The Best Architecture Podcasts
Photo by Jonathan Velasquez on Unsplash
A list of podcasts about architecture I love..
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Podcasts about architecture might seem to be a little counter-intuitive but they have a freedom that writing about architecture doesn’t have precisely because you can’t reasonably include images.
By relying on audio different sorts of debates can occur. Conversations, interviews and and wider ranging topics find a medium that is more natural to them than the written word.
So to start people off I thought to highlight a few podcasts I have been enjoying recently. Also I will leave these as reviews in itunes. Please take a listen and consider supporting these channels. If you have suggestions for additions to the list please feel free to leave them in the comments.
About Buildings and Cities
Hosted by Luke Jones and George Gingell. Two tutors digging the dirt on classic books, buildings and architects. Like attending an entertaining crit you are only glad that it’s not yours! So enjoy the deconstruction of whatever they are looking at. Lots of insights, questions and food for thought.
Gutted Architecture!
Unlike some other podcasts with journalists, producers and a company behind them, this is two women Natty and Coco shooting the breeze about the things that interest them. It’s refreshingly informed but direct and you feel like you are eavesdropping on a couple of good friends wishing you could join in on the conversation.
What Do Buildings Do All Day?
Emmett Scanlon presents an Ireland focused architecture podcast. Emmett is plugged into the rich Irish cultural life that he explores here with his guests which are taken not just from the world of architecture but a surprisingly wide range of people from the arts. The subjects while Ireland focussed touch engage with universal issues of the day so I think everybody should give it a listen.
99% Invisible
Roman Mars looking at everyday design and the processes that effect architecture and design. The sideways look at buildings almost always offers up insights which a straight monograph about a building would not do. Often we get to hear about a kind of untold history somewhere between built and lived experience. A great example of a properly founded radio program crossing over to the podcast sphere. The website is also a great resource.
Life of An Architect Podcast
Do you want to get a feeling for what professional life is really like? This is the podcast for you. Bob Borson and Andrew Hawkins chat about the profession and they have some great insights from their own experience. It’s not easy to make an engaging podcast that covers professional concerns but these two make it feel like a breeze.
Failed Architecture
So for me the Failed Architecture podcast and the website reflect an up and coming type of critisism which is much more able to engage with the complexities of the real world in which buildings are a small part of an intricate web of interlocked issues. Often the architectural debate has sacrificed this for the sake of pretty pictures, but this podcast brings a different view.
Scratching The Surface
Jarret Fuller’s student thesis project that has become a long running interview podcast with a huge array of figures from the design world. Interviewing well is a difficult art, to bring out what the subject has to say you need to challenge and give space for an answer, and Jarret is a good and generous host.
Scaffold
Mathew Blunderfield interviews architects and artists about their work. Again like Jarret Mathew he makes the art of hosting feel easy. There is a strong back catalogue here now to search through for familiar names or to try an unfamiliar one.
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Links
You can find on my links page an updated section with podcasts I like as I explore more within the medium I will update both pages.