Welcome to Studio G’s Article Roundup blog series where we share what our team is reading. For those who prefer to listen and learn during your commutes or while on the treadmill we’ve got podcasts for you.

We’d love to hear your opinion about our recommendations and what you have reading or listening to, so leave a comment or two.

After rising for 100 years, electricity demand is flat. Utilities are freaking out.

David Roberts – Vox

After a century of constant growth in energy demand, demand for electricity has become stagnant in the wake of the Recession. Even though GDP has grown (energy demand traditionally has a tight correlation to GDP), energy demand has flatlined. While Climate Change might sometimes seem so big and hard to combat, it is nice to see all the little things we do start to have big effects.

Bijlmer (City of the Future, Part 1) / Blood, Sweat & Tears (City of the Future, Part 2)

Katie Mingle, Producer – 99% Invisible

The 99% Invisible podcast episodes are bite-sized explorations of ‘the unnoticed architecture and design that shape our world.’ This two-part City of the Future podcast explores Bijlmer, a Dutch social housing project of epic ambitions, fairly complex failing and an interesting evolution.

In the Desert

PJ Vogt – Reply All

Reply All is a podcast that examines the effects of the internet on everyday life, but in a charming, interesting and human way that provides hours of thought-provoking enjoyable listening. With over 100 episodes, #53 is a good place to start. It has a wonderful exploration of the liminal consequences of digital space and physical space meeting each other.  It is also a great story of people’s lives and a detective adventure all in one.

Don’t give up on community meetings. Make them better!

Sara Cantor Aye – Raising Places / Greater Good Studio

Community Engagement is a BIG part of what we do at Studio G Architects. It is important to look at this part of the design process as a tool to achieve the best outcome for all project stakeholders. This article provides a framework to make community engagement a great experience for all involved.

Architecture and Education

Adam Wood + Emma Dyer

This new blog was brought to the attention of one of our designers who is interested in how school design is examined internationally. According to the blog, “School design arranges people in space and time as well as how, where and when they relate to each other. Of course, students and staff may choose not to follow these arrangements and we are keen to hear about the spaces and places that people create and make meaningful. Architecture and education are inevitably social and political practices – rather than shrink from that, we hope this site will provide ways to understand the complexities of lived school design.”