The Better Architecture Podcast

15/04/2024

Episode 7 of season 2 of The Better Architecture Podcast, titled Design Media India '24 ed. is live. Listen to the episode now: https://bit.ly/BetterArchTalks_S02E07

Tanya Khanna, Founder - Epistle talks about strategic communications in the built environment in this episode of the talks. Listen on to know her views on how content has evolved in the AEC sector and discussions on lot of the contemporary issues of the media sector in the architecture industry.

Follow our media handles at /BetterArchTalks.

09/04/2024

Episode 6 of season 2 of The Better Architecture Podcast, titled Design Media India '24 ed. is live. Listen to the episode now: https://bit.ly/BetterArchTalks_S02E06

Shiny Varghese ( )talks about the status of the representation of built environment in the mainstream media in India today. Listen on to get important points on the entrypoints for the mainstream media in the country, and how she advices prospective candidates to approach the entrypoints.

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02/04/2024

Episode 5 of season 2 of The Better Architecture Podcast titled Design Media India '24 ed. is live. Listen to the episode now: https://bit.ly/BetterArchTalks_S02E05

Apurva Bose Dutta lays out architectural writing in the current context for my audience. Listen to the episode to learn why she expresses the need for fluidity in 'design media' while reminding the fraternity to be mindful of the content it produces and call it 'architecture journalism'.

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22/03/2024

Episode 4 of season 2 of The Better Architecture Podcast, titled Design Media India '24 ed. is live. Listen to the episode now: https://bit.ly/BetterArchTalks_S02E04

MAli's gets candid about the power of and small actions. He isn't someone who minces with his words. Or, his ! Listen to learn about how he focuses on simplicity when making his pieces and how simple narratives can do wonders!

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19/03/2024

"It's very difficult to understand how mediums do the strange dance of making an appearance and disappearing... " Rahul Saini talks about how mediums have come and gone and how it's hard to predict what's coming ahead!

Listen to the episode now: https://bit.ly/BetterArchTalks_S02E03

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18/03/2024

"Critique is not necessarily a negative thing."

Rajesh Advani of ArchitectureLive talks about the multiple lenses through which a building can be experienced. He carefully considers our current practice of upholding and discussing what the architect says about his/her creation!

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18/03/2024

Episode 3 of season 2 of The Better Architecture Podcast, titled Design Media India '24 ed. is live. Listen to the episode now: https://bit.ly/BetterArchTalks_S02E03

Rahul Saini's realistic advice to all who want to establish themselves as authors comes from his intense years of grinding with writing and publishing. Listen to his perspective on how to make a career out of writing books and the barriers one needs to cross to get there. This would be a great listen for all the in the country!

Follow our media handles at /BetterArchTalks.

Listen to this episode from The Better Architecture Podcast on Spotify. Season 2: Design Media India '24 ed. Ep. 03: Keep Writing!, Rahul Saini Rahul spills the beans on how to approach life as a writer as a designer/architect and shares some sweet and hard truths. He also sheds light on how the var...

12/03/2024

"As a publisher or a media house, if we just keep on publishing what architects send us or ask us to publish, our souls would die out. ... Don't measure the worth of your project with the fact that only if it is published, it is good." Says Rajesh Advani founder of ArchitectureLive in episode two of the talks!

Listen to the episode now: https://bit.ly/BetterArchTalks_S02E02

Follow our media handles at /BetterArchTalks to receive episode updates and snippet notifications!

08/03/2024

Episode 2 of season 2 of The Better Architecture Podcast, titled Design Media India '24 ed. is live. Listen to the episode now: https://bit.ly/BetterArchTalks_S02E02

Rajesh Advani's experience brings candor to this conversation. He reminds the media fraternity to step out of the standard architect-led narrative that has flooded the market. Listen on to learn his perspective on the absence of critical media in the built environment as well as the necessity to embrace alternate and innovative forms of content. This would be a great listen for my colleagues in the media domain now; some great pointers await.

Hosted by Shubhayan M. Follow our media handles at /BetterArchTalks.

