USModernist Radio - Architecture You Love

There's a building at JFK airport in New York that people have been talking about for almost 60 years.  At one time, it was the world's most modern airport terminal, bringing the Jet Age fully into public consciousness.  This building had no peer; and its creator, Eero Saarinen , was one of the most visionary architects in the world. For years the airline TWA (later absorbed by American Airlines)...

Any fan of Modernism has DWELL Magazine somewhere in their house.  It's a venerable but relatively recent publication, started in 2000 by Lara Hedberg Deam in San Francisco.  She's still the owner, and like a winning NFL coach, she's been stocking the team over nearly 20 years with winning players like Karrie Jacobs, Michela O'Connor Abrams, Amanda Dameron , and former podcast guest Alison Arieff...

In the lovely town of New Canaan CT, from the 1940s through the 1990s, no one was more influential than architect Philip Johnson . His internationally-famous Glass House celebrated its 70th anniversary recently with a huge outdoor party and aerial performance by Philippe Petit, known for his daring and highly unauthorized wirewalk between the World Trade Center towers pre-2001. New Canaan is full...

Frank Lloyd Wright , now 60 years after his death, remains the most well-known architect in America, perhaps the world.  Notorious for his ego, which was matched only by his genius and talent, Wright would be delighted to be so this famous for so long.  Wright would say, and he did, that he was the greatest architect ever, and for many, he was and still is.  Roland Reisley was only 26 when he beca...

Lord Peter Palumbo is a developer, art collector, car collector, wine collector, architecture collector and Conservative life peer based in the UK. He was educated at Eton and Worcester College, Oxford, a star athlete who played polo with Prince Charles . He first met Mies van her Rohe in the 1960's and spent much of the next 30 years trying to get one of his buildings built. In 1972, he purchased...

Architect John Lautner of Los Angeles was incredibly ahead of his time. Over 50 years, Lautner blurred the boundaries between indoor and outdoor spaces, between nature and architecture.  He carried out 144 of his designs, 103 of which are still standing, mostly around Los Angeles, and all highly prized. Two architects in the Netherlands set out to personally discover not just a few of his projects...

One of the best 80s films is, the envelope please, 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 (...

Returning podcast guest Pierluigi Serraino is an architect and author whose book Modernism Rediscovered contributed to the huge re-emergence of interest in the architecture we all know and love.  He has written books on Eero Saarinen , NorCalMod: Icons of Northern California Modernism, California Captured with past podcast guests  Emily Bills and Sam Lubell , and his newest book co-authored with E...

A graduate in Architecture from Oxford, Professor James Stevens Curl is known for scholarship, penetrating criticisms, lucidity of style, and holding his nose at  the stench of Modernism, of which he is definitely not a fan.  He's probably rather be down at the Groaning Board hoisting a pint, but we're thrilled to have him talk about his new award-winning book, Making Dystopia:  The Strange Rise a...

Over the last few year, we've been checking out design and architecture podcasts from around America.  We've had Frances Anderton of DnA, Debbie Millman of Design Matters, Josh Cooperman of Convo by Design, and David and Marina of Midnight Charrette.  Today we welcome two new friends who keep the public's design fire going with their interesting and popular podcasts.  Architect Steve Chung is base...

Three Amigos: Tom Kundig, Frank Harmon, and Marlon Blackwell .  Not only are they the best of friends but they are award-winning rockstars of Modernist residential architecture.   Tom Kundig is principal with Olson Kundig Architects and came to national attention with 1998's Studio House and in 2002, the Chicken Point Cabin.  Tom's honors include the Cooper Hewitt 2008 National Design Award, eleve...

Today we wrap up coverage of Modernism Week 2019 by honoring architect Paul Rudolph . 2018 was the 100th anniversary of architect Paul Rudolph's birth and his work lives on to even high acclaim than when he was alive.  Rudolph got on the national radar through innovative Modernist houses in Sarasota, Florida.  Later he created masterworks in concrete and steel in New York, New England, and late in...

Today we welcome back Justin Shubow , President of the National Civic Art Society, a non-profit dedicated to promoting the classical tradition in public art and architecture. President Trump appointed him in 2018 to the U.S. Commission of Fine Arts, a federal agency which oversees the design and construction of government buildings and memorials in Washington DC. Shubow is the author of The Gehry...

Palm 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...

In an interview recorded at REX in Brooklyn, New York, George Smart sat down with architect Josh Ramus . The Huffington Post named him one of the five greatest architects under 50. Wallpaper Magazine described him as one of the world's most influential young architects. Esquire Magazine dubbed him the young saviour of American architecture. Icon Magazine called him one of the 20 Essential Young Ar...

Palm 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! Authors  Michael Stern  and  Alan Hes...

Despite enormous success, architect  Minoru Yamasaki's  reputation declined in the 1970's with the negative public reception of the World Trade Center in New York and the spectacular failure of St. Louis's Pruitt-Igoe public housing project. Author  Dale Gyure  is associate chair and professor of Architecture at Lawrence Technological University. His most recent book, Minoru Yamasaki: Humanist Arc...

Palm 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! The photographers documenting the...

If you've been listening closely, you know our special series called Children of Genius, featuring  Susan Saarinen, daughter of Eero Saarinen, Raymond Neutra, son of Richard Neutra,  Emily Ain, daughter of Gregory Ain, and Randy Koenig, son of Pierre Koenig. Today we're thrilled to talk with Charlee Deaton , daughter of architect Charles Deaton. You can also see it from the nearby Interstate. The...

Palm 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 Cal...

Debbie Millman is the founder and host of the pioneering, award-winning, long-running, and successful podcast, Design Matters. Going into her 14th year, Millman has interviewed over 400 designers, artists, and others in the creative culture such as Milton Glaser, Malcolm Gladwell, Barbara Kruger, Massimo Vignelli, Marina Abramovic, Thomas Kail, Laurie Anderson, Shepard Fairey, and Steven Heller. S...

Palm 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! You remember books, right?  Those...

Kinston is about as typical Eastern North Carolina as you can get.  They have lots of barbeque, a minor league baseball team that's pretty good,  they support what's left of the tobacco industry, and they keep up the CSS Neuse, one of the last Confederate ironclad ships, although Donald Trump is considering restoring it to attack Canada.  Kinston never had a really great restaurant, but that  chan...

Palm 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! Music is an important part of Mode...

Over the last few months, we've been checking out fellow design and architecture podcasts from around America.  We've had Frances Anderton of DnA and Josh Cooperman of Convo by Design – and today we're excited to welcome the hosts of Midnight Charrette.   Co-host Marina Bourderonnet (bor-dare-ro-nay) grew up in France, training at the Ecole Nationale Superieure d'Architecture with a Bachelor of Ar...