AirAA

On the Steps of 36: Episode 29 – Naina Gupta

Thu, 06 Nov 2025 16:45:00 +0000

Join us On the Steps of 36: a question-and-answer conversation that crosses thresholds into our guests’ histories, lives, influences and stories, shedding light on the person behind the work.

In this episode, Harriet Jennings is in conversation with Naina Gupta, an architect, writer and educator with a PhD from the AA who recently launched her book Extraordinary Pools at the AA Bookshop.

AirAA podcasts are conceived, recorded, mixed, edited and distributed from the Architectural Association School of Architecture, which is based in Bedford Square in London. Special thanks to Dainius Kacinskas and Thomas Parkes for their contribution to the production of our episodes.

Files on Air: Episode 9 – Sony Devabhaktuni, Still-Time at Amaravati

Fri, 24 Oct 2025 10:00:00 +0000

Files on Air is a podcast series in which contributors from AA Files read their work. In this episode, Sony Devabhaktuni – an architect, writer and Assistant Professor at Swarthmore College – reads his essay ‘Still-Time at Amaravati’, found in AA Files 81.

AA Files is the Architectural Association’s journal of record, which promotes original and engaging writing on architecture and its related fields. AirAA podcasts are recorded, mixed, edited and distributed from the Architectural Association School of Architecture, which is based in Bedford Square in London. Special thanks to Thomas Parkes for his contribution to the production of our episodes.

The opinions expressed in AirAA podcasts are solely those of the participants and do not represent the opinions of the Architectural Association as a whole.

On the Steps of 36: Episode 28 – Mike Tonkin

Fri, 10 Oct 2025 10:00:00 +0000

Join us On the Steps of 36: a question-and-answer conversation that crosses thresholds into our guests’ histories, lives, influences and stories, shedding light on the person behind the work.

In this episode, Ryan Dillon is in conversation with Mike Tonkin, cofounder of Tonkin Liu Architects, who launched their book Asking, Looking, Playing, Making: A Nature-focused Design Process at the AA Bookshop earlier this year.

On the Steps of 36: Episode 27 – Tom Emerson

Fri, 26 Sep 2025 10:00:00 +0000

Join us On the Steps of 36: a question-and-answer conversation that crosses thresholds into our guests’ histories, lives, influences and stories, shedding light on the person behind the work.

In this episode, Ryan Dillon is in conversation with Tom Emerson, cofounder of 6a Architects and Professor of Architecture at ETH Zürich who recently launched his book Dirty Old River at the AA.

Files on Air: Episode 8 – George Jepson, Demystifying Automation

Fri, 19 Sep 2025 12:15:00 +0000

Files on Air is a podcast series in which contributors from AA Files read their work. In this episode, George Jepson – a writer, researcher and editor who holds a PhD from the AA – reads his essay, ‘Demystifying Automation: Charles Babbage and the Invention of the ‘Thinking Machine’, found in AA Files 81.

The opinions expressed in AirAA podcasts are solely those of the participants and do not represent the opinions of the Architectural Association as a whole.

Files on Air: Episode 7 – María Páez González, A Commanding Type?

Fri, 12 Sep 2025 09:00:00 +0000

Files on Air is a podcast series in which contributors from AA Files read their work. In this episode, María Páez González – an architect, educator and Postdoctoral Researcher at TU Wien – reads her essay, ‘A Commanding Type? Lessons from Silicon Valley on the Architecture of Headquarters’, found in AA Files 81. The essay is an architectural reading of Silicon Valley's tech headquarters and their embedded power dynamics.

The opinions expressed in AirAA podcasts are solely those of the participants and do not represent the opinions of the Architectural Association as a whole.

On the Steps of 36: Episode 26 – Lex Fefegha

Fri, 06 Jun 2025 16:25:00 +0000

Join us On the Steps of 36: a question-and-answer conversation that crosses thresholds into our guests’ histories, lives, influences and stories, shedding light on the person behind the work.

In this episode, Leela Keshav is in conversation with Lex Fefegha, a creative coder and artist who makes interactive experiences using XR and AI, and who participated in the AA's event Disrupting the System.

On the Steps of 36: Episode 25 – Alessia Gammarota

Fri, 16 May 2025 18:05:00 +0000

Join us On the Steps of 36: a question-and-answer conversation that crosses thresholds into our guests’ histories, lives, influences and stories, shedding light on the person behind the work.

In this episode of the AirAA podcast On the Steps of 36, Leela Keshav is in conversation with Alessia Gammarota, a photographer and campaigner with Fight 4 Aylesbury who participated in the AA's event 'The Resistant Representations of Artist-Activists'.

On the Steps of 36: Episode 24 – Nelly Ben Hayoun-Stépanian

Fri, 09 May 2025 16:30:00 +0000

Join us On the Steps of 36: a question-and-answer conversation that crosses thresholds into our guests’ histories, lives, influences and stories, shedding light on the person behind the work.

In this episode, Harriet Jennings is in conversation with Nelly Ben Hayoun-Stépanian, a pluridisciplinary artist, filmmaker and designer of experiences who participated in the AA's event 'Doppelgängers³: Intergenerational Trauma and Decolonial Futures in Space Exploration'.

On the Steps of 36: Episode 23 – Saskia O'Hara

Fri, 02 May 2025 10:00:00 +0000

Join us On the Steps of 36: a question-and-answer conversation that crosses thresholds into our guests’ histories, lives, influences and stories, shedding light on the person behind the work.

