Shows
Negroni TalksNegroni Talks #55 - Architecture As Algorithm: The Demise of Design?Architecture As Algorithm: The Demise of Design?As AI storms the gates of the architectural profession, building designers like many other creatives are rightfully asking: “are we already halfway to being replaced?” If intelligence is artificial and algorithms are filtering and fucking with our view of reality, then what is the truth about the future of architects and architecture?With computers now used to quickly generate fantastical buildings with multiple options and easily made mashups of any ‘style’, there are the obvious questions of authenticity, authorship and surface imagery over core ideology. In a more prosaic...
2025-10-171h 29
Negroni TalksNegroni Talks #S19 - Keepin’ It Up: What Does It Actually Mean For A Building To Perform?The building industry has a huge impact in the context of carbon emissions, energy consumption and climate change. Whilst ‘adaptive reuse’ has become a buzzword with louder calls for upgrading, renovating and converting existing buildings instead of creating more new buildings, a culture of demolition persists.With new-build being seen as an easier way to meet increasingly demanding requirements, how can we really improve the overall performance of our built environment if we don’t address the inefficiencies and wastage associated with the dated fabric of our existing building stock throughout the nation? Equally, do we truly value...
2025-09-3048 min
Negroni TalksNegroni Talks #54 - HOME ECONOMICS: Short Term Gain or Longer Term Pain?HOME ECONOMICS: Short Term Gain or Longer Term Pain?The City has always maintained a duality as a permanent place of impermanence, with the perpetual comings and goings of buildings, people and concerns. Yet within this state of flux individuals of all backgrounds have consistently managed to find for themselves a sense of rootedness and community, despite the anonymity of strangers or how temporal the environment may be.However, there is an increasing sense that the modern city is failing to provide for many of its residents and that in the competitive global marketplace...
2025-08-281h 39
Negroni TalksNegroni Talks #S18 - Quality Streets: How To Ensure That Ramsgate’s Future Is Sweet?Negroni Talks #S18 - Quality Streets: How To Ensure That Ramsgate’s Future Is Sweet? Ramsgate is a place on the edge, full of potential and opportunity, but does this really show up in terms of the character of its built environment? Entrepreneurial thinking, initiatives and campaigns from both individuals and groups frequently set sail against the wind of an unstable economy and funding cuts. So is there a disconnect between Ramsgate’s creative communities and the quality of the spaces that its local population inhabits? Despite a town alive with the explorations and investigations of mak...
2025-07-161h 30
Negroni TalksNegroni Talks #53 - Mean-while…. cyclical change or cynical claims in the city?The city continually changes despite its perceived permanence as a place; centuries of temporary inhabitation by all kinds of people passing through a built environment seemingly fixed, yet in continual flux. Buildings go up, buildings come down, buildings get repurposed for different uses and short-lived gaps appear in the landscape, whilst a more persistent emptiness can sometimes inexplicably lie dormant behind hoarding for years on end.Vacancy has long been an opportunity to take advantage of disused space and the on-going trend is for “meanwhile use”. The familiar cycle unfolds: pop-ups, creatives and artisans briefly occupy spaces, tick...
2025-04-301h 25
Negroni TalksNegroni Talks #52 - “Kiss My Kl-arse” : how influential is CLASS in the creation our built environment?As Robert Hughes stated in The Shock Of The New, “In the C19th, Architecture built palaces for the rich, villas for the upper bourgoise, and ceremonial structures for the state.” and “the poor, the invisible ones, they had no architecture. They had slums.” Whilst architects in the C20th sought to address this inequality through utopian ideals and design manifestos and often working within the state aparatus, do we find ourselves in a C21st world in which CLASS still remains a prevalent factor in our built environment and if so, what effect does this have on what g...
2025-03-171h 38
Negroni TalksNegroni Talks #51 - New Towns: (Any) New Ideas?[NOTE: In the opening 18 minutes the recording contains background noise due to technical issues on the night]New Towns: (Any) New Ideas?The New Town is now old - about a hundred years old. From their roots in the visionary Garden City Movement of Ebenezer Howard, to their mid-20th century iterations like Milton Keynes, they have long been touted as a solution to relieve urban overcrowding and housing shortages. It was hoped they would usher in an era of improved health and prosperity, as these newly-constructed places would combine the best of rural and...
2025-02-201h 42
Negroni TalksNegroni Talks #50 - IMBYISM: Objection! Overruled?Around the world tensions often surround the arrival of a new building development, which challenges the status quo and has implications for local people, buildings and the natural environment alike. The omnipresent NIMBY ("Not In My Backyard") and a counterpoint that has more recently emerged, the YIMBY ("Yes In My Backyard"), seem to be opposite sides of the same coin in having a great deal to say about proposed changes within our built environment. Both appear to be angered by what they feel as the necessity for change, so what does this tell us about the times w...
2024-11-151h 42
Negroni TalksNegroni Talks #S14 - Is Architecture Coming Round To The Circular Economy?The UK public love The Repair Shop on TV, as grandad’s favourite old toy is given a new lease of life. Sadly, in terms of the climate crisis, the re-use of objects has a pretty negligible impact compared to something like the construction industry and we urgently need to look at the consumption and waste involved, whereby perfectly good interiors are ripped out for corporate fit-outs and whole buildings are demolished and thrown on the scrapheap. We simply don’t have the carbon budget for this level of destruction, but what can be done? Circular Economy princ...
