Explore every episode of the podcast About Buildings + Cities

The first episode in our new series on the German Expressionist architect Hans Poelzig. In it we discussed the earliest phase of his career in Breslau (modern day Wrocław) where he designed a number of residential, civic and industrial buildings including the town hall of Löwenberg (modern day Lwówek Śląski) unbuilt Fabrikgebäude Werdermühle, a cosmic horror Sulphuric Acid Factory, as well as water towers, a dam and exposition architecture.

Follow along with the images on our YouTube: https://youtu.be/q8zTOQumQZ8

Edited by Matthew Lloyd Roberts.

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In the final episode of our Lanuage Trilogy we talked about Charles Jencks's 'The Language of Post-Modern Architecture', first published in 1977, the book and argument developed over the course of the 1980s as ideas about post-modernism as an architectural style and set of principles formalised. We talked about Jencks's theorisation of architectural semiotics, his account of the failure of modernism and his prospectus for future architecture.

You can watch along with the video on our YouTube: https://youtu.be/Fd3oU1gBt_Y

Edited by Matthew Lloyd Roberts.

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In the second episode of our 'Language' trilogy, we discussed Bruno Zevi's 'The Modern Language of Architecture', first published in Italian as 'Il linguaggio moderno dell'architettura' in 1978, partly in response to Summerson's 'The Classical Language of Architecture' the subject of our previous episode.

Zevi is a fascinating figure in 20th century Italian culture and politics. From a Roman Italian-Jewish family, he studied under Walter Gropius at Havard during the 30s and 40s due to Mussolini's anti-semitic fascist regime. He returned after the war and became a professor in Venice and Rome, a fervent advocate of a particular form of humanist modernism against rectilinear standardisation, symmetry and a classicising return to the past, which he viewed as a symptom of fascist continuity in Italian society. In later years he served as a politician in various heterodox leftist parties.

In the final episode of this trilogy, out soon, we will discuss 'The Language of Post-Modern Architecture' by Charles Jencks.

To follow along with the images of this episode, you can watch it on our YouTube channel: https://youtu.be/HY3yZs9KbQ8

Edited by Matthew Lloyd Roberts.

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In this episode, the first of a trilogy, we talked about John Summerson's best-selling 1965 book 'The Classical Language of Architecture', developed out of a series of lectures he gave to the BBC. We talk about Summerson, one of the titans of mid-20th century British architectural history, his attitude towards classicism and his patrician tone. In the next two episodes we will be discussing Bruno Zevi's 'The Modern Language of Architecture' (1978) and Charles Jencks's 'The Language of Post-Modern Architecture' (1977), which were both partly inspired by Summerson's rhetorical assertion of the linguistic character of classical architecture.

Follow along with the images by watching this episode on YouTube: https://youtu.be/3JYroYY_wek

Edited by Matthew Lloyd Roberts.

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This is a preview of a Patreon bonus episode. To listen to the rest, consider supporting the show on Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/c/about_buildings

In this penultimate bonus episode in our Piranesi series we talked about Piranesian vibes in literary and artistic culture, including forays into the work of Thomas De Quincey, Gustave Doré, Jorge Luis Borges, the graphic novels of François Schuiten and Benoît Peeters and the recent 'Backrooms' movie.

Edited by Matthew Lloyd Roberts.

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In the final part of our Piranesi miniseries we talked about his only building, the church of Santa Maria del Priorato, his theoretical writings, his proposals for interior design and furniture and his Carceri, the imaginary prisons which defined his legacy.

If you'd like to follow along with the images of this episode, try watching it on Youtube: https://youtu.be/Rd2nwMAAx2E

Edited by Matthew Lloyd Roberts.

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In the penultimate episode of our series on Giovanni Battista Piranesi, we discussed his Ichnographia Campii Martii, one of his stranged and most inventive projects, a vast reconstruction of Ancient Rome, which blends together a little bit of archaeology with a massive injection of fantasy, plastering much of the open countryside around the city with endless, fractal Beaux Arts geometries.

At around 30 minutes George can't remember the name of a large multi-vaulted commercial/light industrial antique building, it is in fact the Porticus Aemilia: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Porticus_Aemilia

Follow along with the images by watching this episode on YouTube: https://youtu.be/zqTH3-GPyzQ

Edited by Matthew Lloyd Roberts.