In this episode, Harriet Jennings is in conversation with Saskia O'Hara, a legal caseworker and community legal organiser at the Public Interest Law Centre. Saskia participated in 'Consultation Counter Cultures', a two-part event series at the AA that critically evaluated the dysfunction of public consultation practices in the context of urban renewal projects.

The opinions expressed in AirAA podcasts are solely those of the participants and do not represent the opinions of the Architectural Association as a whole.

On the Steps of 36: Episode 22 – Olivia Oldham

Fri, 07 Feb 2025 10:00:00 +0000

Join us On the Steps of 36: a question-and-answer conversation that crosses thresholds into our guests’ histories, lives, influences and stories, shedding light on the person behind the work.

In this episode, Leela Keshav is in conversation with Olivia Oldham, a PhD researcher in agroecology who co-organised the symposium Locating the Agrarian Struggles for Land, which took place at the AA in November.

AirAA podcasts are conceived, recorded, mixed, edited and distributed from the Architectural Association School of Architecture, which is based in Bedford Square in London. Special thanks to George Patterson and Thomas Parkes for their contribution to the production of our episodes.

The opinions expressed in AirAA podcasts are solely those of the participants and do not represent the opinions of the Architectural Association as a whole.

On the Steps of 36: Episode 21 – Caterina Frisone

Fri, 24 Jan 2025 10:00:00 +0000

Join us On the Steps of 36: a question-and-answer conversation that crosses thresholds into our guests’ histories, lives, influences and stories, shedding light on the person behind the work.

In this episode, Harriet Jennings is in conversation with Caterina Frisone, author of The Therapeutic Power of the Maggie's Centre, which was launched at the AA Bookshop last term.

AirAA podcasts are conceived, recorded, mixed, edited and distributed from the Architectural Association School of Architecture, which is based in Bedford Square in London. Special thanks to George Patterson and Thomas Parkes for their contribution to the production of our episodes.

The opinions expressed in AirAA podcasts are solely those of the participants and do not represent the opinions of the Architectural Association as a whole.

On the Steps of 36: Episode 20 – Andrew Holmes

Fri, 10 Jan 2025 10:00:00 +0000

Join us On the Steps of 36: a question-and-answer conversation that crosses thresholds into our guests’ histories, lives, influences and stories, shedding light on the person behind the work.

In this episode, Harriet Jennings is in conversation with Andrew Holmes, an artist and former AA tutor whose large-scale photorealistic drawings were displayed at the AA in autumn 2024 in the GAS TANK CITY exhibition.

AirAA podcasts are conceived, recorded, mixed, edited and distributed from the Architectural Association School of Architecture, which is based in Bedford Square in London. Special thanks to George Patterson and Thomas Parkes for their contribution to the production of our episodes.

The opinions expressed in AirAA podcasts are solely those of the participants and do not represent the opinions of the Architectural Association as a whole.

On the Steps of 36: Episode 19 – Jordan Whitewood-Neal

Fri, 13 Dec 2024 10:00:00 +0000

Join us On the Steps of 36: a question-and-answer conversation that crosses thresholds into our guests’ histories, lives, influences and stories, shedding light on the person behind the work.

In this episode, Manijeh Verghese is joined by Jordan Whitewood-Neal, an architectural researcher, designer and artist whose work addresses disability, domesticity, pedagogy and cultural infrastructure. Jordan took part in ‘New Standards’, an AA series that aimed to identify and confront some of the barriers to architecture, its education and practice.

AirAA podcasts are conceived, recorded, mixed, edited and distributed from the Architectural Association School of Architecture, which is based in Bedford Square in London. Special thanks to Thomas Parkes for his contribution to the production of our episodes.

The opinions expressed in AirAA podcasts are solely those of the participants and do not represent the opinions of the Architectural Association as a whole.

Files on Air: Episode 6 – Rebecca Crabtree, Closing Time

Fri, 06 Dec 2024 09:00:00 +0000

Files on Air is a podcast series in which contributors from AA Files  read their work. In this episode, Rebecca Crabtree – an architect, lecturer and PhD candidate at the RCA – reads her essay, ‘Closing Time’, found in AA Files 80. The essay reveals the multifaceted significance of coaching inns as both domestic and commercial spaces in 18th- and 19th-century England, a time of rapid industrialisation.

AA Files  is the Architectural Association’s journal of record, which promotes original and engaging writing on architecture and its related fields. AirAA podcasts are recorded, mixed, edited and distributed from the Architectural Association School of Architecture, which is based in Bedford Square in London. Special thanks to Thomas Parkes for his contribution to the production of our episodes.

The opinions expressed in AirAA podcasts are solely those of the participants and do not represent the opinions of the Architectural Association as a whole.

On the Steps of 36: Episode 18 – Brendan Cormier

Fri, 29 Nov 2024 00:00:00 +0000

Join us On the Steps of 36: a question-and-answer conversation that crosses thresholds into our guests’ histories, lives, influences and stories, shedding light on the person behind the work.

In this episode, Ryan Dillon is joined by Brendan Cormier, Chief Curator at the V&A East and the editor of Pandemic Objects, published by AA Publications in collaboration with the V&A in February 2024. The book examines everyday objects that became charged with new urgency in the wake of the Covid-19 pandemic and is available for purchase at the AA Bookshop.

