It has been a while since architects have been attempting to address various forms of disability in the buildings, neighborhoods and cities they design. However, these attempts are most often limited to increasing access for differently abled bodies. Our guest today, David Gissen, argues that a disability critique of architecture is not one that solely seeks to make the built environment more accessible but instead understands how embedded the ideas of physical incapacity and impairment are within architecture.  David Gissen is a New York-based author, designer, and educator who works in ..read more

We don’t talk about the technical and logistical aspects of death enough. For example: How does one’s economic status affect the conditions in which they die? Do gender identities play a role in how people receive end of life care? Can we choose the memories that we want to leave behind for our loved ones? And how does social media become an archive of one’s life after passing? We speak to artist Oreet Ashery about death in the digital age. Oreet Ashery is a visual artist whose practice navigates established, institutional and grassroots contexts. Ashery was a Turner Bursary recipient in 2020 ..read more

Historically, many communities around the world spatialized the bodily function of menstruation and integrated it within their architecture in the form of menstruation huts – often leading to the isolation and oppression of women as impure beings. Our guest today argues that these spaces in the west African Benin Kingdom were intentionally designed for women to rest and recuperate – that the isolation rooms were essentially spas.  Minne Atairu is an interdisciplinary artist whose research-based practice seeks to reclaim the obscured histories of Benin Bronzes. Utilizing generative artific ..read more

Over a century ago in 1896, the bubonic plague broke out in colonial Bombay. While the British officials maintained detailed records of the various aspects of the plague, local newspapers reported on the public sentiment towards the disease and its colonial management. Ranjit Kandalgaonkar explored one such archive to draw out a subaltern narrative of the bubonic plague. Ranjit Kandalgaonkar lives and works in Mumbai and his art practice primarily comprises of a lens directed at the urban context of cities. Most of his long-term projects are research-intensive and attempt to unlock historical ..read more

The discourse on care within the field of architecture has recently been gaining a lot of traction as ideas about health are expanding beyond the limits of traditional hospitals. In this conversation with Fiona Kenney, we discuss the history of long-term care facilities, residential hospices and pediatric respite centers, and how they differ from institutions that are aimed at providing cure, Fiona L. Kenney is a PhD candidate at the McGill University School of Architecture, where she studies spatial expressions of care. Fiona holds an MDes in History and Philosophy of Design from the Harvard ..read more

Ever since the pandemic, questions and concerns over the human body and the public health have heightened. We wanted to ensure that the conversations we would have with our guests went beyond our experience of the last three years. Some of the questions we ask this season are: Can we look at the role of architecture for providing care beyond the design of hospitals?What are the ways in which medical tourism defines entire cities?How do we shape our environment to foster healthy living – both physically and mentally?And how do we leave behind a digital legacy as designers, after death? With the ..read more

We explored the themes of agriculture, food and waste in season 4 but did not get into too much detail about the idea of hunger, which is caused by the lack of food. For this bonus episode, we speak to Abby Leibman, who was at the forefront of conceptualizing The Hunger Museum - a virtual museum that takes a deep dive into the history of hunger and how it can be ended. Abby J. Leibman has been President & CEO of MAZON: A Jewish Response to Hunger since 2011. She has a distinguished record of community and professional leadership, including developing and managing the Child Care Law Project ..read more

For this season’s final episode, we have a candid conversation with Dr. Vandana Shiva about the fears, concerns and anxieties of a young architect. Dr. Vandana Shiva is a world-renowned environmentalist, ecofeminist, writer and activist. She is the founder of Navdanya, a national movement in India to protect the diversity and integrity of indigenous seeds along with the promotion of organic farming and fair trade. To learn more about her work at Navdanya: https://www.navdanya.org ..read more

Parts of Ateya Khorakiwala’s doctoral research focused on grain silos in India and how they were a post-colonial import - built not just for the purpose of creating food security after witnessing one of the worst famines in the country but also to serve as a currency for exchange. In this conversation, Ateya talks about the history of silos, its construction materials and her course Feasting and Fasting at Columbia University. Ateya Khorakiwala is an architectural historian and is Assistant Professor of Architecture at Columbia University GSAPP. Her research focuses on India’s development deca ..read more

Three farm laws passed by the Parliament of India in 2020 received major pushback from farmers around the country - with many of them mobilizing in Punjab and heading to the capital New Delhi. The protest site at the border village of Singhu outside Delhi turned into a mini-city of sorts with the Sikh farmers operating community kitchens and serving meals to thousands of people every day, including the policemen watching over the very barricades that restricted their entry into Delhi. Sarover Zaidi is a philosopher and a social anthropologist, who currently teaches at the Jindal School of Art ..read more