Be careful about giving a coffee table book to your architecture-lovin’ spouse for Christmas, because one day, you might have a new Modernist house by a famous architect - plus a railroad - on your property.  Joining us is Seattle brand designer Lou Maxon and his long strange journey to build a Tom Kundig house with a unique Kundig gizmo on rails. Later on, returning podcast guest Peter McMahon of the Cape Cod Modern House Trust shares his group’s wildly successful preservation of Modernist cottages, including their new campaign to buy and restore the Marcel Breuer house in Wellfleet, Massachusetts, largely untouched since Breuer died over 40 years ago.  Learn more about the Maxon house at www.maxonhouse.com and www.maxonrailway.com.  Learn more about the CCMHT at www.ccmht.org.

As our 23 loyal listeners know, we’re solid fans of Bjarke Ingels and his wildly successful design practice Bjarke Ingels Group spanning London, Copenhagen, New York, and China.  With projects like the combination incinerator and ski slope in Copenhagen, and Via 57, One Hudson, the Spiral, and the BIG U flood protection barrier wrapping around most of Manhattan, the firm continues to do amazing projects, even designing habitats for the moon and mars. George was back at the Bjarke Ingels Group offices recently to interview BIG partner Martin Voelkle, who has overseen the design, development, and completion of projects such as 2 World Trade Center in New York, the Smithsonian master plan in Washington D.C., and the King’s Cross Google Headquarters in London. He’s also manages BIG’s few but high-profile house designs.

The 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!

Every now and then, we run into A-students who have become so accomplished in the multiple worlds of art, architecture, preservation, business, and common sense, that it’s a shame not to share those conversations.  Joining us today is Christy MacLear, the founder of Artist Ventures. She’s been CEO for Superblue, a thrilling immersive experience in Miami, which you should put on your travel list; the Robert Rauschenberg Foundation, and Philip Johnson's Glass House.  She’s been Vice Chairman at Sotheby's and consulted for the Cleveland Clinic, Disney, and the fabulously midcentury modern Noyes House in New Canaan Ct. She’s a podcast producer, she’s into web3 and NFT’s and the blockchain and AI and anything cutting-edge.  In her spare time, she’s been on Stanford's Arts Council, Stanford's Cantor Museum, and she’s Chair of New York City's Municipal Arts Society.  George Smart, flagbearer for the B-students, engages this delightful guest.

In our ongoing series Children of Genius, we’ll talk to John Barnes, son of New York Modernist architect Edward Larrabee Barnes, and Ainsley Gores Gilligan, daughter of Connecticut architect and one of the Harvard Five, Landis Gores.  They join our past interviews with family of well-known architects such as Eric and Susan Saarinen, children of Eero; Raymond and Dion Neutra, children of Richard;  grandchildren of Frank Lloyd Wright and Charles and Ray Eames; and children of Craig Ellwood, Bill Cody, Charlie Gwathmey, Charles Deaton, and many more.

George sneaks into the studio to make a special announcement.

Few large art museums in the world are dedicated to architecture as well as art, and joining us is Adam Lerner, the CEO of one of those, the Palm Springs Art Museum.  A few blocks away, that museum owns another museum, the Palm Springs Architecture and Design Museum, location of an upcoming January exhibition on architect Albert Frey, the patron saint of Modernist design in Palm Springs.  Curating that exhibition, we have the noted and in-demand Palm Springs and LA designer, preservationist, returning podcast guest Brad Dunning.

Back in the 1980’s, architect Richard Meier got a commission for a series of buildings in Los Angeles.  The Getty Foundation, sourced from the prestigious family of oil fame, wanted a huge new complex on land they owned off the 405.  This would turn out to be one of the largest private commissions in the world at the time, costing about 1.3 billion by the time it opened in the 1990’s.  Of course, the neighbors fought it, as neighbors do with just about anything Modernist, and now it’s a source of pride for all of Los Angeles.  If you’re into architecture, art, history, or research, the Getty is a must-see Modernist complex, all-white, of course, that’s a Richard Meier thing.  Admission is free, and it’s an astonishing accomplishment and gift to the world, especially the gardens.  On the show, we’ve got Chandler McCoy, the Getty's Senior Project Specialist with Conserving Modern Architecture Initiative.  Later we’ll talk AI with Michael Gilbride and how it’s affecting architecture and design.

