In the newest episode of the A is for Architecture Podcast, I was joined by Piers Gough and Sophie Ryder, both of CZWG. Piers is the original G of CZWG and it is for that we speak, a firm he founded in 1975 with Nick Campbell, Rex Wilkinson and Roger Zogolovich. 

CZWG turned 50 years old this year, having become known for bold, characterful designs. Their work was at the vanguard of the postmodern movement in the UK, with notable projects in the 1980 and 1990s instrumental in the urban regeneration game in that period, as public taste moved on from a-historical modernism towards a sort-of playful contextualism, not least at London Docklands, where they played their part in redefining the city’s east including China Wharf and The Circle in Bermondsey, and Cascades on the Isle of Dogs, and where four of their buildings have now been listed for their postmodern significance. 

More recent work has built on this legacy, and the practice continues to deliver large scale urban and urbane projects that look back as they go on. We discuss all this, in a hybrid sort of way: Piers and Sophie bookend the practice. But as we know, difference makes for lovely conversation.

CZWG is at work here, on Insta here and LinkedIn here.

Tune in, tune up, tune on.

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Music credits: ⁠Bruno Gillick