The Dreams We Live Inside

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The Dreams We Live Inside: Visions in Glass

Visions in Glass

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Roma Agrawal explores how the built environment shapes us.

Engineer and author Roma Agrawal explores how the built environment shapes us and what we might ask from the architects and designers who make our cities.

What do we ask for and what do we receive from the built environment? Engineer Roma Agrawal explores the ways in which the visions and dreams of architects and designers are experienced, co-created and changed by the people who live in their buildings.

In the first episode of this series, Roma explores our fascination with glass architecture, delving back into the Expressionist manifestos of Paul Scheebart, an early 20th-century writer who imagined an earth covered in cities of kaleidoscopic buildings. Priya Khanchandani (Design Museum) considers what the ubiquity of glass towers means in different parts of the world, and architectural historian Professor Rosemarie Bletter explores the notions of transparency, transformation, functionalism and luxury associated with the material.

We visit The Idea Store on Whitechapel Road in East London. Opened in 2005, the work of Sir David Adjaye, the building’s glass façades were intended to bring visibility and openness, offering the local community a new kind of library experience for the new century. Citizen researcher Eliza Islam and artist Ruhul Abdin describe what The Idea Store means to them and how the building is being used to house a new exhibit to mark the fiftieth anniversary of Bangladesh.

Presenter: Roma Agrawal
Producer: Phil Smith
A Novel production for BBC Radio 4

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Engineer and author Roma Agrawal explores how the built environment shapes us.

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