Shows
USModernist Radio - Architecture You Love#429/USModernist Radio Retro: The Ferris Buehler HouseWe've dug into the podcast vault to bring back a show from the first year of USModernist Radio. One of the best 80s films is Ferris Bueller's Day Off. Here's the plot: near the end of the school year, high school senior Ferris Bueller (played by Matthew Broderick) fakes being sick to stay home. His parents believe him, though his sister Jeanie (played by Jennifer Grey, the baby you don't back into a corner) is not convinced. Ferris persuades his best friend Cameron (Alan Ruck) to help lure Ferris' girlfriend (Mia Sara) out of school and let them use h...
2025-11-0336 minUSModernist Radio - Architecture You Love#423B/You're Invited! An Exciting Cocktail Party and a Jazz BrunchTom shares exciting details of Moon Over Modernism, a benefit cocktail party Saturday, October 11, in Raleigh NC. The next weekend, we'll host a jazz brunch a special Gates and Ford house in New Canaan CT. Tickets for both: www.usmodernist.org/tours.
2025-09-2401 minUSModernist Radio - Architecture You Love#416/Sam Lubell + Sarah Broughton + John Rowland + Musical Guest Taurey ButlerWelcome to USModernist Radio, where we talk and laugh with people who enjoy, own, create, dream about, preserve, love, and hate Modernist architecture, the most exciting and controversial buildings in the world. It's Monday, August 4, and we've got prolific architecture author Sam Lubell, Colorado architects Rowland and Broughton, and musical guest Taurey Butler. Plus, a new addition for the USModernist Archives - we're taking on architecture podcasts that stopped producing new episodes - and preservation websites that have vanished.
2025-08-0455 minUSModernist Radio - Architecture You Love#415/Charles Phoenix + Barton Jahncke + Tiki with Peter Moruzzi and Sven KirstenFrom the swanky USModernist compound in Palm Springs during Modernism Week 2025, it's a full schedule of poolside guests. We've got pop culture historian Charles Phoenix, the Craig Ellwood Whisperer Barton Jahncke, and authors Peter Moruzzi and Sven Kirsten on the most fun you can have in a brightly colored Polynesian shirt - tiki bars.
2025-07-281h 11USModernist Radio - Architecture You Love#413/Daughters Of Design Saarinen Bertoia Eames + Phillip Cox and Niall Cronin + Special Musical Guest Ari ShapiroRecorded poolside at the swanky USModernist compound during Modernism Week 2025, this week we're hanging with the Daughters of Design: Susan Saarinen, Celia Bertoia, and Carla Hartman. Back in the studio, authors Phillip Cox and Niall Cronin on architect Evans Woollen, and later, a well-known NPR host who's toured with Pink Martini, special musical guest Ari Shapiro.
2025-07-141h 10USModernist Radio - Architecture You Love#411/All About Mies with Iveta Cerna + Dirk Lohan + Max Strang on Gene LeedyFrom poolside at the swanky USModernist compound during Modernism Week, we're all about two architects: Chicago's Mies van der Rohe with guests Iveta Cerna, director of the Villa Tugendhat in Brno, Czech Republic; and Mies's grandson, architect Dirk Lohan. Later on, we'll hear from Max Strang, archivist of Gene Leedy and his impressive Florida architecture.
2025-06-3048 minUSModernist Radio - Architecture You Love#407/Men About Town: Christopher Kennedy + Kip Serafin + Kurt CyrFrom poolside at the swanky USModernist compound in Palm Springs, today's guests are the three distinguished men about town. Need a midcentury sofa in green tomorrow? How about a tour for 25? Or a private cocktail party at the Dinah Shore house? Who are you gonna call? As the expression goes, we got a guy, actually three guys, who make these wonderful kinds of things happen.
2025-06-021h 08USModernist Radio - Architecture You Love#403/Steve Treinen + James Cioffi + Helen Thompson + Musical Guest Champian FultonFrom poolside at the swanky USModernist compound in Palm Springs during Modernism Week 2025, we will meet Steve Treinen, with a new book on the Indian Canyons area in Palm Springs, plus Palm Springs architect James Cioffi, who sheds light on a pervasive myth. Back in the studio, we'll hear from author Helen Thompson on Aspen plus lovely tunes from musical guest Champian Fulton.
2025-05-051h 11USModernist Radio - Architecture You Love#401/DOCOMOMO's Liz Waytkus + Photographer Andrew Pielage + Architect Paul McClean + Musical Guest Laura AngladeFrom poolside at the swanky USModernist compound in Palm Springs during Modernism Week 2025, we'll talk to Liz Waytkus, Executive Director of DOCOMOMO-US and photographer-on-a-quest Andrew Pielage. Back in the studio, we'll hear from LA's architect to the stars, Paul McClean and musical guest Laura Anglade.
2025-04-211h 27USModernist Radio - Architecture You Love#400/Ten Years of USModernist Radio! Highlights ShowSince launching the podcast ten years ago in 2015, hosts George Smart and Tom Guild have had fascinating conversations with over 700 guests, including architects, owners, media, critics, authors, actors, and jazz performers. USModernist Radio is one of America's top-rated architecture and jazz podcasts, ranked in the past as #1 by Atomic Ranch and #2 by Dwell. The 400th episode features interviews with actress and Modernist preservationist Kelly Lynch and architecture critic Kate Wagner; the return of comedian Frank King; and special musical guest, Heather Rigdon. It will also include highlights from past episodes, including interviews with Bjarke Ingels; the last living Frank Ll...
2025-04-141h 24USModernist Radio - Architecture You Love#399/The Palm Springs School: Alan Hess + Janice Lyle + Sidney Williams / Russell Brown + Tom Lazarus / Musical Guest Colleen Duffy of Devil DollFrom poolside at the swanky USModernist compound in Palm Springs, three stars of the Modernist movement, Alan Hess + Janice Lyle + Sidney Williams, discussing what's become known as the Palm Springs School of Modernism and an accompanying new book. From the studio, Russell Brown and Tom Lazarus on their recent stage play called LISTING, plus returning musical guest Colleen Duffy of Devil Doll.
2025-04-071h 02USModernist Radio - Architecture You Love#382/Bottoms Up: David & Jason Annecy + SHAG + Amy the Barware Lady!The town of Lancaster OH is famous as the birthplace of David Graf, best known as Sgt. Eugene Tackleberry in the Police Academy series. Lancaster is also famous for … glassware, and their best-known creative rebel was Fran Taylor. From 1939 to 1962, Taylor ran GayFad Studios, and 60+ years after her business closed, partners Jason and David Annecy have revived the brand, opened a store, and held Bottoms Up, a wildly successful midcentury barware show this past summer. USModernist was there, interviewing the Annecys, artist Josh Agle aka Shag, and the barware lady Amy Chastek.
2024-12-0936 minUSModernist Radio - Architecture You LoveBe Part of Show 400 - USModernist Radio's 10th Year!We can't believe it, but USModernist Radio will be ten years old soon. We'll have a special show number 400 featuring past guests and - you! Are you a fan of the show? Learned something useful? Got a funny story? Please contact George Smart george@usmodernist.org or 919.740.8407
2024-12-0400 minUSModernist Radio - Architecture You Love#372/Children Of Genius: Nathaniel Kahn + Elaine Dart Hanan + Musical Guest Lori LiebermanInterviewing the children of mid-century architects has been one the best parts of producing USModernist Radio. We've had the pleasure of talking to Hicks Stone, son of Edward Durell Stone; John Barnes, son of Edward Larrabee Barnes, Ainsley Gores Gilligan, daughter of Landis; Fred Noyes, son of Eliot; Eric and Susan Saarinen, children of Eero; Raymond and Dion Neutra, children of Richard; Francesca Breuer, daughter of Marcel; Mira Nakashima, daughter of George; Miles Jaffe, son of Norman; grandchildren of Frank Lloyd Wright and Charles and Ray Eames; and many more. While most architect's children do not become architects, Modernism is...
