What does home reveal about who we are? Almost everything, it turns out. Join The Modern House co-founder and author Matt Gibberd as he talks to cultural and creative leaders about the most influential space in our lives: home. In each episode, we ask guests to talk about a home of their past; their current living space; and where they would like to end up – revealing what home means to some of our most inspiring public figures. Be prepared for tears, laughter and everything in between. "The ...
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A podcast by Cubitts, The Modern Spectacle Maker. In this series founder Tom Broughton interviews Emotional Utilitarians – practical people with a soft spot for the romantic – and asks them to bring in three functional things they couldn't live without. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
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Tim Ross: the Australian comedian on the life-changing effect of modest, modernist buildings – and tinted moisturiser
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A while back, Tim came to London to perform at the Isokon building in Belsize Park, and I managed to catch up with him to record this podcast. As a small boy in the Seventies, Tim quietly absorbed the lessons of modernist architecture. He remembers accompanying his parents to a dinner party at a modern house, where the sound of laughter reverberate…
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Luke Edward hall: the artist and designer pulls back the curtain to reveal his colourful life story
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Luke has kindly invited us to his house in the Cotswolds, which he shares with his husband, Duncan Campbell, and a pair of enthusiastic whippets. I was intrigued to learn that this modern-day dandy comes from a bog-standard commuter town, and like many of the people I talk to on this podcast, his creative impulses offered a route out of mediocrity.…
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James Lohan: the co-founder of Mr & Mrs Smith on how his first experience of home shaped an obsession with boutique hotels
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This is the first time we’ve recorded an episode in a hotel suite, and that’s because today’s guest knows more about opening doors to glamorous guesthouses than anyone else. James Lohan co-founded the travel company Mr & Mrs Smith with his wife Tamara back in 2003, and since then he’s visited nearly 4,000 hotels in the name of research. James is a …
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Claudia Donaldson: the pioneering editor and creative director on creating a sanctuary at home – and the luxury of pink loo roll
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During her tenure at Nowness, Claudia commissioned the well-known ‘In Residence’ series, which took us inside the homes of the biggest names in design and architecture. Today, I’m meeting Claudia in her beautiful London home to give her a taste of her own journalistic medicine … She tells me about what it was like to grow up in an English prototype…
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Philippe Malouin: the experimental designer on creating with integrity – and the art of upcycling
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Philippe designs everything from furniture to lighting, combining modern geometry with a sense of humour and materials that are built to last. I first met him many years ago, when he was doing some work with my wife, Faye Toogood. We’d turned our bedroom into a makeshift design studio, and Philippe and a few others would come round to make maquette…
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Sumayya Vally: the South African architect on how growing up in a township defined her sense of place
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Today I’m talking to the wonderful Sumayya Vally, founder of the architecture and research practice Counterspace. When in 2020 Sumayya designed the Serpentine pavilion, she joined the ranks of luminaries including Zaha Hadid, Peter Zumthor and Frank Gehry. In 2021, Time Magazine named her one of the ‘100 Leaders of the Future’ and, more recently, s…
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Tim Little: the owner of Grenson footwear on his journey from Adidas ad man to sole trader
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At the time of recording, Tim was knee-deep in building works at home, so I polished up my Chelsea boots for a visit to his London studio. As always, I asked him to describe his life story through the lens of the homes he’s lived in over the years. It was particularly interesting to find out more about his current home, which he bought after seeing…
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Jeremy Lee: the much-loved chef who grew up in a wedge of cheddar
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I first became aware of Jeremy’s food when he was head chef of Terence Conran’s Blueprint Café, which was above the old Design Museum in Shad Thames. Nowadays, of course, he’s in charge of the kitchen at the revered Quo Vadis in Soho. No one seems to have a bad word to say about Jeremy, and Jay Rayner describes him as ‘one of those rare phenomena i…
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Cath Kidston: the floral-obsessed entrepreneur on why life isn’t always a bed of roses
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There’s barely an oilcloth, mug or ironing board cover that hasn’t been embellished with a nostalgic floral print from Cath Kidston. Because of the brand’s ubiquity, it’s easy to forget quite how influential it was when it appeared in the 1990s. What I love about Cath is that she’s living proof you can be a wildly successful entrepreneur whilst als…
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Jonny Gent: music, martinis and mayhem from the founder of Sessions Arts Club
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Today I’m chatting to the swashbuckling artist and restaurateur Jonny Gent. We recorded this episode during a busy lunch service at Sessions Arts Club, Jonny’s inspirational restaurant in Clerkenwell. It’s fair to say that he’d emboldened himself with a few martinis beforehand and what ensued was a conversation that very much represents the man him…
