Us Modernist Radio - Architecture You Love

Every year, Sarasota Mod in Sarasota FL throws a great conference on mid-century modern and this year was focused on Paul Rudolph, an architect who made his name in exciting coastal architecture before moving on to become Dean of Architecture at Yale.  Rudolph's work is recognized around the world for bold, progressive masses.  People are polarized around his work.  Modernists praise his visionary designs of concrete and steel, others see them as cold and impractical.  Ernst Wagner was Rudolph's partner and has been working since his death to create a legacy Rudolph  organization.  We spoke to Wagner during the Sarasota Mod conference.

Hi folks, here's a few minutes of fun, our "best of" clips from 2015.  Happy New Year!  George, Frank, and Tom

Todd Kosmerick is University Archivist for NC State University's Archives.  He and his staff collect, preserve, and make accessible vast physical and online resources that document the growth and development of the university and its continued service to the people of North Carolina.  It provides a resource for study and scholarship while ensuring that future generations will have resources available to understand and interpret the history and achievements of North Carolinians. Designed by Terry Waugh, Harrelson Hall was the first round classroom structure ever built on a university campus.  With a huge 206 foot diameter and a long winding ramp to the top floor, staff and faculty offices were located on the rim, while lecture rooms are along the inner part of the building.  While folks generally admired the design concept, the building was generally hated as an academic building.  The weird-shaped, windowless classrooms, the wacky and rarely working HVAC, the too-easy temptation of skateboarders, bicyclists,

Architect Harwell Hamilton Harris FAIA never reached the celebrity status of his peers such as Richard Neutra and Frank Lloyd Wright, yet his quieter career work stands as some of the most brilliant of the 20th century.  Practicing primarily in California, Texas, and North Carolina, his achievements in residential, commercial, and academic settings earned national admiration and awards including the Richard Neutra Medal and an honorary doctorate from North Carolina State University.  Architect Frank Harmon FAIA was Harwell's student, close friend, and executor of his estate.  Harmon was educated in North Carolina State University’s School of Design and at the Architectural Association in London.  After working with McMinn, Norfleet & Wicker of Greensboro, Richard Meier in New York, and Harmon & Simeloff in London, he founded Frank Harmon architect in 1985. His firm has won more than 40 design awards.  Harmon has received over 40 design awards, including the 2013 F. Carter Williams Gold Medal.  Harmon

Michael Hammond is co-founder and Editor in Chief of World Architecture News (WAN). He chairs the WAN AWARDS jury panel and produces the topical series of podcasts, Shop Talk which has featured many of the world’s leading architects over its 100+ programmes to date.  Prior to WAN, Michael spent 25 years in construction project management before taking up writing; he authored Performing Architecture published by Merrell in 2006. He has also contributed many other architectural features to media including the Architects’ Journal, Architect, British Airways magazine Highlife, CNN, CBC, the BBC, The London Evening Standard and the Radio Southern Florida Architects’ Radio show. Before the Beatles, before the Rolling Stones, architect, photographer, artist, and Jaguar-driving Brian Shawcroft was Raleigh North Carolina’s British invasion.  He is now the state's oldest practicing architect.  Born in England, he followed a masters in architecture at MIT with jobs with Page & Steele in Toronto; Tomei and Maxwell in

Craig Dykers, at just 28 years old, received international acclaim after winning the $350 million commission for the Library of Alexandria in Egypt.  He is founder of the design firm Snøhetta, with offices in Oslo Norway and New York, architect for some of the most amazing modern buildings in the world.  Snøhetta is the design architect for the James B. Hunt Jr. Library at NC State University. Greg Raschke is the Associate Director for Collections & Scholarly Communication at NC State University.  He's been deeply involved in the design and construction of the Hunt Library.  You may recall he's a great friend of the show, having binge-listened earlier this year - and survived! Learn more about the people and topics mentioned in this episode:  James B. Hunt Jr. Library * Snøhetta * Bookbot * Library of Alexandria (old) * Library of Alexandria (new) * Sex in Libraries * The Scream *

Aidan 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, furnished the house, and added paint and textures. He did not include a plumbing system, electrical system, or internal wiring. “I did put in some vents and designed it so that, with some editing, it could be built legally I should hope,” he said.  He got some of his ideas from architecture books he read. “For the most part, however, it was me experimenting with random ideas of mine and seeing if they looked good,” he said. “Although I did go in

Nathanial Kahn is a director and producer.  He is also the son of architect Louis Kahn, one of the most influential architects of the 20th century.  In 2003, he produced the Oscar-nominated film My Architect about the life and work of his dad, interviewing people who knew Kahn including Frank Gehry, Philip Johnson, and I.M. Pei.  Kahn created modern buildings with the feel and presence of ancient ruins using concrete.  His brilliant projects include the Four Freedoms Park, the Phillips Exeter Library, the Salk Institute, and his most famous work, the National Assembly building in Bangladesh. Alexandra Lange is the architecture critic for Curbed and a columnist at Dezeen.  She is a rising authority and a prolific writer for print and digital publications like Architect, Domus, Dwell, Metropolis, New York Magazine, and the New York Times.  Previously a Loeb fellow at the Harvard Graduate School of Design, she taught architecture criticism at New York University and is a leader in the new breed of digital curat