The Modernist architecture we love is exciting, edgy, sometime inexplicable, often brilliant.  Modernism has been around a long time, yet there’s also been a movement beyond  Neutra and Corbusier and Gropius and Breuer and Mies, that’s frequently misunderstood.  We’re talking about organic architecture, houses that make Neutra look downright classical. Organic architects are a fiercely independent breed, using their intuition like Yoda would use the Force, taking on unusual materials and construction techniques, and sculpting residences that look out of this world.  More simply put, organic architecture is to modernism like monks are to priests, and these monks take their craft very seriously.  As a client, you tell them what you need, but you are not going to tell them what to design.  Joining us today are two prominent living organic architects, Bart Prince and Michael Johnson and later on, returning musical guests Peter Lamb and The Wolves.

Returning podcast guest Stewart Hicks is best-known for his wildly popular YouTube video series Architecture with Stewart, and in his spare time, he’s Associate Dean at the School of Architecture at the University of Illinois at Chicago.  Every few weeks, you’ll find a new YouTube release helping the general public, which is us, on topics as varied as the desperation of contemporary mall architecture, why linear cities don’t work, why people want to live in corncob-shaped buildings, the latest in toilet design, and the many ways your Roomba is spying on you. 

What modernist architect doesn’t want a museum commission? Along with airports and hotels, or huge corporate campuses for  tech bros, museums are the most lucrative and high-profile projects an architect can get.  Budgets are big, backers are rich, publicity is guaranteed, and most of the time clients want the architect to fully self-express their wildest plans. It’s a good deal for the museum, too, as they get to brag about their remarkable new building.  A graduate of the PhD program in sociology at Columbia, museum consultant Andras Szanto he has written for New York Times, ArtForum, and Art Newspaper, and has overseen the National Arts Journalism Program at Columbia and the Global Museum Leaders Colloquium at the Metropolitan Museum of Art. His latest books are The Future of Museums which interviews 28 of the world’s leading museum directors – and Imagining the Future Museum, 21 conversations with prominent museum architects.

Melodie Yashar is VP for building design and performance at ICON, a firm devoted to developing 3D construction. Their neighborhood of attractive, affortable 3D-printed houses, designed by the Bjarke Ingels Group, went on sale in Austin TX this past June.  Later on, we talk with German director Jan Schmidt-Garre whose latest film is The Promise: Architect BV Doshi, an intimate portrait of the late architect’s life and work.  But first, we check in with Kyle Bergman, founder of the New York Architecture and Design Film Festival, on this year's lineup.

Palm Springs has seen its share of glamour, from the Hollywood celebrities who made the place their playground last century to the musicians and entertainers who kept the party going. Today we’ll hear from Will Friedwald on the jazz trio The Poll Winners; Courtney Newman on the classic entertainers who flocked to Palm springs; and Susan Claassen, who has brought legendary Hollywood costume designer Edith Head to life.  If you don’t know who Edith Head is, think Edna Mode from the Incredibles movies, a character that was based on Edith Head.

Renovations on Modernist buildings can be particularly tricky. Nick Martin's firm recently remodeled Charles Gwathmey’s Tolan House in the Hamptons.  Matt Loader and Iain King of Loader Monteith lead Modernist preservation projects including the Glasgow School of Art Mackintosh Building, the Jenners Building redevelopment, and something definitely not Modernist, Rosslyn Chapel, a church made famous the Dan Brown book and movie, the Da Vinci Code. More recently, Loader Monteith conserved and updated High Sunderland, a Modernist house designed by Peter Womersley. 

Modernism isn't just architecture; it also highlights the artists and artisans whose textiles, ceramics, furniture, and other objects bring modern spaces to life. Recorded at Modernism Week 2023, we’ll hear from a gaggle of interesting guests:  Susan Brown, Alexa Griffith Winton, Leigh Wishner and Charlotte Von Hardenburgh on textile artist Dorothy Liebes; Annalisa Capurro and Paul Ortega on the Swedish Modern design of Svenskt Tenn; ceramics historian Margaret Carney on midcentury dinnerware; and Jim Rawitch on the arts and crafts of Sam Maloof.

In 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 expert, Virginia Faust, and new Lustron owner Mark Seibel. Later on, returning jazz vocalist Monika Ryan. 