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Akram Khan: the poignant story of a man who found his voice through dance
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Akram’s rich career includes performing at the opening ceremony of the London Olympics, collaborating with artists Anish Kapoor and Antony Gormley, and choreographing tours and videos for the likes of Kylie Minogue and Florence + the Machine. He was awarded an MBE for services to dance in 2005. He kindly invited us to his home last summer and we re…
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Roksanda Ilinčić: the fashion designer’s colourful journey through Belgrade, Britain and Brazil
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I first met Roksanda in 2006. We were selling her flat in King’s Cross, which was unlike anything I’d seen before: a brooding space with cast-concrete worktops, a black resin floor and mirrored lightwells. It had a subterranean lap-pool that was completely black, like a cave, where one could imagine Bruce Wayne practising his backstroke. Roksanda h…
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Kevin McCloud: the Grand Designs presenter takes us behind the scenes of his own life
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Kevin has been a fixture on our tellies for so many years that we feel like we know him. But, actually, I didn’t have a clue about his life story, so this conversation was really interesting for me. He tells me about growing up in what he refers to as an ‘architectural zoo’ of housing from different eras. We talk about his involvement with Footligh…
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Claire Goldsmith, director of Oliver Goldsmith
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In the final episode of the series, Tom speaks to fellow member of the spectacle enthusiast community, Claire Goldsmith. Claire is the great-granddaughter of optical pioneer Philip Oliver Goldsmith, and helmed a new chapter for the spectacles and sunglasses brand he started a century ago. Naturally, Tom and Claire spend quite some time talking abou…
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Rosh Mahtani: the Alighieri founder’s inspiring journey from school outcast to acclaimed entrepreneur
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Rosh is founder of the brilliant jewellery company Alighieri. We discuss her life story through the prism of the homes she’s lived in, from humble beginnings in Zambia to the beautifully designed flat she now owns in Clerkenwell. When Rosh moved to London at the age of eight, she was the only person of colour in her school. She tells me how she’s m…
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Tom talks to Tim Little, owner and CEO of Grenson, shoemakers since 1866. Tom and Tim go head-to-toe on the the tiny details of their respective industries, the sub-millimetre measurements of shoe design (including tangents on Tom’s own foray into bootmaking), and judge each other on their respective eyewear and footwear. Tim also brings in three E…
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Duncan McLeod: the emotional story of an architect whose home is a source of magic and motivation
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I’ve known Duncan for many years now and he’s definitely one of the good guys. We first met when I was commissioned to write a piece for The World of Interiors about the amazing home in west London he shares with his wife, Lyndsay Milne McLeod, and their son, Oban. Duncan’s kindly invited me back to the house to record this episode. He tells me abo…
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A different variety of Emotional Utilitarian, Lally MacBeth of Stone Club and the Folk Archive lives a life resolutely wed to the world of objects. From usual realms of modernist design and architecture, Lally and Tom turn their attention to the powers of standing stones, the allure of church kneelers, and the mystery of horse brasses, among other …
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Jacqueline Rabun: the jewellery designer on why music, meditation and modernism are the cornerstones of life in Los Angeles
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Jacqueline is a jewellery designer whose work I’ve admired for many years, probably because it’s so architectural. As you probably know by now, we try to record these podcasts in the guest’s home whenever possible, and this one is particularly exciting on that front, because Jacqueline lives in a 1960s house perched on a hillside in Los Angeles. As…
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Cubitts founder Tom Broughton speaks to Marie Carlisle, co-founder of bespoke furniture makers Goldfinger, and a veritable Emotional Utilitarian. They discuss the Trellick tower, wood, the crossover of sustainability and luxury, wood, stamp collecting, and wood. Marie brings in a trio of beautifully functional and functionally beautiful things to d…
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Matt Gibberd, co-founder of The Modern House
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Cubitts founder Tom Broughton speaks to his first Emotional Utilitarian, Matt Gibberd, founder of The Modern House. They discuss machines to live in, skull doorknobs, toy cars, modernist mentalities, as well as a trio of functional things Matt has brought in from his life, which he couldn't live without. You can see Matt's selection of objects here…
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Glenn Adamson: the curator on why a New York ‘love shack’ stole his heart
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Glenn's a brilliant curator and writer with a particular interest in craft. If that conjures up an image of lace doilies and crocheted waistcoats, then don't panic! Back in 2011, he put together the amazing 'Postmodernism' exhibition at the V&A in London, which was a riot of Memphis pattern and colour; and more recently, he's co-curated a show call…
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Mary Portas: the queen of the high street’s inspiring journey from homeless orphan to a London townhouse that’s all hers
