Architecture for the Ears. The Podcast in Our Sector

Photograph: Mat Botsford in Unsplash

5 years ago, Luis Sánchez¹ posted about the possibilities of using podcasts to disseminate architecture. The post included some good examples.

How have podcasts evolved since then? Is the podcast a good tool for architects?

We’ll start by saying that the podcast format has now definitively become a part of our lives. 2019 was the year of the podcast, and we’re heading the same way in 2020.

The reasons for this success can be summed up as follows:

• Podcasts are relatively easy to produce. They’re easier than video, and for some people they’re easier than text.
• They’re very easy to consume, especially in time pockets when driving, using public transport, or doing sport. We all have some device capable of playing them.
• Podcasts are easier to understand than text, and perhaps sometimes even than video. Sound reaches people. It cuts across many barriers.
• Like radio, podcasts can come to constitute a background “presence”, making them a good accompaniment for day-to-day tasks. In fact radio and podcasts tend to merge together. Both are sound, and everything that sound carries.

The recent boom in podcasting  has had a relative impact in architecture. There have been some very interesting proposals, but as almost always happens we have taken longer than others to embrace the latest tendencies in communication.

Some architecture podcasts

In addition to those mentioned in Luis Sanchez’s post, here are some more good examples:

Planta Libre. Self-defined as a podcast for architects and non-architects, Planta Libre covers a wide variety of subjects: sustainability, the visual arts, haute cuisine, general design, entrepreneurship…

Stepien y Barno. The world of Agnieszka Stepien and Lorenzo Barnó, including the Arquicafés, in audio format. As always, interesting posts on the architectural profession as seen from different perspectives.

ABCDMXYZ. The “Urban Dictionary of Mexico City”. Architecture and urban development discussed in conversations with different actors involved in the life and design of the city.

Enrique Alario’s OnSite Podcast. A construction podcast marked by Enrique Alario’s characteristically fresh take on things. Subjects covered include BIM, work project execution, productivity, applications, professional practice and much more.

La Parleta. A new podcast, but one that’s already offering some interesting material. The team at esecolectivo have started out on the front foot.

Territorio Comanche, from the Julia en la Onda radio programme. Radio in podcast form. David García-Asenjo’s own little space in which he offers some authoritative, accessible, clearly explained ideas about architecture.

Más que Arquitectura. This podcast from Yucatán is also broadcast on Kiss FM radio. It covers a wide variety of subject matter.

Arquiphilia. A podcast focussed especially on the creative process and the relationship between architecture and other art forms.

Workplace to Go from Well your Ways. A newly created but already promising podcast in which Cristina Portillo talks about productive offices that protect the environment and contribute to people’s wellbeing.

I’m bound to have left out some examples that deserve to be included here, but I think listening to these podcasts might well encourage you to create your own.

So, do you like listening to podcasts? Can you see yourself producing one to disseminate what you do? Can you think of any more examples to add to the list?

Text translated by Andrew V. Taylor