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About Buildings + Cities: Daily Summaries Delivered
by Luke Jones & George Gingell Discuss Architecture, History and Culture
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.
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- 2 weeks ago1h 24m
142 — Charles Jencks's 'The Language of Post-Modern Architecture'
In the final episode of our Lanuage Trilogy we talked about Charles Jencks's 'The Language of Post-Modern Architecture', first published in 1977, the book and argument developed over the course of the 1980s as ideas about post-modernism as an architectural style and set of principles formalised. We talked about Jencks's theorisation of architectural semiotics, his account of the failure of modernism and his prospectus for future architecture. You can watch along with the video on our YouTube: https://youtu.be/Fd3oU1gBt_Y 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 This podcast is powered by Pinecast.
- Sep 22, 20261h 20m
141 — Bruno Zevi's 'The Modern Language of Architecture'
In the second episode of our 'Language' trilogy, we discussed Bruno Zevi's 'The Modern Language of Architecture', first published in Italian as 'Il linguaggio moderno dell'architettura' in 1978, partly in response to Summerson's 'The Classical Language of Architecture' the subject of our previous episode. Zevi is a fascinating figure in 20th century Italian culture and politics. From a Roman Italian-Jewish family, he studied under Walter Gropius at Havard during the 30s and 40s due to Mussolini's anti-semitic fascist regime. He returned after the war and became a professor in Venice and Rome, a fervent advocate of a particular form of humanist modernism against rectilinear standardisation, symmetry and a classicising return to the past, which he viewed as a symptom of fascist continuity in Italian society. In later years he served as a politician in various heterodox leftist parties. In the final episode of this trilogy, out soon, we will discuss 'The Language of Post-Modern Architecture' by Charles Jencks. To follow along with the images of this episode, you can watch it on our YouTube channel: https://youtu.be/HY3yZs9KbQ8 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 This podcast is powered by Pinecast.
- Jul 31, 20261h 11m
140 — John Summerson's 'The Classical Language of Architecture'
In this episode, the first of a trilogy, we talked about John Summerson's best-selling 1965 book 'The Classical Language of Architecture', developed out of a series of lectures he gave to the BBC. We talk about Summerson, one of the titans of mid-20th century British architectural history, his attitude towards classicism and his patrician tone. In the next two episodes we will be discussing Bruno Zevi's 'The Modern Language of Architecture' (1978) and Charles Jencks's 'The Language of Post-Modern Architecture' (1977), which were both partly inspired by Summerson's rhetorical assertion of the linguistic character of classical architecture. Follow along with the images by watching this episode on YouTube: https://youtu.be/3JYroYY_wek 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 This podcast is powered by Pinecast.
- Jul 17, 20262 min
*Preview* — Piranesi's Heirs Bonus Episode
This is a preview of a Patreon bonus episode. To listen to the rest, consider supporting the show on Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/c/about_buildings In this penultimate bonus episode in our Piranesi series we talked about Piranesian vibes in literary and artistic culture, including forays into the work of Thomas De Quincey, Gustave Doré, Jorge Luis Borges, the graphic novels of François Schuiten and Benoît Peeters and the recent 'Backrooms' movie. 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 This podcast is powered by Pinecast.
- Jun 9, 202654 min
139 — Piranesi 4 — The Prisons
In the final part of our Piranesi miniseries we talked about his only building, the church of Santa Maria del Priorato, his theoretical writings, his proposals for interior design and furniture and his Carceri, the imaginary prisons which defined his legacy. If you'd like to follow along with the images of this episode, try watching it on Youtube: https://youtu.be/Rd2nwMAAx2E 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 This podcast is powered by Pinecast.
- May 26, 202659 min
138 — Piranesi 3 — Ichnographiam Campii Martii
In the penultimate episode of our series on Giovanni Battista Piranesi, we discussed his Ichnographia Campii Martii, one of his stranged and most inventive projects, a vast reconstruction of Ancient Rome, which blends together a little bit of archaeology with a massive injection of fantasy, plastering much of the open countryside around the city with endless, fractal Beaux Arts geometries. At around 30 minutes George can't remember the name of a large multi-vaulted commercial/light industrial antique building, it is in fact the Porticus Aemilia: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Porticus_Aemilia Follow along with the images by watching this episode on YouTube: https://youtu.be/zqTH3-GPyzQ Edited by Matthew Lloyd Roberts. Mixing by Lewis Todd. 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 This podcast is powered by Pinecast.
- Apr 23, 202656 min
137 — Piranesi 2 — The Antiquities of Rome
In the second episode of our series on Giovanni Battista Piranesi, we discussed his multi-volume project, Le Antichità Romane de' tempo della prima Repubblica e dei primi imperatori, a deep study and representation of Roman Antiquity, channelled through his vivid imagination, mixing rigorous archaeological measurement and close attention to constructional details with romantic and fantastical visions of the ancient world. To follow along with the images, check out this episode on YouTube: https://youtu.be/o9FUgUOgYy0 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 This podcast is powered by Pinecast.
- Mar 27, 202653 min
136 — Piranesi 1 — Prima Parte
In the first part of our new series on Piranesi we discussed his upbringing and background in Venice, his earliest travels to Rome and first work with Giuseppe Vasi and Tiepolo. We talked a little about the historical and cultural context of Piranesi’s work, before getting stuck into his Prima parte di Architettura e Prospettive (1743) and Varie Vedute di Roma Antica e Moderna (1745), and start to map out the rest of his oeuvre that will form the rest of the series. This is the first episode of a four part series about Piranesi, and there will be bonus episodes forthcoming on Patreon about his legacy and works of art and literature inspired by it. You can watch this episode on YouTube to follow along with the images: https://youtu.be/QUY4Yw2kxmk Edited by Matthew Lloyd Roberts. Mixing by Lewis Todd. 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 This podcast is powered by Pinecast.
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About About Buildings + Cities
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.
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