2024-10-1858 min
Negroni TalksNegroni Talks #S13 - QUEER EYE FOR THE RESI: A Challenge To Housing ConventionsThe different typologies of building and space in which we live are broad and disparate, as housing models have evolved over the centuries to suit different needs. From cellular abodes to open-plan spaces, from the detached residence to mixed-use developments, we have sought to formulate ways to accommodate the changing needs of individuals, families and communities within different environments. But is this long tradition of flexibility and adaptation being adhered to today and what happens when we look at it through a queer lens? Current housing standards and regulations have become prescriptive in an attempt to prevent t...
2024-09-121h 26
Negroni TalksNegroni Talks #48 -Pressing Problems: Architecture (Un)Covered?Architects don’t just design buildings, they also ‘craft narratives’ to help explain them. Storytelling and the art of telling a good story plays an important role in successfully getting permissions and selling ideas to clients. This frequently involves some weird and wonderful language that pushes the boundaries of believability and comprehension, in both fellow professionals and the wider public. An eagerness to describe projects as a great thing for everyone can often make claims that buildings are reinventing typologies and reshaping human behaviour. Add the fairy dust of PR spin into the mix and you have a perfect storm...
2024-08-121h 28
Negroni TalksNegroni Talks #S12 - Fit For Purpose: Are Architects Built For The 21st Century?Do we think that architects are fit-for-purpose in the 21st century? The world is seemingly changing at an incredibly rapid pace, with the needs of clients and society in a state of constant flux. Strangely, it seems that both practice and education remain largely static however, we now know that the manner in which we have been taught to be architects in the last 30 years, is maybe no longer good enough.
Architects historically took on a ‘master builder’ role which saw the profession in a much more central position to the conception of the masterplanning, design and construction phases of buil...
2024-07-221h 44
Negroni TalksNegroni Talks #s11 - Westward Ho! From Ealing Green to Old Oak CommonSir John Soane built Pitzhanger Manor at a time when Ealing was considered a nice location to have a ‘country retreat’. Things have obviously moved on since 1804 and in 2024 the house can be found sitting within the hustle and bustle of the Broadway – featuring shops, restaurants, offices and 200+ years’ worth of speculative residential developments. Soane wouldn’t recognise Ealing of the 21st century, however he did understand how to create a vision and sell ideas about ‘what could be’ to his patrons. It is an interesting context in which to consider what future plans there are for the further development of the local a...
2024-06-111h 50
Negroni TalksNegroni Talk #47 - So Giving Co-Living: Good Intention Or Bad Invention?We’re living in housing crisis, and apparently a loneliness epidemic with everyone shut away doing their own thing behind closed doors. Surely the answer to this is for human beings to move away from the isolationism of their personal pursuits in property, and head back to what human civilisation has always been about, namely sharing resources and, most importantly, space.
The public realm traditionally offers a natural setting to promote this ‘sharing’, but can the privacy of the domestic domain also do so in practice?
Co-living (different to co-housing) is a relatively new foray for the UK residential market and it...
2024-05-301h 35
Negroni TalksNegroni Talks #46 - Talkin’ ‘Bout My Generation: An Age Old Problem In Architecture?You’re an architect until you die, it’s a vocation and not a job. At least, that’s what some people would have you believe, with starchitects continuing to design well into their 90’s and succession plans drawn up to keep their practices going after they have left this mortal coil. Meanwhile, newly qualified architects emerging from years of study are met with a culture of “welcome to the real world ” at an age where others in music, fashion, film, and the arts generally, are already shaping the culture of their time through work that is often promoted as being ‘progr...
2024-04-301h 44
Negroni TalksNegroni Talk #45 - The Last Bastion: A Battleground Between Value And Values?The Barbican is under siege! This might seem to be a natural and unremarkable occurrence for a medieval fortified outpost. However, the Barbican in question is a mixed-use residential and cultural complex within the City of London. Home to cinemas, concert halls, the LSO and over 4000 residents, it is also an international symbol of 'modern architecture' and a unique estate within the financial heart of London’s square mile. With its bold forms, spatial variety/complexity and an attention to materials/design detail, it is feted by architectural enthusiasts from around the world, who flock to take pictures and enjoy th...
2024-03-201h 24
Negroni TalksNegroni Talk #44 - Fabric Of Fear: A Discussion About Designing Out Danger In The Urban Realm.One headphone out, keys in hand and checking the street behind you is a familiar experience for a lot of people on their way home, particularly women and those from marginalised groups. And these feelings are not purely anecdotal, as a recent report from the fitness app Strava revealed that UK women are twice as likely to feel unsafe on a run when compared to the global average. In a similar vein, Arup’s Queering Public Spaces study showed that many LGBTQ+ people feel they have to switch or hide their identities when entering a public space or avoid particular ar...
2024-02-211h 24
Negroni TalksNegroni Talks #43 - Mods or Trads? History and Histrionics In ArchitectureMods or Trads? History and Histrionics In Architecture
According to social media, we are in the middle of a culture war for both the past and future of architecture. Lines have been drawn and tribes are assembling on a beach with the tide coming in. On one side we have groups that want to protect our modernist heritage and seem to enjoy high-quality contemporary architecture. On the other is a growing collective that extoll the virtues of traditional aesthetics, often following a stylistic approach to buildings based on historical and classical principles and proportions.
Of course, the reality is much...