2024-09-301h 14USModernist Radio - Architecture You Love#368/San Diego + La Jolla Modernism: Joan Gand + Lauren Lockhart + Keith York + Musical Guests Lisa Veronica Wood and Sidecar Social ClubToday we're talking about Modernist havens San Diego and La Jolla with midcentury author and historian Keith York; plus Joan Gand and Lauren Lockhart of the La Jolla Historical Society on their upcoming Modernist tour, of which USModernist is a sponsor. Later on, jazz with Lisa Veronica Wood and the Sidecar Social Club.
2024-09-0259 minUSModernist Radio - Architecture You Love#352/New York Architects Peter Eisenman + Esther Sperber + Richard OlcottWelcome to USModernist Radio, where we talk and laugh with people who enjoy, own, create, dream about, preserve, love, and hate Modernist architecture, the most exciting and controversial buildings in the world. It's especially exciting in New York City, which punches way above its weight in architecture and architects, and today we'll talk with three from that city, Peter Eisenman, Esther Sperber, and Richard Olcott.
2024-05-131h 04USModernist Radio - Architecture You Love#343/Almost Live from New Canaan: The Myron Goldfinger Panel + Musical Guest Lucy WijnandsAn exhibition last fall on the late architect Myron Goldfinger opened and USModernist was there moderating the panel's remembrances. Circle Square Triangle: The Architecture of Myron Goldfinger, closed at the end of 2023 but will be touring other locations in 2024. Myron Goldfinger's signature Modernist houses of the Hamptons and Westchester in New York include the wild party house featured in The Wolf of Wall Street. A favorite architect of New York City's rich and powerful during the 1980s, Myron died in the summer 2023 at the age of ninety. Talking about Myron Goldfinger's legacy were his wife and partner, designer June...
2024-03-1156 minUSModernist Radio - Architecture You Love#335/Getting Ready for Palm Springs: Frank Lopez + Rosemary Krieger + Christopher Georgesco + Karen Nepacena + Musical Guests Lizzy and the Triggermen.In October, USModernist was at the Palm Springs Modernism Show and visited with hundreds of wonderful fans from around the country. We are going to be in Palm Springs again in February for Modernism Week, and in preparation, George spoke with today's guests, architectural archivist Frank Lopez of Sunnylands, the Palm Springs Modernism Show's Rosemary Krieger, artist Christopher Georgesco, Destination Eichler's Karen Nepacena, and musical guest Lizzy Shapiro of LA's hottest jazz and swing band, Lizzy and the Triggermen.
2024-01-151h 08USModernist Radio - Architecture You Love#328/Mid-Century Architect Barbara Neski + Musical Guest Staci GriesbachThe architects of midcentury houses in the 1950's and 1960's are all retired now, some for many years. It's a true privilege as fans from a later generation to sit down with these men and women and hear their stories. Joining us today is celebrated architect Barbara Neski of New York City, now in her 90's, famed for award-winning Modernist houses in the Hamptons. Later, music with the charming Staci Griesbach, who headlined at one of USModernist's Moon Over Modernism events. And she's got a new album out!
2023-11-2744 minUSModernist Radio - Architecture You Love#316/Lustrons: Virginia Faust + Mark Siebel + Musical Guest Monika RyanIn 1946, Carl Strandland asked for $15 million worth of emergency loans to build small houses for GIs returning from WWII. Strandland was not an architect, but his idea that metal neighborhoods could be prefabricated and swiftly built was persuasive, and Lustron prefab house was born. To manufacture the ten tons of steel that went into each two-bedroom Lustron, Strandland bought a 25-acre factory in Columbus OH which was used during WWII to build fighter planes. A few years and only about 3,000 Lustrons later, the company declared bankruptcy but thousands of these unique houses survive. Joining us is USModernist's resident Lustron e...
2023-09-0453 minUSModernist Radio - Architecture You Love#306/Professor Barry Bergdoll + Musical Guest Joanne BrackeenWelcome to USModernist Radio, where we talk and laugh with people who enjoy, own, create, dream about, preserve, love, and hate Modernist architecture, the most exciting and controversial buildings in the world. Joining us today is one of foremost architectural historians in the world, professor, and former Museum of Modern Art architecture curator Barry Bergdoll, plus a special guest! Later, music with legendary jazz pianist Joanne Brackeen.
2023-06-2652 minUSModernist Radio - Architecture You Love#300/The BIG One: Bjarke Ingels + Musical Guest Halie LorenUSModernist Radio started in 2015, one dark and stormy afternoon, and we celebrate episode 300 with a special guest architect. Devoted listeners know exactly who we're talking about, because in past shows, every time we say his name you hear a sound. Today we welcome one of the most successful architects in the world, Bjarke Ingels of BIG. Later, we swoon over jazz vocalist Halie Loren.
2023-05-1556 minUSModernist Radio - Architecture You Love#295/Modernism Week 2023: Critic Blair Kamin + Musical Guest Cheryl BentyneNowhere in the world celebrates Modernism better than Modernism Week in Palm Springs, California. Every February, they have a weeklong architecture and design festival, which actually lasts 11 days, and USModernist Radio was there interviewing keynote speakers plus special guests at the USModernist compound, aka poolside at the hip Hotel Skylark. Our 2023 coverage kicks off with architecture critic, the Pulitzer Prize-winning Blair Kamin. Now retired from the Tribune, his latest book project, Who Is the City For?, pairs a selection of his essays about the inequities in Chicago's built environment with photographs by past podcast guest Lee Bey. La...
2023-04-101h 10USModernist Radio - Architecture You LoveMoon Over Modernism - April 22-23, 2023One Weekend - Two John Lautner Houses! The Kelly Lynch and Mitch Glazer Cocktail Party at the Harvey House, Saturday, April 22, 5-8pm. Explore one of the most envied houses in America! You'll share a beautiful evening overlooking downtown Los Angeles, the Griffith Observatory, and the Hollywood sign through astonishing views. You'll enjoy delicious appetizers plus signature cocktails provided by Vermont Spirits, and in the famous living room...vivacious entertainment by LA jazz vocalist Staci Griesbach and her band. The Silvertop Tour, Sunday, April 23, 12-5pm. Silvertop is the crown jewel of Silver Lake! The 1964 Re...
2023-03-1500 minUSModernist Radio - Architecture You Love#279/Rockin' Around the Christmas Tree: Erin Sterling Lewis + Utopias with Sarah Moser + Special Musical Guest Brenda LeeIt's our holiday show on USModernist Radio! Co-hosting with George and Tom is Raleigh architect Erin Sterling Lewis, with McGill University professor Sarah Moser on glamourous Modernist fantasy cities we drool about in glossy architecture magazines, and later on, special musical guest, the legendary Brenda Lee, to rock us yet again around the Christmas tree!
2022-12-1944 minUSModernist Radio - Architecture You Love#278/MASS Design's Katie Swenson + Kira Gould + Musical Guest Michael SinatraThe American Institute of Architects, or AIA, is the leading professional association in the US, and USModernist Radio was there for their national conference last June in Chicago, where George talked with Katie Swenson of MASS Design Group, known for emotionally powerful buildings like the National Memorial for Peace and Justice in Montgomery, Alabama. After that, George visits with Kira Gould, a communications strategist, author, and cohost of the podcast Design the Future who was awarded honorary AIA status. Later on, musical guest Michael Sinatra singing from the songbook many Modernists know and love.
2022-12-121h 11USModernist Radio - Architecture You Love#277/2022 AIA Conference Chicago #2: Jen Masengarb + Marty Hylton + Shannon BattissonThe American Institute of Architects or AIA, is the leading professional association in the US, and USModernist Radio was there for their national conference last June in Chicago. Joining us from that conference are Jen Masengarb, architectural historian and Executive Director of AIA Chicago; Marty Hylton, legendary historic preservationist and the Historic Architect for Climate Change at the National Park Service Climate, Science, and Disaster Response Program; and later on, the President of another AIA, the Australian Institute of Architects, Shannon Battisson.
