USModernist Radio - Architecture You Love

Latest Episodes:

#239/Going Up? Elevators with Lee Gray Mar 14, 2022

Show notes

Elevators are essential to any large Modernist building and these days even in massive Modernist houses being built in LA. Joining us to discuss the ups and down of elevators is the Sultan of Schindler, the Oracle of Otis, the Titan of Thyssenkrupp – UNC Charlotte Professor Lee Gray, an expert on vertical transportation and the only fulltime elevator historian in the world!

#238/Gas and Glamour: Ashok Sinha + Musical Guests Tape Five with Henrik Wager Mar 07, 2022

Show notes

Before there were interstates, which was a long long time ago, there were smaller federal highways, often two-lane, that connected the east and west coasts. Route 66 was the most famous. Along the way, you'd find roadside motels, restaurants, and bars lit up with large neon signs highly stylized buildings. Anyone remember when all the Arby's had that 30-foot cowboy hat sign in front of each store? That's the idea. Los Angeles was a hotbed of these buildings as post-WWII optimism generated cool-looking car washes, gas stations, burger joints, diners, bakeries, donut shops, and gas stations. 20 or so years later, they were considered junk, and then the demolitions began. Fortunately, appreciation and preservation for this low-cost unique American glamour has grown and today we talk with architectural photographer Ashok Sinha, author of Gas and Glamour: Roadside Architecture in Los Angeles. Later on, electric swing with Tape Five and Henrik Wager.

#237/Books About Architecture Books: John Hill + Musical Guest Marilyn Scott Feb 28, 2022

Show notes

There have been movies about movies, like Get Shorty, plays about plays, like Midsummer Night's Dream, and now a book about architecture books. Narrowing down the top 100 in architecture is the author of Buildings in Print: 100 Influential and Inspiring Illustrated Architecture Books, John Hill. Later, jazz with Marilyn Scott.

#236/The Perspecta: John O'Neill + DC Hillier + Musical Guest Eden Atwood Feb 21, 2022

Show notes

Joining us today are John O'Neill and DC Hillier, hosts of the new mid-century modern podcast, The Perspecta. Later, stick around for musical guest Eden Atwood, who will leave you … (sigh) … breathless.

#235/Open House New York: Dee Dunn + Pamela Puchalski Feb 14, 2022

Show notes

Many Modernist buildings are located in New York City, but not all of them are open to the public except for one special weekend in the fall. Joining the show on this Valentine's day are Pamela Puchalski and Dee Dunn of Open House New York, the organization that gets hundreds of buildings in the Big Apple to open up. In just a few days, Tom heads out to Palm Springs for Modernism Week 2022. George is already out there interviewing special guests we'll have for you over the spring, summer, and fall. There are still tickets available for events at modernismweek.com but if you can't go this year, hang out with us in 2023.

#234/Wright's Fallingwater / Builders / Funding / Darth Vader House Feb 07, 2022

Show notes

Today we are excited to introduce four really interesting design professionals who got on our radar over the last few months, including architectural historian Catherine Zipf on Frank Lloyd Wright, architect and author Bryan Toepfer on dealing with builders, preservation professional Tim Cannan on his new funding site, and the architect of one of the coolest concept houses in the world, the Darth Vader House in Houston TX, Lynn Spears.

#233/Fabulous Prefab: Gordon Stott + Jared Levy + Greg Leung + Steve Glenn + Yves Béhar Jan 31, 2022

Show notes

The promise and pursuit of successful prefab houses has been going on nearly 100 years. Frank Lloyd Wright tried and it didn't go so well. Sears, the retail store that's hurting these days, had a pretty good run in the early 20th century. For a while, people loved ordering houses right out of the Sears catalog. Later on after WWII, the cult favorite Lustron, well, not so much. There have been more than a dozen firms trying to create a modular home line that people will buy in large-enough numbers. But the idea of getting a well-designed, energy-efficient, affordable factory-built house delivered to your lot and assembled in days or weeks? What's not to like? Today we continue the prefab quest with Connect Homes' Gordon Stott, Jared Levy, and Greg Leung. Then we visit with Steve Glenn, founder and CEO of Plant Prefab and Steve's collaborator, Swiss designer Yves Béhar. Later on, a few minutes with Frank Harmon.

#232/Advice To Architects: Liz Kubany + Iva Kravitz + Mark LePage + Sara Kolata Jan 24, 2022

Show notes

It's not easy being an architect. Make a living running an architecture practice can be tough. Just getting through design school is grueling, and then there's years of internship and employment detailing utility closets - while sitting in a thoughtfully beautiful but completely open office - where everyone can hear and see everything you're saying and doing. Once out on your own, clients who want imaginative design solutions are hard to find, especially in smaller cities. The money is not great. Design isn't enough to sell your work. Standing out in the field of architecture is also who you know, how well you sell, and how well build your brand. We talk today with architecture communications and marketing experts Liz Kubany, Iva Kravitz, Sara Kolata, and Mark LePage.

#231/Modernist Libraries: Architects Louis Cherry + Siv Helene Stangeland Jan 17, 2022

Show notes

Remember when libraries were dark stately places with only books and magazines? Where if you talked at more than a whisper some stern librarian shushed you? No one likes to be shushed! And forget about eating or drinking. While those stately libraries still exist, new libraries have computers, 3d printing, video production, and even lattes. New construction is almost always modern, with naturally lit rooms replacing those dark bookstacks. Libraries have become community centers, voting centers, and social services centers, too. Joining us are two well-known Modernist library architects, Raleigh North Carolina's Louis Cherry and from Oslo Norway, architect Siv Helene Stangeland.

#230/Architecture Documentaries of 2021 + Special Musical Guest Storm Large Jan 10, 2022

Show notes

This is the fifth year USModernist Radio has covered the New York Architecture and Design Film Festival, if by festival you mean mostly online and by New York you mean all over the world. Every year, producers, experts, stars, and creators gather to premiere their latest architecture and design documentaries, and this past year with COVID subsiding, but still concerning, Executive Director Kyle Bergman had a hybrid schedule of virtual and in-person screenings. Today, George talks with people behind three of those documentaries, Nico Weber of Inside Prora, Lauren Levine of Unity Temple: Frank Lloyd Wright's Modern Masterpiece, and Nathan Eddy of Battleship Berlin. Later on, a special musical guest, Storm Large.

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