AirAA podcasts are conceived, recorded, mixed, edited and distributed from the Architectural Association School of Architecture, which is based in Bedford Square in London. Special thanks to Thomas Parkes for his contribution to the production of our episodes.

The opinions expressed in AirAA podcasts are solely those of the participants and do not represent the opinions of the Architectural Association as a whole.

On the Steps of 36: Episode 17 – Ella Adu

Fri, 07 Jun 2024 12:00:00 +0000

Join us On the Steps of 36: a question-and-answer conversation that crosses thresholds into our guests’ histories, lives, influences and stories, shedding light on the person behind the work.

In this episode, Ryan Dillon is joined by Ella Adu, an architect and writer whose research considers changing modes of grassroots cultural production in Britain. Adu was also the assistant curator of the AA exhibition As Hardly Found in the Art of Tropical Architecture in 2023.

AirAA podcasts are conceived, recorded, mixed, edited and distributed from the Architectural Association School of Architecture, which is based in Bedford Square in London. Special thanks to Thomas Parkes and Dainius Kacinskas for their contribution to the production of our episodes. To view the show notes and find more episodes, visit air.aaschool.ac.uk.

The opinions expressed in AirAA podcasts are solely those of the participants and do not represent the opinions of the Architectural Association as a whole.

On the Steps of 36: Episode 16 – Ellie Sampson

Fri, 24 May 2024 09:00:00 +0000

Join us On the Steps of 36: a question-and-answer conversation that crosses thresholds into our guests’ histories, lives, influences and stories, shedding light on the person behind the work.

In this episode, Manijeh Verghese is joined by Ellie Sampson, a model maker, paper cut artist and lecturer. Sampson also participated in the AA event Warburg Models: Buildings as Bilderfahrzeuge earlier this year – you can watch a recording of the event here.

AirAA podcasts are conceived, recorded, mixed, edited and distributed from the Architectural Association School of Architecture, which is based in Bedford Square in London. Special thanks to Thomas Parkes for his contribution to the production of our episodes. To view the show notes and find more episodes, visit air.aaschool.ac.uk.

The opinions expressed in AirAA podcasts are solely those of the participants and do not represent the opinions of the Architectural Association as a whole.

On the Steps of 36: Episode 15 – Martha Summers

Fri, 17 May 2024 09:00:00 +0000

Join us On the Steps of 36: a question-and-answer conversation that crosses thresholds into our guests’ histories, lives, influences and stories, shedding light on the person behind the work.

In this episode, Ryan Dillon is joined by Martha Summers, an artist, architect and designer based in London. Earlier this year, Summers participated in the AA event Collective Efforts: Navigating Friction in Collaboration as part of the Self-Organised: Models for Learning series – you can watch a recording of the event here.

AirAA podcasts are conceived, recorded, mixed, edited and distributed from the Architectural Association School of Architecture, which is based in Bedford Square in London. Special thanks to Thomas Parkes for his contribution to the production of our episodes. To view the show notes and find more episodes, visit air.aaschool.ac.uk.

The opinions expressed in AirAA podcasts are solely those of the participants and do not represent the opinions of the Architectural Association as a whole.

On the Steps of 36: Episode 14 – Arinjoy Sen

Fri, 10 May 2024 09:00:00 +0000

Join us On the Steps of 36: a question-and-answer conversation that crosses thresholds into our guests’ histories, lives, influences and stories, shedding light on the person behind the work.

In this episode, Ryan Dillon is joined by Arinjoy Sen, an artist and architect whose work focuses on the politics and aesthetics of architecture and space. Sen participated in the AA event Collaborative Models as part of the Self-Organised: Models for Learning series in 2024 – you can watch a recording of the event here.

AirAA podcasts are conceived, recorded, mixed, edited and distributed from the Architectural Association School of Architecture, which is based in Bedford Square in London. Special thanks to Thomas Parkes for his contribution to the production of our episodes. To view the show notes and find more episodes, visit air.aaschool.ac.uk.

The opinions expressed in AirAA podcasts are solely those of the participants and do not represent the opinions of the Architectural Association as a whole.

On the Steps of 36: Episode 13 – George Massoud

Fri, 03 May 2024 09:00:00 +0000

Join us On the Steps of 36: a question-and-answer conversation that crosses thresholds into our guests’ histories, lives, influences and stories, shedding light on the person behind the work.

In this episode, Manijeh Verghese is joined by George Massoud, an architect, educator, cultural worker and a director of Material Cultures – a design and research practice based in London. Massoud also participated in the AA event Feminist Practice in 2023 – you can watch a recording of the event here.

AirAA podcasts are conceived, recorded, mixed, edited and distributed from the Architectural Association School of Architecture, which is based in Bedford Square in London. Special thanks to Thomas Parkes for his contribution to the production of our episodes. To view the show notes and find more episodes, visit air.aaschool.ac.uk.

The opinions expressed in AirAA podcasts are solely those of the participants and do not represent the opinions of the Architectural Association as a whole.

On the Steps of 36: Episode 12 – Mohamed Elshahed

Fri, 19 Apr 2024 09:00:00 +0000

Join us On the Steps of 36: a question-and-answer conversation that crosses thresholds into our guests’ histories, lives, influences and stories, shedding light on the person behind the work.

