'Dream Builders' returns to on BBC World Service with a new season

MUMBAI: From Manhattan to Hong Kong the world is being reshaped by leading globally renowned architects - but what is their vision for the cities and buildings we inhabit?

?Dream Builders? returns to the BBC World Service on 9 June with a new four-part series featuring architects in conversation to discover their vision for our world.

Recorded at the Royal Institute of British Architects in London, Razia Iqbal talks to four of the most influential and important architects of today, discussing their work, their inspirations and the controversies they have aroused.

During the series, Iqbal and her audience will be in conversation with Daniel Libeskind, Norman Foster, Santiago Calatrava and Zaha Hadid.

In the first programme one, Iqbal talks to acclaimed architect Daniel Libeskind, whose first building was the Jewish Museum in Berlin. Shortly after it opened he won a fierce competition to rebuild the most valuable and most politically charged piece of real estate in the world, Ground Zero in New York. It propelled him into the architectural stratosphere and was an experience that changed him utterly. He tells Iqbal of the twist and turns in his extraordinary career, discusses the projects that have made him and the adventures he has had along the way.

BBC World Service commissioning editor Steve Titherington said, "This is an age where people around the world can see the work of leading architectures appearing in every continent - but what sort of built environment do the world?s dream builders want us to inhabit? Radio is a great medium to discuss the aims, the traditions and beliefs behind the great architectural visions of our age. Through this exciting partnership with Riba we have a compiled a unique collection of interviews which we hope will command global interest."

Riba president Angela Brady said, "The Royal Institute of British Architects is delighted to partner with the BBC on the Dream Builders series. Every building has a creative story and team behind it - the challenges and opportunities that have shaped its design and construction - and the more stories we know, the better we understand our environment. Razia Iqbal?s expert questioning reveals the personalities, influences and inspiration that drives the world?s most renowned architects to create exceptional buildings. The Dream Builders series is an insightful and important historical record."