2022-12-051h 06USModernist Radio - Architecture You Love#276/AIA 2022 National Conference: Robert Ivy + Special Musical Guest Diane SchuurThe American Institute of Architects or AIA, is the leading professional association in the US, and USModernist Radio was there for their national conference last June in Chicago. Joining us is the most relaxed person at the conference, just-retired CEO of the AIA, Robert Ivy. And later, music with American jazz legend Diane Schuur, aka Deedles.
2022-11-2858 minUSModernist Radio - Architecture You Love#271/Schindler's Kings Road House at 100: Mona Kuhn + Michela O'Connor-Abrams + Musical Guest Helen GilletSchindler is a name most everyone knows, for different reasons – and for different Schindlers. There's Schindler the elevator and escalator company, founded in 1874. There's German industrialist Oscar Schindler, hero of the 1993 movie Schindler's List, who saved more than a thousand refugees from the Nazis. Then there's Austrian Rudolf Schindler, the architect, who initially worked for Frank Lloyd Wright. In 1920 Wright sent Schindler west to Los Angeles. Schindler started moonlighting in 1922, which Wright hated, and eventually Schindler quit to became a huge success on his own. He and wife Pauline hosted many events at their Kings Road house, a model of arch...
2022-10-2454 minUSModernist Radio - Architecture You LoveUSModernist in Los Angeles - November 12 + 13!Join USModernist and USModernist Radio at the Sheats-Goldstein house for a cocktail party November 12, and the next day at the the Stahl House for a Champagne tour. It's a rare chance to see inside these iconic Modernist houses! Details at www.usmodernist.org/la.
2022-10-1900 minUSModernist Radio - Architecture You Love#270/Modernism Week 2022 Wrapup: Aaron Betsky + Andrew Pielage + Alan Hess + Trina TurkIn this our last show from Modernism Week 2022, we close out with fascinating poolside conversations with speakers from the week! Aaron Betsky is a household name, if your house is full of architects. He's a critic, curator, educator, and lecturer who is Director of the Virginia Tech School of Architecture and Design. Betsky is joined today with returning podcast guest Andrew Pielage, an internationally published architecture and travel photographer who, like Star Trek, is on a multi-year mission to photograph every single Frank Lloyd Wright building. Aaron and Andrew brought us the new book 50 Lessons to Learn fr...
2022-10-171h 24USModernist Radio - Architecture You Love#244/Palm Springs Modernism Week 2022: Jeanne Gang + Jickie Torres + Rose MallettEvery year USModernist Radio goes to Palm Springs for Modernism Week, the Super Bowl of mid-century modernism. This is no weekend tabletop show at the Elks lodge. It takes a huge village, a rather attractive Modernist village with perfect weather, to create an event that sells over 120,000 tickets across 11 days in February. Nowhere in the world celebrates Modernism better. This was the sixth year USModernist has been at Modernism Week, talking poolside at the USModernist Compound, aka the hip Hotel Skylark, with nearly all the keynote speakers, authors, and special guests. When modern-day Dorothy's kick their red ruby slippers to...
2022-04-181h 12USModernist Radio - Architecture You Love#243/Architecture Photographer Norman McGrath + Musical Guest Sherry PettaWelcome to USModernist Radio, where we talk and laugh with people who enjoy, own, create, dream about, preserve, love, and hate Modernist architecture, the most exciting and controversial buildings in the world. One man who's photographed many of them is Norman McGrath, whose images over the course of 6 decades have appeared everywhere from Progressive Architecture to Architecture Record. Later, jazz with the lovely Sherry Petta.
2022-04-1153 minUSModernist Radio - Architecture You Love#230/Architecture Documentaries of 2021 + Special Musical Guest Storm LargeThis 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 Na...
2022-01-101h 23
USModernist Radio - Architecture You Love#214/The Peter Principles: Peter Bohlin + Peter GluckPeter Bohlin and Peter Gluck are two of most innovative and successful architects in residential Modernist design. In careers spanning over 14 decades, if we add them all together, their award-winning practices created several hundred award-winning houses you can see at usmodernist.org/gluck and usmodernist.org/bohlin. Later on, commentary on the the famous Farnsworth House by Mies van der Rohe with Louisa Whitmore.
2021-09-2040 minUSModernist Radio - Architecture You Love#206/Built Beautiful: Don Ruggles + Lisa Heschong + Louisa WhitmoreWhat is a beautiful building? What is an ugly building? People have very different reactions looking at say Biltmore versus Fallingwater, and not just because they are vastly different sizes. Joining us to discuss beauty in architecture is Don Ruggles, author of Beauty, Neuroscience & Architecture and Producer of a new documentary, Built Beautiful. Next, special USModernist correspondent Raymond Neutra interviews Lisa Heschong, author of Visual Delight in Architecture: Daylight, Vision, and View. Later on, a few minutes with our new design commentator, TikTok sensation Louisa Whitmore.
2021-07-2658 minUSModernist Radio - Architecture You Love#202/Six of Five: James Evans + Musical Guest Janis SiegelArchitect Jim Evans moved to the Modernist mecca of New Canaan CT in 1957. By then the town had many Modernist houses, not only by the Harvard Five of Breuer, Noyes, Johnson, Johansen, and Gores but others like Frank Lloyd Wright and Edward Durell Stone. USModernist special correspondent Rafe Schlanger talked with Evans in what would be Evans' last interview. Later, enchanting jazz from Manhattan Transfer's Janis Siegel.
2021-06-281h 01USModernist Radio - Architecture You Love#191/Bjarke Ingels Makes a Mountain: Kaspar Astrup Schröder + Rikke Selin Fokdal + Special Musical Guest Nneena Freelon2020 was the fourth year USModernist Radio has been part of the New York Architecture and Design Film Festival, if by festival you mean online and by New York you mean anywhere on earth. Every fall, the authors, producers, experts, stars, and creators gather to premiere their latest architecture and design documentaries. Today we talk with Rikke Selin Fokdal and Kaspar Astrup Schröder, producers of the new documentary Making A Mountain, Bjarke Ingels flat-out brilliant solution to the unsavory task of burning trash in Denmark, a country with no mountains. Later we welcome the incomparable singer Nneena Freelon as we r...
2021-04-1257 minUSModernist Radio - Architecture You Love#184/2020's Architecture Documentaries: Royal Kennedy Rogers + Meredith Zielke + Yoni Goldstein + Ned Daly plus Musical Guest Pat KirtleyThis is the fourth year USModernist Radio has been part of the New York Architecture and Design Film Festival, if by festival you mean online and by New York you mean anywhere on earth. Every fall, the authors, producers, experts, stars, and creators gather to premiere their latest architecture and design documentaries, and this year because of COVID Executive Director Kyle Bergman completely re-engineered a wildly successful in-person weekend into a compelling virtual series. George and Tom talk with the people behind three of those documentaries, Royal Kennedy Rogers of Hollywood's Architect: The Paul R. Williams Story, Meredith Zielke and...
2021-02-221h 08USModernist Radio - Architecture You Love#173/Triangle Modern Architecture: Victoria Ballard BellVictoria Ballard Bell's new book, Triangle Modern Architecture, documents the rich history and unique cultural significance of the Triangle region in North Carolina, one of the most important on the national map of modern design. Over the last 75 years, the Modernist architecture in this area has grown to creatively combine innovation and technology with the area's history, culture, unique landscape, and built context. Includes profiles on midcentury architects including Harwell Hamilton Harris, Leif Valand, Milton Small, George Matsumoto, Eduardo Catalano, Jon Condoret, and Brian Shawcroft, plus current Modernist modern architects including Kenneth Hobgood, Phil Szostak, Phil Freelon, Turan Duda, E...
2020-12-0729 minUSModernist Radio - Architecture You Love#161/Modernism Media: Melissa Daniels + Elizabeth Daniels + Pauline O'ConnorModernism Week attracts reporters and photographers from all over the world. They make the flight or the drive into Palm Springs to cover the architecture, the art, the lectures, the occasional celebrity, and most of all, the lifestyle that we immerse ourselves into all 11 days. Plus, there's the huge economic impact of Modernism Week on the economy, making it *rain* on those Palm Springs butterfly roofs. From Modernism Week 2020, host George Smart talks with Desert Sun business reporter Melissa Daniels, and later he visits with architecture photographer Elizabeth Daniels and CURBED reporter Pauline O'Connor, just after a delicious breakfast of...
2020-09-1453 minUSModernist Radio - Architecture You Love#159/Streaming Architecture: Dustin Clare + Camille KeenanFrom Robin Boyd to Harry Seidler to Glenn Murcutt, there's a lot to love in Australian architecture, and today we talk with Dustin Clare and Camille Keenan, the producers behind a new streaming service and within it a new streaming series on Australian design. Their new architecture series, Inspired Architecture, premiered recently on their new streaming architecture and design network, shelter.stream.
2020-08-3136 minUSModernist Radio - Architecture You Love#158/The Great John Lautner: Helena Arahuete + Tracy Beckmann + Ryan Trowbridge + Trina TurkNowhere in the world celebrates Modernism better than Modernism Week in Palm Springs, California. Every February, they have a huge architecture and design festival and for the last five years, USModernist has been there interviewing nearly all Modernism Week's keynote speakers plus special guests at the USModernist compound, aka poolside at the hip Hotel Skylark. John Lautner designed some of the most innovative, beautiful, and concrete-intensive residences in the world. Host George Smart talks with Lautner's right-hand architect, Helena Arahuete, who continues his legacy over 25 years after his death, restoring Lautner houses and creating new ones for a n...
2020-08-241h 03USModernist Radio - Architecture You Love#157/Interior Modernism 2: Sarah Archer + Laura Ackerman-ShawNowhere in the world celebrates Modernism better than Modernism Week in Palm Springs, California. Every February, they have a huge architecture and design festival and for the last five years, USModernist has been there interviewing nearly all Modernism Week's keynote speakers plus special guests at the USModernist compound, aka poolside at the hip Hotel Skylark. In our second Modernism Week show on interiors, George Smart meets with two experts on what makes the Modernist vibe so wonderfully livable: Sarah Archer is a contributing editor at American Craft magazine and the author of The Midcentury Kitchen: America's Favorite Room, from Wor...
2020-08-1744 minUSModernist Radio - Architecture You Love#156/The Lake House: Nathan Crowley + Fritz Hengge, plus Musical Guest Heather RigdonYou all remember the 1994 movie Speed, the huge hit with Keanu Reeves and Sandra Bullock? Ten years later, with the public clamoring for more Keanu and Sandra, they shot another movie but got completely upstaged by a co-star built of glass and steel. The Lake House was a romantic fantasy film about a magic time-traveling mailbox for a particularly beautiful Modernist house. Joining us today are the architect and structural engineer for that house, Nathan Crowley and Fritz Hengge, as we celebrate the 15th anniversary of the birth and death of one of cinema's most amazing homes. Ready to be s...
2020-08-101h 01USModernist Radio - Architecture You Love#155/The Australia Show: Rachel Jackson + Annie Price + Jamie Paterson + Annalisa CapurroMost Americans have not been to Australia, although a surprising number of Australians have traveled to America. From Sydney to Melbourne to their stunning capital of Canberra, Australian Modernism is just as popular there as in the US. Today hosts George Smart and Tom Guild talk with four Aussies among the 50 or so that came to Palm Springs last February during Modernism Week: Rachel Jackson, Annie Price, Jamie Paterson, and wrapping up, a great friend of USModernist, Ms. Modernism Annalisa Capurro.
2020-08-0353 minUSModernist Radio - Architecture You Love#154/Modernism Week Movies 2: Valentina Geneva + Jeannine Oppewall + Paula BensonToday in our second Modernism Week show on architecture movies, George Smart talks with three film industry professionals with connections to architecture. Valentina Geneva is working on a new documentary about LA architect Rudolph Schindler, and later he sits down with art director Jeannine Oppewall, the genius behind staging the sets of such films as L.A. Confidential (filmed in Richard Neutra's Lovell House). Wrapping up, a chat with Paula Benson, expert on the close connection between film and furniture.
2020-07-271h 14USModernist Radio - Architecture You Love#153/Miami Modern: Kobi KarpToday, we dial into Miami, Florida, home of sun, fun, and some of the most over-the-top new Modernism on Earth. In the foodchain of Miami culture, a chain which features ceviche, plantains, rum, ropa vieja, and Max Strang, one of the most well-known architects is Kobi Karp, who is not surprisingly CEO of Kobi Karp Architecture and Interior Design with many happy clients. His wife must be super happy too, because Karp recently got rapper flo-Ryda to appear for her birthday. Later, a few minutes with Frank Harmon, reading from his book Native Places.
2020-07-2043 minUSModernist Radio - Architecture You Love#152/Quiet Mastery: Architect Jim JenningsArchitect Jim Jennings joins us from San Francisco. His Visiting Artists House, recipient of the AIA 2006 Institute Honor Award for Architecture, was named one of the five most influential and inspiring houses of the past decade. He was awarded the 2019 Maybeck Award by AIA California, and he teaches at Berkeley. Later on, a few minutes with Frank Harmon, reading from his book Native Places.
2020-07-1340 minUSModernist Radio - Architecture You Love#151/Modernism Week: Women in Architecture with Libby Otto + Jane HallNowhere in the world celebrates Modernism better than Modernism Week in Palm Springs, California. Every February, they have a huge architecture and design festival and for the last five years, USModernist has been there interviewing nearly all Modernism Week's keynote speakers plus special guests at the USModernist compound, aka poolside at the hip Hotel Skylark. Almost all the famous names in the pantheon of mid-century modern architecture are, well, male, a function of the widely held but false belief there weren't many women interested in architecture, plus the sad but true fact that these women were marginalized by...
2020-07-0657 minUSModernist Radio - Architecture You Love#150/Modernist Artists Danny Heller + John PirmanToday we welcome two internationally-known artists whose work focuses on mid-century identity: houses, cars, stores, and the relaxed sunny lifestyle to which we all would like to become accustomed. Danny Heller from Desert Hot Springs CA and John Pirman from Sarasota FL create bright and uplifting paintings and prints that make you smile. Their colorful, engaging portrayals of mid-century architecture and lifestyle bring joy to the world through showings in galleries and in thousands of homes.
2020-06-2948 minUSModernist Radio - Architecture You Love#149/Modernism Week: The Alexander's Winning Bet + Colleen Duffy of Devil DollThere's a shining star for Robert and Helene Alexander on the Palm Springs Walk of Stars - installed last February during Modernism Week. Although largely unknown outside of California, the Alexanders were critically important developers and builders to the expansion of Modernism. While other developers were afraid of Modernist design, as a lot still are today, sad to say, the Alexanders went all-in, working with important architects like William Cody and Bill Krisel to create thousands of homes we love around Palm Springs. Host George Smart talks with Jill Alexander Kitnick, daughter of the Alexanders, and Jim Harlan, author o...
2020-06-2257 minUSModernist Radio - Architecture You Love#148: Last Flight Outta NY: Julia Gamolina + Gene KaufmanHost George Smart talks with two architects in New York the day before COVID-19 was declared a pandemic. Born in Russia, raised in Canada, and now living in the US, architect Julia Gamolina has been a runaway success as the founder of Madame Architect, publishing over 100 interviews with women who advance the practice of architecture and affiliated fields, celebrating women from different generations, countries, and corners of the industry. Then it's a subway ride to meet Gene Kaufman, the most successful hotel architect in New York and the head of legendary design firm Gwathmey Siegel Kaufman.
2020-06-151h 24USModernist Radio - Architecture You Love#147/Modernism Week Photography: Darren Bradley + Andrew PielageNowhere in the world celebrates Modernism better than Palm Springs, California. Every February, they have a huge architecture and design festival called Modernism Week which actually lasts 11 days. We were there interviewing nearly all the major speakers and special guests. When we can't go to Modernist houses ourselves, architectural photographers bring them to us, both new and iconic, by waking up at 5am to get the right light, or taking hours to set up a shot only available a few minutes. Hired by architects, magazines, and occasionally clients, architectural photographers ultimately become historians, their body of work...
2020-06-0844 minUSModernist Radio - Architecture You Love#146/Bridges as Architecture: Europe's Martin KnightYou don't typically think of bridges as architecture, not the highway ones, particularly. There are about 600,000 in the US, with only a few dozen getting anyone excited, and most of those like the Golden Gate Bridge and the Verrazano Narrows Bridge were built nearly 100 years ago. Today from the UK we welcome Martin Knight, an architect whose heralded bridges worldwide create portals to cities while helping cars, trains, and pedestrian traffic from one place to another. Founded in 2006, his firm won several high-profile international design projects and what soon will be the longest bridge in Helsinki, Finland. He joins us...
2020-06-0140 minUSModernist Radio - Architecture You Love#145/Modernism Week Interiors: Honoring Alexander Girard, Steve Chase, and Arthur Elrod with Christine Marvin + Michela O'Connor Abrams + Katherine HoughIn the first of two shows on Modernist interiors and interior designers, host George Smart chats poolside with two organizers of the Alexander Girard exhibition held during Modernism Week at the Palm Springs Museum of Art, Christine Marvin of Marvin Windows and Doors and Michela O'Connor Abrams of MOCA+, and later he talks about interior designers Steve Chase and Arthur Elrod with former Chief Curator of the Museum, Katherine Hough, who worked with them both.
2020-05-2549 minUSModernist Radio - Architecture You Love#144B/Bonus Show: Home on AppleTV+ with Story Producer Loren GomezThere's a new streaming series on AppleTV+ called Home, nine shows about unusual houses around the world. George Smart talks with one of Home's Story Producers Loren Gomez about two of those houses, one in Sweden that's totally enclosed by a greenhouse and one in Texas that's pretty much underground.
2020-05-2115 minUSModernist Radio - Architecture You Love#144/HOK: Patrick MacLeamy + Bill Hellmuth, plus A Few Minutes with Frank HarmonToday you'll meet two CEO's of HOK, one of the most successful architecture firms in the world, past CEO Patrick MacLeamy and current CEO Bill Hellmuth. Every architecture student knows HOK, and it's one of the largest design firms in the US with 1800 team members. Since 1955, HOK has designed hundreds of major projects like the Smithsonian National Air and Space Museum in DC, Apple's first major campus in Cupertino, the George Bush Presidential Library in Texas, Orioles Baseball Park in Baltimore, the expansion of Saarinen's Dulles Airport, the Udvar-Hazy Air and Space Museum near Dulles Airport, DFW Airport in Da...
2020-05-1852 minUSModernist Radio - Architecture You Love#143/Modernism Week Architecture Movies Part 1: Jake + Tracey Gorst, plus P. David Ebersole + Todd HughesNowhere in the world celebrates Modernism better than Palm Springs, California. Every February, they have a huge architecture and design festival called Modernism Week which actually lasts 11 days. Today in the first of two shows about architecture-related movies taped at Modernism Week, host George Smart talks with filmmakers Jake and Tracey Gorst of Frey Part 2: The Architectural Interpreter, and later he visits with P. David Ebersole and Todd Hughes, directors of the new Pierre Cardin film, House of Cardin.
2020-05-1154 min
USModernist Radio - Architecture You Love#142/Architect Ronnette Riley, Lustrons with Virginia Faust + Leonardo, and Frank HarmonToday on USModernist Radio it's a full slate of great guests: art collector, model collector, race car driver, softball player, and architect Ronnette Riley, project lead for the Lipstick Building in New York designed by Philip Johnson. Later on, Virginia Faust talks about the venerable Lustron, the house of the future that didn't make it, plus special musical guest Leonardo with the world's only Lustron song, and a new feature - architect Frank Harmon reading from his new book of sketches and essays, Native Places.
2020-05-0459 min
USModernist Radio - Architecture You Love#141/Modernism Week Icon: Remembering Marilyn Monroe with Sunny Thompson + Greg Schreiner + Joshua GreeneOther than Frank Sinatra, there are few people who are so tightly woven into the spirit of mid-century culture than 1950's Hollywood star Marilyn Monroe. Sometime later this year, plans call for a nearly 30 foot tall statue of her in the famous blowing white dress to return to Palm Springs as a permanent home. In her day, Marilyn was as big as any celebrity you could name. She was involved with some of the most well-known men in the world: baseball great Joe Dimaggio, playwright Arthur Miller, and generally accepted nowadays, John F. Kennedy. And she has a connection to...
2020-04-271h 11
USModernist Radio - Architecture You Love#140/Late Great Architecture Magazines: Editor John Morris DixonIn a mid-century world way before Instagram, people kept up with the latest buildings primarily through architecture magazines. Although a few titles like Architecture Record are still going, there were many exceptional publications that in their heyday from 1945-1970 reached millions of readers across the US and the World. Today we welcome John Morris Dixon, the last editor of one of those great magazines, Progressive Architecture. Dixon has interviewed and written about just about every Modernist architect we've ever mentioned on the show, and his books include Paul Rudolph: Inspiration and Process in Architecture, Urban Spaces 1&2, Progressive Architecture's Twenty Ye...
2020-04-2241 min
USModernist Radio - Architecture You Love#139/Modernism Week: Reviving Craig Ellwood with Barton Jahncke + Diane Bald, Joe Dangaran + Brett WoodsCraig Ellwood was one of the most exciting people in American architecture. He took Los Angeles by storm and no one since has fully captured his personal style or his incredible story - but that's on the way. Although he took structural engineering courses at UCLA, Ellwood was not a licensed architect, but that did not matter to him or to his clients. Ellwood was a true design genius. Ellwood could sell, too. He had a red Ferrari (among other great cars) and was a perfect fit with the celebrity culture of Los Angeles. He was a master of pro...
2020-04-1356 min
USModernist Radio - Architecture You Love#138/Skidmore Owings + Merrill, with Nick Adams + Kate Reggev plus Musical Guest Valerie WoodSkidmore Owings and Merrill, which sounds like a law firm your uncle Mitch might work at, created international airports, stunningly tall skyscrapers, universities, flagship museums, and landmark corporate headquarters since the 1930's. In its heyday it was the Amazon of design firms, one of the largest in the world, with projects such as the 1973 Sears/Willis Tower in Chicago, the 2010 Burj Khalifa in Dubai, international airport terminals in Chicago and Kansas City, Lever House, the 2013 World Trade Center, the new Penn Station, the Waldorf Astoria restoration, the first net-zero-energy school in New York City, and even the design of...
2020-04-0653 min
USModernist Radio - Architecture You Love#137/Modernism Week 2020: Daniel Libeskind + Nelda Linsk + Alison MartinoNowhere in the world celebrates Modernism better than Palm Springs, California. Every February, they have a huge architecture and design festival called Modernism Week, which actually lasts 11 days. This was the fifth year USModernist has been at Modernism Week, talking poolside at the USModernist Compound, aka the hip Hotel Skylark, with nearly all the keynote speakers, authors, and special guests. When modern-day Dorothy's kick their red ruby slippers together, they don't go to Kansas, they land next to in Frank Sinatra's pool in Palm Springs. Modernism Week is a dazzling spectacle of mid-century architecture, martinis, lectures, art galleries, shopping, non...
2020-03-301h 03USModernist Radio - Architecture You Love#136/New York Worlds Fair: Mitch Silverstein + Stephanie BohnIn a world before the internet, World's Fairs were the killer app of the 19th and most of the 20th centuries. Countries would assemble at a central place for about 6 months and build pavilions, each sharing their nation's technology, culture, and national sources of pride, symbols, heroes, and achievements. If you've ever been to Epcot at Disney World, you get the idea. There were two World's Fairs in New York about 25 years apart. Much of the World's fair architecture was forward-thinking and Modernist, but only a few buildings on the New York fairgrounds survive today, some of them barely. We we...
2020-03-2351 minUSModernist Radio - Architecture You Love#135/WestEdge Design Fair: Epic Spaces + Favorite PlacesEach fall, there's a cool art and design gathering called WestEdge Design Fair in Santa Monica. It's held in the Barker Hanger, an enormous space at the Santa Monica airport. This year, USModernist's George Smart moderated two panels with some of the most well-known designers from around America and the UK. What you're about to hear is one of those panels, Epic Spaces and Favorite Places, with guests Tom Parker, Alison Pickart, David Thompson, John McClain, and Massimo Buster Minale. This is a rebroadcast of Josh Cooperman's Convo by Design, the official podcast of WestEdge, which recorded the panel. Man...
2020-03-1653 minUSModernist Radio - Architecture You Love#134/The Skyscraper Museum: Carol WillisFrom London to Tokyo to Dubai, the skyscraper is a part of every modern city, but no city has done it better, or longer, than New York. Starting in the 1920's, the booming economy, use of steel, and advanced engineering took skyscrapers into reality for the first time. Hey, who wakes up one day and says "Hey, I want to create a museum"? Carol Willis does. In 1996, she founded and still runs the Skyscraper Museum in Manhattan which explains the history, allure, and future of tall buildings - plus a new class of thin and incredibly expensive structures called sup...
2020-03-0947 minUSModernist Radio - Architecture You Love#133/Almost Live from New York: Bethany Borel of COOKFOX + Author Anthony AlofsinHost George Smart cashed in a few frequent flyer miles to report from New York City, doing a walk and talk around the innovatively designed COOKFOX architecture office with project leader Bethany Borel. Later on George visits author Anthony Alofsin, whose new book Wright and New York: the Making of America's Architect explores Frank Lloyd Wright's years in the Big Apple.
2020-03-021h 20USModernist Radio - Architecture You Love#132/Modernist Author Dominic BradburyWhat could be better than to make a living writing about Modernist architecture? Today on the show all the way from the UK, its author Dominic Bradbury, author of the new book Atlas of Mid-Century Modern Houses. Bradbury is a writer and freelance journalist specializing in architecture, design, real estate, and travel, writing over 20 over twenty books, at least one of which you have on your coffee table: Nordic Houses, Mid-Century Modern Complete, The Iconic House, The Iconic Interior, Off the Grid, Making House: Designers at Home, and his newest book the massive Atlas of Mid-Century Modern Houses. He writ...
2020-02-2443 minUSModernist Radio - Architecture You Love#131/Bigtime Architecture Competitions: Susanna Sirefman + Robby JohnstonSometimes the controversy about a building, particularly about a huge museum or government project, starts way before it opens or even before a Mayor, or a Governor, a Prime Minister, or even a Kardashian moves the first shovel of dirt. Today we welcome Susanna Sirefman, founder and president of Dovetail Design Strategists, an architect selection firm specializing in design competitions. Also with us, not by coincidence, Robby Johnston from Raleigh Architecture, a North Carolina firm thinking about entering national design competitions. Most public projects in the US are chosen by a committee that reviews architects past projects. En...
2020-02-1744 minUSModernist Radio - Architecture You Love#130/Architecture + Design Film Festival #2: Alysa Nahmias + Akira BochAlysa Nahmias is an award-winning filmmaker and founder of the Los Angeles-based production company Ajna Films. Her directorial debut feature, Unfinished Spaces, co-directed with Benjamin Murray, won a 2012 Spirit Award, numerous festival prizes, and is in the permanent collection at the Museum of Modern Art, New York. In The New Bauhaus, the film's narrative weaves original interviews with archival footage, voiceover, and stylized filming of documents and artwork. The result is a new perspective view of Laszlo Moholy-Nagy, a man who was ahead of his time creating a philosophy of art and design education that has captured imaginations for n...
2020-02-1051 minUSModernist Radio - Architecture You Love#129: Children of Genius: Annie Gwathmey + Guest Co-host Paige ClaussenCharles Gwathmey was a native of North Carolina and got interested in architecture at an early age. Charlie, as he was known, studied architecture at the University of Pennsylvania and at Yale University under Paul Rudolph, then went into partnership with Richard Henderson and later Robert Siegel. Over a career spanning five decades, Charlie and Bob designed some of the country's most iconic Modernist houses (for celebrities and CEO's such as Jerry Seinfeld, Steven Spielberg, and Michael Dell) and buildings such as the Guggenheim addition and the US Mission to the UN, both in New York. Gwathmey died in 2009 b...
2020-02-0340 minUSModernist Radio - Architecture You Love#128/Modernist House Museums: Kelvin Dickinson/Modulightor + Lucia Dewey Atwood/Eames HouseFire up the car or start booking plane tickets, as today we're talking about two amazing Modernist house museums you'll definitely want to visit, one in New York City, and one in Los Angeles, with guest Executive Directors: Kelvin Dickinson of the Paul Rudolph Heritage Foundation and the Modulightor Building in New York, last home of architect Paul Rudolph; and Lucia Dewey Atwood of the Charles and Ray Eames House in Los Angeles.
2020-01-2743 minUSModernist Radio - Architecture You Love#127/NY Architecture + Design Film Festival: Britni Harris on Bruce Goff + Lene Borch Hansen on Jorn UtzonThis is the third year USModernist Radio has been part of the Architecture and Design Film Festival in New York. Every fall, the stars, producers, and creators gather to premiere their latest documentaries. ADFF Executive Director Kyle Bergman curates visually wonderful, thought-provoking, and faithfully documented films that capture the brilliance of architects, artists, and significant buildings. Host George Smart talks with two of the filmmakers from this year's festival: Lene Borch Hansen, of the movie The Man & The Architect - Jørn Utzon; and Britni Harris, of the movie Goff.
2020-01-2051 minUSModernist Radio - Architecture You LoveBonus Show #2: PJ Letofsky, Producer of Neutra: Survival Through DesignIn this bonus show, George gets locked out of Tom's studio but still manages to record and edit an interview with PJ Letofsky, producer of the documentary Neutra: Survival Through Design. Featuring historian Barbara Lamprecht, son Raymond Neutra, son Dion Neutra who just passed away, Norman Foster, Moshe Safdie, and of course -- Alan Hess. Neutra's houses are still highly prized 50 to 90 years later, and his legacy of incredibly beautiful and functional design is still wildly popular. George kicks off things with PJ talking about his publicity tour for the movie.
2020-01-1626 minUSModernist Radio - Architecture You Love#126/Southwest Modern: Texas and New MexicoAmy Walton is from Texas, where she spent 15 years managing nonprofits like the North Texas Food Bank and the Jewish Family Service. Last year, she launched modTEXAS, an initiative to draw attention to Texas modernism and celebrate the people and institutions working to preserve it. Building a coalition of over a dozen nonprofits using social media, modTEXANS have shared thousands of images of midcentury design and architecture that can literally be mapped across the state. When you think of Albuquerque, New Mexico, you might think of southwest adobe design, or maybe that TV show In Plain Sight...
2020-01-1345 minUSModernist Radio - Architecture You Love#124/Almost Live from Neutra's Lovell House: Lyra Kilston + Josh Gorrell with Musical Guest Valerie WoodHost George Smart met today's guests at a LA party USModernist Radio threw last year at Neutra's Lovell House. Lyra Kilston is a writer and editor focused on architecture, design, art, urbanism, with publication in The Los Angeles Review of Books, The Los Angeles Times, Next City, Artforum, Wired, TIME, Art in America, and ICON. She is an editor for the Getty Museum, a consulting editor for Hyperallergic, and her first book is Sun Seekers: The Cure of California. Josh Gorrell is a preservationist who worked to save Rudolph Schindler's Van Dekker house, declared a historic landmark in 2010. He's eithe...
2019-12-301h 00USModernist Radio - Architecture You Love#108/Modernism Week Documentaries: Dion Neutra + Devon ChivvisPalm Springs has a huge architecture event called Modernism Week every February. It's a fascinating array of architecture, lectures, parties, tours, exhibits, and the occasional plastic surgery gone awry. Host George Smart was there earlier this year talking with nearly all the speakers, authors, and special guests who make the week (actually 11 days) a blast! Architecture documentaries visually capture the spirit and stories of great Modernist buildings in ways not possible through books and photos. USModernist Radio welcomes architect Dion Neutra and producer Devon Chivvis to our poolside studio at the swanky Hotel Skylark. Neutra stars in PJ...
2019-07-2249 minUSModernist Radio - Architecture You Love#102/Modernism Week Design: Joel Turkel + Anthony Poon + Jacques CaussinPalm Springs has a huge architecture event called Modernism Week every February. It's a fascinating array of architecture, lectures, parties, tours, exhibits, and the occasional plastic surgery gone awry. Host George Smart was there earlier this year talking with nearly all the speakers, authors, and special guests who make the week (actually 11 days) a blast! Today USModernist welcomes two California architects building new Modernist houses and one expert sharing how Modernism started: Joel Turkel founded Turkel Design and created NextHouse, a series of prefab modern homes still marketed by the fine folks at Deck House. In 2014, in an e...
2019-06-101h 04USModernist Radio - Architecture You Love#89/Los Angeles: Architect Barbara BestorUSModernist has documented thousands of mid-century modernist houses, especially in Los Angeles. One name that kept popping up when those mid-century moderns needed renovation is Los Angeles architect Barbara Bestor. She's referred to as the unofficial Mayor of Silver Lake, an area full of great Modernist houses. She also has a robust commercial practice, including the Beats Electronics Headquarters, the Nasty Gal Headquarters, Intelligentsia Coffee & Tea, Ashes + Diamonds Winery and Event Center and the Silverlake Conservatory of Music. She has taught architecture at Harvard, UCLA, and now at Woodbury University School of Architecture where she is executive director o...
2019-03-1148 minUSModernist Radio - Architecture You Love#87/FLW's David Wright House in Phoenix: Victor Sidy + Alison KingArchitect Victor Sidy was Dean of the Frank Lloyd Wright School of Architecture at Taliesin with campuses in Scottsdale, Arizona and Spring Green, Wisconsin. He was a vocal advocate for saving Frank Lloyd Wright houses and buildings and for walkable community development. In 2015 he returned to private practice but is still involved with one special Frank Lloyd Wright house in Phoenix, the David and Gladys Wright House, which father Frank designed for his son. The house has been on a rollercoaster in recent years, doomed one moment, saved the next, in limbo the next. Historian Alison King i...
2019-02-1148 minUSModernist Radio - Architecture You Love#86/Phoenix Modern: Will BruderUSModernist took 25 fans of the podcast to tour Phoenix, Arizona last November. Phoenix is the home of the Chimichanga, which Tucson disputes, but more importantly for us, the city is home to some really great Modernist architecture. We saw the Musical Instrument Museum, Frank Lloyd Wright's Taliesin West, Paulo Soleri's Cosanti and Arcosanti, Wright's First Christian Church, and the David and Gladys Wright House, among many other amazing buildings. One of these was Phoenix Central Library, designed by Arizona's Will Bruder. Largely self-trained, Bruder apprenticed with Paolo Soleri in woodwork, metal work, and masonry and contributed to So...
2019-01-2855 minUSModernist Radio - Architecture You Love#71/X-Files: Pierluigi Serraino w/Guest Co-Host Kate WagnerToday USModernist Radio welcomes guest co-host Kate Wagner of McMansion Hell along with author of the book The Creative Architect, Pierluigi Serraino, the Fox Mulder of architecture, with information on a secret 1950's psychological study involving IM Pei, Richard Neutra, George Nelson, Victor Lundy, Louis Kahn, Eero Saarinen, and Philip Johnson among others. Yes, folks, there are architecture X-files! Pierluigi Serraino is an architect and author with expertise on postwar American architecture, modernism, architectural photography, and digital design. he has been published in Architectural Record, Architecture California, the Journal of Architectural Education, and Architectural Design (UK), among o...
2018-08-2048 minUSModernist Radio - Architecture You Love#70/Saving Spaces: Chris Grimley + Natascha Drabbe w/Guest Co-Host Kate WagnerToday USModernist Radio welcomes guest co-host Kate Wagner of McMansion Hell along with two people working to keep Modernism alive and well - brutalist documentarian Chris Grimley and the founder of iconichouses.org, Natascha Drabbe. Chris Grimley is a partner at the firm over/under, designing not just buildings but full experiences in architecture, graphic design, and interior design. His book Heroic: Concrete Architecture and the New Boston has been awarded honors by DoCoMomo and the Boston Preservation Alliance. In addition, he curates the pinkcomma gallery, is a co-founder of Design Biennial Boston, and recently released the B...
2018-08-0641 minUSModernist Radio - Architecture You Love#68/Modernist Travel: Sam LubellAnyone listening to USModernist has gotten in a car, or a plane, to pilgrimage to some amazing building. In fact, tt's a sure sign you're a Modernist fan if you go to a city just for the architecture. Sam Lubell is an expert on Modernist buildings and houses you can visit. He writes for Wired, the architect's newspaper, The New York Times, The Los Angeles Times, Los Angeles Magazine, Architect, Architectural Record, and Architectural Review. Recently he co-curated exhibitions Never Built Los Angeles and Shelter: Rethinking How We Live in Los Angeles. He has written seven books about architecture inclu...
2018-07-0941 minUSModernist Radio - Architecture You Love#67/Modernism Week Wrapup with Lisa Vossler Smith, Jacques Caussin + William KopelkUSModernist Radio goes to Palm Springs each February for the incredibly popular Modernism Week, a fascinating array of sunshine, architecture, lectures, parties, tours, and exhibits. Host George Smart wraps up our series in conversation with some of the talented people behind Modernism Week: Executive Director Lisa Vossler Smith, early organizer Jacques Caussin, and Chairman William Kopelk.
2018-07-0250 minUSModernist Radio - Architecture You Love#66/The Food Show: Chefs Ben Shewry + Scott Crawford, Architect Louis CherryModernist fans tend to be foodies - or it is the other way around? USModernist Radio's biggest fan in Melbourne, Australia is Chef Ben Shewry. He's been featured in many publications, including the New York Times as owner of Attica in Melbourne. He was one of six chefs featured in the inaugural season of the Netflix original documentary Chef's Table and he is author of Origin: The Food of Ben Shewry. Chef Scott Crawford is a four-time James Beard semi-finalist and the owner of Crawford and Son in Raleigh NC, the Triangle's Restaurant of the Year for 2018. Craw...
2018-06-2543 minUSModernist Radio - Architecture You Love#65/Modernism Week 7: SFMOMA's Jennifer Dunlop Fletcher plus Christiane Robbins + Katherine LambertUSModernist Radio goes to Palm Springs each February for the incredibly popular Modernism Week. It's a fascinating array of sunshine, architecture, lectures, parties, tours, exhibits, and you can even order martinis for breakfast. Yes, you can do that anywhere but you'll feel glamorous in Palm Springs. USModernist Radio's George Smart was there with keynote speakers and other special guests who make Modernism Week a blast. Jennifer Dunlop Fletcher is the Helen Hilton Raiser Curator of Architecture and Design at the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art. She designed exhibits including A. Quincy Jones: Building for Better Living at t...
2018-06-1836 minUSModernist Radio - Architecture You Love#63/Modernism Week 6: Landscape Design with Nate Cormier + Michelle DelkUSModernist Radio goes to Palm Springs each February for the incredibly popular Modernism Week. It's a fascinating array of sunshine, architecture, lectures, parties, tours, exhibits, and you can even order martinis for breakfast. Yes, you can do that anywhere but you'll feel glamorous in Palm Springs. USModernist Radio's George Smart was there with keynote speakers and other special guests who make Modernism Week a blast. Nate Cormier is a Principal working Los Angeles-based Rios Clementi Hale Studios. He discusses the new public space in downtown Palm Springs, a wonderful area that will include the Big Marilyn as well...
2018-06-0439 minUSModernist Radio - Architecture You Love#62/Modernism Week 5: Cory Buckner + Leo ZahnUSModernist Radio goes to Palm Springs each February for the incredibly popular Modernism Week. It's a fascinating array of sunshine, architecture, lectures, parties, tours, exhibits, and you can even order martinis for breakfast. Yes, you can do that anywhere but you'll feel glamorous in Palm Springs. USModernist Radio's George Smart was there with keynote speakers and other special guests who make Modernism Week a blast. Cory Buckner is an architect, artist, and author from LA. She is one of the world's experts on A. Quincy Jones Modernist houses loved by celebrities such as Jennifer Aniston and Ellen Degen...
2018-05-2834 minUSModernist Radio - Architecture You Love#60/Modernism Week 4: Denver/Adrian Kinney + Indiana/Marsh DavisUSModernist Radio goes to Palm Springs each February for the incredibly popular Modernism Week. It's a fascinating array of sunshine, architecture, lectures, parties, tours, exhibits, and you can even order martinis for breakfast. Yes, you can do that anywhere but you'll feel glamorous in Palm Springs. USModernist Radio's George Smart was there with keynote speakers and other special guests who make Modernism Week a blast. You may not think of Modernism and Denver in the same sentence, but Adrian Kinney is about to change that. Kinney was born and raised in Lakewood CO. After college, he stayed in Co...
2018-05-1437 minUSModernist Radio - Architecture You Love#59/Henry Kamphoefner: Abie Harris, Roger Clark, Ben Taylor + Jerzy GłówczewskiIn 1948, most US universities were slow to embrace the growing Modernist movement. Then NC State University brought in a brilliant Dean from Oklahoma who went all-in on Modernism. Within two years, Frank Lloyd Wright and Richard Neutra were speaking at the school and students and faculty from all over the world wanted to be there. He wasn't the greatest architect and only designed a few buildings, but he sure knew how to get NC State's School of Design on the map. Although he died in 1990, his impact on thousands of careers and tens of thousands of buildings endures. USModernist Radio...
2018-04-3037 minUSModernist Radio - Architecture You Love#58/Modernism Week 3: Neutra's Kaufmann House/Brent Harris + Architect Hugh KapturUSModernist Radio goes to Palm Springs each February for the incredibly popular Modernism Week. It's a fascinating array of sunshine, architecture, lectures, parties, tours, exhibits, and you can even order martinis for breakfast. Yes, you can do that anywhere but you'll feel glamorous in Palm Springs. USModernist Radio's George Smart was there with keynote speakers and other special guests who make Modernism Week a blast. The Kaufmann House is one of the most famous residences in Palm Springs. Designed by Richard Neutra, it passed through a succession of owners and unfortunate renovations until Brent and Beth Harris broug...
2018-04-2353 minUSModernist Radio - Architecture You Love#56/Modernism Week 2: Annalisa Capurro + Alan HessUSModernist Radio goes to Palm Springs each February for the incredibly popular Modernism Week. It's a fascinating array of sunshine, architecture, lectures, parties, tours, exhibits, and you can even order martinis for breakfast. Yes, you can do that anywhere but you'll feel glamorous in Palm Springs. USModernist Radio's George Smart was there with keynote speakers and other special guests who make Modernism Week a blast. You can't go to Modernism Week without running into our next two guests at some event. Annalisa Capurro flies in every year from Sydney, Australia, where she is an interior desig...
2018-04-0938 minUSModernist Radio - Architecture You Love#54/Modernism Week 1: Atomic Ranch Editor Sarah Jane Stone + IAmNotAStalker, Lindsay BlakeUSModernist Radio goes to Palm Springs each February for the incredibly popular Modernism Week. It's a fascinating array of sunshine, architecture, lectures, parties, tours, exhibits, and you can even order martinis for breakfast. Yes, you can do that anywhere but you'll feel glamorous in Palm Springs. USModernist Radio's George Smart was there with the week's keynote speakers and other special guests who make Modernism Week a blast. Atomic Ranch Magazine celebrates mid-century houses from 1940's ranch tracts to 1960's architect-designed Modernist homes. George welcomes Sarah Jane Stone, editor and brand leader, as they chat poolside at the Hotel...
2018-03-2644 minUSModernist Radio - Architecture You Love#40/Lautner's Big Lebowski: The Sheats-Goldstein House with Roberta LeightonRoberta Leighton "runs the place" for owner Jim Goldstein at the Sheats Goldstein house in Los Angeles, designed by John Lautner. She manages hundreds of movie, commercial, and photo shoots at the house, one of the country's most iconic. One of the most famous movies shot there was The Big Lebowski. Roberta has also been in a ton of some of the movies and shows we love. She was Bill Murray's girlfriend in Stripes, plus she's appeared on The Dukes of Hazzard, Barnaby Jones, Switch, Rosetti and Ryan, Days of our Lives, General Hospital, Baretta, and for over a do...
2017-11-2739 minUSModernist Radio - Architecture You Love#31/London: Alison BrooksHost George Smart reports from the USModernist trip to London last May. He visits architect Alison Brooks who has won the triple crown of the UK's most prestigious awards for architecture: the RIBA Stirling Prize, the Manser Medal and the Stephen Lawrence Prize. Do you know you've arrived as an architect when your building gets a nickname? And, for the first time, you'll hear the guys all sing!
2017-07-2429 minUSModernist Radio - Architecture You Love#15.5/Aidan Buehler, Georg Buehler, & architect Lucy Carol DavisAidan Buehler is 14 years old. He's an eighth grader in Chapel Hill NC with an interest in drafting. What he did next is remarkable. Instead of just piddling around on his computer like most kids, he contacted Chapel hill architect Lucy Carol Davis to be his mentor on a school-wide design competition. Aidan's house was one of the most elaborate projects. According to his interview with the News and Observer,
"Basically, I designed a house from start to finish,” he said, although it ended up being larger than planned. He laid out rooms and external design features, furnis...
2015-10-2610 minUSModernist Radio - Architecture You Love#5/Lawsuit: Paul Goldberger, Louis Cherry, & Marsha Gordon Imagine buying a lot, designing a house, getting all the neighborhood and city approvals, starting construction, then - boom - your neighbor sues to stop construction. Here's the background. You'll hear one couple's incredible story - and how it attracted worldwide coverage. Louis Cherry has been an architect since 1983 and is principal of a design/build practice focusing on modern residential, commercial and institutional design. He is the husband of Marsha Gordon, associate professor of film studies at North Carolina State University. Their contested house, aka Oakwood House, is at 516 Euclid, Raleigh. The house also has...
2015-06-0144 min