In this episode, Manijeh Verghese is joined by Mohamed Elshahed, a writer, curator and architectural historian. Elshahed participated in the AA symposium Beyond Eurocentrism: Rethinking the Architectural Canon in 2024 – you can watch a recording of the event here.

AirAA podcasts are conceived, recorded, mixed, edited and distributed from the Architectural Association School of Architecture, which is based in Bedford Square in London. Special thanks to Thomas Parkes for his contribution to the production of our episodes. To view the show notes and find more episodes, visit air.aaschool.ac.uk.

The opinions expressed in AirAA podcasts are solely those of the participants and do not represent the opinions of the Architectural Association as a whole.

On the Steps of 36: Episode 11 – Sarah Ackland

Fri, 22 Mar 2024 11:00:00 +0000

Join us On the Steps of 36: a question-and-answer conversation that crosses thresholds into our guests’ histories, lives, influences and stories, shedding light on the person behind the work.

In this episode, Manijeh Verghese is joined by Sarah Ackland, an architect, researcher and host of the podcast 29% Equal. Ackland participated in the event Making Visible at the AA in 2023 – you can watch a recording of the event here.

AirAA podcasts are conceived, recorded, mixed, edited and distributed from the Architectural Association School of Architecture, which is based in Bedford Square in London. Special thanks to Thomas Parkes for his contribution to the production of our episodes. To view the show notes and find more episodes, visit air.aaschool.ac.uk.

The opinions expressed in AirAA podcasts are solely those of the participants and do not represent the opinions of the Architectural Association as a whole.

Files on Air: Episode 5 – Michelle Millar Fisher and Amber Winick, Birth Places: From the Bedroom to the Hospital and Back Again

Fri, 08 Mar 2024 09:00:00 +0000

Files on Air is a podcast series in which contributors from AA Files read their work. In this episode, you will hear Michelle Millar Fisher and Amber Winick – authors of the book Designing Motherhood – read their text 'Birth Places: From the Bedroom to the Hospital and Back Again'. In this piece, Fisher and Winick examine the design histories of certain hospitals, birthing centres and other models of care, and trace how these systems and settings shape birth outcomes. You can read the piece in AA Files 79.

AA Files is the Architectural Association’s journal of record, which promotes original and engaging writing on architecture and its related fields.

AirAA podcasts are recorded, mixed, edited and distributed from the Architectural Association School of Architecture, which is based in Bedford Square in London. Special thanks to Thomas Parkes for his contribution to the production of our episodes. To view the show notes and find more episodes, visit air.aaschool.ac.uk.

On the Steps of 36: Episode 10 – Elena Palacios Carral

Fri, 01 Mar 2024 09:00:00 +0000

Join us On the Steps of 36: a question-and-answer conversation that crosses thresholds into our guests’ histories, lives, influences and stories, shedding light on the person behind the work.

In this episode, Ryan Dillon is joined by Elena Palacios Carral, an architectural researcher, educator and a founding director of architecture design and research platform Forms of Living. In 2023, she curated the exhibition Portraits of a Practice: The Life and Work of MJ Long at the AA.

AirAA podcasts are conceived, recorded, mixed, edited and distributed from the Architectural Association School of Architecture, which is based in Bedford Square in London. Special thanks to Thomas Parkes for his contribution to the production of our episodes. To view the show notes and find more episodes, visit air.aaschool.ac.uk.

The opinions expressed in AirAA podcasts are solely those of the participants and do not represent the opinions of the Architectural Association as a whole.

Files on Air: Episode 4 – Ines Weizman, Synchronised by Murder: The 1930 Killing of a Berlin Clockmaker

Fri, 16 Feb 2024 09:00:00 +0000

Files on Air is a podcast series in which contributors from AA Files read their work. In this episode, you will hear Ines Weizman – an architect, educator and founding director of the Centre for Documentary Architecture – read her text 'Synchronised by Murder: The 1930 Killing of a Berlin Clockmaker'. In this piece, Weizman examines the implications of a murder in early 20th-century Berlin, unpacking the event as a moment of historical synchronisation. The essay complements a trilogy of exhibitions by Ronit Porat. You can read the piece in AA Files 79.

AA Files is the Architectural Association’s journal of record, which promotes original and engaging writing on architecture and its related fields.

On the Steps of 36: Episode 9 – Emma Dent Coad

Fri, 02 Feb 2024 09:00:00 +0000

Join us On the Steps of 36: a question-and-answer conversation that crosses thresholds into our guests’ histories, lives, influences and stories, shedding light on the person behind the work.

In this episode, Manijeh Verghese is joined by Emma Dent Coad, an architectural historian and councillor in Kensington and Chelsea since 2006. Dent Coad participated in the symposium The Cladding Crisis at the AA in 2023 – you can watch a recording of the event here.

AirAA podcasts are conceived, recorded, mixed, edited and distributed from the Architectural Association School of Architecture, which is based in Bedford Square in London. Special thanks to Thomas Parkes for his contribution to the production of our episodes. To view the show notes and find more episodes, visit air.aaschool.ac.uk.

The opinions expressed in AirAA podcasts are solely those of the participants and do not represent the opinions of the Architectural Association as a whole.

