The Public Architect 2: Research, Experi...

This is the second episode of our new miniseries 'The Public Architect', an RIBA funded project exploring the past and present of the relationship between the architectural profession and the public. In this episode we spoke to researchers Ruth Lang, Natcha Ruamsanitwong and Patrick Zamarian about the role of research and innovation in post-war public sector architecture, focusing on bodies like the London County Council Architects' Department and the Building Research Station. We were then joined by Rafe Bertram and Professor Flora Samuel to explore the contemporary relationship between architectural research, local government, and the built environment today.

Architectural History is the podcast of the Society of Architectural Historians of Great Britain. This miniseries, The Public Architect, was made possible thanks to funding from the Royal Institute of British Architects. It was hosted and produced by Claire Jamieson and Jess Kelly, with editing by Front Ear Podcasts and production support from Matthew Lloyd Roberts. If you enjoyed this series, please consider becoming a member of the SAHGB to support our work and get access to exclusive content. https://www.sahgb.org.uk/join-renew

Contributors:

Rafe Bertram works on several scales of sustainability in the built environment. Locally, he is an Asset and Sustainability Manager at the London Borough of Enfield, managing Council Housing Energy Efficiency and Retrofit programme across 10,000 homes. Regionally, he sits on the steering group for Warmer Homes London and a panel member of Design South East. Nationally, he chairs the Finance thinktank for the Good Homes Alliance. At a local level, he is a founding director of the community cooperative, Retrofit Kentish Town. He is an Architect, Retrofit Coordinator, Public Practice Alumni and previously a partner at Foster+Partners. He has recently been awarded a Churchill Fellowship to undertake research on Retrofit Economics across Europe. 

Dr Ruth Lang is an architect, curator, and Associate Professor leading the Masters programme at the London School of Architecture. Through her teaching, research and writing, her work explores how contemporary architectural practice can be restructured to more equitably address issues of diversity and the Climate Emergency, using collaborative and transdisciplinary strategies. Her book ‘Building for Change: The Architecture of Creative Reuse was published by gestalten in 2022.

Natcha Ruamsanitwong is a historian of architecture in twentieth-century Britain. She is currently convenor of the SAHGB Women Architectural Historians’ Network and a Trustee of the Construction History Society. She is the author of Leslie Martin and Sadie Speight: Architects of Modern Britain (Lund Humphries, 2026).

Flora Samuel is the Professor of Architecture (1970) and Head of the Department of Architecture at the University of Cambridge. She was formerly Head at the Sheffield School of Architecture.  Her research currently focuses on rural placemaking, inclusive design and housing but she began her career writing about Le Corbusier and the nature of architectural practice. She currently leads Public Map, a major AHRC funded project based in Wales.

Patrick Zamarian is a senior lecturer in architectural design and humanities at the University of Liverpool. His research centres on the role of educational and professional institutions in the history of architecture, specifically in the British Empire. He is the author of The Architectural Association in the Postwar Years (Lund Humphries, 2020) and has published on student networks in interwar Britain, on the role of the Building Research Station in the postwar period, and on architectural education in British India, among other things.