Negroni Talks

About Negroni Talks

Provocative and irreverent architectural talk series hosted in East London by Straight Talking Architecture Practice Fourth_space

Publisher

Fourth_space

Category

arts · education

Language

en

Explicit

No

First episode

22 Jan 2020

Latest episode

13 Oct 2026

Latest episodes

68 episodes in the feed.

1. 

   13 Oct 2026

   Negroni Talks #S21 - Facade Charade: Does Form Follow Fashion Within (World) Architecture?

   “We are the goon squad and we’re coming to town...” While fashion changes with the seasons, architecture can take a decade to get planning permission. A building designed today can easily end up being passé by the time it gets built years later, so what does this say about the relevance of contemporary architecture as a product and expression of the zeitgeist? Despite a desire for it to be tailored to its surroundings and to ‘fit in’, architecture still oscillates between the standout and the uniform, between the bland and the bling, the pattern book and the custom made. If ‘Style’ is about having a distinctive character, a mode of expression and a point of difference, then why do so many buildings look the same and seem dead on arrival? The built environment is a historical record of what has been considered fashionable. So what do our new buildings reveal about us and who is setting these architectural trends? Architects chasing recognition? Developers seeking high returns? PR and marketing promotion? Or is it down to society, scrolling and swiping our way through a culture that discards ideas faster than it can build them? It seems increasingly fashionable to promote and award projects because they are eye catching and in turn most likely to trend on social media. Regularly published architectural practices end up as brands, known for their recognisable style and aesthetic, with their latest designs reinforcing an in vogue popularity, confidence and competence. But what really constitutes a significant architect or building? Meanwhile, disposable buildings like fast fashion remain a sign of the times, but should we be demolishing the awkward, unloved architecture of the recent past before it's had the chance to come back into fashion? If Architecture is all about appearance, this is only façade deep. Have architects become mere building stylists and decorators, when they could be a pioneering and progressive force for change, experimentation and self-expression? Speakers: Huw Williams & Steve Sinclair, fourth_space (Chair) Paul Gorman, Writer, Curator and Commentator On Visual Culture Eimear Hanratty, Associate Director, O'Donnell + Tuomey Priya Khanchandani, Curator, Writer and Broadcaster Melodie Leung, Director, ZHA and all others who want to contribute…..

2. 

   17 Oct 2025

   Negroni Talks #55 - Architecture As Algorithm: The Demise of Design?

   Architecture As Algorithm: The Demise of Design? As AI storms the gates of the architectural profession, building designers like many other creatives are rightfully asking: “are we already halfway to being replaced?” If intelligence is artificial and algorithms are filtering and fucking with our view of reality, then what is the truth about the future of architects and architecture? With computers now used to quickly generate fantastical buildings with multiple options and easily made mashups of any ‘style’, there are the obvious questions of authenticity, authorship and surface imagery over core ideology. In a more prosaic manner, AI soon may well be able to ‘create’ buildings based on a whole range of criteria, be that the constraints imposed by planning policies, building regulations, lowering build costs, meeting performance accreditation and ensuring the basic practicalities of use. However, is there really much difference between the novelty of neural networks and the long-standing systemisation of the design process through Building Information Modelling (BIM) software used by the profession? And is this rules-based order where a problem lies? Architects find themselves cornered not only by the machines that threaten to replace them, but by their fellow human beings, who upon looking around at the anonymous sameness within the contemporary built environment, could be forgiven for asking whether the profession has opened the door to its own obsolescence? When investment driven metrics deem that the ideal building form is that of extruding the site footprint skyward into as many stories as possible, then does a culture of repetitious templating and unitised, risk-adverse design feed a crisis of confidence/courage in Architects and The Public alike? Does anyone believe that the profession will be able to deliver truly humane and inspiring places for a future world? In providing a service do architects end up in servitude? Many will see their main utility as an enabler, but in looking to ‘be as useful as possible’ have they in turn become a tool and a means to an end - and if so, to what end? They maybe all tooled up, but are they able to use their full imagination and skill-set? At a time when, more than ever, we desperately need alternatives and lateral thinking to bring about change, is the revitalisation of the more romantic role of architect as a principled visionary and revolutionary increasingly necessary to advance and progress building design in a meaningful way? And will AI be put to work on this task? At the heart of these questions is something seen throughout the history of technological progress since ‘the inventions’ of fire and the wheel.  Humankind has continually created new tools and techniques to open-up the field of possibility. Technology is about achieving practical goals. If AI can do things quicker, more calculatingly and uncompromised by the human element, then does this suggest that we humans should be concentrating more on what the goals should be, if we are to ensure we better address the issues and concerns manifest in our built environment? Featuring: Rob Fiehn & Huw Williams, Fourthspace (chair) Jay Morton, Bell Phillips William Mann, Witherford Watson Mann Adrienne Lau, Heatherwick Studio Eva Magnisali, DataForm Lab Fernando Ruiz, Arup (replacement of Giulio Antonutto)                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                            and all others who want to contribute…..

3. 

   30 Sept 2025

   Negroni Talks #S19 - Keepin’ It Up: What Does It Actually Mean For A Building To Perform?

   The building industry has a huge impact in the context of carbon emissions, energy consumption and climate change. Whilst ‘adaptive reuse’ has become a buzzword with louder calls for upgrading, renovating and converting existing buildings instead of creating more new buildings, a culture of demolition persists. With new-build being seen as an easier way to meet increasingly demanding requirements, how can we really improve the overall performance of our built environment if we don’t address the inefficiencies and wastage associated with the dated fabric of our existing building stock throughout the nation? Equally, do we truly value the qualities that existing buildings offer: embodied energy, cultural memory, material richness, spatial character and social continuity? With the architecture and construction industries consumed by chasing accreditation, tick-box targets and marketable metrics, we should ask ourselves whether we remain clear-eyed and focused on empirical data? Are we in danger of over-complicating things and losing sight of those first principles found within indigenous buildings over millennia? Additionally, are the very criteria by which we measure how well a building performs too narrow in scope? Understandably there is a great deal of importance placed upon ‘being green’ and being good on (that other curious term) ‘sustainability’. But what if a high-performance building with progressive material credentials, also creates problems in other areas such as furthering social inequality? What happens if we consider that causing environmental harm is more nuanced than the notion of artificial buildings sat within a natural world? A building’s very existence has implications and consequences. Whilst some will benefit others can become disadvantaged. Should its performance then be deemed to be purely a technical issue, or do we need to consider what else it is doing be that locally, communally, socially, economically, politically, culturally, historically, naturally, emotionally, psychologically, metaphysically? How Performative is Building Performance? Featuring: Rob Fiehn & Huw Williams (chair) Wolf Mangelsdorf, Buro Happold Becci Taylor, Arup Rod Heyes, Architectural Association Neal Shasore, Architectural Heritage Fund                                                                                                                                                                                                                                  and all others who want to contribute…..

Podcast Authority Score: 21 / 100

A composite of feed quality, social presence, YouTube performance and engagement. Read the methodology.

Quality

31

Social presence

0

YouTube

0

Engagement

30