2024-02-071h 29
Negroni TalksNegroni Talk #S10 Meanwhile……..Materials? : Progressive Ingredients In A Regressive IndustryWe’ve seen hemp houses and walls made of rammed earth, rammed stone and anything else you can ‘ram’. Timber has designers drooling at the mention of the word and there was even a show about straw last year that had architects queuing round the block. There is a huge appetite for a ‘return to the natural’ with ‘new’ (maybe old!) and exciting building materials, however, the practical implementation of these at a scale that will actually make a difference seems at present negligible.
The built environment is still dominated by the big three materials of the 20th century, namely glass, steel a...
2023-11-1357 min
Negroni TalksNegroni Talk #42 -Fees F:or Free: The Divide And Conquer Of Architecture?How many times have we heard the phrase “race to the bottom” when it comes to architects discussing fees and design quality. With practices closing their doors and citing the undercutting of their fees as a key factor, competition seems to have defeated camaraderie and we have to ask if the profession is eating itself? We want clients (both public and private) to respect the quality that an architect can bring to a project, but how can we do that when we don’t respect ourselves?
Now that we’re in a ‘cost of living crisis’ and material prices are rising aroun...
2023-11-071h 23
Negroni TalksNegroni Talk #S9 AI or Die: Advance or Interference?Negroni Talk #S9 AI or Die: Advance or Interference? by Fourthspace
2023-09-221h 33
Negroni TalksNegroni Talks #A2Having provoked debates interrogating all things “Architectural” from its base in east London, “Negroni talks…!” is hitting the road to discover how the Politics Of Architecture plays out in other parts of the UK. Heading North, South, East and West, The Negroni Talks On the Road Tour aims to hold ‘4 talks in 4 towns’, taking a look at what’s happening on the ground by focusing on local factors that shape the built environment, and what this means for it’s inhabitants.
In overview, the Series presents essentially the same discussion in each of the places visited. This repetition is a means to spotlight...
2023-07-201h 04
Negroni TalksNegroni Talk #41 - Absurdity In ArchitectureAbsurdity In Architecture
When you think about it, Architecture is quite absurd. The importance placed upon the differences between one building design and another, the dedication to detail, the careful choreography and the assertions of taste and quality, all seem to be on a different planet when one looks up at the huge global issues that confront us. The time and energy, the resources spent on the particularity of a design's development, feels somewhat self-centred, myopic and at a remove from the issues of the larger world beyond.
So too the nobility with which the profession regards itself, the award...
2023-07-112h 30
Negroni TalksNegroni Talks #40 Decency By DesignDecency By Design
What does it mean to be an ethical architect? Is it about the way you run an architectural practice, the type of work you produce, the people you work for? They say that ‘the road to hell is paved with good intentions’ and whilst we’re seeing a growing trend of practices becoming B-Corps, does that mean you’re a ‘decent’ company?
With the de-regulatory drive to relax the rules and make permitted development easier, the sheer scale of the Post Grenfell cladding crisis, along with recent headline-grabbing ‘scandals’ about the impact upon people having to live in mold and damp...
2023-05-101h 20
Negroni TalksNegroni Talk #S7 - FROM HERO TO (NET)ZERO: Carbon FootprintsNegroni Talk #S7 - FROM HERO TO (NET)ZERO: Carbon Footprints
We are in a climate emergency and the built environment contributes 30-40% of the world’s carbon emissions. We have to do something about this and seemingly some governments across the world have belatedly recognised the collective need for us to head towards a net-zero future. Ok, so there’s a plan and we all know what we’re doing, right, but can someone explain clearly what net-zero actually means? Also does the whole tree planting/off-setting thing really work? It’s just that recently there have been a series o...
2023-04-051h 01
Negroni TalksNegroni Talk #39 - Talking Shit! DRAIN AGETalking Shit! DRAIN AGE
Stone Age... Iron Age... we are now living through the Drain Age...
Regular news reports of flash flooding showing homes filled with filthy water suggest that our treatment of water maybe based upon suspect principles. The mounting evidence is that our ‘interventions’ within the natural world are more and more frequently coming back to bite us in our cities, towns and villages. Is architecture a key factor in our divorce from reality?
We put bleach in water, and we drink the water. Man-made fat-bergs cause sewers to back up and the pressures put on pipes appears to c...
2023-03-021h 14
Negroni TalksNegroni Talks N°12 ‘Affordable’ : The Problem With Affordable Housing‘Affordable’ : The Problem With Affordable Housing
In the age of austerity 'affordable housing' is heralded as a basic requirement for new build housing schemes, with any project that doesn't deliver at least a small quota being crucified in the press. But when the term affordable is defined as 80% of market value, and an average house costs £484,716 in London, who can even afford the affordable?
The failings of local councils to provide housing for all Londoners has led to this almost meaningless terminology being thrown only around by developers and estate agents to sell already profitable schemes. With the term 'genuine affor...
2023-02-271h 40
Negroni TalksNegroni Talks N°11 Mind The Gap: The Chasm Between Practice And EducationMind The Gap: The Chasm Between Practice And Education
After years spent designing wondrous master-plans for fictional cities, debating the rights and wrongs of the Frankfurt School and churning out thousands of words on the subject - architects leave university to find themselves working on technical details for perfunctory spaces in massive practices.
Surely given the length of time needed and the tens of thousands of pounds spent in the process, Universities could better prepare students for the realities of the professional world?
With all the differing schools of architecture in London and no shortage of tutors who are architects...
2023-02-271h 07
Negroni TalksNegroni Talks N°10 Londons Borderlands: Territorial Pissings?Londons Borderlands: Territorial Pissings?