Listen to this episode from The Better Architecture Podcast on Spotify. Season 2: Design Media India '24 ed. Ep. 02: Criticality 404, Rajesh Advani Rajesh's experience brings candor to this conversation. He reminds the media fraternity to step out of the standard architect-led narrative that has flo...

07/03/2024

"So, are we willing to look at ourselves in the mirror, the media, in a much more critical, harder way? ... Running the danger of being rejected wholesale by the same class that currently controls the fraternity?" Says Rohan Shivkumar in episode one of season two of The Better Architecture Podcast!

Listen to the episode now: https://bit.ly/BetterArchTalks_S02E01

Follow our media handles at /BetterArchTalks to receive episode updates and snippet notifications!

06/03/2024

If you're imagining that making documentary films is going to be enough to sustain a family right now, it's gonna be a difficult thing to do. Says Rohan Shivkumar in episode one of the talks!

Listen to the episode now: https://bit.ly/BetterArchTalks_S02E01

Follow our media handles at /BetterArchTalks to receive episode updates and snippet notifications!

05/03/2024

The mirror's role as a media is really to be able to show the truth of who you are, and challenge you to do better. I have a feeling that, unfortunately, in India, that hasn't happened! - says Rohan Shivkumar in episode one of the talks!

Listen to the episode now: https://bit.ly/BetterArchTalks_S02E01

Follow our media handles at /BetterArchTalks to receive episode updates and snippet notifications!

01/03/2024

Episode 1 of season 2 of The Better Architecture Podcast, titled Design Media India '24 ed. is live. Listen to the episode now: https://bit.ly/BetterArchTalks_S02E01

Rohan Shivkumar gets candidly surgical while discussing the status of media and communications in the architecture industry in the country in the first episode of this season. Listen on to know his viewpoint on how he believes that media should be acting as a mirror for self-introspection and self-check, and his cautions on what's happening otherwise in India.

Follow our media handles at /BetterArchTalks.

29/02/2024

Season 2 of The Better Architecture Podcast, titled Design Media India '24 ed. is live. Listen to the prologue now: https://bit.ly/BetterArchTalks_S02E00

This season brings to you, twenty-four guests from the umbrella of in , , , and . This prologue sets the context for the season. Why ? You get your answer here. The prologue also sets a relevant tone—listen to the episodes with an open and accepting mind and heart!

Follow our media handles at /BetterArchTalks.

29/02/2024

Launching officially, season two of The Better Architecture Podcast, Design Media India '24 ed. Twenty-four episodes for 2024!

Today marks the release of a project that started in my mind around December 2020. Three years and a few months later, the project has only grown larger and has culminated in a set of twenty-four crisp discussions that serve as entry points into the research about 'Media Studies as a discipline in ACED'. ACED being , , , and .

I am proud, happy, overjoyed, and elated to introduce to my audience, the guests for season two. They are, in order of interviews conducted:
Rohan Shivkumar, filmmaker and dean, KRVIA
Rajesh Advani, founder, ArchitectureLive
Rahul Saini, author and Youtuber
MAli's, Mahafuj Ali, comic artist & landscape architect
Apurva Bose Dutta, author, architectural journalist, curator, editor, educator
Shiny Varghese, journalist, The Indian Express
Tanya Khanna founder, Epistle
Anuj Kale, founding partner, Leewardists
Suneet Paul, former editor-in-chief, A+D, BurdaLuxury
Saurabh Suryan, photographer, creative director, Suryan//Dang
Abhishek Bhaskar, beatboxer & MC, principal, DERT Lab
Dhwaj Shah founder, Buildofy
Mridula Sharma founder & former editor-in-charge, Livingetc
Nisha Nair Gupta, founder, The People Place Project
Gauri Bharat, lecturer, CEPT University
Mrinalini Ghadiok, design culturist, architect, curator, writer
Kedar Nimkar, host, Audiogyan
Ruturaj Parikh, partner, Studio Matter
Vertica Dvivedi, founder, WADE ASIA -Women in Design Architecture Art Construction Engineering
Gita Sarma Balakrishnan, founder Ethos Empowers
Sagar Saoji, founder, f.y.i arch
Kaiwan Mehta, editor, Domus India
Amit Gupta, founder & editor-in-chief, STIR
Srivathsan A., executive director, CEPT University

The host of this podcast, Shubhayan M extends his heartfelt gratitude and thanks to all of the guests this season. Episodes drop every Friday, with the prologue of this season already released.

