In Episode 102 of A is for Architecture, Nimi Attanayake and Tim O'Callaghan, founders and principals of nimtim architects, talk about their work, practice and the social role of the practice/s of architects and our architecture. Their body of work is very lovely, but it’s not just this, having a richness born of a dynamic ethicality. The question then is, is the fruit of good ethics good architecture?
In an Architecture After Grenfell, an article they wrote around 2022, and which appeared in BD, they suggest ‘What is required is a reset for the whole industry. If morality is replaced by profiteering then the events at Grenfell tower will be the outcome. […] Whilst the world gasps at the cynicism and callousness revealed by the [Grenfell] inquiry, we should be positioning ourselves as the potential solution. Fundamentally, the problem is not one of process or competence, it is one of ethics and morality. Architects are uniquely placed to become the custodians of a new set of values that can run through every stage of a project. This may demand greater responsibility but it is a responsibility we should fight for and embrace.'
That’s what we’re here for, right?
Thanks for listening.
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Music: Bruno Gillick
Tim Ingold: Anthropology - Making - Architecture
Sabina Andron: Graffiti, semiotics and the city
Pier Vittorio Aureli: Processes of abstraction in modern architecture
Paul Watt: Council housing and gentrification
Aaron Betsky: Utopia, monster, city.
Sophia Psarra: Parliament, power, politics and architecture.
Matthew Fuller: Conflict, aesthetics and architecture.
Ashton Hamm: Democratic practice
Catherine Ingraham: Architecture as theory
Neelkanth Chhaya: Architectures of Indian modernity
Laurence Lord: Civic practice in Ireland and Holland.
Frank Jacobus and Brian M Kelly: Architecture and AI.
Loretta Lees and Elanor Warwick: Defensible space
Ken Worpole: Designing social care
Mark Jarzombek: Design, discipline, labour, craft.
Swati Chattopadhyay: Making empire everyday.
Jim Stephenson (with Sofia Smith): Photography, architecture and everyday life.
Katie Lloyd Thomas: Architects, builders, specifications
John Pawson: Minimalist architecture.
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