As more and more midcentury buildings get destroyed, we have to rely on midcentury photography collections as a window into the past and as inspiration for the future. Today we’ll talk to Ethan Wayne, son of actor John Wayne, Laurie Kratochvil, and Amy Shepherd about the John Hamilton Collection, a priceless trove of photographs from Hollywood’s golden age.  After that, paint company Dunn-Edwards’s head colorist Sara McClean talks about keeping the midcentury color vibe alive. And later, jazz with North Carolina’s own Ariel Pocock.

Architectural historian Owen Hopkins has written or edited 16 books on architecture and his stories have appeared in Architectural Design, Dezeen, the Independent, and Blueprint, among many others. A graduate of the Courtauld Institute in London, Owen has served as architectural program curator at the Royal Academy of Arts, senior curator at Sir John Soane’s Museum, and now the director of Newcastle University’s new Farrell Centre. His latest book is about brutalism, those large concrete buildings many people love and King Charles and critics Roger Scruton and Dr. J. S. Curl and Justin Shubow hate hate hate hate hate.  Did we mention hate? As the book points out, Brutalist architecture inspires a passionate response, be it adulation or contempt. There’s lots of both to go around.  Later on, music from some great architects, and their IT buddy, in a group called Poinsettia.

Vishaan Chakrabarti is the Founder and Creative Director of Practice for Architecture and Urbanism where he leads the firm’s growing global portfolio of cultural, institutional, and public projects. His latest book is A Country of Cities: A Manifesto for an Urban America; his major argument is that well-designed cities have the capacity to address some of our gravest social ills, including environmental degradation and decreased social mobility.  Missy Wood is the founder and CEO of FORMUS, a virtual reality platform for the design and building community. She’s leading FORMUS to cut costs in the construction process through the power of extended virtual reality. Returning podcast guest Sharon Prince is the CEO and founder of Grace Farms Foundation, whose interdisciplinary humanitarian mission is to pursue peace through nature, the arts, justice, community, and faith. Sharon has shepherded Grace Farms through ten-plus years of growth--including their world class building designed by SANAA in New Canaan CT that serves as the heart of the foundation. In 2020, Grace Farms launched the Design for Freedom program--devoted to eliminating forced labor in supply chains. Wrapping up, architect Jody Brown recalls his internship.

What would happen if you threw the letters of the alphabet in a hat, drew out two at random, then asked people with those initials on a podcast?  Today we find out, and just like Sesame Street, today’s show is brought to you by the letters W and G.  We could have chosen from musician Woody Guthrie, grandpa on the Waltons Will Geer (George: loved that guy), one of the brothers Grimm, Wilhelm, and of course architect Walter Gropius.  They were, ahem, not available, so today we’ve got two wonderful living and breathing WG guests: first, architect, professor, and modernist master W. G. Clark and legendary design editor Wendy Goodman. 

Architects Albert Frey and Lawrence Kocher designed the Aluminaire House in 1931 for New York’s Allied Arts and Industries Exhibition. Tens of thousands of people went through this experimental house design. Now, over 90 years later, Aluminaire has been sitting in a tractor trailer, boxed up, at the Palm Springs Museum of Art. Joining George is Leo Marmol of the legendary LA firm Marmol Radziner. He's a Board member for the Palm Springs Art Museum and is coordinating the design team responsible for Aluminaire’s restoration. Next, Frank Lloyd Wright founded the Frank Lloyd Wright Foundation in the mid-twentieth century. We talk with Wright Foundation CEO Stuart Graff and Jennifer Gray, director of the new Taliesin Institute established by the Wright Foundation. Later on, jazz with musical guest Elaine Lucia.

If you’re considering buying a midcentury Modern house, you’re surely going to need some repairs, maybe as much as a full renovation.  Mostly likely you’re not in construction or architecture, so you’re gonna need help and you really don’t want to screw it up.  The good news is that there are expert builders around the country who specialize in Modernist houses, old and new, and today we’ve got the Sultan of Schindler, Jeff Fink of LA and Santa Barbara. Later on, Drew Lang, principal of Lang Architecture, talks about Brick and Wonder, a premier networking group of design, construction, and real estate professionals based in New York.  

