Talk Architecture

Send us Fan Mail In this reflective “filler” episode of Talk Architecture, host Naziaty opens up about a personal contradiction: as a teenager scared of maths, yet fell in love with architecture — the technical details, the design work, the very things built on mathematics. Also the fascination with Christopher Alexander's concepts and theory. That tension becomes the starting point for a war...

Send us Fan Mail Host Naziaty, a disability activist from 1998 to 2024, opens this first episode by tracing the deep, two-way relationship between disability and architecture in the Malaysian context — a story that likely mirrors struggles in your own country. From streets unusable by wheelchair users to bus stop ramps that dangerously spill into traffic, shows how access is too often treated as a...

Send us Fan Mail In Part 3 and final episode of the Stop Spoon-Feeding Architecture Students series on the Talk Architecture Podcast, host Naziaty explores why many students and graduates remain trapped in their self-imposed comfort zones. Drawing from insights on unprocessed emotions and fear of failure or judgment, this episode examines how reluctance to make decisions leads tutors to default to...

Send us Fan Mail Are we creating architecture graduates who can’t think for themselves?  In this episode of Talk Architecture, host Naziaty explores the dangers of spoon-feeding in design studios — from ready-made notes and tutor suggestions to declining curiosity and weakened problem-solving skills. Drawing from Dr. Abijit Shatterji’s insights, we examine how convenience is quietly undermining th...

Send us Fan Mail In this episode of the Talk Architecture Podcast, we dive deep into a heartfelt reply to a 2nd-year architecture student asking what needs to change in architecture education. The core issue? Too many graduates lack confidence when entering the profession — a direct result of being spoon-fed throughout their studies. Instead of nurturing independent decision-making through studio...

Send us Fan Mail Host Naziaty Mohd Yaacob explores the growing overlap between traditional architectural practice and entrepreneurship in the current digital era. Solo practitioners now commonly deliver both typical architectural services and signature products—custom-built spaces with a distinct personal style. Stressing the value of deliberate constraints (financial, technical, and temporal) to...

Send us Fan Mail Continuing the exploration of Vitruvius's Venustas, Firmitas, Utilitas , host Naziaty turns to Utilitas — usually translated as function or commodity — and asks what it really means in the 21st century. Drawing on a RIBA article, Accessible Architecture: How Today's Inclusive Spaces Can Help Solve 200 Years of Accessible Design Challenges , we trace the long, uneven hist...

Send us Fan Mail In this follow-up to the introduction on How Architecture Students Study Business in School , host Naziaty digs into the three skills the original Threads question raised: running a firm, pricing a project, and negotiating a contract, where each one can be quietly built into the five years of architecture school — leadership and team dynamics through first-year group furniture bui...

Send us Fan Mail In this episode of Talk Architecture , host Naziaty tackles a question that's been making the rounds on Threads: should architecture schools teach business and financial literacy? After six years of study, many graduates step out into practice with no real sense of how to run a firm, price a project, or negotiate a contract — and the conversation online has struck a nerve. Na...

Send us Fan Mail The Timeless Principles of "Venustas, Firmitas, and Utilitas" (Vitruvius, 1st century BC) is one way to analyse any product, may it be craft or architecture, in terms of the quality and how good that design is. In the history of architectural theory, few ideas have proven as enduring as the Roman principles articulated by Vitruvius: Venustas (beauty or delight), Firmitas...

Send us Fan Mail Welcome back to the Talk Architecture Podcast . I’m your host, Naziaty. After a difficult hiatus since our last episode on March 28—marked by a bout of illness and the heartbreaking loss of my mother last month—I’m slowly returning to the mic with renewed purpose. Though my voice may sound a little rough today, I’m excited to share that the show is very much alive and moving forwa...

Send us Fan Mail Naziaty will discuss on the need to address the intersecting sections of the sets of "architecture practice", "architecture education" and "disability". This is an introduction to the gaps that needs to be addressed.  © 2026 Talk Architecture, Author: Naziaty Mohd Yaacob.  Support the show Do subscribe for premium content and special features which wi...