(Borderlands: Boundaries Within The City State)
London is a wonderful metropolis but those that live and work in the city know that it is really the congregation of many different fiefdoms. Each place abides by its own rules and cherishes its own identity. There is no such things as a Londoner; people identify with their local community, as well as the physical context and history of their surroundings.
This brand of fierce localism has a knock-on effect for architecture and planning but what happens to the places that fall between the gaps? Boroughs care less about...
2023-02-2748 min
Negroni TalksNegroni Talks N°9 I’m So Bored With The RIBA: Irrelevance Institutionalised?I’m So Bored With The RIBA: Irrelevance Institutionalised?
Everyone loves taking a swipe at the RIBA. Either it's out of date, too bureaucratic, too ineffective, too expensive, too London centric and lacking diversity or all of the above. Yet with 44,000 members, the RIBA falls into the same difficulty as other British institutions such as the BBC and NHS and being so large that it's an impossible task to keep everyone happy.
The RIBA is still extremely prolific and internationally respected with it's Code of Conduct being seen as a gold standard for architects and a busy yearly programme of aw...
2023-02-271h 06
Negroni TalksNegroni Talk #8 Fail Safe, Safe Fail, Fail Better!Fail Safe, Safe Fail, Fail Better!
In engineering and design, a fail-safe is a system that mitigates further harm or failure. Mistakes, bad decisions and a lack of skill can cause great harm to projects at any point in the process and architects often have to step in with their fail-safes. This can involve taking the blame, sorting the problem or even reversing the fail into something positive.
Though there are many ways to define the success of a building (PR spin, fees, satisfied clients/users) failure persists and practices continue as architecture and design always comes second to financial...
2023-02-271h 20
Negroni TalksNegroni Talk #7 Thick As A Brick: Dis Honesty And Architecture…Thick As A Brick: Dis Honesty And Architecture…
Over years of architectural and building history, the approach to design has frequently been supported by claims of being honest to material, form and context. This becomes a polemic when encompassed into architectural styles and genres: Hi-Tech wears its heart on its sleeve; Modernism, from the roots of classicism, follows function to a degree; and Post Modernism masks and plays games with little care as to whether there is honesty or dishonesty in the styling of buildings.
Marked by increasing amounts of financial and political constraints in the UK, progress in new ar...
2023-02-231h 29
2023-02-231h 12
Negroni Talks#A2 The Politics Of Architecture Series: BRISTOLHaving provoked debates interrogating all things “Architectural” from its base in east London, “Negroni talks…!” is hitting the road to discover how the Politics Of Architecture plays out in other parts of the UK. Heading North, South, East and West, The Negroni Talks On the Road Tour aims to hold ‘4 talks in 4 towns’, taking a look at what’s happening on the ground by focusing on local factors that shape the built environment, and what this means for it’s inhabitants.
In overview, the Series presents essentially the same discussion in each of the places visited. This repetition is a means to spotlight...
2023-02-231h 20
Negroni TalksNegroni Talk #2 The Recognitions (architecture’s gentrification guilt)The Recognitions (architecture’s gentrification guilt)
Vyner Street is a locus for the shifting identity of London’s East End. Artists and creatives moved into the area and integrated themselves into the local culture and communities. However, their arrival was a catalyst for regenerative change that they didn’t necessarily want. Architects play a key role in this economic shift and are still present in Hackney and Tower Hamlets. Should they take a stronger position in the development of the area and the way it affects the original communities and the few remaining artists?
Speakers:
Dr. Jane Clossick, London Metropolitan Univer...
2023-02-231h 29
Negroni TalksNegroni Talk #4 What will Brexit actually look like ?What will Brexit actually look like ?
The UK is leaving the EU and it seems that some politicians believe in the same kind of economic and cultural self-sufficiency as proposed by the 1930s Italian concept of Autarchia. The truth of the matter is that London’s built environment is about to transform and no one knows what it’s going to end up looking like. The current demographic of European property owners, contractors and architects are likely to change in ways we don’t yet understand. Will it end in disaster or are there massive opportunities to improve the status quo? T...
2023-02-231h 24
Negroni TalksNegroni Talk #3 – Where’s the punk in architecture ?Beatniks, punks and other countercultures were borne out of a restless discontent with the status quo and a desire to shift ideologies for new generations. These ideas and movements manifested themselves through art, music and literature but architecture has trodden a safer creative path. Rebellious architects appeared from time to time but what is their legacy today? Can the industry shake off its timid approach and demonstrate that buildings can affect real change?
Speakers:
Tim Abrahams, Architecture Critic (chair)
Piers Taylor, Invisible Studio
Charles Holland, Charles Holland Architects
Shumi Bose, Central St Martins
Caz Facey, Ing Media
2023-02-231h 15
Negroni TalksNegroni Talk #S3 - 25th September 2022 @ BARGEHOUSE . OXO TOWER WHARF . SOUTHBANKCraftwork: Man . Machine _ How Should Architects Be Material Synthesisers In An Electronic Age?
In Association With Material Matters:
Lots of architects claim that they 'craft' a building. They point at beautiful clay or paper models but in reality architecture is produced through Revit and follows strict rules of compliance and regulation. Materials are a great way to connect buildings and craft together, however, are people really convinced that a corporate office is baked in a kiln? And what about craftspeople themselves? What is their role in the design and construction of buildings? Surely they could help create spaces that are...
2023-02-2351 min
Negroni TalksNegroni Talk #S2 - 23rd September 2022 @ BARGEHOUSE . OXO TOWER WHARF . SOUTHBANKBy The Seat Of Their Pants? Architects Designing Chairs.