Mixing by Lewis Todd.

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In the second episode of our series on Giovanni Battista Piranesi, we discussed his multi-volume project, Le Antichità Romane de' tempo della prima Repubblica e dei primi imperatori, a deep study and representation of Roman Antiquity, channelled through his vivid imagination, mixing rigorous archaeological measurement and close attention to constructional details with romantic and fantastical visions of the ancient world.

To follow along with the images, check out this episode on YouTube: https://youtu.be/o9FUgUOgYy0

Edited by Matthew Lloyd Roberts.

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In the first part of our new series on Piranesi we discussed his upbringing and background in Venice, his earliest travels to Rome and first work with Giuseppe Vasi and Tiepolo. We talked a little about the historical and cultural context of Piranesi’s work, before getting stuck into his Prima parte di Architettura e Prospettive (1743) and Varie Vedute di Roma Antica e Moderna (1745), and start to map out the rest of his oeuvre that will form the rest of the series.

This is the first episode of a four part series about Piranesi, and there will be bonus episodes forthcoming on Patreon about his legacy and works of art and literature inspired by it.

You can watch this episode on YouTube to follow along with the images: https://youtu.be/QUY4Yw2kxmk

Edited by Matthew Lloyd Roberts. Mixing by Lewis Todd.

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To get full access to this episode, please consider supporting us on Patreon:https://www.patreon.com/about_buildings

Taking cues from the 'Show and Tell' main episode, Editor Matt joined us for a bonus and brought along a couple of interesting buildings to discuss. The first, Santa Maria del Naranco, in Asturia Northern Spain, was built as a summer palace for King Ramiros I in 842 CE. It is a surprising building in many ways, precociously Romanesque and highly resolved by 9th-century standards, its proportional logics give the building a profound presence, especially its end facades. We then discussed the sprawling, accretive mass of Frank Lloyd Wright's House and Studio in Oak Park, Chicago. This was his home and place of business from the late-1880s until the mid-1900s, and it grew substantially from modest gable-ended suburban cottage to hulking compound as his family and business grew. We also discussed the surrounding neighbourhood of Oak Park, which contains many idiosyncratic domestic designs from the pen of this erratic giant of American architecture.

Edited by Matthew Lloyd Roberts.

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This episode takes a new format! Instead of fitting into a larger series or a particular theme, Luke and George simply chose two interesting pieces of architecture each that they wanted to discuss and draw out particular ideas or themes from. Let us know if you liked this format, and we will consider doing more of them in between regular episodes!

In this episode, we discussed the Temple of Apollo at Didyma, the Hermitage of San Baudelio de Berlanga, the Mausoleum of Theodoric at Ravenna and Lutyens' Mercantile Marine War Memorial at Tower Hill, London.

You can follow along with images of the buildings dicussed on our Instagram feed or on YouTube: https://youtu.be/N9o4-pz4dM0

Edited by Matthew Lloyd Roberts.

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In our final episode of 2025, we discussed William Golding's 1964 novel 'The Spire', a deeply psychological portrayal of the construction of a cathedral spire in the 14th century, heavily influenced by Salisbury Cathedral. One of the great architectural novels, this episode contains extensive spoilers, so we recommend reading it or listening to the audiobook before you listen to this episode!

Find this episode on YouTube to follow along with the images: https://youtu.be/Z2bjd950HOQ?si=yZ0nUn31nYVtLkvg

Edited by Matthew Lloyd Roberts.

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In the finale of our series on Sigfried Giedion, we discussed the bait-and-switch coda of the book, where Giedion unexpectedly addresses questions of urbanism and town planning, via Haussmanisation, designs for Lyon by Tony Garnier, the Garden City movement, slab block modernism and Manhattan.

Follow along with images on YouTube: https://youtu.be/1d8rDIt0mIw

We hope you enjoyed this series. We will be back soon with a discussion of William Golding's 'The Spire'!

Edited by Matthew Lloyd Roberts.

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Some clips from our Patreon bonus episodes on Sigfried Gideion's 'Mechanisation Takes Command'.

If you've enjoyed the show, please consider supporting us on Patreon for full access to these bonus episodes: https://www.patreon.com/c/about_buildings

Edited by Matthew Lloyd Roberts.

