Andri Snær Magnason - On Time and Water

Hearing Architecture

The Hearing Architecture podcast proudly sponsored by Brickworks, presents Again and Again and Again, a mini-series hosted by Hilary Duff.

Each week, we will bring you interviews and conversations as we seek better ways to understand, harness and deploy the expertise and knowledge of professionals currently within the design community, at home and abroad. Our guests are all experts on circularity within the building industry and share the aim to display that waste is not an accident but the consequence of decisions made at the design stage. Here is our opportunity. We, as designers, have an opportunity to do better.

In this episode, we hear from Andri Snær Magnason. He is not our usual podcast guest as he is not a formally trained architect, yet he has worked alongside them, written for and about them, and comes from a lineage of family involved in the environment, whether built or natural.

I thought that my conversation with Andri would be a good starting point for the publication of my research because he deals with words and facts in a way that we as humans can relate.

His books, projects, presentations, and advocacy all try to convince us of one thing: We need to start connecting to future in an intimate and urgent way.

Today’s discussion focuses less on architecture, and more on our environment as a setting for our future and how and why we care about it.

Andri is a Reykjavik-based Icelandic writer and documentary filmmaker, who navigates the realms of environmental activism, architecture, visual art, music, film, and theatre. He ran in the 2016 Icelandic presidential election, where he passionately advocated on environmental issues. His literary portfolio spans novels, poetry, essays, theatre and children's books, performed and published across more than 40 countries. His 2019 National bestseller, "On Time and Water," delves poetically into the alarming realities of environmental change, approaching the subject as if a shared tale at the dinner table.

Time, particularly in the context of climate change, is a recurrent theme in his work, and he offers an intimate perspective that resonates amidst the overwhelming facts and figures. In our conversation, Andri emphasizes the challenge of connecting people to a future that seems beyond imagination, stressing the need for a more personal understanding of time as a dimension in the face of global changes.

I spoke with Andri back in his office in Reykjavik in August 23, after I had just returned from a hike in the highlands of Iceland to view the now declassified OK glacier, and Andri’s commemorative plaque which we discuss in our recording.

Our interview explores the power of language and its ability to collapse these wide expanses of time into something we can feel, touch and get close to emotionally.

It was a joy to speak about these topics in which architecture slots itself within. Energy, resources, materials, landscape, and time.

This has been Again&Again&Again, a mini-series of Hearing Architecture, proudly sponsored by Brickworks, and made possible with the support of the Alastair Swayn Foundation.

Thank you so much for listening and thank you to our international guest Andri Snaer Magnason for your discussion, your stories and your myths. We join you in the goal of making the future feel intimate, relevant, and in realising the interconnectedness of individuals and loved ones across the unfolding timeline we exist in. We look forward to speaking with you again.

Our sponsor Brickworks also produces architecture podcasts hosted by Tim Ross. You can find ‘The Art of Living’, ‘Architects Abroad, and ‘The Power of Two’, at brickworks.com.au or your favourite podcast platform.

If you’d like to show your support please rate, review, and subscribe to Hearing Architecture in your favourite podcast app. If you want to know more about what the Australian Institute of Architects is doing to support architects and the community please visit architecture.com.au

This is a production by the Australian Institute of Architects Emerging Architects and Graduates Network, in collaboration with Open Creative Studio. The miniseries Again&Again&Again is proudly supported by the Alstair Swayne Foundation. The Institute production team was Madelynn Jenkins, and Claudia McCarthy, and the EmAGN production team was Daniel Moore and Hilary Duff. Music by Blue Dot Sessions released under Creative Commons Licencing.

This content is brought to you by the Australian Institute of Architects Emerging Architects and Graduates Network, in collaboration with Open Creative Studio. This content does not take into account specific circumstances and should not be relied on in that way. This content does not constitute legal, financial, insurance, or other types of advice. You should seek independent verification or advice before relying on this content in circumstances where loss or damage may result. The Institute endeavours to publish content that is accurate at the time it is published, but does not accept responsibility for content that may or will become inaccurate over time.