Scaffold

The Architecture Foundation

Interviews with architects, artists and designers. Produced by the Architecture Foundation and hosted by Matthew Blunderfield.

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156 episodes
Updated July 10

Episodes156

Newest first

Michael Mack (Live at POST PRESS)
Michael Mack is the founder of London-based independent art and photography publishing house MACK. This conversation was recorded live at POST PRESS. More info and upcoming event tickets here. Thanks to VELUX for supporting the podcast: velux.com/design Link to the AF POST PRESS programme Books discussed: W. G. Sebald, On the Natural History of Destruction (Hamish Hamilton, 2003) Le Corbusier, Aircraft (The Studio, 1935) Reconstructing Space: Architecture in Recent German Photography, ed. Michael Mack (AA Publications, 1999) Contemporary Architecture series, ed. Leonardo Benevolo (Cappelli, 1964–) Manfredo Tafuri, Modern Architecture in Japan, ed. Mohsen Mostafavi (MACK, 2022) Andrea Bagnato, Terra Infecta: Disease and the Italian Landscape (MACK Sightlines, 2026) Kwan Queenie Li, Weeds: A Germinating Theory (MACK Sightlines, 2026) Caruso St John, Collected Works: Volume 1 1990–2005 (MACK, 2022) Takashi Homma, Tokyo Olympia (Nieves, 2023) Adam Broomberg & Oliver Chanarin, Holy Bible (MACK / Archive of Modern Conflict, 2013) Collier Schorr, Jens F. (SteidlMACK, 2005) Hermann Hesse, The Glass Bead Game (1943; Winston translation, 1969) Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
July 10 · 1 hr 9 min
Jonathan Tuckey
Jonathan Tuckey founded his design practice in 2000 having previously worked for David Chipperfield Architects and Fletcher Priest Architects. He has long been one of the UK's leading advocates for remodelling and radically transforming old buildings for modern uses. The podcast is supported this week by VELUX and features a short pre-reel interview with Thomas Vonier — architect and former president of the International Union of Architects. th UIA is assembling in Barcelona this month for the World Congress of Architects, which VELUX are also supporting. Jonathan's episode begins around the 12 minute mark. Scaffold is an Architecture Foundation production, hosted by Matthew Blunderfield. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
June 12 · 1 hr 38 min
Morgan Day (Part 2)
Morgan Day is a writer based in Tucson Arizona who works across professional architecture writing and literary fiction. Her debut novel,The Oldest Bitch Alive, is out this month from Akoya Publishing in the UK, and Astra House in the US. “We tend to think of our bodies as having barriers, but we’re actually very porous. We’re in this constant state of becoming and effecting our environment, and our environment is constantly affecting and infecting us. I wanted to put these ideas on the page in a story, not only through living creatures, but through built structures too.” –MD Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
May 15 · 32 min
Morgan Day (Part 1)
Morgan Day is a writer based in Tucson Arizona who works across professional architecture writing and literary fiction. Her debut novel,The Oldest Bitch Alive, is out this month from Akoya Publishing in the UK, and Astra House in the US. “We tend to think of our bodies as having barriers, but we’re actually very porous. We’re in this constant state of becoming and effecting our environment, and our environment is constantly affecting and infecting us. I wanted to put these ideas on the page in a story, not only through living creatures, but through built structures too.” –MD Image credit: “Ungodly” by Ambera Wellman, 2021. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
May 8 · 40 min
Jaakko Pallasvuo (Avocado Ibuprofen) Part 2
Part 2 of our interview with the Finnish artist and writer Jaakko Pallasvuo, author most recently of Amber (Rrose Editions, 2026) and Mouthing the Words (Khaos, 2025) Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
May 1 · 34 min
Jaakko Pallasvuo (Avocado Ibuprofen)
Jaakko Pallasvuo is a Helsinki-based artist and writer, best known for his Instagram account Avocado Ibuprofen. In this episode he reflects on the role he sees for art and writing in a world increasingly shaped by social media platforms and artificial intelligence, and he discusses his recently published collection of performance texts Mouthing the Words (Khaos, 2025). Scaffold is an Architecture Foundation production, hosted by Matthew Blunderfield. Download the London Architecture Guide App via the App Store or Google Play Become an Architecture Foundation Patreon member and be a part of a growing coalition of architects and built environment professionals supporting our vital and independent work. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
April 24 · 1 hr 25 min
Vincenzo Latronico