In Association With Material Matters:
The Eames did it, Mies did it, even architecturally-educated fleas did it. Let's do it, let's design a chair. Why do architects think they can dip their toes into furniture design? And, perhaps more interestingly, why do product designers think they can have a pop at architecture? We all agree that interdisciplinary crossovers are interesting, but surely professionals train for years for a particular purpose. Lets explore why designers fancy stepping on each others' toes and what happens when they join forces.
Featuring:
Claire Dowdy, journalist...
2023-02-2349 min
Negroni TalksNegroni Talk #38 - 31.01.2023 The Picturesque #2: Estate Of MindSocial housing is incredibly important as one of the sectors where the work of architects and planners can have the most direct impact on cities and their populations. If done properly it should create inclusive, good quality places to live for the more vulnerable and less well off in our society. However, the ideals for post-war inner-city housing moved from utopian vision to dystopia in the public perception, thanks to inconsistent execution, poor maintenance and the sense that Brutalism is somehow dehumanizing.
We are now experiencing the inevitable backswing though, as certain towers and estates have fallen into fashion, with...
2023-02-011h 27
Negroni TalksNegroni Talk #37 - 29th November 2022 The Picturesque #3: Vernacular SchmernacularThe Picturesque #3: Vernacular Schmernacular
What the hell does ‘vernacular’ mean in architecture?
The term is defined as
"the language or dialect spoken by the ordinary people in a particular country or region”
“architecture concerned with domestic and functional rather than public or monumental buildings”.
In today’s planning and design setting, it seems to revolve solely around aesthetics, material and style. Hip architects and mass house builders alike, knowingly reference traditional/historical design motifs to secure a kind of moral high ground and justify why their buildings are the way they are.
Is there any such a thing as a national, re...
2022-12-091h 27
Negroni TalksNegroni Talk #S6 For Better Of Worse It’s The Metaverse.In collaboration with Always Thinking & The Festival Of Hospitality
The Negroni Talks have partnered up with the Festival of Hospitality as part of their new Devil’s Advocate series. Much like the existing programme, these events are intended to be open, provocative and engaging. Featured expert speakers will tackle difficult subjects head on but we also want to hear from the audience too, as part of a live and unfiltered discussion.
For Meta or Worse? is the first event and it provides an opportunity to ask questions about the role of the Metaverse within the hospitality industry, particularly as the wo...
2022-11-281h 38
Negroni TalksNegroni Talk #S5 The Alternative Stirling PrizeEvery year, the great and the good of the British architecture scene gather to find out who will be crowned with the award for the best building in the UK. The final shortlist features six projects, which have been whittled down from hundreds of submissions that stretch across the length and breadth of the land, reflecting every scale and type of client. Sometimes it seems like an impossible set of criteria to judge and therefore prizes for the best small project, best house and best housing have been created to help support other work.
Instead of employing all those local...
2022-11-281h 01
Negroni TalksNegroni Talk #36 The Picturesque #1: Representation And ArchitectureThe history of architectural image making is ancient and, more often than not, involves a bit of propaganda. Designers have had to communicate their ideas to their paymaster - be they church, state or wealthy individual - and selling your vision comes with the territory. Fast forward to today and we’re reached a point where renders are so convincing that they can be mistaken for photos of a finished building. You can’t blame people for being suspicious that they’re being conned by a vision of a built environment that can never exist, and there is a lot of cyn...
2022-11-281h 46
Negroni TalksNegroni Talks #35 Bjarking Up The Wrong Tree 24th May 2022Bjarking Up The Wrong Tree: STARCHITECTURE And The Role Of The Architect In The C21st
The architect as a one-off design genius, an exploder of convention and an instigator of progressive thinking was a character forged in the late 19th and early 20th centuries. As the millennium drew to a close, the personality of the ‘Starchitect’ arose as a provider of headline grabbing architecture that could sprinkle regenerative fairy dust anywhere in the world. It became doctrine that neighbourhoods and cities could easily have their fortunes turned around thanks in part, to a noticeably new and shiny addition to thei...
2022-05-301h 26
Negroni TalksNegroni Talk #34 - 26th April 2022 Diverse By DesignMany architects and developers talk the talk but can we actually deliver diversity through design? We’re seeing some great new neighbourhoods emerging across both the UK and abroad but the commercial pressures of regeneration tend to steer us towards homogeneity. And how much can the planing process help support the creation of unplanned places, where richness and variety is often found?
‘Branded experiences’ can be delivered by disparate forms and snazzy exteriors, which are then united by equally aesthetically-driven public/private realm. But is there a nagging formulaic familiarity behind the facade? Is the suffocating sameness of developments the result...
2022-04-281h 36
Negroni TalksNegroni Talk #33 Talking Shop! INSULATIONEnergy is a consumption that is killing us by degrees. Its production, usage and waste have long been a threat to the natural world and as a commodity it is now being deployed as a weapon of war.
Energy has become a battleground between C20th business models and C21st realities. It trades in cynicism, malevolence and greed. Worse still it illustrates our hubris, our impotence, the compromise of our moral standing and our lack of a truly reforming vision for the future. The lights may be on, but is anyone actually at home?
Guilty of a dereliction of...