You know when you go to an impressive Modernist building, part of what’s impressive is more than just the structure.  The landscape all around the building, from the sidewalks to the signage to the plants to how the sun hits everything just right – this is the stuff that the general public often takes for granted.  But it doesn’t happen by accident, and it’s not typically part done by the building’s main architect.  What often takes a building from good to great is an important profession called landscape architecture.  Poolside in Palm Springs, George talks with Roderick Wyllie and James Lord, partners with the award-winning San Francisco-based landscape design firm SurfaceDesign.  Later on, some high-quality time with Durham jazz recording artist Al Strong. 

Joining us here in the studio is designer and builder Alicia Hylton-Daniel, owner of the Durham North Carolina firm Hylton Daniel.  Later on, from Romania, it’s the creator of the wildly popular “of houses” blog, architect Daniel Munteanu. 

One of the most famous homes in Palm Springs is the Kaufmann House, designed by Richard Neutra.  It was recently the star of Don't Worry Darling, filmed right before it sold, and there's a rich history there.  Even Barry Manilow owned it at one point!  Adele Cygelman is the author of Palm Springs Modern and Arthur Elrod: Desert Modern Design. Her recent research focused on Edgar Kaufmann’s first wife, Liliane, and his second, a woman who, um, assumed hostessing duties after Liliane retreated back to Pittsburgh. Cathy Whitlock is a film journalist and author of Designs on Film: A Century of Hollywood Art Direction. Chris Baugh is a film location manager who secured the Kaufmann house for the movie. Later on, from our studios, a legend in folk music, someone who was actually there at the Lincoln Memorial for Martin Luther King Jr.'s iconic speech, musician Noel Paul Stookey of Peter Paul and Mary.

Welcome 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. 

We all love midcentury Modernism, but what about new Modernist houses? How much do you follow the past versus innovating for the future? After all, we are not the same culture and technology and building materials we were in the 1950's. And what about renovations? Today's show features homeowner Sean Gaston, who's working on a restoration project close to our hearts, a hyperbolic paraboloid house; author and architect Anthony Poon; and some of the hottest residential architects in LA, Brett Woods and Joe Dangaran.

Joining us is Robert Rubin, no not the guy who was secretary of the Treasury under Bill Clinton, although people do get them confused.  This Robert Rubin built one of the world's only Modernist golf clubhouses and will be transforming that golf course into a Modernist enclave. He also saved and restored a Pierre Chareau house in Paris, the famous Maison de Verre. Later, great jazz with musical guest Libby York.

More fun Modernist places most people don't know - explored from conversations at Modernism Week 2023  between George Smart, Tom Guild, and:  Simcha Schtull on the Elvis Honeymoon House, Melissa Riche and Dan Allen on Rancho Mirage, Dana Al-Marashi and TK Harvey on the United Arab Emirages; and the famous Isokon building in the UK with Magnus England and Leila DayBelge.

We're thrilled to talk with two of America's foremost architecture critics, recorded in New York City. Alexandra Lange is an award-winning architectural critic for Curbed.com and the author of several books on architecture and America’s built environment. A graduate of NYU’s Institute of Fine Arts and a former Loeb Fellow in the Harvard University Graduate School of Design, her most recent book is Meet Me by the Fountain: An Inside History of the Mall. Paul Goldberger is a Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist and educator who made his mark as an architecture critic for the New York Times. A New Jersey native, Paul studied art history at Yale University and then settled in NYC, where he now serves as the Joseph Urban Chair in Design and Architecture at The New School. He is the author of a number of books on architecture, and an advisor on matters of architecture and design to institutions all over the country. His latest book is DUMBO: The Making of a New York Neighborhood. 

Today’s show, recorded at Modernism Week 2023, is places.  With some great guests, we will explore Southridge in Palm Springs with architect Susan Secoy Jensen; Marfa, Texas with Dean Upe Peter Flueckiger; and the Rocky Mountains with author John Gendall. After that, music with returning podcast guest Laura Windley and her Mint Julep Jazz Band.

USModernist 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.

