{"podcast":{"title":"Design Emergency","slug":"design-emergency-5826807","podcast_index_feed_id":5826807,"rss_url":"https://feeds.acast.com/public/shows/6376036839b22e00111c4121","website_url":"https://www.instagram.com/design.emergency/?hl=en","image_url":"https://assets.pippa.io/shows/cover/1668678490381-f05c1a3801c41a2e85f471d90025b9ca.jpeg","author":"Alice Rawsthorn and Paola Antonelli","episode_count":54,"summary":"Welcome to Design Emergency, where the design curator Paola Antonelli and design critic Alice Rawsthorn will introduce you to the inspiring and ingenious designers whose success in tackling major challenges – from the climate emergency and refugee crisis, to ensuring that new technologies affect us positively, not negatively – gives us hope for the future. Follow our Instagram @design.emergency to see images of all the design projects described in each episode. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.","last_synced_at":null,"page_url":"https://stenobird.com/podcast/design-emergency-5826807"},"episode":{"title":"Beatriz Colomina and Mark Wigley on Biotic Architecture","slug":"beatriz-colomina-and-mark-wigley-on-biotic-architecture","published_at":"2026-02-04T10:37:26+00:00","page_url":"https://stenobird.com/podcast/design-emergency-5826807/beatriz-colomina-and-mark-wigley-on-biotic-architecture","show_page_url":"https://stenobird.com/podcast/design-emergency-5826807","url":"https://shows.acast.com/design-emergency/episodes/69832166f93f63c13a148740","audio_url":"https://sphinx.acast.com/p/open/s/6376036839b22e00111c4121/e/69832166f93f63c13a148740/media.mp3","summary":"Architecture has long treated bacteria as an enemy to be controlled—dangerous foreign agents to be sealed out, sterilized, or erased. In their new book,  We the Bacteria: Notes Toward a Biotic Architecture , architecture historians and curators  Beatriz Colomina  and  Mark Wigley  turn that assumption inside out (literally,) arguing that architecture should not be bent on shielding and isolating humans from their invisible partners through hygiene protocols, ventilation, materials, light, and other forms of management and control. Buildings should instead be shaped by microbes as they have been for centuries, and humans should reconsider their role as participants in a much larger biological collective. In this conversation with Paola, Beatriz and Mark explore how bacteria offer a radical lens through which to reinterpret architectural history and design practice. Rather than asking how architecture can protect us from microbes,  We the Bacteria  asks what it means to design for coexistence, and what political, ethical, and spatial fantasies are exposed when the dream of separation finally collapses. You can find images related to this interview on our Instagram grid @design.emergency. Please join us for past and future episodes of  Design Emergency , where we continue to speak with designers, scholars, and thinkers who are reimagining what design is for—and who it is really designed with. Design Emergency is supported by a grant from the Graham Foundation for Advanced Studies in the Fine Arts. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.","meta_description":"Architecture has long treated bacteria as an enemy to be controlled—dangerous foreign agents to be sealed out, sterilized, or erased. In their new book,&n…","key_points":[],"chapters":[],"topics":[],"duration_seconds":2266,"processing_state":"not_requested","actions":[{"name":"request_transcript","method":"POST","url":"https://stenobird.com/v1/public/podcasts/design-emergency-5826807/episodes/beatriz-colomina-and-mark-wigley-on-biotic-architecture/transcription-requests","description":"Idempotently request low-priority transcript generation for this episode."},{"name":"read_markdown","method":"GET","url":"https://stenobird.com/podcast/design-emergency-5826807/beatriz-colomina-and-mark-wigley-on-biotic-architecture.md","description":"Read the agent-friendly Markdown representation of this episode resource."}]}}