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Most of us know Mary Portas as a swashbuckling TV presenter with a flame-red bob, but her career away from the screen has been no less remarkable. She did the window displays for Topshop during its heyday and was the creative director of Harvey Nichols when it was immortalised on Absolutely Fabulous. Nowadays, however, she runs her consultancy, Por…
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Skye Gyngell: the chef on how she eats and entertains at home
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Skye Gyngell is an Australian-born chef who has spent much of her career shaping the British food scene. I first became aware of her cooking when I visited Petersham Nurseries’ cafe in Richmond, which she opened in 2004 and later earned it a Michelin star. Nowadays she runs her own beautiful restaurant, Spring, at Somerset House in London, and is t…
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Hans Ulrich Obrist: the celebrated curator on why home has always been a place of artistic discovery
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Hans Ulrich Obrist is the artistic director of the Serpentine Gallery in Kensington, west London, and is universally acknowledged as one of the most important and prolific art curators of our time. When I spoke to him at his office, I discovered a force of nature with an energy unlike that of anyone I’ve met before. His notion of home is also prett…
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Tony Chambers: the magazine editor’s transformative journey from a Liverpool terrace to the Barbican penthouse of his dreams
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Tony’s life story is incredibly inspiring. He began his career at The Sunday Times Magazine, then became the art director of GQ and was later appointed editor-in-chief of Wallpaper*, which arguably defined the design aesthetic of the noughties and taught us all how to live like urbane Scandinavians. We discussed his childhood home in the 1970s – wh…
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Frances Morris: the Tate Modern director on why she returns to her childhood home
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Where does our spirit go when we die? Frances Morris has this question figured out: she will return to the home in which she was born, a Georgian house abreast the Meridian Line in Greenwich. In this deeply personal conversation, Frances explains why her childhood home has such an emotional hold over her. Southeast London has been the backdrop to h…
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India Mahdavi: the interior designer on how a rented apartment provides the stable home a nomadic childhood never could
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Known as the Queen of Colour, India has designed upbeat bars and radical restaurants from Miami to Mexico City. Her Gallery restaurant at Sketch in London became one of the most inspirational spaces of our time, and single-handedly changed the public perception of the colour pink. Last autumn, I hopped on the Eurostar to go and meet her at home in …
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Nick Knight: the iconic photographer on how well-designed spaces make life better
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Nick is a legendary photographer and founder of the influential website SHOWstudio, which has pioneered the use of moving image in fashion. I've come to his London studio to find out more about his incredibly colourful life through the lens of the homes he's lived in. He tells me about growing up in a grandiose apartment in Paris, the impact of his…
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Ruth Rogers: London’s favourite chef on creating an iconic house
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For Ruth Rogers, home is at the very heart of everything. Her legendary London restaurant, the River Cafe, is founded on community, friendship and home cooking. Her iconic house in Chelsea, which she co-created with her architect husband, Richard Rogers, has been the backdrop to family life for forty years and has influenced a generation of homeown…
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What does home reveal about who we are? Almost everything, it turns out, as we have discovered recording conversations with cultural contributors, business innovators and creative luminaires for our new podcast, Homing In, which we are excited to share with you later this week. The show takes over from the previous iteration of our podcast with an …
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Christopher Kane is the fashion designer known for his subversive yet refined clothes. He’s also a charming and chatty Scotsman, with plenty of humour and good stories to go round, including an incident with wild monkeys at an Indonesian resort and his first encounter with Donatella Versace. His top architectural choices in the world, meanwhile, ar…
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Architect Kevin Carmody, co-founder of Carmody Groarke, is joined by Matt Gibberd (and some rather sweet special guests) on location at one of his current projects in the verdant countryside of East Sussex. Just like his archive of work, Kevin’s three favourite spaces are diverse and meticulously designed, from a house that appears to be dissolving…
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Penny Martin is the Glaswegian wordsmith perhaps best known for leading The Gentlewoman’s masthead as editor in chief. Dialling in from her home in Fife, Scotland, where she overlooks the sea, Penny discusses her career climb, including a stint as a tour guide at the Glasgow School of Art, and reveals some of her earliest conversations with her for…
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Eudon Choi is a fashion designer celebrated for his masterful craftsmanship, clean architectural lines and bold colour palette – and his top three living spaces around the world share the same sensibilities as his clothes. Eudon also speaks on the joys of his own home in Shoreditch, and why he finds it more of a challenge to pick colours for his wa…
