USModernist 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 Soleri's book Arcology. After graduating from college in 1969, Bruder apprenticed with Gunnar Birkerts, assisting in design of the Contemporary Arts Museum in Houston. He opened his first studio in 1974 and in 1987 was a fellow at the American Academy in Rome.  Host George Smart interviewed Bruder in the lobby of the Embassy Suites right off Central Avenue, just a few blocks up from his Phoenix Central Library.

Ah, Cape Cod, the arm-shaped stretch of Massachusetts where Boston goes in the summer.  The sun.  The ocean.  The traffic.  The clam chowder.  The summer theatre productions.  And best of all, except for perhaps the clam chowder, the modern architecture by Marcel Breuer, Walter Gropius, and others. There are more than 100 modernist houses representing a little-known treasure map of residential architecture.  Our guest Peter McMahon is Principal of PM Design.  Peter curated an exhibition on Cape Cod Modernist architecture for the Provincetown Art Museum.  This led to the creation of the unique and highly effective Cape Cod Modern House Trust, which documents and preserves these houses and makes them available for the public to stay in.  His own summer house in Wellfleet MA was published in House Beautiful and Outside and he is co-author with Christine Cipriani of Cape Cod Modern: Mid-Century Architecture and Community on the Outer Cape. 

Every fall, the New York Architecture and Design Film Festival (ADFF) premieres the best new documentaries of the year. Host George Smart was on the scene talking with the people behind the new movies. Ultan Guilfoyle’s award-winning films have been shown on PBS and HBO in the US and the BBC, ITV and Channel 4 in the UK. He is author of two books about design, and with Sydney Pollack, Guilfoyle produced Sketches of Frank Gehry. His latest film is Frank Gehry: Building Justice where architect Gehry, philanthropist George Soros, and students at SCI-ARC and Yale re-design prison architecture for the complex social, political, racial, and aesthetic issues behind incarceration.  Paul Clemence is co-producer with Aksel Stasny of the film Two Pianos. His book on Mies van der Rohe's Farnsworth House remains the most complete photo documentation of that iconic design, and his many photographs have appeared in Metropolis, ArchDaily, Architizer, Casa Vogue Brasil, and his own blog Archi-photo with nearly 1M followers worldwide. Two Pianos is about the Italian architect Renzo Piano, and the film captures the masterful use of light, carefully orchestrated relationship between inside and outside, the seamless connection to the surroundings, and an exacting craftsmanship.  Alan Hess is an architect and author who has shed light on many forgotten and neglected styles of postwar American modernist architecture. The Los Angeles Conservancy named him "The preeminent authority on Southern California Modernism."  Host George Smart named him the Samuel L. Jackson of architecture documentaries, because like the prolific Mr. Jackson in film, Alan has appeared in more documentaries for design than anyone else.  Hess is one of the stars in a Jake and Tracey Gorst documentary on architect Albert Frey, the first American to work for French superstar architect Le Corbusier, in the film Frey Part I, The Architectural Envoy.  

We love realtors, and we also know many who would rather tear mid-century Modernist houses down than find new caring owners. That's ok, because there are realtors like today's guests who are passionate advocates for Modernist houses and go the extra mile. Martie Lieberman is a real estate agent with fans all over the world for mid-century modern and unique architectural houses. Martie was the force behind a resurgence of interest in the preservation of modern houses in Sarasota, Florida, and she created the Sarasota Architectural Foundation (SAF).  She has been honored with the Florida AIA's Bob Graham Award for promoting and preserving Modernist design.   Chris Menrad has been part of the Palm Springs real estate community for over 10 years. The stock trader-turned-real estate agent represents some of the most stunning mid-century modern houses on the market.  He came to Palm Springs in 1999 and bought a Modernist house by architect Bill Krisel plus he has restored five mid-century modern houses in Palm Springs.  Chris is a founding board member of the Palm Springs Modern Committee and a past board member of the Architecture & Design Council of the Palm Springs Art Museum. 

