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Architectural History

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by The Society of Architectural Historians of Great Britain

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21 episodes
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Podcast Overview

This podcast deals with histories of architecture and the built environment. In this series, called Architecture and… we speak to a number of academics, architects, writers and thinkers to discuss space, buildings and cities, to think through contemporary debates and issues.

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Publishing Since

6/8/2021

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Recent Episodes

Episode thumbnail for The Public Architect 3: Identity of the Architect

August 7, 2026

The Public Architect 3: Identity of the Architect

<p>In the third episode of our series on &#39;The Public Architect&#39;, we explored how the professional identity of architects has reflected changing gender, class and race. We spoke to architect Kate Macintosh about her career and the fight for equal pay for women architects. We were then joined by architectural historians Karen Burns and Elizabeth Darling to trace the longer history of women entering the profession through public institutions, from interwar progressives at the AA to postwar civil servants navigating quiet discrimination. Finally, we spoke to Yẹmí Aládérun (Ealing Council) and Sarah Allan (Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government) about how moving between private practice and public service reshaped their sense of authorship, leadership and care.</p><p>Architectural History is the podcast of the Society of Architectural Historians of Great Britain. This miniseries, The Public Architect, was made possible thanks to funding from the Royal Institute of British Architects. It was hosted and produced by Claire Jamieson and Jess Kelly, with editing by Front Ear Podcasts and production support from Matthew Lloyd Roberts. If you enjoyed this series, please consider becoming a member of the SAHGB to support our work and get access to exclusive content. <a href="https://www.sahgb.org.uk/join-renew" target="_blank"><u>https://www.sahgb.org.uk/join-renew</u></a></p><p>Contributors:</p><p>Yẹmí Aládérun is an architect and Head of Development at Ealing Council. She is a NED for Women&#39;s Pioneer Housing association, co-founder of Paradigm Network and core member of Part W. She was named in the Architects&#39; Journal&#39;s 40 under 40 in 2020.</p><p>Sarah Allan is an architect and Head of Architecture at the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government. Before this she worked in local government as housing lead for an Ecotown in Hampshire. For over seven years at CABE, she was head of urban design and homes, helping to embed design quality tools and processes in large-scale government programmes such as the Thames Gateway.</p><p>Karen Burns is an architectural historian and theorist, and Senior Lecturer in Architectural Design at the Melbourne School of Design, University of Melbourne. She is co-editor, with Lori A. Brown, of The Bloomsbury Global Encyclopedia of Women in Architecture, 1960–2020, a two-volume survey with over 1,000 entries covering architects, designers, landscape architects, planners, historians and activists.</p><p><br></p><p>Elizabeth Darling is an architectural historian, curator and writer specialising in histories of modernist cultures in Britain, especially in the 1920s and 1930s, and is an expert on women and architecture from the 1890s to the present day. She has published extensively in both fields and has also written a number of entries for the ODNB on key women architects who worked in the public sector, including Ann McEwen and Rosemary Stjernstedt. Her book, Palace of the Ether, Broadcasting House and the Architecture of the BBC, 1922-1932, will be published by Lund Humphries in June 2026.</p><p>Kate Macintosh MBE is a Scottish architect known for her work for local authorities. She studied at the Edinburgh School of Art, now part of Heriot-Watt University. After graduating in 1961, she spent a year studying in Warsaw on a scholarship from the British Council, then worked in Stockholm, Copenhagen and Helsinki before returning to the United Kingdom in 1964, when she was recruited to Denys Lasdun&#39;s National Theatre Team. She designed Dawson&#39;s Heights in Southwark and Leigham Court in Lambeth.</p><p><br></p>