Files on Air: Episode 3 – Brendon Carlin, No-House: Shameless Architecture in 21st-Century Japan

Fri, 26 Jan 2024 11:00:00 +0000

Files on Air is a podcast series in which contributors from AA Files read their work. In this episode, you will hear Brendon Carlin – an architect, critic, researcher, and AA School tutor – read his text ‘No-House: Shameless Architecture in 21st-Century Japan'. In this piece, Carlin examines the legacy of Japan’s ‘lost decade’, Yoshiharu Tsukamoto and Momoyo Kaijima’s Atelier Bow-Wow and the ‘shameless architecture’ that illuminates the reality of certain conditions in Tokyo. You can read the piece in AA Files 79.

AA Files is the Architectural Association’s journal of record, which promotes original and engaging writing on architecture and its related fields.

The opinions expressed in AirAA podcasts are solely those of the participants and do not represent the opinions of the Architectural Association as a whole.

On the Steps of 36: Episode 8 – Marianna Janowicz

Fri, 12 Jan 2024 09:00:00 +0000

Join us On the Steps of 36: a question-and-answer conversation that crosses thresholds into our guests’ histories, lives, influences and stories, shedding light on the person behind the work. In this episode, Manijeh Verghese is joined by architect and writer Marianna Janowicz, who participated in the Feminist Practice event at the AA in 2023. Janowicz is a member of Edit, a feminist design collective focusing on the enduring biases and hierarchies embedded into the environments that surround us.

AirAA podcasts are conceived, recorded, mixed, edited and distributed from the Architectural Association School of Architecture, which is based in Bedford Square in London. Special thanks to Thomas Parkes for his contribution to the production of our episodes. To view the show notes and find more episodes, visit air.aaschool.ac.uk.

The opinions expressed in AirAA podcasts are solely those of the participants and do not represent the opinions of the Architectural Association as a whole.

A Line Traced: How to be Good Ancestors – Episode 4, Inheriting the Responsibility of Transmission with Janice Cheddie

Fri, 15 Dec 2023 09:00:00 +0000

For this last episode of How to Be Good Ancestors we are changing tides. Together with artist and academic Janice Cheddie, our aim is to expand the conversation into territories of resistance to the systems unpacked in the previous episodes. What mechanisms exist to rid oneself of debt without going through the painful processes of unfair repayment?

We will explore modes of resistance, focusing on the tools and the precedents which each of us and our guest value and rely on to imagine a common future. The conversation revolves around a series of artefacts including text, video, family heirlooms and memorabilia, reading into these objects’ histories as a method for imagining their future. In doing so, we are positioned both as inheritors of these stories and as forebears for the next generations. How do we become good ancestors for the world to come?

Show Notes:

- For an extended interview with Janice Cheddie: https://www.tate.org.uk/research/panchayat-collection-research-resource/an-interview-with-janice-cheddie

- For more information on the Panchayyat Collection: https://www.tate.org.uk/research/panchayat-collection-research-resource

- For further information on Afford: https://www.afford-uk.org/

- For Janice Cheddie’s writing on her mother: http://smallaxe.net/sxsalon/discussions/windrush-notes-my-younger-self

- Tate Solidarity Conference, 2019: https://www.tate.org.uk/research/research-centres/hyundai-tate-research-centre-transnational/event-report-axis-solidarity

Recordings:

- Bandung Conference Introduction by Sukarno: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DRIch247vb8

- The Black Panthers in Algeria: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zVDvh4KDH_A (see minute 28:00 for the segment discussing in the podcast)

- Audre Lorde Interview: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=diHzbQNyO2k

About A Line Traced:

As our society continues to unveil fractures within its social and political systems, A Line Traced aims to examine topics that are immediate, prescient and impact the build environment in ways that require urgent architectural responses. An AirAA podcast recorded, mixed, edited and distributed from the Architectural Association School of Architecture, which is based in Bedford Square in London. Special thanks to Thomas Parkes for his contribution to the production of our episodes. Visit air.aaschool.ac.uk to find out more.

The opinions expressed in AirAA podcasts are solely those of the participants and do not represent the opinions of the Architectural Association as a whole.

On the Steps of 36: Episode 7 – Charlotte Malterre-Barthes

Fri, 08 Dec 2023 09:00:00 +0000

Join us On the Steps of 36: a question-and-answer conversation that crosses thresholds into our guests’ histories, lives, influences and stories, shedding light on the person behind the work. In this episode, Ryan Dillon is joined by architect and scholar Charlotte Malterre-Barthes, who participated in the Stop Building! event for the Stories about Sustainability series at the AA in 2022. Malterre-Barthes conducts research on urgent aspects of contemporary urbanisation, material extraction, climate emergency and social justice.

AirAA podcasts are conceived, recorded, mixed, edited and distributed from the Architectural Association School of Architecture, which is based in Bedford Square in London. Special thanks to Thomas Parkes for his contribution to the production of our episodes. To view the show notes and find more episodes, visit air.aaschool.ac.uk.

The opinions expressed in AirAA podcasts are solely those of the participants and do not represent the opinions of the Architectural Association as a whole.

A Line Traced: How to be Good Ancestors, Episode 3, Unpacking the Colonial Episteme with David Hutama Setiadi

Fri, 01 Dec 2023 09:00:00 +0000

This third episode of How to be Good Ancestors on Indonesia will zoom into the architectural scale to look at another form of debt: the act of disseminating building knowledge as a form of epistemic imposition. We will be revisiting Indonesian colonial history with architectural historian David Hutama Setiadi focusing on design pedagogy. Together we will unpack the ways in which systems of knowledge were imposed through new ways of building generated by capitalist ideology, revealing the complicity of drawing methods and classification systems in marginalising the Metis, an unstructured type of knowledge learned through embodied experience. We will also be discussing the possibilities of reversing the logics of the episteme.