Listen to Season 2 Prologue here: https://bit.ly/BetterArchTalks_S02E00

A big thanks to Descript for making life easy!

19/09/2022

Koi bhi dhanda chota nahi hota hai. Aur, dhande de bada koi dharam nahi hota hai.

S01E05 out now!
Oh it’s great to be back! I do apologize that it took me a year and a half to publish the season finale for Diversify Please! But, I’m not sorry about it – I was saving my own ass before I could ask others to save theirs!
The last episode takes one final attempt at explaining why diversifying out of architecture is perfectly okay, and is possibly, necessary a step for the overall ecosystem to continue rolling smoothly. This one is calm, and for one last time in this season, asks all those who want to – to move out of core architecture practice.

Listen to the episode: https://bit.ly/BetterArchTalks_S01E05

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Listen to this episode from The Better Architecture Podcast on Spotify. Oh it’s great to be back! I do apologize that it took me a year and a half to publish the season finale for Diversify Please! But, I’m not sorry about it – I was saving my own ass before I could ask others to save theirs! ...

18/05/2021

S01E04 out now! Let us break the notions of starchitecture and get back to being what we are, professionals who build! Let us ditch the celebrity culture, because when F.L. Wright said that “Architects are Prophets”, he was wrong. By a huge huge margin. Let us get these notions of stardom out of our heads!
Listen to the episode: http://bit.ly/Betterarchtalks_s01e04
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Listen to this episode from The Better Architecture Podcast on Spotify. The very first season of the talks titled “Diversify Please” discusses in details, the necessity of architects to diversify when it comes to professional choices! In the fourth episode of this season titled “Pritzker Trap....

10/05/2021

S01E03 out now! If you’ve ever been paid less for your work, this is for you. If you’ve ever been told that you’re making up on experience what you’re lacking in pay, this is for you. If you’ve ever been advices to “just be passionate, and not think of money’, dear brother, this is for you. We all have been a victim of the Kid Conundrum, we all have been forcibly given the Passion Pill to ingest, and we all know what that means. If, dear brothers and sisters, this industry has ever exploited you, this is for you.
Listen to the episode: http://bit.ly/Betterarchtalks_s01e03
Follow The Better Architecture Podcast for more!

Listen to this episode from The Better Architecture Podcast on Spotify. The very first season of the talks titled “Diversify Please” discusses in details, the necessity of architects to diversify when it comes to professional choices! In the third episode of this season titled “Kid Conundrum.....

19/04/2021

Continuing with the discussions where I am trying to extensively focus on the alternate career options that a B.Arch degree holder has after graduation: Let us understand that its in no way, a bad thing if you want to move out of this stream and go do something else.

All of us have, in some point of the journey felt this overwhelming urge to just abandon everything, and leave. To refresh, and restart. If you’re saying you haven’t, you’re lying. You’re a human, and this is psychology. There is a word that exists in th English vocabulary for what we all have felt, at one point or another - drapetomania. Meaning ‘the mad urge to run away’. It might be the overpowering night before a design submission, or the depressing moments when that rowdy external just roasted the life out of your work, or worse even, when your client wants you to change the design for the n’th time - we all have been through this, and we all know how it feels. And, its okay to submit to this desire, its okay to ‘feel this urge to move away’, you’re not a deceiver if you want out. Look at the scores of people with a engineering degree, doing jobs that have no connection with their field of study. The same applies for all of us. So, don’t get into that guilt trip.

How? Plan it out in advance. Work for it. Get to the last detail. This and more in the current episode! Listen to S01E02: https://spoti.fi/2Q9uGTf.

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19/04/2021

Continuing with the discussions where I am trying to extensively focus on the alternate career options that a B.Arch degree holder has after graduation: Let us understand that its in no way, a bad thing if you want to move out of this stream and go do something else.

