About Buildings + Cities

Latest Episodes:

133 — Sigfried Giedion's Space, Time and Architecture — 4/4 Dec 03, 2025

Show notes

In the finale of our series on Sigfried Giedion, we discussed the bait-and-switch coda of the book, where Giedion unexpectedly addresses questions of urbanism and town planning, via Haussmanisation, designs for Lyon by Tony Garnier, the Garden City movement, slab block modernism and Manhattan.

Follow along with images on YouTube: https://youtu.be/1d8rDIt0mIw

We hope you enjoyed this series. We will be back soon with a discussion of William Golding's 'The Spire'!

Edited by Matthew Lloyd Roberts.

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*Preview* — Giedion's 'Mechanisation Takes Command' Bonus Episodes Nov 28, 2025

Show notes

Some clips from our Patreon bonus episodes on Sigfried Gideion's 'Mechanisation Takes Command'.

If you've enjoyed the show, please consider supporting us on Patreon for full access to these bonus episodes: https://www.patreon.com/c/about_buildings

Edited by Matthew Lloyd Roberts.

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

We’re on the web at aboutbuildingsandcities.org

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132 — Sigfried Giedion's Space, Time and Architecture — 3/4 Nov 18, 2025

Show notes

In part three of our discussion of 'Space, Time and Architecture', we finally got to the Spacetime and the architecture. We examined Giedion's thinking about many canonical works of the late-19th and 20th century, including the Chicago School, Louis Sullivan and Frank Lloyd Wright; the emergence of ferro-concrete in France with Perret and the bridges of Swiss engineer Robert Maillart and definitionally Modernist works by Walter Gropius, Le Corbusier, Mies van der Rohe and Alvar Aalto.

To follow along with the images as we discuss them, you can find this episode on our YouTube channel: https://youtu.be/14OeGtn53CY?si=kU0FTyuYMuNUzgyI

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!

We’re on the web at aboutbuildingsandcities.org

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131 — Sigfried Giedion's Space, Time and Architecture — 2/4 Oct 15, 2025

Show notes

In the second part of our discussion of Sigfried Giedion's 'Space, Time and Architecture' we covered the canalpunk aesthetics of cast-iron bridges, the transformation of material technology in the 19th-century and the Chicago School, completing his teleological march up to modernism which we will discuss in the next episode.

To follow along with the images, you can watch this episode on YouTube: https://youtu.be/Z2NCz-xl7V8

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!

We’re on the web at aboutbuildingsandcities.org

This podcast is powered by Pinecast.

130 — Sigfried Giedion's Space, Time and Architecture — 1/4 Sep 29, 2025

Show notes

In this first episode of a new series on Sigfried Giedion's 1941 book 'Space, Time and Architecture', we discussed the approach to architectural history and urbanism in the first part of this totemic publication which shaped modernist architectural culture. Giedion was a Jewish historian from a family of Swiss industrialists, born in Prague who studied under Heinrich Wölfflin in Munich. He was a founding member of the Congrès Internationaux d'Architecture Moderne or "CIAM" who left Europe for America in the 1930s like many other Jewish émigrés. The lectures he gave at Harvard in the late 1930s were published as 'Space, Time and Architecture', one of the most influential works of architectural history and theory of the 20th century.

Watch this episode on YouTube for illustrations: https://youtu.be/89sjkU8G2bw

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!

We’re on the web at aboutbuildingsandcities.org

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*Patreon Bonus Unlocked* — WG Sebald's Rings of Saturn Sep 10, 2025

Show notes

This is an unlocked Patreon bonus episode from our series on WG Sebald (episodes 77 & 78 in the main feed), if you enjoyed listening to this episode, please consider supporting the show on Patreon for access to our entire back catalogue of bonus episodes.

In this final bonus episode from our series on WG Sebald, we discussed his two books 'The Rings of Saturn' (1995) and 'On the Natural History of Destruction' (1999). Both texts return to key themes of Sebald's writing: The Rings of Saturn is a melancholy walk across the low, flat plains of the East Anglian coast, where repressed memories of imperialist violence and mundane tragedy uncomfortably resurface alongside the banality of daily life. On the Natural History of Destruction is comprised of a series of essays reflecting on the memories of World War II in German literature, particularly the destruction of cities during the bombing campaigns in the final years of the war.

Our next series will be starting at the end of this

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!

We’re on the web at aboutbuildingsandcities.org

This podcast is powered by Pinecast.

*Patreon Bonus Unlocked* — Otto Wagner's Unbuilt Projects Aug 27, 2025

Show notes

This is an unlocked bonus episode from our series on Otto Wagner, released to mark the end of our Plečnik series. You can listen to the whole of our Otto Wagner series, episodes 79–83 on the main feed. If you want access to our full back catalogue of bonus episodes, please consider supporting the show on Patreon!

We are going on a summer holiday, but will be back at the end of September with new episodes on Sigfried Gidieon's 1941 book 'Space, Time and Architecture'.

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!

We’re on the web at aboutbuildingsandcities.org

This podcast is powered by Pinecast.

*Preview* — 129.5 Plečnik Finale Bonus Episode Aug 08, 2025

Show notes

This is a clip from our latest Patreon bonus episode, if you'd like to hear our final thoughts on Plečnik in full, please consider subscribing at https://www.patreon.com/about_buildings — the show relies on listener support, and you'll get access to our full back catalogue of bonus episodes.

In our final bonus episode on Jože Plečnik, we discussed a few more of his projects, including 'Many Houses under One Roof', a unique unbuilt proposal for mass housing in post-war Ljubljana which imagined a huge colonnaded structure under which houses could be built in heterogenous harmony. We also discussed a pair of pavilions built for a convent in the countryside near Bled in northern Slovenia. The pavilions represent Plečnik's unique interpretations of the 'Primitive Hut' as an architectural form. Lastly, we discussed Plečnik's own house in Ljubljana and reflected on his legacy as one of the most idiosyncratic and surprising architects of the 20th century.

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!

We’re on the web at aboutbuildingsandcities.org

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129 — Jože Plečnik 6 — Slovene Acropolis Jul 23, 2025

Show notes

In the grand finale of our Plečnik series, we discussed the last of his projects for Ljubljana both realised and unrealised. In this episode we covered his Peglezen or Flat Iron Building, the National and University Library, his alteration of a former monastic complex called the Krizanke, his proposed extensive restoration of Ljubjlana Castle with monumental staircase from the triple bridge, and lastly his megalomaniacal idea for the Slovenian Parliament. A final bonus episode reflecting on our time with Plečnik will be out in the next week or two for Patreon subscribers.

To follow along with the images, watch this episode on YouTube: https://youtu.be/Su2mTGeMi9c

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!

We’re on the web at aboutbuildingsandcities.org

This podcast is powered by Pinecast.

128 — Jože Plečnik 5 — The River & the City Jun 30, 2025

Show notes

More Plečnik in Ljubljana! Here we talked about his approach to the Ljubljanica, the river that runs through the middle of the city, including the weirs, bridges and sluices which control its flow, the iconic triple bridge, and the various market buildings which face onto the riverside.

To follow along with images for this episode, check out the video version on YouTube: https://youtu.be/jQknKgoaQKI

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!

We’re on the web at aboutbuildingsandcities.org

This podcast is powered by Pinecast.