Scaffold

Nicholas Lobo Brennan and Astrid Smitham founded Apparata, their London-based architecture practice, in 2016.

"What we are always trying to do is a kind of activism, but the activism is entirely expressed and developed through prosaic things – literally, where is the door, how wide is the walkway, that kind of stuff.

It’s not either or – either architecture is its own autonomous discipline, or it’s a social practice – there has to be room for the idea that the actual devices you use to engage with activist work can literally be construction, space and architecture."

Buy tickets to Architecture on Stage: A public housing manifesto (This Friday 26 January at the Barbican Centre)

Scaffold is an Architecture Foundation production, hosted by Matthew Blunderfield.

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Hans Ulrich Obrist is a curator and artistic director of the Serpentine Galleries in London. This episode features Part 2 of his interview for Scaffold. (Listen to part 1 here).

"There is a different kind of time in the studio of artists […] time almost gets suspended when I do a studio visit, which is a major aspect of how I break with routine and liberate time. Artists are world builders, and so you travel into another world." – HUO

Scaffold is an Architecture Foundation production, hosted by Matthew Blunderfield.

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Hans Ulrich Obrist is a curator and Artistic Director of the Serpentine Galleries in London.

"We need protected spaces for art, yes – that's why we have museums – but we need also to find ways to actually go from from the gallery space to the park, into the city, and into society…curating is about building bridges between art and society, and I’ve always believed we need to create this kind of experience for people”

Scaffold is an Architecture Foundation production, hosted by Matthew Blunderfield

Download the London Architecture Guide App via the App Store or Google Play

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Rural Urban Framework is a research and design collaborative based at the University of Hong Kong, directed by Joshua Bolchover and John Lin.

Conducted as a non-profit organization designing for charities and NGOs working in China, RUF has built over 15 projects in various villages in China including schools, community centers, hospitals, village houses, bridges, and incremental planning strategies. 

Of course, much has changed in China since John and Joshua began their practice - the rural to urban migration emblematic of china’s development over the past several decades is now reversing following changes in government policy as well as massive economic and cultural shifts, which has caused Joshua and John to adapt and reorient their practice in different directions. While they still co-direct Rural Urban Framework, Josh is also director of the District Development Unit, which focuses on the growth of developing regions in Mongolia, Nepal and the Philippines, while John has established a postgraduate program at HKU called the Building Society that implements experimental building practices in traditional contexts. 

Scaffold is an Architecture Foundation production, hosted by Matthew Blunderfield.

Download the London Architecture Guide App via the App Store or on Google Play

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Tosin Oshinowo is a Lagos-based architect and curator of the 2023 Sharjah Architecture Triennial.

Titled "The beauty of Impermanence, an Architecture of Adaptability," this year’s triennial considers design solutions built from conditions of scarcity and explores how this might impact sustainable design today. 

This interview was recorded in Sharjah during the opening weekend of the Triennial in mid November 2023, and the conversation began by addressing the triennial itself, before unfolding into a more personal discussion of the contradictions that emerge between the exhibition and Oshinowo's practice.

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Book tickets for upcoming Architecture on Stage lectures by Duncan Lewis (Tuesday November 21st) and Sam Chermayeff with Jack Self (Wednesday November 29th).

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RESOLVE is the Croydon-based collective practice of Akil Scafe-Smith, Seth Scafe-Smith and Melissa Haniff.

“We want people to look at our work and think: “I could do that” - if it means it doesn’t look amazing, and it can’t go on dezeen, so be it. There has to the mark of people on these structures, and the mistakes of people too. That is a fundamental part of our work.”

Scaffold is an Architecture Foundation production, hosted by Matthew Blunderfield.

Download the London Architecture Guide App via the App Store or on Google Play

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Scaffold is on holiday this week – instead here's an interview with the IG architecture meme account Dank Lloyd Wright recorded last year for the podcast Power and Public Space, co-produced by Drawing Matter and the Architecture Foundation.

A new Scaffold interview with Resolve Collective will air in two weeks ✌️

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Theo de Meyer is an architect based in Ghent whose work moves between architecture, design and the arts. He and doorzon interieur architecten together represent the core of the modular collective Stand Van Zaken (‘State of Affairs’), who create furniture and architecture in collaboration with specialists in various fields. 

Special thanks this week to the General Representation of Flanders to the UK (Embassy of Belgium) for their support.

Scaffold is an Architecture Foundation production, hosted by Matthew Blunderfield

Download the London Architecture Guide App via the App Store or on Google Play

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Tony Fretton founded his eponymous architecture practice in 1982. His early work in London, including the Lisson Gallery (1986-1992), was influential in defining a new approach to architecture focused on urban context and daily life.

“By the time I graduated, London was completely different. It wasn’t opulent, it was poor, and punk was an attitude that accepted the nihilism of the state and of the city. All those songs by the Sex Pistols, they rang true, they weren’t just inventions. Punk was really important to me - punks were ethical, they had an idea of the world and it was about make and mend, about living in the margins, and that was the background from which I developed my practice.” – TF

Scaffold is an Architecture Foundation production, hosted by Matthew Blunderfield

Download the London Architecture Guide App via the App Store or on Google Play

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Tony Fretton founded his eponymous architecture practice in 1982. His early work in London, including the Lisson Gallery (1986-1992), was influential in defining a new approach to architecture focused on urban context and daily life.

“By the time I graduated, London was completely different. It wasn’t opulent, it was poor, and punk was an attitude that accepted the nihilism of the state and of the city. All those songs by the Sex Pistols, they rang true, they weren’t just inventions. Punk was really important to me - punks were ethical, they had an idea of the world and it was about make and mend, about living in the margins, and that was the background from which I developed my practice.” – TF

Scaffold is an Architecture Foundation production, hosted by Matthew Blunderfield

Download the London Architecture Guide App via the App Store or on Google Play

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.