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In part three of our discussion of 'Space, Time and Architecture', we finally got to the Spacetime and the architecture. We examined Giedion's thinking about many canonical works of the late-19th and 20th century, including the Chicago School, Louis Sullivan and Frank Lloyd Wright; the emergence of ferro-concrete in France with Perret and the bridges of Swiss engineer Robert Maillart and definitionally Modernist works by Walter Gropius, Le Corbusier, Mies van der Rohe and Alvar Aalto.

To follow along with the images as we discuss them, you can find this episode on our YouTube channel: https://youtu.be/14OeGtn53CY?si=kU0FTyuYMuNUzgyI

Edited by Matthew Lloyd Roberts.

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In the second part of our discussion of Sigfried Giedion's 'Space, Time and Architecture' we covered the canalpunk aesthetics of cast-iron bridges, the transformation of material technology in the 19th-century and the Chicago School, completing his teleological march up to modernism which we will discuss in the next episode.

To follow along with the images, you can watch this episode on YouTube: https://youtu.be/Z2NCz-xl7V8

Edited by Matthew Lloyd Roberts.

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In this first episode of a new series on Sigfried Giedion's 1941 book 'Space, Time and Architecture', we discussed the approach to architectural history and urbanism in the first part of this totemic publication which shaped modernist architectural culture. Giedion was a Jewish historian from a family of Swiss industrialists, born in Prague who studied under Heinrich Wölfflin in Munich. He was a founding member of the Congrès Internationaux d'Architecture Moderne or "CIAM" who left Europe for America in the 1930s like many other Jewish émigrés. The lectures he gave at Harvard in the late 1930s were published as 'Space, Time and Architecture', one of the most influential works of architectural history and theory of the 20th century.

Watch this episode on YouTube for illustrations: https://youtu.be/89sjkU8G2bw

Edited by Matthew Lloyd Roberts.

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This is an unlocked Patreon bonus episode from our series on WG Sebald (episodes 77 & 78 in the main feed), if you enjoyed listening to this episode, please consider supporting the show on Patreon for access to our entire back catalogue of bonus episodes.

In this final bonus episode from our series on WG Sebald, we discussed his two books 'The Rings of Saturn' (1995) and 'On the Natural History of Destruction' (1999). Both texts return to key themes of Sebald's writing: The Rings of Saturn is a melancholy walk across the low, flat plains of the East Anglian coast, where repressed memories of imperialist violence and mundane tragedy uncomfortably resurface alongside the banality of daily life. On the Natural History of Destruction is comprised of a series of essays reflecting on the memories of World War II in German literature, particularly the destruction of cities during the bombing campaigns in the final years of the war. 

Our next series will be starting at the end of this

Edited by Matthew Lloyd Roberts.

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This is an unlocked bonus episode from our series on Otto Wagner, released to mark the end of our Plečnik series. You can listen to the whole of our Otto Wagner series, episodes 79–83 on the main feed. If you want access to our full back catalogue of bonus episodes, please consider supporting the show on Patreon!

We are going on a summer holiday, but will be back at the end of September with new episodes on Sigfried Gidieon's 1941 book 'Space, Time and Architecture'.

Edited by Matthew Lloyd Roberts.

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This is a clip from our latest Patreon bonus episode, if you'd like to hear our final thoughts on Plečnik in full, please consider subscribing at https://www.patreon.com/about_buildings — the show relies on listener support, and you'll get access to our full back catalogue of bonus episodes.

In our final bonus episode on Jože Plečnik, we discussed a few more of his projects, including 'Many Houses under One Roof', a unique unbuilt proposal for mass housing in post-war Ljubljana which imagined a huge colonnaded structure under which houses could be built in heterogenous harmony. We also discussed a pair of pavilions built for a convent in the countryside near Bled in northern Slovenia. The pavilions represent Plečnik's unique interpretations of the 'Primitive Hut' as an architectural form. Lastly, we discussed Plečnik's own house in Ljubljana and reflected on his legacy as one of the most idiosyncratic and surprising architects of the 20th century.

Edited by Matthew Lloyd Roberts.

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In the grand finale of our Plečnik series, we discussed the last of his projects for Ljubljana both realised and unrealised. In this episode we covered his Peglezen or Flat Iron Building, the National and University Library, his alteration of a former monastic complex called the Krizanke, his proposed extensive restoration of Ljubjlana Castle with monumental staircase from the triple bridge, and lastly his megalomaniacal idea for the Slovenian Parliament. A final bonus episode reflecting on our time with Plečnik will be out in the next week or two for Patreon subscribers.