How to be Good Ancestors means rereading our past to disentangle future possibilities from systems of oppression. In this podcast series, hosts and AA students Ferial Massoud, Maria Putri and Aude Tollo retrace the common histories of three nominally decolonised states – Burkina Faso, Egypt and Indonesia – through the systems of debt servitude to which they were condemned in the wake of their independence, and which they remain subject to today. We ask: what are the spatial and material consequences of these systems and how can we begin to undo them?

Show Notes:

- David Hutama Setiadi, Building Practice in the Dutch East Indies: Epistemic Imposition at the Beginning of the 20th Century, 2023

- Summarised version of David’s book: https://ar.fa.uni-lj.si/2020/re-drawing-javanese-building-practice

- James C Scott, Seeing Like a State: How Certain Schemes to Improve the Human Condition Have Failed, 2020

- Richard Sennett, The Craftsmen, 2008

- Eric Hobsbawm and Terence Ranger, ed, The Invention of Tradition, 2012

- Clifford Geertz, The Interpretation of Cultures: Selected Essays by Clifford Geertz, 1973

- Jean Couteau, Tubuh, Moral dan Jiwa Zaman, 2019

About A Line Traced:

The opinions expressed in AirAA podcasts are solely those of the participants and do not represent the opinions of the Architectural Association as a whole.

On the Steps of 36: Episode 6, Francisco Adriasola

Fri, 24 Nov 2023 09:00:00 +0000

Join us On the Steps of 36: a question-and-answer conversation that crosses thresholds into our guests’ histories, lives, influences and stories, shedding light on the person behind the work. In this episode, Ryan Dillon is joined by Francisco Adriasola, an architect and graduate of the AA's Design and Make programme who curated the AA Gallery exhibition Observation, Act and Form in autumn 2022. Francisco participated in the Education and the Architectural Act event in Hooke Park in November 2022 – you can watch a recording of the event here.

AirAA podcasts are conceived, recorded, mixed, edited and distributed from the Architectural Association School of Architecture, which is based in Bedford Square in London. Special thanks to Thomas Parkes for his contribution to the production of our episodes. To view the show notes and find more episodes, visit air.aaschool.ac.uk.

The opinions expressed in AirAA podcasts are solely those of the participants and do not represent the opinions of the Architectural Association as a whole.

A Line Traced: How to be Good Ancestors – Episode 2, Artefact Production in Burkina Faso with Richard Aina

Fri, 17 Nov 2023 09:00:00 +0000

This second episode of How to be Good Ancestors focuses on Burkina Faso, in a conversation with the multidisciplinary designer Richard Aina. We will travel to Lobi land in the South Western region of Burkina Faso. to look at how the artefacts produced there are held hostage by colonial power structures and modern infrastructures. Through this episode we attempt to generate a framework to shift dominant paradigms and generate a sensible architecture for the repatriation of those artefacts.

Show Notes:

- Richard Aina’s website: https://www.richard-aina.com

- Dan Hicks, The Brutish Museums, 2020

- Felwine Sarr, Afrotopia, 2019

- Felwine Sarr and Bénédicte Savoy, The Restitution of African Cultural Heritage, 2018

About A Line Traced:

The opinions expressed in AirAA podcasts are solely those of the participants and do not represent the opinions of the Architectural Association as a whole.

On the Steps of 36: Episode 5 – Kathryn Timmins

Fri, 10 Nov 2023 09:00:00 +0000

Join us On the Steps of 36: a question-and-answer conversation that crosses thresholds into our guests’ histories, lives, influences and stories, shedding light on the person behind the work. In this episode, Ryan Dillon is joined by Kathryn Timmins, an architect, teacher and Principal Policy Officer in the regeneration team for the Greater London Authority. Kathryn contributed to an event in the AA’s New Standards series focusing on safety in 2023, in which she and the panel discussed how our cities and spaces can be better designed to consider the needs of those who identify as women. You can watch a recording of the event here.

AirAA podcasts are conceived, recorded, mixed, edited and distributed from the Architectural Association School of Architecture, which is based in Bedford Square in London. Special thanks to Thomas Parkes for his contribution to the production of our episodes. To view the show notes and find more episodes, visit air.aaschool.ac.uk.

The opinions expressed in AirAA podcasts are solely those of the participants and do not represent the opinions of the Architectural Association as a whole.

A Line Traced: How to be Good Ancestors – Episode 1, Debt-driven Housing in Egypt with Yahia Shawkat

Fri, 03 Nov 2023 09:00:00 +0000

Welcome to the first episode of series two of A Line Traced, How to be Good Ancestors, in which we discuss the economic tools which perpetuate neocolonialism. In today’s episode focusing on Egypt, we are joined by Yahia Shawkat, an architect, housing and urbanism researcher and the cofounder of 10Tooba, a research centre devoted to urban politics. Shawkat will take us on a deep dive into the history of Egypt’s multiple housing regimes and their foreign entanglements, allowing us to examine how debt has been and continues to be levied as a tool of control and submission.

