They've broadcast from the city's architectural monuments: atop the Eureka tower, from the sparkling new recital hall in Southbank, from Federation Square. They've even broadcast live from the Venice Biennale.
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On Tuesday night, after a spirited decade talking about great and not-so-great architecture, and interviewing everyone from international design stars like Rem Koolhaas to most of Australia's prominent architects to philosopher Alain de Botton, they'll call it quits.
The Architects debuted on community radio station Triple R in 2004.
Over the 441 shows that aired over a decade, it gathered a wide following among the industry, and among planners, designers and radio listeners interested in design and building.
Almost precisely a decade after their first show, The Architects will broadcast its finale in a live outside broadcast from Riverland, a bar on the Yarra's banks beneath Federation Square.
It's fitting the show ends next to Federation Square, which kicked off Melbourne's renewed recognition as a design city.
The show's three hosts – Stuart Harrison, Simon Knott and Christine Phillips – are all architects. Their show was an attempt to "demystify" the profession, says Harrison, and break down the perception of architects as elitists.
It was an aim that went against the industry's usual approach to marketing, he says: "A lot of architects think the best way the profession can succeed is to keep the conversation internal."
Among the radio show's listeners and guests have been Triple R subscriber and Opposition Leader Matthew Guy, who appeared twice as planning minister.
It has also gathered appearances from international architecture names such as Teddy Cruz and Jean Nouvel. Labor's former planning minister Justin Madden, appeared too, as did Ted Baillieu when Opposition Leader.
Harrison and Knott, who co-founded the show, and Phillips, who joined as a co-host five years ago, have critiqued the works of their architect peers, usually without consequence. "No one has ever threatened to sue us, which is good. We've always been slightly worried about that," says Harrison.
He says that in the decade since the show launched, Melbourne has seen an immense amount of good architecture built, especially public buildings.
Simultaneously, though, from the 1990s on, he says, the city has seen "some very bad residential development", helping to fuel recent debate over residential skyscrapers.
But the city's appreciation of good design has only increased in the past 10 years, he says. "Melbourne has a really sophisticated appetite."