Recorded live in London at the Barbican Centre earlier this month, this episode marks the publication of Order Prevails in Berlin, a new essay by the Italian novelist Vincenzo Latronico that acts as an autobiographical key to his highly acclaimed and Booker Prize-shortlisted novel Perfection. Published by the Architecture Foundation and translated by Sophie Hughes, Order Prevails in Berlin is available now via the AF's online shop. Scaffold is an Architecture Foundation production, hosted by Matthew Blunderfield. Download the London Architecture Guide App via the App Store or Google Play Become an Architecture Foundation Patreon member and be a part of a growing coalition of architects and built environment professionals supporting our vital and independent work. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
March 26 · 1 hr 20 min
How Three Leading Architecture Practices Are Using AI Today
Architects from Herzog & de Meuron, Foster + Partners and Zaha Hadid Architects discuss how AI is entering the design studio, from generative design tools to new workflows shaping the future of practice. *This episode is supported by Chaos Group, and features a short conversation with the company's Head of Product Operations, Roderick Bates. Chaos develops visualization technologies that empower artists & designers to create photorealistic imagery and animation across all creative industries.* Shajay Bhooshan is a Senior Associate at Zaha Hadid Architects, where he co-founded the Computation and Design research group (ZHCODE). His work bridges computational geometry, structural thinking, and robotic fabrication—enabling new forms and processes that extend the architectural imagination. Michael Drobnik is an Associate at Herzog & de Meuron, where he leads the Design Technologies team. His work focuses on integrating digital tools and data-driven strategies into the creative and technical development of some of the world’s most significant architectural projects. Martha Tsigkari is a Senior Partner at Foster + Partners, leading their Applied Research and Development group. Her team explores computational design, machine learning, and performance-driven optimization. She brings deep expertise in integrating emerging technologies into large-scale, real-world projects. Outro music is by Lil Internet Scaffold is an Architecture Foundation production, hosted by Matthew Blunderfield. Download the London Architecture Guide App via the App Store or Google Play Become an Architecture Foundation Patreon member and be a part of a growing coalition of architects and built environment professionals supporting our vital and independent work. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
March 12 · 47 min
Daryan Knoblauch
Daryan Knoblauch runs the eponymous architecture practice founded in 2024 in Berlin. His approach follows socio-cultural investigations of the present day, articulated in the form of cultural buildings, pavilions, and scenographies. The young Berlin studio works for clients such as Candela Capitán, Mowalola, Rombaut, and Judeline, among others, positioning architecture at the nexus of the cutting-edge cultural sector, while also providing architectural services for institutions such as the Neue Nationalgalerie Berlin, the Mies van der Rohe Foundation in Barcelona, and ArkDes, the Swedish Center for Architecture and Design in Stockholm, among others. Since graduating in 2021 from the Architectural Association in London, Daryan has been teaching as a Studio Master at the AA, the Royal College of Art, and Porto Academy 2025, among others. His work has been shown at MoMA NYC, The World Around 2025, the 19th Venice Architecture Biennale, and the Seoul Architecture Biennale. Podcast Credits Scaffold is an Architecture Foundation production, hosted by Matthew Blunderfield. Download the London Architecture Guide App via the App Store or Google Play Become an Architecture Foundation Patreon member and be a part of a growing coalition of architects and built environment professionals supporting our vital and independent work. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
February 18 · 48 min
Remembering John Morgan
The graphic designer John Morgan passed away last September at the age of 52. His final book, Baskerville’s Teardrop Explodes, was published this week, and to mark the occasion we've collected som reflections on Morgan and his work from some of his collaborators. These include, in order of appearance, Tom Weaver former editor of the AA files, Shumi Bose and Kieran Long, who both worked with Morgan on the 2012 Venice architecture Biennale, Ros Barr, who worked with Morgan on a altar design for St Augustine’s Church, Nick Hill, who was designing Morgan’s new studio before he passed away, and Tom Emerson, a director of 6a architects whose collaborations with Morgan extend across many years and projects. You’ll note this list is