark Jarzombek. Circulating around the question of the larger agenda of the global, discussion topics include the modernity and...

This week, we discuss the work, the working style and legacy of the late Catalonian architect, Enric Miralles with our guest Ayad Rahmani. Ayad is a Professor of Architecture at Washington State University. Image: Floor Plan of Hostalets Civic Center, El Croquis Magazine, 1995

This week, we discuss global history in our conversation with Amit Srivastava, Senior Lecturer at the University of Adelaide, on post-postcolonial history and historiography in the Indian Ocean context. Discussion topics include: history of the modern architecture of India, globalization and contemporary South Asian architecture and infrastructural history versus 'big-name' architectural history.

Today we speculate about life, the purposes of life and architectural thinking with Danish architect Lene Tranberg, founding partner of Lundgaard & Tranberg in Copenhagen, Denmark. Discussion topics include: Phenomenology, the body in space, intuition as embedded knowledge, transcendence, doubt, translation, and striving to understand the interwoven character of material and place.

This week we discuss the GAHTC module on Climate and Global History with Daniel Barber,  Chair of the graduate Architecture group at the University of Pennsylvania School of Design. discussion topics include: ecology in non-modernist cultures, tropical modernism, new narratives of ecological thinking, designing for discomfort, and architecture as the mediation between the infrastructural and the p...

  A great conversation with Seattle's great conversation starter, John Boylan. We'll discuss art and science, engineering, technology, industry and the potential of rigorous inquiry in both scientific and artistic explorations. John is a respected member of Seattle's technology community and instigator of interdisciplinary creative works such as 9e2 Seattle.

We discuss the value and challenges of conceptual architectural practice with Seattle based architect Rob Hutchison. Discussion topics include: death and memory, memory versus intuition, dedication, client relations and the emotional engines of design.  

In this conversation with Yomi Breaester, Professor of Comparative Literature and Cinema Studies at the University of Washington, we discuss the many ways in which cinema and new media practices intersection with architecture as aesthetic and political practices. Discussion topics include: the chronotype, Tarkovsky's  Solaris , Peter Greenaway's  The Belly of an Architect , and Wong Kar Wai's  In...

THIS WEEK, we talk to Richard  Williams  about sex, Mad Men, James Bond and of course, architecture. Richard is a Professor of Contemporary Visual Cultures at The University of Edinburgh, Edinburgh College of Art where he heads the History of Art subject area. Don't miss this candid discussion of all things sexy in the contemporary built world.  

For the premiere of ArchitectureTalk Season 2, we will be discussing the countours, ambitions and politics of World History, especially in terms of material culture, with University of Washington historian Anand Yang. While focussed on Anand's work on Indian Ocean trade and convict ship convoys that plied there during the colonial period. Our discussion covers connected topics such as subaltern st...

Announcing Season 2, starting September 12, 2018! Upcoming conversation topics include world history, Asian cinema, conceptual practice and sex and architecture. Stay tuned! We are reissuing one of our seminal conversations with Dominick LaCapra on Transference and Architecture to get you into the mood for our second round of conversations.

  In this SPECIAL EDITION we talk with Warren Etheredge, critic, screenwriter, teacher and charismatic co-founder with Tom Skerritt of The Film School. Warren is also the author of TheWarrenReport and host of the podcast, The High Bar. Over a meal in the University of Washington Faculty Club, we discuss his career, screenwriting and the importance of storytelling, emotional vulnerability and hones...

SOURCE: Afroditi Psarra We talk to multidisciplinary artist, Afroditi Psarra (Professor of Digital Arts at the University of Washington) about her work with electronic textiles, "alienesque" aesthetics, soft circuits and our the new relationships that we have to establish between our bodies and responsive technologies. Discussion topics include: collaborative practice, DIY culture, parametic desig...

 DOA Exhibition Poster We discuss the "Death of Architecture" with designers Aniket Bhagwat and Riyaz Tayyibji. DOA, the title of their exhibition currently touring in India, examines the state of architectural thinking and practice in India today including grappling with ideas about cities, time, preservation and the public. Bhagwat, a landscape architect, and Tayyibji, an architect, are both bas...

Muqarnas Vault, Masjid-i Shah/Imam, Isfahan. Source: Daniel C. Waugh, Courtesy of Archnet.org   We talk with Architectural historian Christian Hedrick, currently working at the Aga Khan Documentation Center at MIT as a researcher, visiting lecturer at the School of Architecture at Northeastern University and GAHTC contributor, about the intersection of Islamic architecture with cultures in India,...

Ken Oshima (left) with Arata Isozaki (right)   We discuss the complexities of practicing architecture and architectural history across cultures, nationalities, and aesthetic regimes with  Ken T. Oshima, Professor of Architecture at the University of Washington, Chair of the Japan Studies Program, and recent President of the Society for Architectural Historians. Topics include: the Edo period, Anto...

Hotel Condessa , Mexico City SOURCE JSa This week we talk with Javier Sánchez, developer, architect and founder of JSa architectural firm, with offices in Mexico City and in Peru. We interrogate the state of contemporary practice in Mexico, the role of Modernism, and the power of transformation in architecture. We discuss with Javier family legacy, time, and innovation as the son and grandson of a...

Camel with Gatling gun SOURCE Smithsonian Magazine 1872 Camels, ships, roads, railways, electricity.....This week we talk with Shundana Yusaf, Assistant Professor of Architecture at the University of Utah, and discuss the concept and approach to her fascinating co-authored GAHTC module about architecture and the technologies of transportation and communication. Her research has looked at topics as...

Based on her recent book,  Creating Urban Agricultural Systems: An Integrated Approach to Design , we discuss with University of Washington's Gundula Proksch the myriad implications of re-thinking our food culture. Conversation topics range from community gardens to hydroponics, edible school yards to Mars colonies, the slow-food movement to bio-engineered buildings.    

  View of kumbh mela. SOURCE Felipe Vera We discuss kinetic architecture and ephemeral urbanism with Rahul Mehrotra , Professor of Urban Planning and Design at the Harvard Graduate School of Design (GSD). Topics include events like the kumbh mela , and its implications about thinking about temporality in contemporary practice; designing for obsolescence; immigration and identity; and India in the...

  Mud brick fortification walls from the 10th century at Merv, Turkmenistan SOURCE: Manu Sobti Dr. Manu P. Sobti , Senior Lecturer in the School of Architecture and Director of the Higher Degree Research Program at the University of Queensland in Brisbane, Australia, discusses his co-authored GAHTC module, Peripheries of Contact , which explores the architecture and urbanism created by migrant pop...

  Katerra Project Delivery CREDIT: Katerra Katerra is a new global leader in innovation and efficiency in construction project delivery. Design Director Craig Curtis , FAIA, shares eye-opening insights as a member of the Executive Team. Katerra is challenging conventions to deliver successful, sustainable, and innovative projects on par with Ikea, Apple and Tesla in supply chain and smart sourcing...