2022-04-141h 23
Green Healthy PlacesDowntown Urban Regeneration_Jonny Friedman_City Opportunity Fund_South AfricaWelcome to episode 47 of the Green & Healthy Places podcast in which we discuss the themes of sustainability, wellbeing and community in real estate today.I’m your host, Matt Morley, Founder of Biofilico Healthy Buildings, and today I’m in Durban, South Africa talking to Jonny Friedman, Executive Chairman of the newly launched City Opportunity Fund.In the 1980s and 90s Jonny invested in over 100 buildings in the Brighton area in the UK and another 20 buildings in Hoxton and Shoreditch in London, playing an instrumental role in the urban regeneration of both places.Toda...
2022-04-0135 min
Negroni TalksNegroni Talk #32Talking Rubbish! BINS
Local authorities have bin going mad! Whilst many architects, urban planners, housing associations and developers try to design the homes, towns and cities of the future, they are frequently hamstrung by the regulatory hurdles that are focused on the accommodation of waste management. Giant wheelie bins fill our pavements, louvered doors dominate pavement frontages, and the spaces of our streets are oriented around the turning circle of a rubbish truck.
With a lack of clear planning policy, it seems that the mundane and everyday has taken control of the creative place making involved in housing design, pushing...
2022-02-181h 12
Negroni TalksNegroni Talk #31 - 19th October 2021Death By Design
Construction has always been a dangerous (read: corrupt) game and it seems that the bigger the project, the greater the risks to workers’ safety. Fatalities on building sites were maybe to be expected in the dim and distant past, but in the 21st century haven’t we developed sufficient regulatory control, machinery or digital technologies to rule out death by architecture?
This debate has resurfaced recently as some (football) players and activists have urged a boycott of the Qatar 2022 World Cup because of the treatment of migrant workers, who have been plunged into a form of contemporary slav...
2021-11-091h 23
Negroni TalksNegroni Talk #30 - 29th April 2021Architecture: Structuring Segregation?
Poor Doors have hit the headlines are once again aimed at escalating levels of outrage, declaring that modern housing developments promote segregation and social cleansing.
However, we live in a time when cash-strapped councils can’t deliver their own housing programmes and we rely on private developers to provide housing nationwide. With an emphasis on investment returns and the drive to remove all that is deemed to adversely affect market value, certain tenures of housing are considered ‘undesirable’ and something to be reduced through negotiation or worse still, relocated geographically out of sight.
Meanwhile cities remain places of var...
2021-05-101h 16
Negroni TalksNegroni Talk #29 - 1st April 2021The Airing Architectures Dirty Laundry Series: #03 ARTWASHING
Artists and gentrification already have an uncomfortable relationship. Creative communities have often drifted into less desirable areas where the rents are much cheaper, making unconscious changes around them and adding a ‘cool factor’ that in turn shifts the perception of a place. This process is old news and developers have cottoned on to the winning formula and sped up the process.
Depressed areas are now targeted by local authorities and developers for improvement and the first steps usually involve some eye catching murals or pop-up pavilions that become destinations in of themselves. In a di...
2021-04-131h 25
Negroni TalksNegroni Talk #28 - 11th March 2021The Airing Architectures Dirty Laundry Series: #02 BAMEWASHING
Of the many massive social upheavals of 2020, the BLM protests made us ask difficult questions about persistent levels of racial inequality and how many of us are complicit with the current system.
This has resulted in some positive moves within the built environment, with public sector procurement going through a shake-up. Local authority frameworks are being re-imagined and outspoken critics are getting important airtime. Dare we hope that we might be experiencing a paradigm shift that will lead to communities receiving buildings that are actually designed by people who understand them? Or is...
2021-03-191h 34
Negroni TalksNegroni Talk #27 - 25th February 2021The Airing Architectures Dirty Laundry Series: #01 GREENWASHING
The science is clear on the construction industry, it's one of the biggest polluters and contributors to climate destruction. There is more and more of a push for projects, practices and the whole built environment to be sustainable, but even a term such as that can make the industry's path to real change unclear. With 'Sustainable' being used to describe everything from stuck-on solar panels, net-zero airports to open-plan offices, good and bad intentions can easily blur and the planet is no better off for it.
That's where questions, and more often accusations...
2021-03-101h 07
Negroni TalksNegroni Talk #26 - 16th December 2020 There’s No L In ArchitectureThere’s No L In Architecture: Musings On Making Less & More In The Coming New Year.
It’s been an interesting year to say the least. The world has witnessed unparalleled change and technology has had to step up and fill the void left behind by restrictions on work and social gatherings. But the architecture industry carries on regardless, as teams meet in virtual spaces and planning authorities make decisions via little Zoom boxes. Builders still build and investors want to put their money into something despite the empty office buildings and cafes in our city centres that were once buzz...
2021-01-081h 08
Negroni TalksNegroni Talk #25 - 30th June 2020 Space Invaders LIVE & ONLINE!Space Invaders: Architecture and A Freeing From The Physical.
In the 2009 trial of the founders of Pirate Bay, the defendants were quoted as requesting that the language of the court be amended "We prefer AFK (Away From Keyboard) to IRL (In Real Life)" they said, "because we think the Internet is real."
We've never been closer to breaking down the boundaries between physical and digital environments. However, the alternative worlds of VR, Triple A video games and MMORPGs, provide 'spaces’ - which millions (if not billions) of people inhabit and interact with one another on a daily basis - that ar...
2020-07-012h 23
Negroni TalksNegroni Talk #24 - Stand & Deliver LIVE & ONLINE!Stand & Deliver: The Roll Of Finance In Architecture
On the development highways, when money flows, everything is good. The rich get richer, the poor get poorer. It is an environment where money makes money and risks are calculated. It’s a numbers game.
