About Buildings + Cities
@about-buildings.bsky.social
A podcast about architecture, history, literature, science fiction and ideas
Out today, our latest Patreon bonus episode on 'Mechanisation Takes Command' by Sigfried Giedion: www.patreon.com/c/about_buil...
October 29, 2025 at 8:37 AM
Out today, our latest Patreon bonus episode on 'Mechanisation Takes Command' by Sigfried Giedion: www.patreon.com/c/about_buil...
Sigfried Giedion's favourite cast-iron structures from 'Space, Time and Architecture'
October 17, 2025 at 8:19 AM
Sigfried Giedion's favourite cast-iron structures from 'Space, Time and Architecture'
A contentious spread from Sigfried Giedion’s ‘Space, Time and Architecture’, a comparison between the spiral lantern of Borromini’s Sant’Ivo alla Sapienza, a possible allusion to the Tower of Babel, and the dialectical helix of Tatlin’s Monument to the Third International
October 1, 2025 at 9:46 AM
A contentious spread from Sigfried Giedion’s ‘Space, Time and Architecture’, a comparison between the spiral lantern of Borromini’s Sant’Ivo alla Sapienza, a possible allusion to the Tower of Babel, and the dialectical helix of Tatlin’s Monument to the Third International
An idiosyncratic answer to the housing crisis in post-war Europe, Jože Plečnik's 'Many Houses under One Roof' imagined a huge colonnade under which homes could be built in heterogenous harmony, balancing the tension between individuality and collectivity in mass housing
August 7, 2025 at 1:09 PM
An idiosyncratic answer to the housing crisis in post-war Europe, Jože Plečnik's 'Many Houses under One Roof' imagined a huge colonnade under which homes could be built in heterogenous harmony, balancing the tension between individuality and collectivity in mass housing
Why not build a monastery in a skyscraper? Some of Jože Plečnik's most intriguing ecclesiastical projects were never built — find out more about his unrealised church architecture in our latest bonus episode, exclusively available for our Patreon supporters
July 15, 2025 at 9:33 AM
Why not build a monastery in a skyscraper? Some of Jože Plečnik's most intriguing ecclesiastical projects were never built — find out more about his unrealised church architecture in our latest bonus episode, exclusively available for our Patreon supporters
Jože Plečnik's Central Market for Ljubljana, an incredibly long and thin building constructed in the middle of WWII and discussed in our latest episode, out now wherever you get your podcasts or on YouTube
July 9, 2025 at 12:03 PM
Jože Plečnik's Central Market for Ljubljana, an incredibly long and thin building constructed in the middle of WWII and discussed in our latest episode, out now wherever you get your podcasts or on YouTube
Plečnik's Zacherlhaus, 1903–5, Vienna, built for an insecticide magnate, reflected in the creepy Lovecraftish light fittings and gleaming polished stone
May 15, 2025 at 9:38 AM
Plečnik's Zacherlhaus, 1903–5, Vienna, built for an insecticide magnate, reflected in the creepy Lovecraftish light fittings and gleaming polished stone
The final part of our SMLXL series is out now on our Patreon — a shorter version of the episode will appear on the main feed later this week!
March 26, 2025 at 1:26 PM
The final part of our SMLXL series is out now on our Patreon — a shorter version of the episode will appear on the main feed later this week!
who agrees?
March 6, 2025 at 10:26 AM
who agrees?