relatively narrow and hews closely to the world of architecture. The more interviews we collected, the more we realised the scope of this memorial episode risked expanding into an entire series - there are so many people who’ve been changed by Morgan and his work, to say nothing of his students and studio colleagues and publishers, none of whom are featured here. This following voices are just a drop in the bucket in terms of conveying who John was and the influence he had. Scaffold is an Architecture Foundation production, hosted by Matthew Blunderfield. Download the London Architecture Guide App via the App Store or Google Play Become an Architecture Foundation Patreon member and be a part of a growing coalition of architects and built environment professionals supporting our vital and independent work. Image credit: The Picture of Dorian Gray, Four Corners Books, 2007 Photo: Michael Harvey © John Morgan studio Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
January 30 · 56 min
Floris van der Poel's Favourite Things
Floris van der Poel comes on the pod this week to talk about the best work he’s discovered over the past year. Project list (in order of discussion): 1 The rounding of Cape Horn by Charlie Dalin. 2 Atelier Scheidegger Keller + Espazium, Areal Rosengarten Housing, Zurich, 2021 3 Emmanuel Héré de Corny's Palais du Gouvernement from the years 1751-1753 4 Meat cuts, comparing French and American tastes in urbanism 5 Model of an apartment building with 68 units in Tirana by Arquitectura G 6 Volante, housing in Hilversum by Monadnock Architects (2025) 7 Zwhatt housing, Regensdorf 2024. Luetjens Padmanabhan 8 770 Park Avenue, designed by Rosario Candela. 9 Logements Beaunier by Minuit Architecture 10-11 Papieri-Areal, Construction Site B Studio Eschrickenbacher 12-13 Bois-Gentil Housing, 1st Prize — Fruehauf, Henry, Viladoms 14 Door handle — LCLA 15 Ny Østergade, Copenhagen by Praksis Arkitekter 16-17 Office Complex in Hamburg, 2025 by Kawahara Krause Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
Dec 20, 2025 · 1 hr 1 min
Kenneth Frampton (Part 2)
In part 2 of Kenneth Frampton’s Scaffold interview, we focus on his own experiences - from his early desire to become a farmer, and the long hesitation that kept him from starting a family, and his regrets around leaving architectural practice for a life of writing. These biographical threads are woven through his encounters with key thinkers – from Herbert Marcuse and Tomas Maldonado to Juhani Pallasmaa and Hannah Arendt – and with buildings like Corringham and Aalto’s Villa Mairea and the transformation in perspective they represent. The discussion moves between the question of anti-capitalist architecture, the inundation of images in contemporary life, and the importance of what Frampton calls the microcosmos – architecture as the creation of “a small world” where society can begin to recognise itself. Along the way, Frampton reflects on what it might mean not to separate the reality of work from the pleasure of life. Scaffold is an Architecture Foundation production, hosted by Matthew Blunderfield. Download the London Architecture Guide App via the App Store or Google Play Become an Architecture Foundation Patreon member and be a part of a growing coalition of architects and built environment professionals supporting our vital and independent work. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
Dec 5, 2025 · 39 min
Kenneth Frampton
Architecture against commodification
Nov 28, 2025 · 56 min
playbody
Designing for radical intimacy
Nov 13, 2025 · 1 hr 9 min
OMA at 50
A special guest episode marks the launch of the podcast OMA at 50
Nov 6, 2025 · 51 min
Truwant + Rodet +
Increasing the Leak
Oct 31, 2025 · 1 hr 24 min
Why be an architect today?
Scaffold is back this week, with an episode that asks a simple question: why be an architect today? The Architecture Foundation is based inside the office of AHMM in Clerkenwell, which, back in July, hosted a summer school for teenagers just beginning to explore architecture. We decided to speak with some of them, to try and understand what draws young people to this profession today, what they think architecture is for, and how they imagine their futures in it. In these short conversations you get a strong impression of the perennial motivations that push people toward careers in shaping the built environment, despite the seemingly diminishing returns of practicing architecture today. Speaking with these students about their convictions give us a lot of hope: that the culture of architecture today, its perceived importance in society, and the esteem it’s held in, might still be elevated, and remain worthy of the ambition and altruism that is clearly in no short supply in this incoming generation. Special thanks this week to all the summer school students, and to Claire Pollock / AHMM Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