Those with land ownership have the asset (the raw materials) and stand to offer those with financial backing and proven experience (the processing) to deliver development. Then its packaged up and sold in the marketplace for a profit thanks to professionals, agents and so on (the sales people). Everyone gets their cut. In this scene, ‘Architecture’ has become...
2020-06-291h 24
Negroni TalksNegroni Talk #23 - 9th June 2020 - Icon Therefore I Am.Is the icon in architecture about to disappear?
Love them or loathe them, there are a series of buildings and structures that have become ‘iconic’ around the world - drawing visitors from far and wide and reshaping city skylines. Many argue that these totemic built forms are key to local regeneration as they attract people and money. This is not a wholly new phenomenon but recent success has led to a new wave of marketing language around buildings, where any small flourish of form on a block of flats instantly makes the building an ‘icon’ within its area. We have also see...
2020-06-111h 40
Negroni TalksNegroni Talk #22 - 19th May 2020 Modern Architects Are Rubbish. (Banality II)Modern Architects Are Rubbish.
(Banality II)
Architects are supposedly part of the creative community so why are they so incapable of talking about cities and buildings in an engaging way? Unlike many artists, it is rare for architects to fearlessly pursue new ideas and commit themselves to provoking new ways of living and thinking. Are they too consumed with the making of architecture and the broader implications of their work to figure out a way to talk about it? Do architects need a reality check?
The forces behind new buildings – The Who, The What and The Why – remain unseen, unknown and...
2020-05-281h 52
Negroni TalksNegroni Talk #21 - The Joy Of ArchitectureThe Joy Of Architecture: Does Fun Follow Form, Function Fear & Finance?
Where is the fun in contemporary architecture? As a process, creating buildings seems to revolve around function, finance and fear rather than freeing things up for flexible flights of fancy. To add insult to injury 99% of the time the end product is uninspiring and distinctly average. So do architects actually enjoy what they spend most of their time doing?
Through building we create new realities, and in doing so we have a choice whether we make earthbound Heavens or accidental Hells. In the C21st can architecture be rediscovered...
2020-04-231h 29
Negroni TalksNegroni Talk #20 - 09.03.20. Tinder Tender Procurement LiesProcurement is a pain. For architects seeking work in the public sector, progressive design & building knowledge is often overlooked for the cheapest and quickest means to meet the end. The requisite qualification seems to be held within organisations and methods that are perceived as being ‘risk adverse’ and in those parties who can offer fees that are just crazy small. Part of this problem is how the public sector is required to comply with OJEU standards and the accompanying bureaucracy.
The alliance between private and public bodies, whilst deemed necessary in our current times, remains unperfected and flawed. If a post...
2020-03-111h 25
Negroni TalksNegroni Talk #19 - 10.02.20 Awards: What Are They Good For? Absolutely Nuthin’!Awards: What Are They Good For? Absolutely Nuthin’!
What is the point of Architectural Awards? Is it to win more work? Boost the ego of architects? Share beautiful projects with the general public?
The proliferation of Awards means that they have become something of an industry within an industry and we are all guilty of seeking validation by submitting projects to be judged, despite knowing that more often than not, we will miss out. Why do practices put themselves through this lottery? Meeting an Award’s criteria and putting projects forward for consideration is often costly and the benefits can ofte...
2020-02-191h 30
Negroni TalksNegroni Talk #18 - 28.01.20. Bully For You! Abuse And Architecture.Long hours and low pay are standard, all-nighters are a badge of honour, and leaving on time is derided as lacking the necessary commitment and 'working by the clock’. Why is architecture as a profession so notoriously tough on staff: Is it passion for the craft that piles on the pressure? An old-school macho mentality? Or does it all stem from the competitive unit/crit-system in education?
In turn architects are themselves part of a broader property investment and construction industry that can be combative and confrontational in its pursuit of control and profit such that it can often feel li...
2020-02-031h 35
Negroni TalksNegroni Talk #18 - 28.01.20. Bully For You! Abuse And Architecture.Long hours and low pay are standard, all-nighters are a badge of honour, and leaving on time is derided as lacking the necessary commitment and 'working by the clock’. Why is architecture as a profession so notoriously tough on staff: Is it passion for the craft that piles on the pressure? An old-school macho mentality? Or does it all stem from the competitive unit/crit-system in education?
In turn architects are themselves part of a broader property investment and construction industry that can be combative and confrontational in its pursuit of control and profit such that it can often feel li...
2020-02-031h 35
Negroni TalksNegroni Talk #13 - 24.06.19. Who’s Your Daddy? : Breaking The Class CeilingArchitecture has a difficult relationship with privilege. Everyone knows the profession is not diverse enough, which is not surprising given the fees and the length of time it takes to study. The general public see the image of the architect as aloof but when education was free we saw the rise of the working class architect. Norman Foster describes his childhood on the wrong side of the tracks in Manchester and now he is a global powerhouse. Could someone rise to prominence like this today or is the system rigged for Hooray Henrys and Sloane Rangers?
Young practices are emerging...
2020-01-281h 30
Negroni TalksNegroni Talk #13 - 24.06.19. Who’s Your Daddy? : Breaking The Class CeilingArchitecture has a difficult relationship with privilege. Everyone knows the profession is not diverse enough, which is not surprising given the fees and the length of time it takes to study. The general public see the image of the architect as aloof but when education was free we saw the rise of the working class architect. Norman Foster describes his childhood on the wrong side of the tracks in Manchester and now he is a global powerhouse. Could someone rise to prominence like this today or is the system rigged for Hooray Henrys and Sloane Rangers?