Show Notes:

- Yahia Shawkat, Egypt's Housing Crisis: The Shaping of Urban Space, 2020

- Yahia Shawkat’s research studio: 10tooba.org

- Lena fil Medina on YouTube

- Timothy Mitchell, Rule of Experts: Egypt, Techno-Politics, Modernity, 2002

- Robert Vitalis, When Capitalists Collide, Business Conflict and the End of Empire in Egypt, 2018

- David Sims, Understanding Cairo, the Logic of a City out of Control, 2012

About A Line Traced:

The opinions expressed in AirAA podcasts are solely those of the participants and do not represent the opinions of the Architectural Association as a whole.

On the Steps of 36: Episode 4 – Debbie Meniru

Fri, 27 Oct 2023 09:00:00 +0000

Join us On the Steps of 36: a question-and-answer conversation that crosses thresholds into our guests’ histories, lives, influences and stories, shedding light on the person behind the work. In this episode, Manijeh Verghese is joined by curator and writer Debbie Meniru, who contributed to an event marking the launch of the exhibition As Hardly Found in the Art of Tropical Architecture at the AA Gallery in 2023. You can watch a recording of the event here.

AirAA podcasts are conceived, recorded, mixed, edited and distributed from the Architectural Association School of Architecture, which is based in Bedford Square in London. Special thanks to Thomas Parkes for his contribution to the production of our episodes. To view the show notes and find more episodes, visit air.aaschool.ac.uk.

The opinions expressed in AirAA podcasts are solely those of the participants and do not represent the opinions of the Architectural Association as a whole.

A Line Traced: Female Pioneers in the History of VR, Episode 4 – Char Davies

Fri, 20 Oct 2023 09:00:00 +0000

Welcome to the fourth episode of this series of A Line Traced, which focuses on Female Pioneers in the History of Virtual Reality. The series is hosted by Paula Strunden, a transdisciplinary VR artist with a background in architecture who taught on the AA’s Media Studies programme. In this episode, Paula interviews Char Davies, best known for her groundbreaking virtual reality artwork Osmose, which combines immersive environments, with embodied interactions, and a profound connection to nature.

This series of A Line Traced uncovers the untold stories of female pioneers in the early history of VR. Many of the prevailing narratives within this history focus on technological advancements, the development of devices and figures dubbed the 'grandfather', 'father' and 'godfather' of VR. Yet when we investigate the experiences created during the first peak of the VR industry in the 1990s, many of the most significant contributions were made by women. Artists and theorists like Char Davies, Brenda Laurel, Monika Fleischman and Thamiko Thiel, to name a few, transcended the boundaries of binary thinking in the realm of human-computer interaction, interweaving the actual and the virtual, and the body and the mind. By tracing the lines connecting these women, along with the contemporary voice of Krista Kim, this series aims to reshape our understanding of VR's past and reframe the ongoing debates around the role of VR in architecture and in contemporary society.

Host Bio:

Paula Strunden is a transdisciplinary VR artist with a background in architecture. She has studied in Vienna, Paris and London, and worked at Raumlabor in Berlin and Herzog and de Meuron in Basel. Paula is currently pursuing a PhD at the Academy of Fine Arts Vienna, as part of the project ‘Communities of Tacit Knowledge (TACK): Architecture and its Ways of Knowing’, funded by the European Union’s Horizon 2020 programme under the Marie Skłodowska-Curie grant agreement No 860413. She is the founder of XR Atlas, an interdisciplinary online platform, and is a passionate advocate for the development of alternative historiographies of virtual technologies.

About A Line Traced:

The opinions expressed in AirAA podcasts are solely those of the participants and do not represent the opinions of the Architectural Association as a whole.

On the Steps of 36: Episode 3 – Stephanie Edwards

Wed, 04 Oct 2023 09:00:00 +0000

Join us On the Steps of 36: a question-and-answer conversation that crosses thresholds into our guests’ histories, lives, influences and stories, shedding light on the person behind the work. In this episode, Manijeh Verghese is joined by architect, urbanist and cofounder of Urban Symbiotics, Stephanie Edwards, who contributed to the AA’s New Models lecture series in 2021. You can watch her lecture here.

AirAA podcasts are conceived, recorded, mixed, edited and distributed from the Architectural Association School of Architecture, which is based in Bedford Square in London. Special thanks to Thomas Parkes for his contribution to the production of our episodes. To view the show notes and find more episodes, visit air.aaschool.ac.uk.

The opinions expressed in AirAA podcasts are solely those of the participants and do not represent the opinions of the Architectural Association as a whole.

A Line Traced: Female Pioneers in the History of VR, Episode 3 – Tamiko Thiel

Fri, 29 Sep 2023 09:00:00 +0000

Welcome to the third episode of this series of A Line Traced, which will focus on Female Pioneers in the History of Virtual Reality. The series is hosted by Paula Strunden, a transdisciplinary VR artist with a background in architecture who taught on the AA’s Media Studies programme. In this episode, Paula interviews Tamiko Thiel, a pioneer in augmented reality art and the visionary behind the design of the Connection Machine, the first commercial AI supercomputer.

About this Series:

Host Bio:

About A Line Traced:

As our society continues to unveil fractures within its social and political systems, A Line Traced aims to examine topics that are immediate, prescient and impact the built environment in ways that require urgent architectural responses. An AirAA podcast recorded, mixed, edited and distributed from the Architectural Association School of Architecture, which is based in Bedford Square in London. Special thanks to Thomas Parkes for his contribution to the production of our episodes. Visit air.aaschool.ac.uk to find out more.

