Tall Stories 490: How renovations stripped Bangkok’s Robot Building of its personality

We meet Dr Gary Yohe, a Nobel Peace prize recipient for his work on the United Nations Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change. Then: we discover the stories behind Britain’s cooling towers, a brutalist structure that once dominated our skylines.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Tomás Pinheiro explains how an act of urban erasure in the Thai capital stole the charm from one of the city’s iconic structures.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Monocle’s editor in chief, Andrew Tuck, rounds up his favourite episodes of ‘Tall Stories’ from 2025.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Monocle’s editor-in-chief Andrew Tuck recalls some of his favourite interviews and reports from the year on ‘The Urbanist’.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

We assess how the design of healthcare facilities can improve not just the experience of treatment but also the neighbourhoods in which these centres stand.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Gregory Scruggs tells us the tale of the oldest existing synagogue in the United States.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

We speak to Jeremy Till and Tatjana Schneider – two of the authors behind ‘Architecture is Climate’ – a new book rethinking the industry and its foundations in an age of ecological crisis.  See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Alexei Korolyov visits an air-raid bunker that has laid empty for decades but is now being brought back to life through art.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

We report from MIPIM Asia in Hong Kong, where delegates from across the APAC region and beyond discussed solutions to meet the rapid pace of urbanisation. Plus: a city reeling from a devastating fire in Tai Po.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Paul Logothetis takes us to an iconic feature of Athens’ urban fabric – covered walkways offering much needed shade and a space for socialising.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.