Episode thumbnail for The Public Architect 2: Research, Experiment, Exchange

July 24, 2026

The Public Architect 2: Research, Experiment, Exchange

<p>This is the second episode of our new miniseries &#39;The Public Architect&#39;, an RIBA funded project exploring the past and present of the relationship between the architectural profession and the public. In this episode we spoke to researchers Ruth Lang, Natcha Ruamsanitwong and Patrick Zamarian about the role of research and innovation in post-war public sector architecture, focusing on bodies like the London County Council Architects&#39; Department and the Building Research Station. We were then joined by Rafe Bertram and Professor Flora Samuel to explore the contemporary relationship between architectural research, local government, and the built environment today.</p><p>Architectural History is the podcast of the Society of Architectural Historians of Great Britain. This miniseries, The Public Architect, was made possible thanks to funding from the Royal Institute of British Architects. It was hosted and produced by Claire Jamieson and Jess Kelly, with editing by Front Ear Podcasts and production support from Matthew Lloyd Roberts. If you enjoyed this series, please consider becoming a member of the SAHGB to support our work and get access to exclusive content. <a href="https://www.sahgb.org.uk/join-renew" target="_blank"><u>https://www.sahgb.org.uk/join-renew</u></a></p><p>Contributors:</p><p>Rafe Bertram works on several scales of sustainability in the built environment. Locally, he is an Asset and Sustainability Manager at the London Borough of Enfield, managing Council Housing Energy Efficiency and Retrofit programme across 10,000 homes. Regionally, he sits on the steering group for Warmer Homes London and a panel member of Design South East. Nationally, he chairs the Finance thinktank for the Good Homes Alliance. At a local level, he is a founding director of the community cooperative, Retrofit Kentish Town. He is an Architect, Retrofit Coordinator, Public Practice Alumni and previously a partner at Foster+Partners. He has recently been awarded a Churchill Fellowship to undertake research on Retrofit Economics across Europe. </p><p>Dr Ruth Lang is an architect, curator, and Associate Professor leading the Masters programme at the London School of Architecture. Through her teaching, research and writing, her work explores how contemporary architectural practice can be restructured to more equitably address issues of diversity and the Climate Emergency, using collaborative and transdisciplinary strategies. Her book ‘Building for Change: The Architecture of Creative Reuse was published by gestalten in 2022.</p><p>Natcha Ruamsanitwong is a historian of architecture in twentieth-century Britain. She is currently convenor of the SAHGB Women Architectural Historians’ Network and a Trustee of the Construction History Society. She is the author of Leslie Martin and Sadie Speight: Architects of Modern Britain (Lund Humphries, 2026).</p><p>Flora Samuel is the Professor of Architecture (1970) and Head of the Department of Architecture at the University of Cambridge. She was formerly Head at the Sheffield School of Architecture.  Her research currently focuses on rural placemaking, inclusive design and housing but she began her career writing about Le Corbusier and the nature of architectural practice. She currently leads Public Map, a major AHRC funded project based in Wales.</p><p>Patrick Zamarian is a senior lecturer in architectural design and humanities at the University of Liverpool. His research centres on the role of educational and professional institutions in the history of architecture, specifically in the British Empire. He is the author of The Architectural Association in the Postwar Years (Lund Humphries, 2020) and has published on student networks in interwar Britain, on the role of the Building Research Station in the postwar period, and on architectural education in British India, among other things.</p><p><br></p>

Episode thumbnail for The Public Architect 1: Past and Present

July 10, 2026

The Public Architect 1: Past and Present

<p>This is the first episode of our new miniseries, The Public Architect, an RIBA-funded project exploring the past and present relationship between the architectural profession and the public sector.</p><p>In this episode, we speak to the historian John Gold about post-war architecture in Britain, its relationship to the state and local government, and some of the common misconceptions surrounding this period. We are then joined by Mike Althorpe, Andrea Jung, David Knight and Holly Lewis, a group of practitioners and researchers working across architecture and local government, to explore the contemporary relationship between architecture and the public sector.</p><p><strong>Contributors</strong></p><p><strong>John Gold</strong> is Honorary Senior Research Fellow at The Bartlett School of Architecture, UCL, Professor Emeritus at Oxford Brookes University, and former Special Appointed Professor at Meiji University in Tokyo. A historical geographer with a focus on cities, he has published more than 200 works on architectural modernism, Olympic cities and urban history, and is currently completing The Legacy of Modernism, the final volume in his trilogy on the Modern Movement.</p><p><strong>Mike Althorpe</strong> is an urban historian, researcher and storyteller. He co-authored Revolutionary Low Rise (2019) and Dual Cities – Social Housing in London + New York (2025). Formerly Public Programmes Lead at the RIBA, he curated exhibitions including A Place to Call Home and Social Housing, and now works independently as The London Ambler.</p><p><strong>Andrea Jung</strong> is an architect with experience across both private practice and local government. After leading commercial projects at KPF and co-founding TURN Architects, she joined the public sector through the Public Practice Associate Programme. She is now Technical Design Manager in Islington Council&#39;s New Homes team.</p><p><strong>David Knight</strong> is a designer, strategist, author and director of DK-CM. He has led urban strategies for projects across the UK, holds a PhD from the Royal College of Art, teaches at the London School of Architecture, and edited Public House: A Cultural and Social History of the London Pub, an Financial Times Book of the Year.</p><p><strong>Holly Lewis</strong> co-founded We Made That in 2006 and has led a wide range of urban regeneration and placemaking projects. She champions community involvement in design, equitable city-making and women in the built environment. Holly is a Mayor&#39;s Design Advocate for the Greater London Authority, a Design Council Expert, and Town Architect for Hackney Central.</p><p>Architectural History is the podcast of the Society of Architectural Historians of Great Britain. The Public Architect was made possible thanks to funding from the Royal Institute of British Architects. It was hosted and produced by Claire Jamieson and Jess Kelly, with editing by Front Ear Podcasts and production support from Matthew Lloyd Roberts.</p><p>If you enjoyed this series, please consider becoming a member of the SAHGB to support our work and access exclusive content: <a href="https://www.sahgb.org.uk/join-renew">⁠https://www.sahgb.org.uk/join-renew⁠</a></p>

21 total episodes available

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What is Architectural History?

This podcast deals with histories of architecture and the built environment. In this series, called Architecture and… we speak to a number of academics, architects, writers and thinkers to discuss space, buildings and cities, to think through contemporary debates and issues.

How often does this podcast release new episodes?

This podcast updates weekly.

Where can I listen to this podcast?

This podcast is available on 9 platforms including Apple Podcasts, Spotify, and more. You can also use the RSS feed directly.

Does this podcast accept guests?

Information about guest appearances is not available.

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