Watergate has come to mean scandal, usually but not always, political. The gate part is used as a suffix for other scandals in everything from sports to entertainment to media.  Along with co-host Erin Sterling Lewis, winner of the 2018 AIA Young Architects Awards, host George Smart welcomes Joe Rodota, author of THE WATERGATE, a history of the iconic Washington DC building and some of its most famous residents. Rodota served as a writer and communications manager in the Reagan White House and as an aide to California Governors Pete Wilson and Arnold Schwarzenegger.  He has written for the New York Times, Los Angeles Times, Huffington Post and other publications.  

Louis Kahn was one of the most brilliant and enigmatic architects of the 20th century.  He died in 1974. There’s an stirring and brilliant documentary about his life, filmed by his son, called My Architect.  Kahn taught at Yale and the University of Pennsylvania most of his career.  He didn’t do a lot of buildings, but he was famous for almost all of them plus many fascinating unbuilt projects.  One of those was the Four Freedoms memorial to Franklin Delano Roosevelt on Roosevelt Island in New York City.  It was on the drawing boards when Kahn died.  The project languished for decades and wasn’t finished until 2012.  The architecture firm Mitchell Giurgola in New York ultimately took Kahn’s design and faithfully executed it to much international acclaim.  Host George Smart does a West Wing walk n talk with Paul Broches, the Mitchell Giurgola partner in charge of Four Freedoms.  They met at the tram station on the East side, right near the Queensboro Bridge. After a while exploring the memorial, they met one of the show's favorite guests.

Every fall, the New York Architecture and Design Film Festival (ADFF) premieres the best new documentaries of the year. Kelsey Keith, the Editor-in-Chief of Curbed, was on the ADFF discussion panel for Enough White Teacups, a film by Michelle Bauer Carpenter about using design to solve critical human problems.  Host George Smart interviewed Keith at the Curbed offices in New York where they talked about the movie as well as Paris, Candide, and tacos. The Mmuseumm is New York's smallest, barely the size of a closet, and highlights a new model of curating modern artifacts. The New York Times Style Magazine included Mmuseumm on The Cultivist’s “Top 12 International Hidden Art Gems,” and it was called curatorial genius by Steve Heller at The Atlantic. Closed for the winter, it will reopen in the spring. Greg Durrell is the producer of Design Canada, the first documentary chronicling the history of Canadian graphic design and how it shaped a nation and its people.  He is a partner at Hulse & Durrell, a Vancouver-based firm that develops brands, products and films for ambitious organizations to make a lasting impact. Their client list includes the International Olympic Committee, the Canadian Olympic Team, NBC Sports, and Square, that company whose terminals you're swiping regularly.

California architect John Lautner, who died in 1994, was a genius of architecture who inspired generations of fans. His houses are among the most famous ever built - because you've seen them in so may movies: Chemosphere House (Body Double), Garcia House (Lethal Weapon), Sheats Goldstein House (Big Lebowski), and Elrod House (Diamonds are Forever) are just four of his many thrilling buildings. Today's guests are two of Lautner's closest associates, people who knew him best over decades; his partner and right hand, architect of the stunning Arango House in Acapulco, Helena Arahuete, and Modernist master builder Robin Poirier.

Sekou Cooke is a Jamaican-born architect with degrees from Cornell and Harvard who is a assistant professor of Architecture at Syracuse. He is a leading columnist and lecturer advocating for more minorities in architecture.  If you think we live in a post-racial era in the profession of architecture, think again.  Minorities in 1968 made up only about 1% of the architects in America.  50 years later, we’re up to 2%.  Host George Smart spoke with Cooke at the AIA New York Center for Architecture where Cooke has a major exhibition on through January 12 called Close to the Edge: The Birth of Hip Hop Architecture. Hip-hop is a cultural movement established by Black and Latino youth of New York’s South Bronx neighborhood in the early 1970s.  Hip hop has profoundly affected music and all of the arts. It has emerged not only as an influence on architecture but something bursting to produce its own unique architecture."