To follow along with the images, watch this episode on YouTube: https://youtu.be/Su2mTGeMi9c

Edited by Matthew Lloyd Roberts.

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More Plečnik in Ljubljana! Here we talked about his approach to the Ljubljanica, the river that runs through the middle of the city, including the weirs, bridges and sluices which control its flow, the iconic triple bridge, and the various market buildings which face onto the riverside.

To follow along with images for this episode, check out the video version on YouTube: https://youtu.be/jQknKgoaQKI

Edited by Matthew Lloyd Roberts.

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In the first episode of our Plečnik series on his work for Ljubljana, we discussed a few of his less well known works, including his work for the Chamber of Commerce, the Triglav Insurance Company Palace and Congress Square. In the next episode we will discuss his designs for the city's riverfront.

To follow along with the images which accompany the discussion, watch this episode on YouTube: https://youtu.be/te2VWMNoHx4

Edited by Matthew Lloyd Roberts.

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In the third episode of our Plečnik miniseries we talked about a couple more churches and the cemetery of Ljubljana. Specifically we discussed: the Church of St Michael, Črna Vas or the Church of St Michael in the Marsh (Cerkev sv. Mihaela na Barju); the Church of St Anthony of Padua, Belgrade (Црква Светог Антуна Падованског) and Žale Central Cemetery, Ljubljana (Centralno pokopališče Žale).

Watch this episode on YouTube to follow along with images: https://youtu.be/m2Lhu-3TpuE

Edited by Matthew Lloyd Roberts.

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In the second episode of our miniseries on Jože Plečnik, we discussed four of his early church buildings, each representing a unique interlacing of early Christian architecture, 20th century classicism, and his idiosyncratic approach to style, detailing and planning which give all his buildings such a unique atmosphere.

In this episode we discussed:

St. Bartholomew's Church, Ljubljana (cerkev sv. Jerneja)

Church of the Most Sacred Heart of Our Lord, Prague (Kostel Nejsvětějšího Srdce Páně)

Church of St. Francis of Assisi, Ljubljana (Župnijska cerkev Frančiška Asiškega)

Church of the Ascension, Bogojina (Cerkev Gospodovega vnebohoda)

Watch this episode on YouTube to follow along with the images: https://youtu.be/szuyRFu0wis

Edited by Matthew Lloyd Roberts.

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This is the first episode in a new series about the Slovenian architect Jože Plečnik, who blended inspiration from deep antiquity with the modern sensibilities he learnt as a student of Otto Wagner (subject of a previous ABC miniseries episodes 79–83). Here we discussed his upbringing and education, time in Italy and his idiosyncratic classical sources from Etruscan deep time and late antiquity. Later his career and earliest commissions in Vienna and Prague, especially the Zacherlhaus, Church of the Holy Spirit and his interventions at Prague Castle.

To follow along with the images, find this episode on YouTube: https://youtu.be/a8S9gA6_j6M

Edited by Matthew Lloyd Roberts.

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If you want access to the full version of this episode, subscribe to our Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/c/about_buildings

Watch this episode on YouTube to follow along with the images: https://youtu.be/mhoIymTPnRg

In the final part of our series on Rem Koolhaas's SMLXL, we discussed 'XL', including their unsuccessful competition entry for Parc de Vilette and the essay 'Generic City'. Discussions of Singapore, Atlanta and Yokohama are available on our Patreon.

Our next series which will begin next month is going to be about the Slovenian architect Jože Plečnik, so watch this space!

Edited by Matthew Lloyd Roberts.

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In Part 3 of our series on SMLXL we talked through 'L', including the essay on BIGNESS, including unbuilt schemes for the Très Grande Bibliothèquethe in Paris, the Karlsruhe Zentrum fur Kunst und Medientechnologie and the Zeebrugge Sea Terminal.

To follow along with the images, check out this episode on YouTube: https://youtu.be/cuzdCPh-iIs

We previously discussed some of these projects in episode 48 and bonus episode 48.5 (unlocked!), albeit less in the context of SMLXL as a publication.

Edited by Matthew Lloyd Roberts.

