Architecture Topics

For decades, a handful of architects shaped cities, skylines, and the public imagination. They were ambitious, controversial, sometimes flawed, and often brilliant. We called them starchitects.Today, almost all of them are gone, or well into their seventies, eighties, and nineties. And strangely, no new generation has replaced them.In this episode, we look at the data behind the rise and disappearance of the starchitect, ask why no young global architectural figures are emerging, and explore how regulation, mega firms, public backlash, and fear of ambition have quietly reshaped the profession.This is not a nostalgic defense of flashy buildings or big egos. It is an argument about vision, authorship, and why architecture, and society as a whole, might be worse off without people willing to push boundaries, take risks, and occasionally fail in public.A critical, opinionated episode about ambition, innovation, and what we lose when architecture becomes safe, polite, and predictable.

Explore the story behind the Unité d’Habitation in Marseille, Le Corbusier’s groundbreaking experiment in collective living. This episode looks at post war France, the housing crisis that shaped the commission, and the ideas that drove Le Corbusier to rethink how communities could live together. From the Modulor and the design of the duplex apartments to the challenges of construction, the first residents, and the building’s lasting influence, discover how this concrete giant became a milestone in modern architecture and a model for high density housing around the world.

In this episode, we explore how the Burj Al Arab transformed Dubai from a coastal trading hub into a global destination. From Tom Wright’s first sketches to the construction of its artificial island. From its soaring atrium to the famous stunts on its helipad. This is the story of how architecture became branding, and how one hotel reshaped the identity of a city.A sail rising from the sea, a symbol of ambition, and the moment Dubai stepped onto the world stage.

At the turn of the 20th century, New York was still a low-rise city. The Empire State and Chrysler Buildings were decades away, and the idea of a skyscraper north of Madison Square seemed absurd.Then came the Flatiron, a 22-story steel-frame experiment that turned an awkward triangular lot into one of the most recognizable silhouettes in the world.In this episode, we explore how the Flatiron Building was born: the ambitions of the Fuller Company, Daniel Burnham’s bold design, the skepticism it faced, and how it became a symbol of modern New York.From its first tenants to its cultural impact and ongoing transformation, this is the story of how an odd-shaped corner became the face of a city.

It wasn’t a palace, a museum, or a tower. It wasn't even a "place". It was just a wall.Yet for almost three decades, it held an entire city, and the world, hostage to fear, ideology, and division.In this episode, we explore the story of the Berlin Wall: how a city became trapped inside itself, how a simple structure evolved into one of the most sophisticated borders ever built, and how, in the end, it fell not to force, but to the will of ordinary people.A reflection on the power of architecture and the responsibility of those who shape it.