All of us have, in some point of the journey felt this overwhelming urge to just abandon everything, and leave. To refresh, and restart. If you’re saying you haven’t, you’re lying. You’re a human, and this is psychology. There is a word that exists in th English vocabulary for what we all have felt, at one point or another - drapetomania. Meaning ‘the mad urge to run away’. It might be the overpowering night before a design submission, or the depressing moments when that rowdy external just roasted the life out of your work, or worse even, when your client wants you to change the design for the n’th time - we all have been through this, and we all know how it feels. And, its okay to submit to this desire, its okay to ‘feel this urge to move away’, you’re not a deceiver if you want out. Look at the scores of people with a engineering degree, doing jobs that have no connection with their field of study. The same applies for all of us. So, don’t get into that guilt trip.

How? Plan it out in advance. Work for it. Get to the last detail. This and more in the current episode! Listen to S01E02: https://spoti.fi/2Q9uGTf.

Follow The Better Architecture Podcast for more!

19/04/2021

Continuing with the discussions where I am trying to extensively focus on the alternate career options that a B.Arch degree holder has after graduation: Let us understand that the five years you invested is in no way, an all-exclusive package that only gives you access to the core architecture practice loop. The world today is becoming increasingly ‘design’ systems oriented. And it goes without much saying that it shouldn’t be very hard a job for an architecture graduate to find his/her desired niche in this ecosystem, conditions applied of course.

Options at hand will vary individually though. A junior year B.Arch student will have more freedom to choose from a range of alternatives than a fresher, who, in turn, has more flexibility than a young architect who has spent a couple of years working. However, it’s not just the options at hand but also the acumen and presence of mind that matters, as such, experience gives a candidate it’s own sweet advantage in the journey of diversifying away from the mainstream. The more diverse your experience, the more adventure it becomes. Venturing away from the mainstream, I mean. Our acquired skillsets like design thinking and problem solving abilities only gives us the added edge in this world of competitive standoffs.

How? Plan it out in advance. Work for it. Get to the last detail. This and more in the next episode! Listen to S01E01: https://spoti.fi/3csx685.
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19/04/2021

Most, or many have come across this statement - “architecture ain’t a profession, it’s a lifestyle”. Let’s discuss this today!

This is said mostly by professors taking classes in the junior years, before the actual kicks in, before the studios go all dark and murky, with professors issuing redos and the situation becomes one of repute and vengeance. 🙂
Perhaps that’s why, by the time we graduate as grumpy young humans who get agitated at every ill designed space and get frustrated daily, we tend to forget that there is a world outside. Outside of this perfectionist zone, there exist economies, businesses, livelihoods and systems that are n times larger than the systems we are but a humble part of.
Let us re-remember that professor’s word who was an inspiration to us in our junior years. Architecture is a lifestyle, much like the army, or the military is! Let us embrace it like that!

Listen to the episode: https://spoti.fi/3csx685.
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20/03/2021

It's finally here! Listen to the episode: http://spoti.fi/392OwpY
This episode sets the foundation for what The Better Architecture Podcast aims to become, or rather, achieve in the larger context of the architecture profession and its dynamics. This episode also is a call to action for all the young architects out there. Come, be a part of this structured discussion, and together, let's try to solve some of the problems ourselves! Follow our handles please:
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/BetterArchTalks/
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/betterarchtalks/
Twitter: https://twitter.com/betterarchtalks/
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/betterarchtalks/
Do listen to the episode, follow the handles and help get a bit of buzz, and please, do comment. I mean, criticize if you feel, but, engage!
Note: Our host Shubhayan M is a novice audio-maker, and the recording will feel unprofessional as he's barely a beginner, but he's learning fast. Well, the maximum focus is on content, and critical thought, so... apologies for that!
Show some love! Cheers!

18/03/2021

It's hard work after a grinding day, but, it's coming back to home, to architecture.
Making audio is way more harder than making video. I know this, feel this, understand, accept, and acknowledge it. And yet, in today's context, for what The Better Architecture Project is aiming to achieve, a podcast feels perfect.
Work in progress. Dropping soon!