Architecture

Architecture

episodes

Interviews with architects and scholars of architecture about their new books.

Sierra Bainbridge and James Kitchin, "Seeking Abundance: Design, Ecology and a Flourishing Planet" (Axio, 2026)

May 31, 2026

Seeking Abundance

Sierra Bainbridge and Alan Ricks
Hosted by Kelvin Vu

Regenerative design is a way of building that heals our planet and our communities by halting biodiversity loss, reversing climate change, and improvi…

Charlie Qiuli Xue and Arwen Yingting Chen, "American-Designed Shopping Malls in China" (Hong Kong UP, 2026)

May 30, 2026

American-Designed Shopping Malls in China

Charlie Qiuli Xue and Arwen Yingting Chen
Hosted by Miranda Melcher

China’s remarkable journey from poverty to becoming the world’s second-largest economic power is marked by extraordinary urban growth and consumpt…

Judith Hill, "Gothic: Building Castles in Post-Union Ireland" (Four Courts Press, 2026)

May 27, 2026

Gothic

Judith Hill
Hosted by Miranda Melcher

Castles speak. Especially in an age when they are no longer necessary. The Act of Union of 1800, which brought Ireland into closer association wit…

Ellen Levitt, "Former Synagogues of the United States: Looking at Buildings That Once Housed Synagogues, Schools, and Other Jewish Institutions" (Resource Publications, 2026)

May 22, 2026

Former Synagogues of the United States

Ellen Levitt
Hosted by Zalman Newfield

Throughout the United States there are buildings that had been home to Jewish houses of worship, schools, and other institutions. What has happened to…

Silvia Danielak, "Peace Infrastructures: How UN Peace Operations Build Roads, Bridges, and Solar Farms in the Pursuit of Sustainability" (MIT Press, 2026)

May 15, 2026

Peace Infrastructures

Silvia Danielak
Hosted by Miranda Melcher

Roads, bridges, a renewable power plant, and an electricity grid: UN peacekeepers might be unusual infrastructure builders, but they’re certainly not …

Cooking Sections, "Waves Lost at Sea" (Spector Books, 2026)

May 2, 2026

Waves Lost at Sea

Cooking Sections
Hosted by Kelvin Vu

Waves Lost at Sea (Spector Books, 2026) traces the evolving practice of Cooking Sections, whose work spans visual arts, architecture, and ecology. Sin…

Lukas Novotny, "Modern New York: The Illustrated Story of Architecture in the Five Boroughs from 1920 to Today" (Rizzoli, 2023)

April 25, 2026

Modern New York

Lukas Novotny
Hosted by James Wunsch

In Modern New York: The Illustrated Story of Architecture in the Five Boroughs from 1920 to Today (Rizzoli, 2023), Lukas Novotny calls attention not j…

Elias V. Messinas, "Synagogues of Greece: A Study of Synagogues in Macedonia and Thrace" (Bloch Publishing, 2011)

April 13, 2026

Synagogues of Greece

Elias V. Messinas
Hosted by Renee Garfinkel

Across Greece, once-thriving Jewish communities stood for more than two thousand years. From the Romaniote Jews of Ioannina to the great Sephardic cen…

Tim Altenhof, "Breathing Space: The Architecture of Pneumatic Beings" (Zone Books, 2026)

April 5, 2026

Breathing Space

Tim Altenhof
Hosted by Miranda Melcher

Breathing Space: The Architecture of Pneumatic Beings (Zone Books, 2026) is a compelling and wide-ranging analysis of pneumatic phenomena in modern cu…

Erica Morawski, "Development Design: Hotels and Politics in the Hispanic Caribbean" (U Pittsburgh Press, 2025)

March 26, 2026

Development Design

Erica Morawski
Hosted by Miranda Melcher

Underneath picturesque views of palm trees, fruity cocktails in hotel lounges, and day trips to preserved colonial zones lies a history of tourism des…

Jessica Clarke, "A New History of Ancient Roman Theatre" (Liverpool UP, 2025)

March 13, 2026

A New History of Ancient Roman Theatre

Jessica Clarke

"Roman theatre" is a term often used to describe the theatre of ancient Italy during the second and third century BCE. Plautus and Terence are referre…

Imperial Depths: Mark Letteney and Matthew Larsen on the Roman Prison System (JP)

March 12, 2026

Imperial Depths

The notion of abolishing prisons strikes some as an impossible dream: could we could reasonably conceive of a society that responded to harm without t…

Lucy Lavers et al.," Adventurous Vents: A Journey through the Ventilation Shafts of Britain" (Penguin, 2025)

March 6, 2026

Adventurous Vents

Lucy Lavers, Judy Ovens, and Suzanna Prizeman
Hosted by Miranda Melcher

At the heart of the modern world lie ventilation shafts. We may not notice them, but wherever there are tunnels, sewers, mines, car parks and energy s…

Catherine Boland Erkkila, "Spaces of Immigration: American Ports, Railways, and Settlements" (U Pittsburgh Press, 2025)

March 6, 2026

Spaces of Immigration

Catherine Boland Erkkila
Hosted by Matt Wells

Spaces of Immigration: American Ports, Railways, and Settlements (U Pittsburgh Press, 2025) follows the travel routes of immigrants during a foundatio…

Veronique Boone, "Le Corbusier on Camera: The Unknown Films of Ernest Weissmann" (Birkhaüser, 2024)

February 27, 2026

Le Corbusier on Camera

Veronique Boone

Le Corbusier on Camera: The Unknown Films of Ernest Weissmann (Birkhaüser, 2024) is based on amateur films, shot by the architect Ernest Weissmann (19…

Richard Schoch, "Shakespeare’s House: A Window onto his Life and Legacy" (Bloomsbury, 2023)

February 22, 2026

Shakespeare’s House

Richard Schoch
Hosted by Miranda Melcher

In the wide realm of Shakespeare worship, the house in Stratford-upon-Avon where William Shakespeare was born in 1564 – known colloquially as the 'Bir…

Lucy Donkin, "Standing on Holy Ground in the Middle Ages" (Cornell UP, 2022)

February 9, 2026

Standing on Holy Ground in the Middle Ages

Lucy Donkin
Hosted by Miranda Melcher

Dr. Lucy Donkin’s Standing on Holy Ground in the Middle Ages (Cornell University Press, 2022) illuminates how the floor surface shaped the ways in whi…

Itohan I. Osayimwese, "Africa's Buildings: Architecture and the Displacement of Cultural Heritage" (Princeton UP, 2025)

February 3, 2026

Africa's Buildings

Itohan I. Osayimwese
Hosted by Miranda Melcher

Between the nineteenth century and today, colonial officials, collectors, and anthropologists dismembered African buildings and dispersed their parts …

Iain Jackson et. al., "Architecture, Empire, and Trade: The United Africa Company" (Bloomsbury, 2025)

January 28, 2026

Architecture, Empire, and Trade

Iain Jackson, Ewan Harrison, Michelle Tenzon, Rixt Woudstra, & Claire Tunstall
Hosted by Matt Wells

Architecture, Empire, and Trade: The United Africa Company (Bloomsbury, 2025) pieces together a new architectural history of West Africa from the high…

Bram de Maeyer, "Building for Belgium: Belgian Embassies in a Globalising World (1945-2020)" (Leuven UP, 2025)

January 28, 2026

Building for Belgium

Bram De Maeyer
Hosted by Miranda Melcher

Embassy buildings are the most tangible evidence of a state’s diplomatic presence abroad. State authorities have invested in the architectural concept…