Starting in the late 50’s, the Hamptons was largely farmland, and people built small, intricate Modernist houses to get away from city life.  Today, with a new wave of huge houses and immense wealth controlling real estate, preservationists are focusing on both creating new modest Modernist houses and saving midcentury Modernist houses from the bulldozer.  David Sokol is the former managing editor of ID magazine and the author of  Hamptons Modern: Contemporary Living on the East End. When Tim Godbold he learned that Norman Jaffe’s Lloyds House in East Hampton had been torn down, he felt sure that an architectural conservancy in the Hamptons would be on the case, but as happens in many communities, none existed, so in 2020, he started Hamptons 20th Century Modern devoted saving the Hamptons’ Modernist heritage. Later on, like magic, it's musical guest Robin McKelle.

Architect John Patrick Winberry is the founding principal of the Queens-based UP Studio, recently longlisted for Dezeen’s architecture studio of the year award, and one of the firm’s latest projects is featured on CBS’s America: By Design. Later on, we meet a dynamic duo of moms and longtime friends who started flipping Modernist houses and repairing others for clients wanting to sell.  Hairpin Homes partners Michelle Rembolt and Angel Kwiatkowski buy deliciously dated midcentury houses in all conditions, from houses that have too many cats to houses that have never been cleaned out. 

We’ve got a full roster of guests from Modernism Week 2023 in Palm Springs. Speaking on famous midcentury architects and designers, you'll hear from Jacques Caussin on Raymond Loewy, Lila Cohen on Herb Greene, Alan Hess on Googie architecture, and Michelangelo Sabatino and Maristella Casciato on Carlo Mollino.

Today, our world is New York City, where you’ll hear conversations between George and former editor-in-chief of Architectural Record Cathleen McGuigan, architecture photographer and documentary filmmaker Bilyana Dimitrova, architect Adam Beaulieu of COOKFOX, and Common Edge editor Martin Pedersen.

Nowhere 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.  Later on, from a Bill Krisel house in Palm Springs, musical guest Cheryl Bentyne of the Manhattan Transfer, famous for songs like Operator and Boy From New York City.  They’ve won 10 Grammys, and this year, they’re on their 50th anniversary and final world tour.

You just can’t underestimate the satisfaction of a great office chair.  We spend most of our waking lives at work, often sitting, so comfort is important.  And for many, the location of work has changed.  Accelerated by the pandemic, your workplace is as likely to be a kitchen or den as it is a floor of offices. The KNOLL company had some of the most celebrated chairs in the world including Eero Saarinen’s womb and tulip chairs, the Barcelona chair by Mies Van der Rohe, and the Wassilly chair by Marcel Breuer.  Herman Miller was famous for the Aeron chair, the Noguchi table, the Marshmallow sofa, and the Eames Lounge Chair, among many others.  These companies have been the leaders in well-designed, comfortable office furniture for generations, and in 2021 they merged.  With us today is Ryan Anderson, vice president for global research and insights at MillerKnoll – and podcast host of Looking Forward: Conversations about the Future of Work. Later on, jazz with the remarkable Tony Desare.  

The Architecture and Design Film Festival, or ADFF, brings the stars, producers, and creators 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 around the world.  Bergman started the series in New York and now it’s in major cities here and abroad, and the pandemic ushered in an online series you can view from home.  Today we talk to the people behind two films from the ADFF.  Adrian Dorschner and Thomas Beyer created the film Robin Hood Gardens, the story of a concrete housing project in London, loved by architecture fans but unloved by residents and critics, including King Charles. Later, you’ll learn about Winy Maas, founder of world class architects MVRDV in the film Under Tomorrow’s Sky, with director Jan Louter.

G. E. Kidder Smith was a trained architect, an architectural historian, and an architectural A prolific scholar, teacher, and author, he is the subject of a new book by Angelo Maggi.  Joining us today from Switzerland is Kidder’s son, internationally acclaimed lutist, or is it lutenist, Hoppy Smith, and from Chicago architectural historian and author Michelangelo Sabatino, who wrote the forward to the book.  We’re also heading to the Motor City to talk with Detroit architect Michael Poris of McIntosh Poris, helping bring back that city back from some pretty bleak times. Later on, music with returning jazz artist, the delightful Diana Panton. 