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This is a preview of a bonus episode available on our Patreon feed, please support the show on Patreon for full access: https://www.patreon.com/c/about_buildings

In this bonus we talked about the book-within-the-book, the series of quotations and definitions which run the breadth of the alphabet through SMLXL. It includes the usual Koolhaasian mixture of high and low culture, actress's memoirs, advertising, technical manuals, pornography and even Luke's dad!

Edited by Matthew Lloyd Roberts.

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In episode 2 of our series on SMLXL by Rem Koolhaas, OMA and Bruce Mau, we talked about 'M', including a Panopticon prison, an extension for the Dutch Parliament, the Netherlands Dance Theatre, an unbuilt hotel in Morocco and the Rotterdam Kunsthal.

Follow along with images on YouTube: https://youtu.be/cqlABdVpeZ8

Edited by Matthew Lloyd Roberts.

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SMLXL (1995) was the brainchild of Rem Koolhaas, principal of OMA, rhetorically and stylistically a rejection of the norms of architectural monographs, this 1400 page silver brick was one of the most iconic art books of the 1990s. It is a strange piece of architectural publishing, and very 90s, a mixture of post-modern literary sensibilities, greasy full bleed photography and polemic against Koolhaas's teachers and peers. We will talk about the book part-by-part over the next 4 episodes, with bonus content for Patreon subscribers.

Catch this episode on YouTube to see the slides: https://youtu.be/ljgaQQz-TpY

Edited by Matthew Lloyd Roberts.

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In our last episode of 2024 we thought we would do something a little bit different, and talk about where we think architectural culture is at right now, an archaeology of the present, a dissection of the Now. We took some suggestions and requests from our Patrons, and followed them from recent discoveries at the National Gallery to Kengo Kuma and the Las Vegas Sphere.

Some of the stories we talked about:

National Gallery: https://www.theartnewspaper.com/2024/08/27/sainsbury-wing-contractors-find-1990-letter-from-donor-anticipating-their-demolition-of-false-columns

Architectural unionisation: https://jacobin.com/2024/10/bernheimer-architecture-union-faect-cio

Matt's essay about AI: https://recessed.space/00186-AI-neural-networks-architecture-AI

Thank you to everyone for watching, listening, reviewing, subscribing and supporting us on Patreon this year! We will be back in January with a new series on Koolhaas's S,M,L,XL.

Edited by Matthew Lloyd Roberts.

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In this episode we discussed The Study of Architectural Design (1926) by John F. Harbeson, a remarkable guide to the Beaux-Arts method of architectural education, with its many idiosyncratic terms of art and the astonishing drawings produced as part of its relentless programme of competition exercises.

Do you know your Parti from your Poché? Do you know your way around a Class A? Does Mosaic leave you baffled? Look no further for a guide to all things Beaux Arts.

You can follow along with the slides on our YouTube: https://youtu.be/Jj1anRYMmLI

Edited by Matthew Lloyd Roberts.

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In the final episode of our series on Sir John Soane we discussed his house and museum on Lincoln's Inn Fields in the centre of London, where the museum kindly allowed us to record this episode. We also talked about Pitzhanger, his country house in Ealing, and the development of his unique collecting practice.

To follow along with the images we discussed and see clips from our visit, check out this episode on our YouTube channel: https://youtu.be/gOzIg5kB2Hg

You can see the full length video tour of the house excerpted in this episode on our Patreon feed: https://www.patreon.com/about_buildings. Please consider subscribing to support the show!

Edited by Matthew Lloyd Roberts.

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This is a cilp from our latest Patreon bonus episode, a discussion of Soane's contemporary reputation, particularly satirical and critical writing in the periodical press, not least by his estranged son George!

You can listen to this episode in full on our Patreon feed: https://www.patreon.com/about_buildings

Edited by Matthew Lloyd Roberts.

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In the sixth part of our series on John Soane, we discussed some major monumental buildings in and around London. We began with Dulwich Picture Gallery, perhaps the first purpose-built public art gallery in the world. Then we discussed his church buildings in Marylebone, Southwark and Bethnal Green respectively.

Watch on YouTube to see the images as we discuss them: https://youtu.be/8IFQjALMaW8

Edited by Matthew Lloyd Roberts.

