Episode 272: Designing community-defining precincts with Gray Puksand Senior Associate, John Czechowski
The latest episode of Talking Architecture & Design features John Czechowski, Senior Associtae at Gray Puksand, whose career spans more than three decades of shaping public and multi-use precincts across Australia. Born in Canada and trained at the University of Toronto, with formative studies in Florence and Paris, his practice has stretched from infrastructure and stadia to high-rise living and large-scale master planning.In this conversation, Czechowski reflects on how precincts have evolved from purely functional places into community-defining spaces. He explains the delicate balance between commercial viability, accessibility and cultural identity, stressing the importance of listening to community voices rather than treating consultation as an afterthought. The discussion also explores the unseen decisions that shape the built environment, from long-term material performance and compliance to the role of pathways and in-between spaces that guide how people experience a precinct.Technology, climate resilience and cultural diversity are all pressing forces in design, and Czechowski offers insight into how these will influence the next generation of projects. This podcast is brought to you in association with Moddex, proud sponsors of our 2025 Commercial series of podcasts.
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Episode 271: Dr Caroline Noller on the end of greenwashing and the twilight of unsustainable products in the building industry
Dr Caroline Noller is a qualified quantity surveyor, Climate Active Product assessor, and past, MECLA benchmarking working group Chair, ALCAS board member and EPD Australia board member and holds a phD in the Built Environment.These days Dr Noller provides independent oversight and technical assurance for the Rebuilt Product Carbon Footprint methodology and governance platform. Drawing on her career in life cycle assessment, carbon science, and software innovation, she verifies data integrity and ensures Rebuilt’s outputs align with international standards.In this episode, Dr Noller explains the Brave New World of fully declared and verified clean, green building products.This podcast is brought to you in association with Autex Acoustics, proud sponsors of our 2025 Sustainability series of podcasts.
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Episode 270: Damien Crough & Martin Fenn on the huge opportunities available from Modern Methods of Construction (MMC)
Damien Crough from prefabAus, a recognised leader and advocate for Modern Methods of Construction (MMC) in Australia. As Co-founder and Executive Chairman of prefabAUS, Damien has been instrumental in positioning the organisation as the national peak body for offsite construction. Under his leadership, prefabAUS has grown from a grassroots initiative into a respected and influential voice shaping policy, driving research, and fostering collaboration across government, industry, and academia.We also have Martin Fenn, Chief Delivery Officer at PT Blink, a construction technology company transforming the delivery of multi-storey buildings. He leads the strategic rollout of its rapid-assembly kit-of-parts platform, partnering with developers to accelerate projects, mitigate delivery risk, and generate measurable commercial advantage through innovation.He also serves as the MMC Lead for Oceania with the Chartered Institute of Building (CIOB), the world’s largest professional body for construction management.In this interview, they explain how Modern Methods of Construction (MMC) is the future of a sustainable house building sector in Australia.This podcast is brought to you in association with Moddex, proud sponsors of our 2025 Commercial series of podcasts.
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Episode 269: Hassell's Moonshot - Xavier De Kestelier, Principal, Hassell Studio, on designing on the moon
“Technology is often seen as the answer, but I believe design is the real answer. Technology is there to enable and to empower.”Xavier De Kestelier is a global Head of Design and leader of Hassell’s design technology and innovation team, which sets strategy and advises on the tools and knowledge the international design firm needs to succeed. Both an architect and technologist, Xavier harnesses technology to create more powerful, future-focused design solutions. That means he’s responsible for overseeing Hassell’s work in computational design, building information modelling, visualisation and virtual reality worldwide. Over the past decade Xavier has forged a reputation as an industry leader in the exploration and adoption of parametric design and digital fabrication. Most recently, he was behind Hassell’s concept for a ‘home’ on Mars – part of NASA’s 3D Printed Habitat Challenge.A TED talker and regular speaker at major design and tech events, Xavier is also a director of Smartgeometry, a non-profit, global educational network for computational and digital design specialists.He talks exclusively top Talking Architecture & Design about the future of lunar design.
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Episode 268: City West Housing CEO Leonie King on affordable homes, funding, planning approvals and how to solve our housing crisis
As CEO of City West Housing, Leonie King leads a committed team that develops affordable housing and provide housing services to some 1,600 residents in metropolitan Sydney.In this episode, Leonie King will be talking about affordable homes, funding, planning approvals, land costs, how can we get governmental outcomes for housing, private developers, and community housing providers working together to better to solve our housing crisis & much, much more.This podcast is brought to you in association with AWS, proud sponsors of our 2025 Residential series of podcasts.
Now celebrating its 8th year (Season 9), Talking Architecture & Design is Australia’s first B2B architecture podcast that regularly talks about a range of issues that affect Australia’s architects, building designers and built environment professionals. Run by Australia’s most popular architecture magazine, Architecture & Design, the Talking Architecture & Design podcast gives a regular bite-sized dose of what is important and sometimes what is just plain old interesting to anyone and everyone in the business of building design.
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