Architectural History

Over the past year, the connections between our built environment and our health have been made clearer than ever before. In this episode we will be examining the changing way that societies through history have addressed these problems by building institutions that provide different forms of healthcare. Our contributors discussed what lessons we can learn from the history of architecture and health, considering the connections between the built environment and the treatment of different illnesses, maladies and afflictions.

Ed DeVane, a PhD student in the Centre for the History of Medicine at the University of Warwick, who researches the planning, design, construction of NHS facilities in postwar Britain, and is also a fellow in the Parliamentary Office of Science and Technology. 

Ann-Marie Akehurst, an independent Architectural Historian and Programmes Officer of the Society of Architectural Historians of Great Britain, who works on Early Modern Architectural History, particularly the development of hospitals and the institutions of healthcare. 

Will Palin is the Chief Executive of Barts Heritage, a charity concerned with restoring the historic St Bart’s Hospital, London, previously serving as the Conservation Director at the Old Royal Naval College, Greenwich and Director of SAVE Britain’s Heritage. 

Sarah Akigbogun is an architect, photographer and film-maker whose historical research has examined The Retreat in York, an institution for the treatment of mental health needs founded in the 18th century, and whose work addresses race, gender and problems of representation in architecture.

Your hosts were Matthew Lloyd Roberts and Dr Jessica Kelly

For more details on the Society of Architectural Historians and their activities check out the website: https://www.sahgb.org.uk/

This podcast is produced by Front Ear Podcasts https://www.frontearpodcasts.com/

In this episode we talk about Architecture and Empire. Our contributors discuss how the legacies of imperialism are manifested in the built environment from London to India and Beirut. We talk about the spectacular buildings of the state and the mundane buildings of bureaucracy, as well as temporary displays of imperialism and the educational institutions built by missionaries.

Contributors: Elsie Owusu OBE is a Ghanaian-born British architect, a founding member and the first chair of the Society Black Architects. She co-led the refurbishment of the Supreme Court of the United Kingdom in 2009. She has been an elected Member of the RIBA Council since 2014 and was the founding vice-chair of the London School of Architecture.

Shahmima Akhtar is a historian of race, migration and empire. She is lecturer in history at Royal Holloway University of London. She is currently working on the book Exhibiting Irishness: Empire and Identity, 1851-1970 to be published with Manchester University Press in September 2022.

Tania Sengupta is Associate Professor at the Bartlett School of Architecture. Her research explores architectural histories and urbanisms in 'non-western' worlds with a particular focus on the colonial, post-colonial and contemporary architecture of South Asia.

Yasmina El Chami is an architect and a final-year PhD Candidate in Architecture at the University of Cambridge. Her current research examines the intersections of colonial and imperial histories with the production of architecture and the built environment, focusing in particular on missionary educational institutions in Lebanon.

Your hosts were Dr Jessica Kelly and Matthew Lloyd Roberts. For more details on the Society of Architectural Historians and their activities check out the website: https://www.sahgb.org.uk/ 

Produced by Front Ear Podcasts - www.frontearpodcasts.com

In this episode, recorded for Women’s history month, we think about the apparent lack of women in architectural history. We explore the stories of women working in architecture in an attempt to rebalance this absence. Our contributors talk about what it means to present more diverse stories about who creates our built environment.

Contributors:

Sarah Akigbogun is an architect and a filmmaker. Sarah is the founder of Studio Aki, which is an transdisciplinary architecture and research practice committed to creating, socially-engaged projects. Sarah is working on a film about her search for the histories of female architects of colour.

Elizabeth Darling, who is Reader in Architectural History at Oxford Brookes University, has a particular interest in modernism and gender; Elizabeth has written widely about the history of women in architecture:

Darling, E., and L. Walker, AA Women in Architecture, 1917-2017 (AA Publications, 2017)

Darling, E., and N. R. Walker, Suffragette City: Women, Politics and the Built Environment (Taylor & Francis Group, 2019)

Darling, E., and L. Whitworth, Women and the Making of Built Space in England, 1870–1950 (Routledge, 2017)

Erin McKellar is Assistant Curator Exhibitions at Sir John Soane’s Museum in London. Erin has researched the history of housing exhibitions and modernism and she is interested in how women have used curation as a way of being involved in architectural production.

Your hosts were Dr Jessica Kelly and Matthew Lloyd Roberts

For more details on the Society of Architectural Historians and their activities check out the website: https://www.sahgb.org.uk/

Produced by Front Ear Podcasts - www.frontearpodcasts.com

In this episode, recorded for Women’s history month, we think about the apparent lack of women in architectural history. We explore the stories of women working in architecture in an attempt to rebalance this absence. Our contributors talk about what it means to present more diverse stories about who creates our built environment. 

Contributors:

Sarah Akibogun is an architect and a filmmaker. Sarah is the founder of Studio Aki, which is an transdisciplinary architecture and research practice committed to creating, socially-engaged projects. Sarah is working on a film about her search for the histories of female architects of colour. 

Elizabeth Darling, who is Reader in Architectural History at Oxford Brookes University, has a particular interest in modernism and gender; Elizabeth has written widely about the history of women in architecture: 

Darling, E., and L. Walker, AA Women in Architecture, 1917-2017 (AA Publications, 2017)

Darling, E., and N. R. Walker, Suffragette City: Women, Politics and the Built Environment (Taylor & Francis Group, 2019)

Darling, E., and L. Whitworth, Women and the Making of Built Space in England, 1870–1950 (Routledge, 2017)

Erin McKellar is Assistant Curator Exhibitions at Sir John Soane’s Museum in London. Erin has researched the history of housing exhibitions and modernism and she is interested in how women have used curation as a way of being involved in architectural production. 

Your hosts were Dr Jessica Kelly and Matthew Lloyd Roberts

For more details on the Society of Architectural Historians and their activities check out the website: https://www.sahgb.org.uk/

Produced by Front Ear Podcasts - www.frontearpodcasts.com