126 episodes

A podcast about architecture, buildings and cities, from the distant past to the present day. Plus detours into technology, film, fiction, comics, drawings, and the dimly imagined future.

With Luke Jones and George Gingell.

About Buildings + Cities Luke Jones & George Gingell Discuss Architecture, History and Culture

    • Arts
    • 4.7 • 248 Ratings

A podcast about architecture, buildings and cities, from the distant past to the present day. Plus detours into technology, film, fiction, comics, drawings, and the dimly imagined future.

With Luke Jones and George Gingell.

    114 — John Soane 4 — Westminster

    114 — John Soane 4 — Westminster

    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.

    Support the show on Patreon to receive bonus content for every show.

    Please rate and review the show on your podcast store to help other people find us!

    Follow us on twitter // instagram // facebook

    We’re on the web at aboutbuildingsandcities.org

    • 1 hr 21 min
    113 — John Soane 3 — The Bank of England

    113 — John Soane 3 — The Bank of England

    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.

    Support the show on Patreon to receive bonus content for every show.

    Please rate and review the show on your podcast store to help other people find us!

    Follow us on twitter // instagram // facebook

    We’re on the web at aboutbuildingsandcities.org

    • 1 hr 43 min
    112 — John Soane 2 — Rustic / Classical

    112 — John Soane 2 — Rustic / Classical

    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.

    Support the show on Patreon to receive bonus content for every show.

    Please rate and review the show on your podcast store to help other people find us!

    Follow us on twitter // instagram // facebook

    We’re on the web at aboutbuildingsandcities.org

    • 57 min
    111 — John Soane 1 — 'Visions of Early Fancy'

    111 — John Soane 1 — 'Visions of Early Fancy'

    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.

    Support the show on Patreon to receive bonus content for every show.

    Please rate and review the show on your podcast store to help other people find us!

    Follow us on twitter // instagram // facebook

    We’re on the web at aboutbuildingsandcities.org

    • 1 hr 9 min
    110 — Rem Koolhaas's Delirious New York — 3/3

    110 — Rem Koolhaas's Delirious New York — 3/3

    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.

    Support the show on Patreon to receive bonus content for every show.

    Please rate and review the show on your podcast store to help other people find us!

    Follow us on twitter // instagram // facebook

    We’re on the web at aboutbuildingsandcities.org

    • 49 min
    109 — Rem Koolhaas's Delirious New York — 2/3

    109 — Rem Koolhaas's Delirious New York — 2/3

    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.

    Support the show on Patreon to receive bonus content for every show.

    Please rate and review the show on your podcast store to help other people find us!

    Follow us on twitter // instagram // facebook

    We’re on the web at aboutbuildingsandcities.org

    • 59 min

Customer Reviews

4.7 out of 5
248 Ratings

248 Ratings

Artandmuseumlover ,

Terrific listening

Love listening to the two hosts. Not pretentious, insightful, informative and entertaining. Good pacing of the episodes and overall an excellent podcast show about architects and cool buildings.

cassiependino ,

the best architecture podcast in my humble opinion

you guys are sharp!! insightful, engaging, informative, fun! you get into the nitty gritty and you do such a good job of taking a wholistic view of your topic and connecting lots of disparate ideas and making them cohesive. i learn a lot and my architectural vocabulary had benefited greatly. i don’t even listen on the apple podcast app i literally downloaded it just to write this review because spotify doesn’t let you write one. keep it up! i’m tuned in!

Jlbooher ,

Learn About Building Architecture and Architects and Culture

This show is entertaining and engaging. They hosts look at building architecture through case studies of important architects such as GaudÍ and Scarpa. Plus there are book reviews like Gibson’s Neuromancer which focus on the spaces and buildings.

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