Oct 9, 2025 · 15 min
Paul Shepheard
Paul Shepheard is a British architect and writer known for his philosophical and multidisciplinary approach to architecture. Shepheard was a student at the Architectural Association in the 1960’s, and has worked both in practice, for the likes of James Gowan, and in academia, teaching at institutions like the AA, the University of Texas at Austin, and the Kingston School of Art. As a writer, he is best known for books that explore architecture in relation to broader cultural, technological, and existential themes. His notable works include What is Architecture? (1994), The Cultivated Wilderness (1997), Artificial Love (2003), and How to Like Everything (2013). His most recent book, and the focus of our interview, is called Autobiography, which was published in 2024 by Canalside press. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
Jul 31, 2025 · 1 hr 5 min
Fredi Fischli (Kontextur Podcast Festival)
Recorded live from the Kontextur Podcast Festival at Khaus in Basel, this episode features a conversation with the curator Fredi Fischli. Fredi Fischli, along with Niels Olsen, is co-curator and co-director of exhibitions at the Institute for the History and Theory of Architecture (gta), ETH Zurich. Together with Niels, Fredi works on projects at the intersection of architecture, art, research and teaching, resulting in exhibitions that subvert traditional formats of display by abandoning the top-down dissemination of knowledge typical to University Galleries, sharing instead their more raw and unbridled enthusiasm for forging strange new connections. resulting in such exhibitions as Unbeautiful museum (curated with Geraldine Tedder), Cloud’ 68. Collection of Radical Architecture, Home. A User’s Manual among many others. Special thanks this week to Katharina Benjamin and everyone on the Kontextur team, including Angelika Hinterbrandner Patrick Martin Rosa Thoneick and Laura Bertelt. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
Jul 4, 2025 · 52 min
Crit: Venice Biennale with Emily Conklin, Fabrizio Gallanti & Phin Harper
A month after the opening of this year's Venice Architecture Biennale, we've invited three critics to come on the show to help make sense of what was arguably one of the most content overloaded, and curitorially ambiguous biennales in recent memory. Since its inception in 1980, The Venice architecture biennale has set the tone for global discourse on contemporary design and urbanism, and yet the agenda of this year’s exhibition, curated by the MIT professor and recent guest of this podcast, Carlo Ratti, seemed surprisingly muted and anodyne, calling for architects to marshal the quote intelligence of the natural, artificial and collective” Still there are more complex although perhaps unintended themes to the biennale this year, including the emerging relationship between unaccountable technologies and authoritarianism, quantatitve expansion as a proxy for genuine inclusivity, and perhaps most importantly, the exchange of an independent curatorial vision for an apparent new ideal of algorithmically determined experience. Furter reading: Emily Conklin: We Will Rest: Seeking Resistance and Recovery During Carlo Ratti’s Venice Biennale in the Brooklyn Rail Fabrizio Gallanti: "Fakery and deception is everywhere at Venice Architecture Biennale 2025" in Dezeen Phin Harper: Venice Architecture Biennale 2025 Review: A Tech Bro Fever Dream in Art Review and La Biennale Architettura: A Beginner’s Guide on The Fence. Emily Conklin is the former managing editor of the Architect's Newspaper and is an editor and critic based in New York City. She is trained as a historic preservationist and is the founder of Tiny Cutlery studio. Fabrizio Gallanti is an architect, writer and curator, and directs Arc en Rêve, an architectural center in Bordeaux. Phin Harper is a critic, curator, and sculptor and former Chief Executive of Open City. Correction: the list of Swiss Pavilion curators mentioned in this episode mistakenly omitted Myriam Uzor, who led the project alongside Elena Chiavi, Kathrin Füglister, Amy Perkins amd Axelle Stiefel. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
Jun 20, 2025 · 1 hr 22 min

Scaffold

Michael Mack (Live at POST PRESS)

Jonathan Tuckey

Morgan Day (Part 2)

Morgan Day (Part 1)

Jaakko Pallasvuo (Avocado Ibuprofen) Part 2

Jaakko Pallasvuo (Avocado Ibuprofen)

Vincenzo Latronico

How Three Leading Architecture Practices Are Using AI Today

Daryan Knoblauch

Remembering John Morgan

Floris van der Poel's Favourite Things

Kenneth Frampton (Part 2)

Kenneth Frampton

playbody

OMA at 50

Truwant + Rodet +

Why be an architect today?

Paul Shepheard

Fredi Fischli (Kontextur Podcast Festival)

Crit: Venice Biennale with Emily Conklin, Fabrizio Gallanti & Phin Harper