Zentrum für Kunst und Medientechnologie, Karlsruhe, Germany, 1989–92 — "Karlsruhe is a City in Denial"
March 5, 2025 at 9:06 AM
Zentrum für Kunst und Medientechnologie, Karlsruhe, Germany, 1989–92 — "Karlsruhe is a City in Denial"
Très Grande Bibliotheque, Paris, unbuilt competition entry, 1989
March 5, 2025 at 9:06 AM
Très Grande Bibliotheque, Paris, unbuilt competition entry, 1989
Zeebrugge Sea Terminal, unbuilt competition entry 1989 — 'A Working Babel'
March 5, 2025 at 9:06 AM
Zeebrugge Sea Terminal, unbuilt competition entry 1989 — 'A Working Babel'
The Hague City Hall, 1986
March 5, 2025 at 9:06 AM
The Hague City Hall, 1986
Channelling Constructivism and Zaha's student drawing style, the Boompjes TowerSlab, Rotterdam, 1979–82
March 5, 2025 at 9:06 AM
Channelling Constructivism and Zaha's student drawing style, the Boompjes TowerSlab, Rotterdam, 1979–82
SMLXL, Part 3, LARGE, or BIGNESS, out now
March 5, 2025 at 9:06 AM
SMLXL, Part 3, LARGE, or BIGNESS, out now
Here is the building being celebrated (no photographs of it appear in SMLXL)
February 12, 2025 at 2:09 PM
Here is the building being celebrated (no photographs of it appear in SMLXL)
A comic strip from SMLXL, drawn by Rem Koolhaas's son Tomas, depicting OMA's victory over property developers in designing a housing block in Amsterdam called 'Byzantium', in a tone of noirish heroism and celebration
February 12, 2025 at 2:09 PM
A comic strip from SMLXL, drawn by Rem Koolhaas's son Tomas, depicting OMA's victory over property developers in designing a housing block in Amsterdam called 'Byzantium', in a tone of noirish heroism and celebration
an unbuilt design for a panopticon prison by OMA, from SMLXL
February 12, 2025 at 2:09 PM
an unbuilt design for a panopticon prison by OMA, from SMLXL
OMA's unbuilt scheme for an extension to the Dutch Parliament in the Hague, featured in 'M' of SMLXL
February 12, 2025 at 2:09 PM
OMA's unbuilt scheme for an extension to the Dutch Parliament in the Hague, featured in 'M' of SMLXL
Unbuilt OMA scheme for a hotel and conference centre in Morocco, playing with the forms of Dutch Structuralism raised over the desert on giant pilotti
February 12, 2025 at 2:09 PM
Unbuilt OMA scheme for a hotel and conference centre in Morocco, playing with the forms of Dutch Structuralism raised over the desert on giant pilotti
OMA's Rotterdam Kunsthal as depicted in SMLXL accompanied by cryptic quotations from Waiting for Godot
February 12, 2025 at 2:09 PM
OMA's Rotterdam Kunsthal as depicted in SMLXL accompanied by cryptic quotations from Waiting for Godot
This project blends allusions to Le Corbusier's Villa Savoye with whimsical slanting piloti and a distinctly postmodern attitude (despite Rem's rejection of the style). If you want to find out more, check out our latest episode
January 27, 2025 at 11:09 AM
This project blends allusions to Le Corbusier's Villa Savoye with whimsical slanting piloti and a distinctly postmodern attitude (despite Rem's rejection of the style). If you want to find out more, check out our latest episode
Photography of OMA's Villa D'Alva, from SMLXL, in a style reminiscent of music video and magazine photography of the 1990s — in our latest episode we talked about Rem Koolhaas's self-fashioning as a 'cool magazine guy' through this singular monograph...
January 27, 2025 at 11:09 AM
Photography of OMA's Villa D'Alva, from SMLXL, in a style reminiscent of music video and magazine photography of the 1990s — in our latest episode we talked about Rem Koolhaas's self-fashioning as a 'cool magazine guy' through this singular monograph...
A typical SMLXL spread: restricted but gorgeous and greasy photography of an OMA building; titillating nudity; wry caption; margin full of quotations. Discussed in our latest episode.
January 24, 2025 at 3:10 PM
A typical SMLXL spread: restricted but gorgeous and greasy photography of an OMA building; titillating nudity; wry caption; margin full of quotations. Discussed in our latest episode.
EPISODE ONE OF OUR NEW SERIES, SMLXL BY REM KOOLHAAS, OMA AND BRUCE MAU, OUT NOW WHEREVER YOU GET YOUR PODCASTS OR ON YOUTUBE
January 22, 2025 at 2:00 PM
EPISODE ONE OF OUR NEW SERIES, SMLXL BY REM KOOLHAAS, OMA AND BRUCE MAU, OUT NOW WHEREVER YOU GET YOUR PODCASTS OR ON YOUTUBE