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In the fifth part of our series on John Soane, we discussed his designs for speculative housing developments in central London, another building in the middle of the city for the Bank of England's National Debt Redemption Office, and his various hypothetical schemes for transforming the city with a thick encrustation of Corinthian columns. We also discussed his work for the Royal Hospital Chelsea, some of which survives to this day. We talked about John Gwynne's 'London & Westminster Improved (1766) and the ongoing problem of London and Westminster's disorderly urbanism, which Soane's unbuilt schemes cannot convincingly overcome — as always, he is at his best when constrained!

To see the images as we discuss them, check out this episode on Youtube: https://youtu.be/_Rr-GRqsc4Y

Edited by Matthew Lloyd Roberts.

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In this fourth episode of our miniseries on John Soane, we discussed his projects conducted over many years in and around Westminster. This is a tale of confusing canceled schemes, designs by committee, thwarted architectural vision and some of the most electrifying lost interiors of 19th-century London.

As always, you get get a better sense of the images we discuss by having a look at this episode of the show on our YouTube channel: https://youtu.be/xxeGY4LsHdM

Edited by Matthew Lloyd Roberts.

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In the third episode of our ongoing series on John Soane, we discussed his magnum opus, and one of the most entrancing lost buildings ever: The Bank of England. This vast administrative complex signalled the transformation of London into the capital of a modern imperial state, but by the 1930s, after just a century of its existence, the bank had outgrown Soane's intricate and weighty toplit classicism and the whole thing was demolished. We attempt here to imagine and reconstruct what it was actually like, why it was like that, and how Soane achieved it.

See the images we discussed on our YouTube channel: https://youtu.be/FmY1bFPv-oo

Edited by Matthew Lloyd Roberts.

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In episode 2 of our series on John Soane, we discussed the projects he worked on after returning from his Grand Tour of Italy, but before he got his career-defining job as surveyor to the Bank of England. These include several built and unbuilt schemes for country houses, a proposal for a pair of enormous prisons in strict geometrical manner, and several rural outbuildings in a rustic classicism that draw upon the founding myths of architecture.

Images for this episode can be found on our YouTube channel: https://youtu.be/0dAc_Dh1BTk

Edited by Matthew Lloyd Roberts.

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We're back!! In this first episode of our new series on John Soane (1753–1837) we discuss his origins: the child prodigy draughtsman, son of a bricklayer, apprentice of George Dance, winner of a studentship at the Royal Academy, and later with his Design for a Triumphal Bridge, winner of the Royal Academy and a travelling scholarship to Italy, enabling him to join the aristocratic young men of Britain on their Grand Tour. Over the rest of this series we will discuss is iconic works: the Bank of England and his house (Sir John Soane's Museum) alongside some of the deeper cuts.

Watch this episode on YouTube for accompanying images: https://youtu.be/qtB_nERFaBA?si=1q5EdJEkQbsLBRxH

Edited by Matthew Lloyd Roberts.

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The final part of our series on 'Delirious New York'! We discussed the culture clash between European high modernism and Manhattanism. We also discussed the Appendix at the end of the book, a set of speculative, wry, ironic and beautiful visions of where next for the retroactive manifesto, featuring the work of Madelon Vriesendorp, Zoe Zenghelis, Elia Zenghelis and Richard Perlmutter.

Hope you enjoy it!

Watch this episode with images: https://youtu.be/ouVLzj-292s

Edited by Matthew Lloyd Roberts.

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In our second episode on Rem Koolhaas's Delirious New York, we covered his discussion of three heroic skyscrapers of Manhattanism's golden age: The Empire State Building, The New York Athletic Club and The Rockefeller Centre. We also tried to further explain Koolhaas's unique way of thinking about history, and the particular emphases of his project.

For images, follow along on YouTube: https://youtu.be/tmOfxCU3dvA

Edited by Matthew Lloyd Roberts.

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In this episode, the first of a 3-parter, we began our discussion of 'Delirious New York' (1978) by Rem Koolhaas, a 'retroactive manifesto' for Manhattan. In this first part we discussed Rem's reputation, his style and his vision of the historical origins of the skyscraper and its formal qualities, a key part of the book's thesis. This takes us from the tabloid sensibilities of the Coney Island funfair to fraudulent 19thC building scams.

You can watch along to see our slides on YouTube https://youtu.be/XSR2UFpjB-A

Edited by Matthew Lloyd Roberts.