Eames Demetrios is the grandson (and namesake) of Charles and Ray Eames and leads the Eames brand which has roared back into the public eye.  His mission is communicating, preserving and extending the brilliant work of designers Charles and Ray Eames who were best known by the public for their furniture and for their 125 short films, including the much-heralded-and-still-relevant Powers of Ten.  Their Eames Lounge chair for Herman Miller is one of the most popular furniture designs in the world.  Demetrios is also creator of Kcymaerxthaere, a global work of three-dimensional fiction exploring stories of imaginary peoples, movements, even physical laws -- and then memorializing these stories on bronze plaques.  He has written several books about Charles and Ray Eames—Including An Eames Primer, Eames: Beautiful Details, and The Furniture of Charles and Ray Eames. Jerry Nowell ran North Carolina’s first all-contemporary furniture store, names, not surprisingly, Nowell’s Contemporary Furniture.  He was the third

California interior designer Brad Dunning grew up in Memphis and LA. He has early, wilder roots in the LA punk rock scene as part of the original Gun Club, a seminal noisy punk/blues band.  Widely praised as designer to the stars such as Tom Ford, Sofia Coppola, and Demi Moore,  Brad has been featured in Architectural Digest and created a look the magazine calls Cocktail Modern. Plus, he helped restore Neutra's famous Kaufmann House by Neutra in Palm Springs, where he’s been active for 20 years helping preserve MCM houses and buildings. Durham builder Leon Meyers graduated from Duke University and after working for Chapel Hill’s well-known Security Building Company, he went solo in 1982 as LE Meyers Builders, later merged with BuildSense in Durham.  Since then, Leon has become one of the most sought-after contractors for Modernist houses. Priority one message from Starfleet - somebody wrote a Star Trek book!  The Tom Cruise of Modernist builders!  George's second language!  Guildmaster!  Leon speaks French!

The world's largest erector set:  the Lustron was a house you put together with a screwdriver.  It was metal, yet would never rust.  It was ingeniously heated and insulated.  It came on a truck ready for assembly.  A brilliant design produced only a few years after WWII, the Lustron now has a cult following to repair and preserve them -- or assemble ones long in storage. Author Tom Fetters is King of Lustrons, the go-to guy for anything about these unique houses.  He also has interests in railroad history and dirigibles. His book The Lustron Home chronicles the history of the Lustron Corporation—how it started, why it failed, and what Lustron means to post-war America. Virginia Faust is by day a realtor for Howard Perry and Walston and by night the research engine behind North Carolina Modernist Houses (NCMH), scouring the state to document Lustrons and other livable works of art.  She developed a special love for Lustrons from growing up in Ohio where they were plentiful. Find out what Frank gets in the mai

Landscape architect Susan Saarinen, daughter of architect Eero Saarinen, granddaughter of architect Eliel Saarinen  (pronounced sahrr-uh-nen), andRaymond Neutra, retired physician and epidemiologist in California, son of architect Richard Neutra (pronounced noy-tra). In the 1950's when the general public really didn’t pay much attention to architects, Richard Neutra and Eero Saarinen were rockstars, creating buildings like the TWA Terminal at JFK and the Kaufmann house.  They were each on the cover of TIME magazine and brilliantly shaped the period we now call mid-century Modernism.  In the architect’s families, however, art and architecture were not just buildings or occasional topics of conversation, they were a way of life. Growing up as the child of a well-known star in any profession can be thrilling – and also stressful.  We'll talk with Susan and Raymond about growing up with genius.   Marvin Malecha is the Dean of the College of Design and Professor of Architecture at NC State University.  He was Pr

Justin Shubow is President of the National Civic Art Society, a Washington DC educational non-profit for the classical and humanistic tradition in public art and architecture.  With a background in law, philosophy, comedy, and physics, his sharp wit informs and entertains through articles in Forbes and appearances before Congress and various Washington committees. We talk about Frank Gehry's design for the Eisenhower Memorial in Washington DC, a project estimated to cost $150M that has dragged on since 1999.  Shubow has been a vocal opponent of both the selection process that chose Gehry and Gehry's various designs for the memorial. What happens when a lawyer, philosopher and physicist go into a bar?  Our #1 fan Consuelo battles it out in Modernist musical chairs! Learn more about the people and topics mentioned in this episode:  Maya Lin / Vietnam Veterans Memorial / MLK Memorial / Civil Rights Memorial / 911 Memorial / FDR Memorial / National Civic Arts Society.   Also in the studio, Jason Hart, Vinny P