Young practices are emerging...
2020-01-281h 30
Negroni TalksNegroni Talk #14 - 29.07.19. Holidays In The Sun: Climate Petitions And ProtestThe architectural community is very upset about climate change. They have banded together and done a petition and everything. Problem is, all the big name practices that started it are using a hell of a lot of concrete and building beautiful airports and energy-guzzling skyscrapers. Also, some architects went along to Waterloo bridge and joined a protest party but what did it achieve? It’s high time we made a difference as an industry but actions speak louder than words and buildings can make more of a statement than statements alone.
Speakers:
Jan-Carlos Kucharek, RIBAJ (Chair)
Julia Barfield, Marks Barfield
Pa...
2020-01-281h 30
Negroni TalksNegroni Talk #14 - 29.07.19. Holidays In The Sun: Climate Petitions And ProtestThe architectural community is very upset about climate change. They have banded together and done a petition and everything. Problem is, all the big name practices that started it are using a hell of a lot of concrete and building beautiful airports and energy-guzzling skyscrapers. Also, some architects went along to Waterloo bridge and joined a protest party but what did it achieve? It’s high time we made a difference as an industry but actions speak louder than words and buildings can make more of a statement than statements alone.
Speakers:
Jan-Carlos Kucharek, RIBAJ (Chair)
Julia Barfield, Marks Barfield
Pa...
2020-01-281h 30
Negroni TalksNegroni Talk #16 - 30.09.19. Jobs For The Boys? Gender In ConstructionWe’ve had enough of the straight white male dominating the development industry. We need more diversity in leadership positions to invest in the places that will stand the test of time.
Things are beginning to change but from boardroom to building site, investors to interns, the gender imbalance across the built environment is a problem for everyone.
Are we satisfied that only 19% of board members of property industry companies are women? That only 1.3% of BAME groups work in the property industry? Or that 99% of all construction workers are male? Having more diverse decision makers will ensure that past mistakes ar...
2020-01-281h 33
Negroni TalksNegroni Talk #16 - 30.09.19. Jobs For The Boys? Gender In ConstructionWe’ve had enough of the straight white male dominating the development industry. We need more diversity in leadership positions to invest in the places that will stand the test of time.
Things are beginning to change but from boardroom to building site, investors to interns, the gender imbalance across the built environment is a problem for everyone.
Are we satisfied that only 19% of board members of property industry companies are women? That only 1.3% of BAME groups work in the property industry? Or that 99% of all construction workers are male? Having more diverse decision makers will ensure that past mistakes ar...
2020-01-281h 33
Negroni TalksNegroni Talk #15 - 09.09.19. - Hot Gossip: Givin’ As Good As Ya Get!In the information age knowledge is power and architects now seem unwillingly to part with their juicy titbits. Back stories, Chinese whispers and insider information were once regularly traded as part of an intricate network of professional gossip. The act of giving away secrets was generous but architects could often expect information in return but in recent times many practitioners see their peers as competition and architectural opinion seems sanitised as a result. Is this a failing of our times, where gossip can no longer be seen as a catalyst to new ideas, new debates, new worlds?
If you’re no...
2020-01-221h 27
Negroni TalksNegroni Talk #15 - 09.09.19. - Hot Gossip: Givin’ As Good As Ya Get!In the information age knowledge is power and architects now seem unwillingly to part with their juicy titbits. Back stories, Chinese whispers and insider information were once regularly traded as part of an intricate network of professional gossip. The act of giving away secrets was generous but architects could often expect information in return but in recent times many practitioners see their peers as competition and architectural opinion seems sanitised as a result. Is this a failing of our times, where gossip can no longer be seen as a catalyst to new ideas, new debates, new worlds?
If you’re no...
2020-01-221h 27
Negroni TalksNegroni Talk#17 - 04.11.19. - The Crude The Bad And The UglyWhy does British Housing Look So Mean & Nasty?
There is an unattractive truth about British housing: the vast majority of it is really ugly. The built environment industry is very good at heaping praise on innovative, game-changing projects with awards and extensive coverage in the media but in reality these schemes serve the smallest fraction of the population. On top of this, we are a nation obsessed with the outward appearance of our housing and ‘fitting in’ which drives planning conditions and results in mediocre responses to complex settings. And all this taking place during the one of the worst hous...
2020-01-221h 31
Negroni TalksNegroni Talk#17 - 04.11.19. - The Crude The Bad And The UglyWhy does British Housing Look So Mean & Nasty?
There is an unattractive truth about British housing: the vast majority of it is really ugly. The built environment industry is very good at heaping praise on innovative, game-changing projects with awards and extensive coverage in the media but in reality these schemes serve the smallest fraction of the population. On top of this, we are a nation obsessed with the outward appearance of our housing and ‘fitting in’ which drives planning conditions and results in mediocre responses to complex settings. And all this taking place during the one of the worst hous...
2020-01-221h 31
Business of Architecture UK PodcastWhat Happens When You Own A Restaurant, Bar and An Architecture Practice with Fourth SpaceIn this week’s interview I speak with Steve Sinclair, Huw Williams and Paolo Mozzato of Fourth Space about how they have set up a scenario many architects often dream of – owning a restaurant, Ombra on Vyner Street in London and running an architecture practice. In this conversation the Fourth Space gents share the valuable business lessons they have learnt from running a restaurant, how they have utilised the unique environment to nurture client and industry relationships. In this episode you will discover how Fourth Space have: Created a unique Company Culture Used a rest...
2019-04-0142 min