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This is an unlocked Patreon bonus episode from last year. To get access to all our bonus content and support the show, please subscribe for just £3 a month: https://www.patreon.com/about_buildings

In this bonus episode we discussed Neom, the sci-fi project of the Saudi Arabian government to totally reshape the north-west of the country, including a 170km linear city in the desert. We talked a little bit about the history of linear cities from Leonidov to Superstudio, and reflected on what the point of these fantastical publicity projects might be.

Edited by Matthew Lloyd Roberts.

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In this one-off summer episode we discussed 'How Buildings Learn' (1994) by Stewart Brand. The book is concerned with the whole lifespan of buildings, and "What Happens After They're Built?" This is a valuable and necessary agenda in architecture, however Brand's methodology is sometimes a little slapdash, often to comical effect. Come for the timeless wisdom of the Duchess of Devonshire, stay for the reductive account of the sins of architects. We talked through the book, the things we liked about it and raised some critiques, notably Brand's lack of thought about ownership and economics.

All the images mentioned in this episode are available on YouTube.

Edited by Matthew Lloyd Roberts.

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In the final episode of our Antoni Gaudí series, we discussed his magnum opus, one of the most famous buildings in the world: La Sagrada Familia. However, as is always the case, not everything is as it seems. We discuss the complex origins of this remarkable building, Gaudí's work on it over decades, the tragic circumstances of his death, and the life of the building after his death.

In the next couple of days we will be releasing a reflective episode on our Gaudí series, looking back at Gaudí, his legacy, and what it all means.

Watch this episode on YouTube to follow along with the images,

Edited by Matthew Lloyd Roberts.

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In this episode of our ongoing series on Antoni Gaudí we discussed the unsolved mystery of the Colonia Güell Church. Perhaps the most enigmatic of Gaudí's projects, and the apotheosis of his method and principles, wholly unrestrained. Only the crypt of this vast proposed church was actually built, in a language of burnt bricks, reclaimed stones and baffling geometries. All that survives to us of his plans are photographs of vast models of string, canvas and lead weights used to model the catenary arch structure of the building, along with a few blurry photographs of the drawings. Everything else was lost when Gaudí's studio was burnt.

The final episode in this series, on the Sagrada Familia, will be out soon. Make sure you subscribe to the channel so you don't miss it!

Images for this episode are available on YouTube: https://youtu.be/_gIFS6d3uCo

Edited by Matthew Lloyd Roberts.

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In this penultimate episode of our series on Antoni Gaudí, we dicussed projects he developed in his later career for Eusebi Güell. We talked about the Bodegas Güell, a complex of wineries and agricultural buildings in the countryside to the south of Barcelona. This project takes cyclopean masonry, a vast A-frame, gravity-defying stone pillars to create a building that calls back and forwards in time. Then we discussed the Park Güell, a consciously anglophile proposal for a garden city on the edge of Barcelona, where the housing never got built, and out of which Gaudí created a vast piece of land art, one of the most visited tourist attractions in the city. Lastly we discussed the recently renovated Chalet of Catllaràs, another curious masonry A-frame, like something out of a fairy tale with expressive dormers and spiral staircase, built as a shelter for coal miners.

Images for this episode can be found on the YouTube video version of the show: https://youtu.be/vWtYFwhvmW0

Edited by Matthew Lloyd Roberts.

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In the fourth episode of our series on Antoni Gaudí, we discussed two of his large projects in Barcelona. Casa Calvet was built 1898–1900, in many ways a conventional Spanish townhouse with references to the family's textile business into the scheme, and the rear facade with its bay windows and balconies has much of the horizontal boldness of early 20th-century proto-modernism. Casa Battló was built in 1904 on one of Barcelona's most iconic thoroughfares, with some of Gaudí's most radical use of biomorphic stone forms and a fantastical roofscape. Lastly, Casa Milà was built 1906–1912, an iconic apartment building on one of Barcelona's busiest thoroughfares. Its undulating stone facade, billowing wrought iron balconies and unconventional, organic plan made it a cause célèbre; we discussed some of the caricatures it inspired in the contemporary press at the end of this episode.

All of the images for this episode are available for the video version on YouTube: https://youtu.be/ZIrTub-2f6w

Or you can view them on our pinned Instagram Story 'Gaudí 4'

Edited by Matthew Lloyd Roberts.

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