In the latest episode of Dezeen Weekly, we give listeners a crash course in parametricism, from its origins to its much-disputed claim of being the most significant architectural style since modernism.

We debate some of the most pressing questions surrounding the movement: Did Patrick Schumacher's association with the style actually torpedo its success? How much agency lies with the architect when using parametric design tools? Would Schumacher ever design an extension for the home of Dezeen editor Tom Ravenscroft? And is parametricism really, as Schumacher claims, the defining style of our time?

Ravenscroft and design editor Jennifer Hahn also break down some of the earliest and most important parametric buildings to know, from the Yokohama International Port Terminal by Foreign Office Architects to Zaha Hadid's Heydar Aliyev Centre in Baku, Azerbaijan.

Is parametricism the defining architecture style of the 21st century?

Dezeen Weekly