The opinions expressed in AirAA podcasts are solely those of the participants and do not represent the opinions of the Architectural Association as a whole.

Files on Air: Episode 2 – Madeleine Kessler and Manijeh Verghese, Powers of Public Space

Fri, 22 Sep 2023 09:00:00 +0000

Files on Air is a podcast series in which contributors from AA Files read their work. In this episode, you will hear Madeleine Kessler and Manijeh Verghese – curators of the British Pavilion at the 2021 Venice Architecture Biennale – read their text ‘Powers of Public Space', in which they examine some of the ideas that informed their Biennale display, including case studies on rewilded greens, playstreets and public libraries. You can read the piece in AA Files 78.

AA Files is the Architectural Association’s journal of record, which promotes original and engaging writing on architecture and its related fields.

The opinions expressed in AirAA podcasts are solely those of the participants and do not represent the opinions of the Architectural Association as a whole.

A Line Traced: Female Pioneers in the History of VR, Episode 2 – Brenda Laurel

Fri, 21 Jul 2023 09:00:00 +0000

Welcome to the second episode of this series of A Line Traced, which focuses on Female Pioneers in the History of Virtual Reality. The series is hosted by Paula Strunden, a transdisciplinary VR artist with a background in architecture who taught on the AA’s Media Studies programme. In this episode, Paula interviews Brenda Laurel, a pioneer in human-computer interaction in the field of virtual reality, immersive theatre, and gender inclusivity in technology and game design. Their discussion addresses Brenda's project PLACEHOLDER: Landscape and Narrative in a Virtual Environment (1993), which she created with Rachel Strickland; project documentation for PLACEHOLDER can be explored here. Read more about Brenda's book Computers as Theatre, first published in 1991, on GoodReads.

Host Bio:

About A Line Traced:

The opinions expressed in AirAA podcasts are solely those of the participants and do not represent the opinions of the Architectural Association as a whole.

On the Steps of 36: Episode 2 – Esther Choi

Fri, 14 Jul 2023 09:00:00 +0000

AirAA podcasts are conceived, recorded, mixed, edited and distributed from the Architectural Association School of Architecture, which is based in Bedford Square in London. Special thanks to Thomas Parkes for his contribution to the production of our episodes. To view the show notes and find more episodes, visit air.aaschool.ac.uk

The opinions expressed in AirAA podcasts are solely those of the participants and do not represent the opinions of the Architectural Association as a whole.

Files on Air: Episode 1 – David Burns, Roads to Maralinga

Fri, 30 Jun 2023 09:00:00 +0000

Files on Air is a podcast series in which contributors from AA Files read their work. In this episode, David Burns – a writer and academic who leads the Media Studies programme at the Royal Collage of Art – travels to Maralinga in South Australia, where the British conducted secret nuclear testing in the 1950s and 60s. The text, and the photo essay that accompanies it, can be found in AA Files 78. AA Files is the Architectural Association’s journal of record, which promotes original and engaging writing on architecture and its related fields.

The opinions expressed in AirAA podcasts are solely those of the participants and do not represent the opinions of the Architectural Association as a whole.

On the Steps of 36: Episode 1 – Shahed Saleem

Fri, 23 Jun 2023 09:00:00 +0000

Join us On the Steps of 36: a question-and-answer conversation that crosses thresholds into our guests’ histories, lives, influences and stories, shedding light on the person behind the work. In this episode, Manijeh Verghese is joined by architect and writer Shahed Saleem, who contributed to the AA’s New Models lecture series in 2022. You can watch his lecture here.

AirAA podcasts are conceived, recorded, mixed, edited and distributed from the Architectural Association School of Architecture, which is based in Bedford Square in London. Special thanks to Thomas Parkes for his contribution to the production of our episodes. To view the show notes and find more episodes, visit air.aaschool.ac.uk.

The opinions expressed in AirAA podcasts are solely those of the participants and do not represent the opinions of the Architectural Association as a whole.

A Line Traced: Female Pioneers in the History of VR, Episode 1 – Krista Kim

Fri, 16 Jun 2023 09:00:00 +0000

Welcome to the first episode of this series of A Line Traced, which will focus on Female Pioneers in the History of Virtual Reality. The series is hosted by Paula Strunden, a transdisciplinary VR artist with a background in architecture who taught on the AA’s Media Studies programme. In this episode, Paula interviews Krista Kim, a pioneer in blockchain-based art and the visionary behind the Mars House, the first-ever NFT house. Read more about the Mars House on Krista's website.

This series of A Line Traced will uncover the untold stories of female pioneers in the early history of VR. Many of the prevailing narratives within this history focus on technological advancements, the development of devices and figures dubbed the 'grandfather', 'father' and 'godfather' of VR. Yet when we investigate the experiences created during the first peak of the VR industry in the 1990s, many of the most significant contributions were made by women. Artists and theorists like Char Davies, Brenda Laurel, Monika Fleischman and Tamiko Thiel, to name a few, transcended the boundaries of binary thinking in the realm of human-computer interaction, interweaving the actual and the virtual, and the body and the mind. By tracing the lines connecting these women, along with the contemporary voice of Krista Kim, this series aims to reshape our understanding of VR's past and reframe the ongoing debates around the role of VR in architecture and in contemporary society.

Host Bio:

About A Line Traced: