Night White Skies

After eight years and over 100 episodes, the Night White Skies podcast is coming to an end. The program began as a look towards architecture's future knowing that both earth's environments and our human bodies are now open for design, and that's where we'll end.     The program sought to engage a diverse range of perspectives for a better picture of the scenarios currently unfolding. Guests includ...

Today 's conversation is with Jeffrey Nesbit and Charles Waldheim about their book Technical Lands.   It was great to have both Jeffrey and Charles back on the program. They've both been on here separately but today we're disc ussing the ir new edited book 'Technical Lands : A Critical Primer ' . As they state in the book, d esignating land as technical is a political act and doing so entails divi...

Today 's conversation is with Catherine Ingraham and we're discussing her latest book , ' Architecture's Theor y ' .   We each had our own experience in school when first introduced to architectural theory . Those classes were probably somewhat opaque for all of us . Even today you might read new articles and books related to theory and find yourself trying to hold onto ideas like dry sand in your...

Sometimes it's only through repetition and time that insight into your actions are revealed. This might come about because aspects of those actions aren't always fully intentional. When it comes to Night White Skies, I firmly believe to be routed in architecture, but I've heard it described by others as often drifting beyond this topic .  But w hat I've come to appreciate more and more over time i...

Today's conversation is with Vahid Vahdat and James Kerestes about their book 'Architecture, Film and the In-Between, Spatio Cinematic Betwixt '.   Discussions about trying to give shape to an uncertain future have been a recurring topic on this program. This is in part because it seems that even the most informed people are aware of just enough to know how much they don't know. A changing climate...

Today's conversation is with Aleksandra Jaeschke about her book 'The Greening of America's Building Codes, Promises and Paradoxes '.   There are realities we live with that are so ingrained in all aspects of our lives that we rarely think to question their origins. They are either intertwined with base economic standards or current laws and regulations and so to imagine an alternative would requir...

Today's conversation is about the role of teaching and discussing ethics during the design process.   This week's conversation is about the role of ethics during the design process. For many people, whether working in an office or academia, ethics is likely just a passing topic discussed once a year in required seminar training or 'code of conduct' handouts. But today we are discussing how ethics...

Today's conversation is with Jeffrey Nesbit about his book 'Nature of Enclosure '.   So much of our architectural education and practice is reliant on the idea of control. Take representation for example. Without being able to quantify information about a site, materials or even people, how can we be expected to make decisions about what we ultimately build. If you can't quantify it in a represent...

Today's conversation is with Fred Sharmen about his book 'Space Forces '.   Sometimes what you need is a little distance to get a clearer perspective on your current situation. Doing so lets you see a larger whole which often allows you to ask questions that might otherwise go unasked. This new distance might not give you any new answers to your current situation at first but just having new quest...

Today's conversation is about the potential impact of new tools for video games on architecture.     As architects, we have no shortage of external pressures we need to be aware of and engage . From climate change to new forms of communication technologies and social justice to name only three ...the list is long and at times overwhelming to think about. Many of these issues that we're looking to...

This week's conversation is with Jessica Charlesworth and Tim Parsons and we are talking about their design work which explores some of the key social, ecological, and technological challenges of our time. Parsons & Charlesworth is an art and design studio that develops tangible worlds as discursive tools for critically appraising urgent issues. Co-founded by Jessica Charlesworth and Tim Parsons,...

Today is a conversation with Michael Jakob and we're talking about his writing on Faux Mountains. These are the mounds, piles, and hills that are linked not only to architecture and landscape architecture but Land Art, Urban Design and beyond. With such a long history, this shape has been a construct that has been around for thousands of years yet continues to evolve in its cultural significance....

Brain Fagan is one of the world's leading archaeological writers and an internationally recognized authority on world prehistory. He is a Distinguished Emeritus Professor of Anthropology at the University of California, Santa Barbara, and the author of several widely read books on ancient climate change. including 'The Little Ice Age' and of course 'Climate Chaos' which we'll be discussing today. ...

Amy Brady is the author of Ice: From Mixed Drinks to Skating Rinks–a Cool History of a Hot Commodity . She is also the executive director of Orion magazine, a contributing editor for Scientific American , and coeditor of The World as We Knew It : Dispatches from a Changing Climate . Brady has made appearances on the BBC, NPR, and PBS. She holds a PhD in literature and American studies and has won...

Today is a conversation with Sheila Jasanoff about her book 'The Ethics of Invention' and her research and work as the Director of the STS (Science and Technology Studies) at Harvard.  *** Night White Skies is a program about our design futures as both the environment and our human bodies are now open for design. www.seanlally.net Thanks to Richard Devine for Sample permission:  

My conversation this week is with Astrophysicist Adam Frank is a leading expert on the final stages of evolution for stars like the sun, and his computational research group at the University of Rochester has developed advanced supercomputer tools for studying how stars form and how they die. Today we're discussing his book, 'Light of the Stars: Alien Worlds and the Fate of the Earth'.  *** Night...

Chris Forman is a physicist with a PhD in protein engineering, conducting research at Northwestern University into the organization of soft matter using experimental, theoretical, and computational approaches. Claire Asher is a biologist with a PhD in evolution and genetics, specializing in the behavior of ants. A widely published science writer, she has performed at the Edinburgh Fringe Festival...

Henry Greely is Professor of Law at Stanford University and Professor by courtesy of Genetics, Stanford School of Medicine; Director, Center for Law and the Biosciences; Director, Stanford Program in Neuroscience and Society; and Chair, Steering Committee of the Center for Biomedical Ethics. *** Night White Skies is a program about our design futures as both the environment and our human bodies ar...

Emanuele Coccia is an Associate Professor at the École des Hautes Études en Sciences Sociales (EHESS) in Paris. He received his PhD in Florence and was formerly an Assistant Professor of History of Philosophy in Freiburg, Germany. He worked on the history of European normativity and on aesthetics. *** Night White Skies is a program about our design futures as both the environment and our human bod...

Today is a conversation about science fiction with Sherryl Vint. Sherryl is Professor of Media and Cultural Studies at the University of California, Riverside, where she directs the Speculative Fictions and Cultures of Science program. *** Night White Skies is a program about our design futures as both the environment and our human bodies are now open for design. www. SeanLally.net Substack Instag...

This week is a conversation with curator Boris Magrini about the 'Radical Gaming' exhibition currently at the House of Electronic Arts (HEK) in Basel Switzerland. *** Night White Skies is a program about our design futures as both the environment and our human bodies are now open for design. www. SeanLally.net Substack Instagram Thanks to Richard Devine for the use of several sample permission.

Margret Grebowicz is an environmental philosopher living in upstate New York. She is the author of four books--Mountains and Desire: Climbing vs. the End of the World, Whale Song, The National Park to Come, Why Internet Porn Matters--and is currently finishing a new short book, Rescue Me: On Dog Abundance and Social Scarcity. *** Night White Skies is a program about our design futures as both the...

Daniel A. Barber is Associate Professor and Chair of the PhD Program in Architecture at the University of Pennsylvania. His research and teaching narrate eco-critical histories of architecture and seek pathways into the post-hydrocarbon future. We discuss on this episode his most recent book 'Modern Architecture and Climate: Design before Air Conditioning (Princeton UP, 2020)

This week is a conversation with Jackie Higgins. Jackie is a television documentary director and writer, who read zoology at Oxford University, as a student of Richard Dawkins. She made wildlife films for a decade, for BBC as well as for Channel 4, National Geographic and The Discovery Channel. She then joined the BBC's science department, researching and writing, directing and producing programs...

'Rehearsing our Feelings'    When it comes to trying to plan for the future, various tools are used to help us with the process. If you have a series of appointments to attend in the coming months, you'll likely use a calendar to schedule time and place. If you plan on building a structure or a landscape, you'll likely turn to drawings to define shapes and qualities. But you could lump these two e...