One 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 Reiner-Burchill Residence was designed by John Lautner and built by Wally Niewiadomski. Reiner's business got in trouble and the house sat for a decade, unfinished. In 1974, new owners Jacklyn and Phillip Burchill engaged Lautner to complete it. In 2014, the iconic house was renovated by architect and "Mayor" of Silver Lake, Barbara Bestor.  All events benefit USModernist, a 501C3 nonprofit educational archive. Tickets and Details: www.usmodernist.org/la

Los Angeles is the epicenter of Modernist houses.  There are so many in the TMZ that it would take years to see even half of them. Because of sheer numbers, LA is also the epicenter for serial Modernists – those who have owned more than one Modernist house.  And we owe that group huge thanks, because they are the people investing huge amounts, often more than they probably should, to preserve iconic houses by important Modernist architects and preventing these houses from being torn down.  Joining us from Los Angeles Susan Orlean and John Gillespie, talking about their love affair with four Modernist homes. 

We’re going all over the place today, from Bentonville Arkansas to New York City to Indianapolis Indiana with guests Dylan Turk of the Crystal Bridges Museum, Kate Scott of NABR, a development firm doing interesting things with Bjarke Ingels, and Vess Ruchtenberg, grandson of Jan Ruhtenberg, one of the most influential architects and designers you’ve never heard of. 

As New Yorkers grew more prosperous in the 1960’s, they wanted to escape to the Hamptons of Long Island, a place at the time of mostly farmland – and where summer is a verb.  After working briefly for Philip Johnson, architect Norman Jaffe set up his own practice and within a few years everybody who was anybody in New York society wanted a Jaffe house.  Known for meticulous design and detail, and unrelenting creativity, Jaffe soon became top gun in Hamptons Modernism. But by 1993, Jaffe was stricken with prostate cancer, an unhappy marriage, and profound disillusionment from affluent and demanding clients who often refused to pay what they owed.  It did not end well.  Joining us today in our continuing series, Children of Genius, is his son, architect and artist Miles Jaffe. 

Returning guest Frances Anderton has been telling stories and distilling ideas about design, architecture, and the cityscape of Los Angeles in print and broadcast media and at public events since 1991. Born and raised in Bath, England, Frances earned a degree in architecture at the University College of London. After serving as associate editor at Architecture Review, during which she was exposed to Los Angeles’s modernist wonders, she moved to the States, where she became the host of the wildly popular public radio program DnA: Design and Architecture. Her latest project is the book Common Ground: Multifamily Housing in Los Angeles.  She’s on the board of Modernism Week and is a frequent speaker on architecture around the country. 

It’s our Valentine's Day show, and what could be better than being in love?  Oh man, your brain is on a euphoric, crazy, often stupid, out of your mind focus on someone or some building that lights you up.  You can’t stop checking messages, you can’t stop googling.  Your heart is racing, and your body is a circus of feel-good chemicals.  Dopamine revs you up, and serotonin falls, taking your rational old self right into Hallmark card territory – and cutting your appetite.  Adrenaline and nor-epinephrine kick in, then oxytocin like a big teddy bear, comes in for the cuddle.  Are we talking about people, or Modernist architecture?  Today it’s both, with three couples merging their personal and professional passions.  First up, curator Sascha Feldman and architect Jacob Esocoff, and interior architects Christine Stucker and James Veal.  Later, music from the fjords with Norwegian jazz couple Heidi Skjerve and Daniel Formo.

Topeka Kansas is the home of the famous Supreme Court case Brown vs. Board of Education that ruled against segregation, it’s where Annette Bening and Katrina of Katrina and the Waves grew up.  It’s where Wil Wheaton of Star Trek used to party with Penn Gillette.   It’s where Dr. Phil started … a health club…. with his dad in 1971, well before being discovered by Oprah when the beef industry sued her.  And it’s the home of Plains Modern, a small but intrepid group battling to save Kansas’s modernist heritage, specifically one particular state office building.  Joining us today are architect and professor Michael Grogan of Plains Modern and attorney Paul Post. 

Architecture is a tough field, one of the most demanding in terms of academic work.  Once you graduate, a Masters Degree in something else is usually needed.  Then entry level pay is seldom great, and everyone, we mean everyone – is a critic.  Back in the 20th century, when Modernism had it’s heyday, the small number of black architects had it even harder, yet - they quietly created homes and buildings across America that with a few exceptions, like Paul Williams, rarely got any fame or press.  White people don’t think of midcentury modern being in Black neighborhoods or created by Black architects – but there’s actually quite a lot.  Today’s guest Jerald Cooper created the wildly popular Hood Century Instagram account seeking out Black-designed Modernist architecture, starting in his own town of Cincinnati.