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Sarah Featherstone is a RIBA award-winning architect, co-founder of practice Featherstone Young, and lecturer at Central Saint Martins. We’re particularly drawn to Sarah’s way of thinking, for when it comes to architecture, she is less interested in bricks and mortar and more in the way in which people inhabit spaces. Listen to the episode now to d…
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3.1 Laura Jackson, Broadcaster and Entrepreneur
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Laura Jackson is a supper-club host, broadcaster and, most recently, founder of homeware marketplace Glassette. She is also known for her love of – and astute eye for – interiors, which makes her well placed to discuss her top three living spaces in the world with our host, Matt Gibberd. Listen to the episode now to discover her choices, tips for c…
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On The Modern House Podcast, our host Matt Gibberd invites design enthusiasts to select their top three living spaces in the world. The guest of this episode is indeed a design enthusiast, but she’s also quite the expert: it’s Margaret Howell. The designer is synonymous with three things in particular: a quintessential Britishness, quality craftsma…
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If you’re a millennial who grew up watching TV in Britain, chances are you’ll remember Reggie Yates from his days as a TV presenter. As the latest guest on our podcast, the writer and director shares his top three favourite living spaces with out host and co-founder Matt Gibberd. Two common threads run throughout Reggie’s choices: the first is Lond…
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2.6 Albert Hill, The Modern House Co-Founder
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This episode our guest is one that’s rather close to home. It’s Albert Hill: who co-founded The Modern House 16 years ago with his childhood friend and our podcast host, Matt Gibberd. Here, the duo sit down at Albert’s workspace in their hometown of Hampshire and reflect on the The Modern House’s journey. Plus, Albert discusses being a collector, h…
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In our latest episode, Clare Wright, co-founder of Wright & Wright Architects, shares her top three living spaces in the world. While Clare’s choices are diverse, there’s one notable theme that neatly ties her selection together. Find out more on The Modern House. You can pre-order Matt Gibberd’s new book A Modern Way to Live via Penguin. Hosted on…
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Our next guest in the chair is designer Jay Osgerby, one half of Barber Osgerby – the innovative design studio he helms alongside his friend and partner Ed Barber – his work spans architecture, interiors, furniture and product design. Jay’s top three living spaces around the world are a testament to his love of – and knack for – experimental design…
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The new series of The Modern House podcast is in full swing. Our next guest is the ever-eccentric, self-confessed fan of maximalism, singer-songwriter Paloma Faith. Unsurprisingly, her top three living spaces in the world are equally eclectic, from a seaside cottage like no other to the whimsical space of an interior designer and even a London nigh…
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2.2 John Pawson, Designer, Special Episode
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Calling all John Pawson super fans and architecture enthusiasts alike: in this special episode, the celebrated architect gives Matt Gibberd a walking tour of Home Farm, his self-designed, countryside residence in the Cotswolds, Oxfordshire. Ever wondered what’s inside John’s pantry? What grows in his orchard? Where he sources his furniture? Listen …
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It’s here: the new series of The Modern House Podcast, in which Matt Gibberd invites architects, designers, artists, and creatives to share their top three living spaces in the world and discuss the timeless design principles that contribute to the success of their choices – from space to light; materials to a connection with nature. Our guest for …
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Next week, we launch a new series of The Modern House podcast, in which we invite architects, designers, artists and creatives to share their top three living spaces around the world. In our second series you can expect conversations with John Pawson, designer Jay Osgerby, singer-songwriter Paloma Faith and more, as we continue to explore the signi…
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1.12 Jeff Taylor, Founder, Courier Magazine
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Courier magazine seeks out stories of people doing things on their own terms. But what about its founder, Jeff Taylor? Find out how he approaches life, work and home on this episode, plus discover what Jeff picked as his top three living spaces around the world. Find out more at The Modern House site. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more…
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How has the global pandemic changed our high streets? Is the future of the local shop looking better or worse after Covid? Hear Ross Bailey, founder and CEO of Appear Here, the ‘Airbnb for retail’, discuss all that and more on this issue of the podcast. Plus, what did Ross select as his top three living spaces in the world? Find out more at The Mod…
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On the tenth episode of our podcast, Simon Allford, co-founder of international architecture practice AHMM and future RIBA president, talks architecture, homes and the power of ‘everyday buildings’. Plus, how has he turned a swimming pool into a living space? And what are his top three living spaces anywhere in the world? Tune in now to find out. F…
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Ab Rogers is the creative director of his namesake design and architecture studio, based in east London. Tune in to hear how a childhood "marinated in design", including site visits to the Centre Pompidou, designed by his father, Richard Rogers, lay the foundation for a career defined by experimentation and a trademark use of bold colours. Find out…
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