There are numerous podcasts on the built realm worth tuning into across today's audio landscape. Listening to interviews and stories from individuals in the architecture and design field can be an entertaining and effective way to keep your finger on the pulse of prevalent topics and issues, as well as connect with the larger community network. Here are Archtober's four podcast recommendations for when you want a dose of inspiration, education, or even career advice.

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Beverly Willis Architecture Foundation's New Angle: Voice

The Beverly Willis Architecture Foundation (BWAF), founded in2002 by architect Beverly Willis, is a non-profit organization advocating for women’s equity and recognition in the built realm. Its six-episode podcast series New Angle: Voice, launched in 2021, amplifies this mission. Hosted by Cynthia Phifer Kracauer, AIA, it provides a platform for stories and insights centering female leaders, innovators, and thinkers in the industry. Episodes deep dive into the lives of pioneering women, from Julia Morgan (1872-1957), the first woman to attend the architecture program at the Ecole des Beaux Arts as well as receive the AIA Gold Medal, to Anna Wagner Keichline (1889-1943), who designed homes and gathering places in her Pennsylvania community and became one of the first women to practice architecture professionally. Listen here.

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Out of Architecture's Redlines and Tangents

Out of Architecture is a career resource network producing two podcasts that explore the built realm and the diverse career paths and opportunities available to individuals with backgrounds in architecture. In Redlines, episodes aim to unpack issues that often go unnoticed in the architecture industry, featuring anonymous guests who come forward with stories, dilemmas, and questions about the profession. Tangents features interviews with professionals who have transitioned from architecture to other fields, including design, technology, real estate, consulting, and more, showcasing how architectural training (problem-solving, critical thinking, and design skills) can serve as a versatile foundation for creative and innovative career trajectories. Guests share about their personal journeys and their reasons for career shifts. Recent episodes feature Ozzie Gonzalez, Principal and Owner of P3 Consulting, about his journey from architecture into environmental consulting, and Benjamin Llewellyn, who graduated with an architecture degree and transitioned into illustrating for animated television shows. Listen to Tangents here and Redlines here.

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Paola Antonelli and Alice Rawsthorn's Design Emergency

The Design Emergency podcast, spearheaded by Paola Antonelli, Senior Curator of Architecture and Design at the Museum of Modern Art (MoMA) and design critic Alice Rawsthorn, explores the role of design in addressing critical societal issues. From the climate emergency to the refugee crisis, each episode delves into how innovative design is exploring answers to complex problems across health, social inequity, sustainability, and more. The podcast is an extension of the Design Emergency project that started as Instagram Live sessions during the early COVID-19 pandemic, discussing design solutions to pandemic-related challenges. Through interviews with designers, architects, and other visionaries, the series highlights the versatility and power of design as a force for good. Recent interview guests include Anjali Singhvi, Senior Staff Editor for spatial investigations at the New York Times, and Dominique Petit-Frère and Emil Grip, founders of Limbo Accra, a spatial design studio based in Ghana and the US. Listen here.