Send us Fan Mail Kevin Mark Low and Naziaty Mohd Yaacob both sees Malaysian architecture education as deeply flawed, producing graduates who are technically competent but philosophically and ethically underprepared. Discussion on these sub-topics / key points are found in this episode: 1. Systemic failures and "dumbing down" 2. Critique on formalism and form-first approaches 3. Need for...

Send us Fan Mail A Commentary on the March 2025 episodes on the Balanced Education Model, an interview with Kevin Mark Low, with an eye towards writing thoughts on this to be published. Important core quotes and key statements from Kevin Mark Low: 1. On the obsession with formalism and branding 2. On the power of relationships 3. On guidance and mentorship 4. Broader critique of current systems 5....

Send us Fan Mail The first episode in a two-part series on designing from first principles (as suggested by Kevin Mark Low). The concept of “first principles” in architecture can be understood in two main ways: 1.  The most fundamental, timeless truths about what makes good architecture (the Vitruvian foundation that has survived 2000+ years) 2.  First-principles thinking as a problem-solving meth...

Send us Fan Mail Second episode of a two-part series we dive deep into how architects such as Kevin Mark Low design from first principles. Analysis from literature search shows that Kevin Mark Low has 5 main core elements to his first principles-inspired design process: 1. Primacy of Context Specificities 2. Radical or Critically questioning and identifying problems 3. Details as the Resolver of R...

Send us Fan Mail This is an addendum to the second episode on how architects Kevin Mark Low design from first principles, discussing the Safari Roof House (2002-2005). How designing the Safari Roof House embodies First-Principles thinking Kevin didn’t start with “let’s make a modern tropical house” or copy regional precedents. He decomposed to basics: •  Human thermal comfort in 30–35°C heat + 80–...

Send us Fan Mail Designing for every citizen: Engineering inclusive urban landscapes(street environments and public transportation) for the Institute of Engineers Malaysia - Webinar Talk on March 10 2026 by Naziaty Mohd Yaacob, Director, Xiron Engineering Services Sdn Bhd. Talk includes problems of existing inaccessible street environment, development of Version 1 and Version 2 Universal Design Bu...

Send us Fan Mail The first episode of a two part mini series on - Formalism and Non-formalistic Approaches in Architecture - where the teaching of architecture and guidance inform how we approach architecture practice, where it needs to be more critical rather than mere form-making generated and embellished from schematics and passed as aesthetics. "Architecture is often approached in a forma...

Send us Fan Mail Four weeks ago I commented on the idea of collaboration, as if the ability to collaborate is necessary in order to have leadership skills.  What are the essential qualities and why is it important that an architect have leadership skills? There are a lot of other skills associated with that - adaptability, understanding context and the fit, steering based on processes which are re...

Send us Fan Mail In the first episode of the series on design approach and methods, we discuss the Preface of Christopher Alexander’s 1964 seminal work, Notes on the Synthesis of Form, the 1971 paperback.  The discussion highlights Alexander’s pivot from a rigid "design method" toward the profound simplicity of the diagram—later known as a pattern. This approach moves beyond the academic...

Send us Fan Mail A scenario of the architectural design studio project for a community that would have made a better impact in terms learning for the students, when site-context specific rather than a project that objectifies for 'citation', ' data' and 'research agenda'. How this sort of project would "fail in the rankings" and not encouraged in schools of...

Send us Fan Mail Last 29 December 2025, the Vice Chancellor of Universiti Malaya in an article says “Let me be clear: rankings are not the goal; they are a means. The goal is, and has always been, to create knowledge and graduates that make the world a better place. If climbing the rankings comes as a result of doing that goal well, then we should welcome it. We must remember that our true rank is...

Send us Fan Mail The conclusive episode (Part 3) to underline the bigger picture of problems in architecture education where we need to deal with the following: 1. Architecture design studio curriculum needs to be clear on the "design problem" identification and solving them as complexities in the final year project (Part 1) and design thesis (Part 2). 2. The role of the architect as col...

Send us Fan Mail Part 2 continues the discussion on the systemic problems where "the burden of education has quietly shifted from academia to practice", by referring to Seshan Design SB Handbook and points discussed in Part 1 of the same topic. Naziaty started by what went wrong in architecture education and how and why we lost our direction. It will span from when I  started architectur...