Category
Design & architecture
The made world, from buildings to objects. Why things look and work the way they do.
In this category
Can 3D-printed and prefab housing fix the housing crisis?
An examination of whether 3D printing and factory-built housing can scale to meet demand or if regulatory and financial bottlenecks remain the true barriers.
12 min
The 15-minute city and the backlash it triggered
The urban-planning idea that daily needs should sit within a short walk or bike ride drew both praise and fierce conspiracy-fueled opposition. Explore what it actually proposes and why it became a lightning rod.
12 min
Hostile architecture and the quiet politics of public space
Spikes on ledges, armrests dividing benches, and sloped surfaces are deliberate design choices about who is welcome. Examine the subtle ways the built environment controls behavior and excludes people.
12 min
Universal design and the curb cut effect
Features created for disabled people — curb cuts, captions, ergonomic tools — routinely end up helping everyone. Explore how designing for the margins quietly improves the built world for all of us.
12 min
Mass timber: building skyscrapers out of wood
Engineered wood is strong enough to raise tall buildings while storing carbon instead of emitting it. Explore how mass timber works and why it could transform one of the world's dirtiest industries.
12 min
How the safety elevator built the modern skyline
Tall buildings were impractical until one overlooked invention — the elevator safety brake — made it safe to stack people high. Trace how a single device reshaped cities into vertical form.
12 min
The Sydney Opera House and the design that nearly sank
A young architect's competition-winning sketch turned into an engineering nightmare of impossible shells, spiraling costs, and political drama — the saga behind one of the world's most recognizable buildings.
12 min
Jane Jacobs vs. Robert Moses and the fight over the modern city
The clash between an activist writer who championed lively neighborhoods and the master builder who wanted to run highways through them shaped how cities everywhere are designed to this day.
12 min
About Design & architecture
Why the made world looks and works the way it does. The stream covers the safety elevator that built the modern skyline, hostile architecture and the politics of a park bench, the curb-cut effect, mass timber skyscrapers, the 15-minute city and its backlash, and the eighty-year fight to make the zipper work. Buildings, objects, and the decisions baked into both.
Fylom episodes are researched and written by AI. Automated checks help catch inaccuracies, but episodes aren't reviewed by a human and AI can still get things wrong. Treat them as a starting point, not a source of record — more in our accuracy disclaimer.