Paul Rudolph was not as well-known as Frank Lloyd Wright but he designed some of the most fascinating and creative Modernist buildings in America. While inspiring a generation of architects, the public generally does not warm to his large brutalist designs, finding the intense use of concrete and steel to be ugly and oppressive.  But hey, we love 'em, and today we welcome two passionate and willing-to-do-something-about-it architects who fight for Rudolph’s brilliant buildings from different parts of the country. Gene Kaufman has designed over $1B of hotels in New York City.  In 2011, his firm Gene Kaufman Architect joined forces with the esteemed Modernist architecture firm Gwathmey Siegel; the result is Gwathmey Siegel Kaufman & Associates Architects.  Gene talks about his attempt to save a building you can’t check into for the night, the Goshen government complex designed by Paul Rudolph. Joe King is an architect and contractor practicing in Bradenton FL.  With Christopher Domin, he is co-author of the

Sarah Susanka is an internationally-known architect and author of the best-selling "Not So Big" series of books, which kicked off with The Not So Big House in 1997.  Over the years, she has been featured on Oprah, Charlie Rose, and many architecture and design publications.  She lives in Raleigh, North Carolina. Monique Lombardelli is a San Francisco filmmaker, CEO, Realtor, and developer. She produced three documentary films, including Little Boxes and People in Glass Houses: The Legacy of Joseph Eichler. From her work on Eichler's much-loved homes in California, long out of production, she revived the brand and is launching them nationally. What's up with America and big houses? Learn more about the people and topics mentioned in this episode:  Sarah Susanka / Monique Lombardelli / Joseph Eichler / The Not So Big Life Workshop / Las Vegas Eichler / Where Steve Jobs Grew Up Houses like Eichler:  Stoneson Brothers / Brown & Kaufman / Mackay Homes / Robert Rummer  

Joe Kwon is the cellist for the internationally acclaimed band The Avett Brothers.  He's the client of Robby Johnston and Craig Kerins, principals in the design/build firm Raleigh Architecture & Raleigh Construction.  Block by block, they are developing a stretch of Raleigh's downtown into small, sustainable, walkable Modernist houses.  Joe's recently built house is the third in what will be about a dozen completed within a three year timeframe. Robby and Craig drink their way through Belgium!  What's Joe's favorite room of the house? 

Ever since Modernist houses hit the mainstream market in the 1950’s, the real estate community has largely stayed away. Unaware of history, contemptuous of design style, and overreacting to certain flaws, realtors can do more to scare buyers away than to close the deal. Two Modernist realtors keep it real about these livable works of art. Crosby Doe is one of the leading Modernist realtors in America. Since 1983 he has sold houses by internationally prominent architects including Richard Neutra, Harwell Hamilton Harris, Rudolph Schindler, Frank Lloyd Wright, John Lautner, Charles Eames, Craig Ellwood, Pierre Koenig, and Frank Gehry. Emilie Huin started in real estate only four years ago but has become one of the leading Modernist realtors in North Carolina.  She sold (and preserved) an important and endangered Modernist house in Chapel Hill by the late Arthur Cogswell. Crosby Doe's first sale (it was a Neutra)!  Growing up with the Guild's in Durham!  Life lessons from liposuction! 

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 its own Twitter feed, independent of the owners. They honestly don't know who's behind the often-hilarious comments: @ModernOakwood. Paul Goldberger is an architecture critic and winner of the 1984 Pulitzer Prize for distinguished criticism.  He is the author of several books, including Why Architecture Matters, and wrote about the Cherry Gordon house for Vanity Fair. Contact the

John Morris is a Usability Engineer by day but by night he's the Batman of downtown architecture documenting buildings in Chicago and Raleigh. He's also a superfan of Modernist architect Milton Small Jr., student of Mies Van der Rohe.   Although Small died in 1992, his firm lived on through Small’s son Milton Small III of Small Kane Architects.  We'll talk with John and Milton about the man they both admire. Frank relives his Modernist childhood!  Water heaters over the sink!  Mt. Olive University!  The masterpiece at 3515 Glenwood Avenue!  John tries to speak Russian!  

Author J. Michael Welton writes about architecture, art, and design for national and regional publications such as The New York Times, The Washington Post, The Huffington Post, Dwell, and Architectural Record. His new book is "Drawing from Practice: Architects and the Meaning of Freehand." One of the architects featured in the book is Jim Cutler, Seattle-area architect well-known for his work in sustainability.  He also designed a little $66M house for Microsoft's Bill and Melinda Gates in the 1990's (with Peter Bohlin). Cutler is a passionate advocate for the return of freehand training in university architecture programs. His theory on how drawing affects thinking has huge implications for creativity in architecture. The Ferrari of drawing pencils! Does Bill Gates' house use Windows Update? Does CAD make architects dumber? What area of the brain lights up when you draw? Anyone want to start up a Kickstarter campaign for the externalization of cognition? The first iPad-like product by Microsoft!