Michigan, that fine state shaped like your hand, is a hotbed of amazing Modernism.  Today George Smart and co-host Bob Langford chat with three knowledgeable guests about Michigan Modern.  Michael Dow is President of the Alden and Vada Dow Family Foundations based in a town where the cherry pie is always amazing, Charlevoix Michigan.  Established in 1960, the Foundation benefits central Michigan. He’s the son of architect Alden Dow, who took a sharp left from the Dow family chemical business and became a world-class Modernist architect based in Midland Michigan.  You’ve heard a lot over the last few years about Columbus, Indiana, but Midland ranks right up there as one of the most remarkable Modernist enclaves in America.  Susan Bandes is Professor of Art History and Director of Museum Studies at Michigan State University. She ran MSU's Kresge Art Museum which is now the Broad Art Museum and curated exhibitions on Frank Lloyd Wright, and American Modernism. She teaches Renaissance and Baroque Art, Modern Architecture, Curatorial Practices and is author of Mid-Michigan Modern: From Frank Lloyd Wright to Googie.  She’s also an expert on a chain  called Dawn’s Donuts. Brian Conway is the longtime State Historic Preservation Officer in Michigan.  He is co-author of Michigan Modern: Design That Shaped America and won the 2016 Advocacy Award from Docomomo-US.  That stands for the Documentation and Conservation of the Modern Movement, not to be confused to Kokomo, a Beach Boys song.  His new book, Michigan Modern: An Architectural Legacy has remarkable color photography taken expressly for this book by James Haefner. Dropping by the studio, the Mac McLaughlin Group: Mac McLaughlin, Mike Randall, Peter Joyner, and Kevin Golden.

Not only did Tom resupply the Cheetos and those delicious Delta airlines cookies today but we have the privilege of talking with podcast host Frances Anderton.  If you live in LA, you’re heard her since 2002 every Tuesday on KCRW and the podcast DNA which stands for Design N Architecture.  She is also a full-time producer of KCRW's national and local current affairs shows To The Point and Which Way, LA?  We’ve been fans for years, and her insightful stories and interviews inspire design fans nationwide!

We're checking out other design podcasts around the country and this week it's the host of the design podcast Convo By Design, Josh Cooperman.  Josh is a speaker, writer, publisher, host, brand manager and product designer with over 25 years in the broadcast industry including CBS Radio Motorsports and Playboy Radio. His masterful podcast Convo by Design tells powerful and inspiring stories of how architects, artists, designers, tastemakers and influencers make a difference in our lives, build their brands, and delight their clients. 

Laura Massino is LA's premier architecture tour guide and the prolific author of a series called Architecture Tours LA Guidebooks, which includes the volumes Frank Gehry Architecture, Pasadena, Downtown, Hancock Park, Hollywood, West Hollywood and Beverly Hills, and our favorite hood, Silver Lake.  Heather Papinchak is co-owner of Polymath Park in Acme PA.  She and her husband Tom are serial Modernists. They don’t just collect chairs and art like you do, they collect entire houses associated with the architect Frank Lloyd Wright – even moving some houses across the country – to create a fantastic 130-acre touring experience within an hour of Wright’s other landmarks, Fallingwater and Kentuck Knob, where you can stay overnight in one of the houses!

With training in historic Preservation, Architecture, and Urban Planning, Lorrie Muldowney is President of Creative Preservation and has lived in Sarasota County for the past 47 years.  She formerly served as the Sarasota County historical resources specialist and manager of the Sarasota County History Center. Lorrie is part of the wildly popular Architectural Trolley Tours offered by the Center for Architecture Sarasota with Harold Bubil, the former Sarasota Herald-Tribune real estate editor who has written about Modernist architecture since before it was cool.  Retired from the paper after 43 years, he continues to write feature stories and is working on a book, Florida Buildings I Love. 

Tom Dyckhoff is one of Britain’s best-known commentators on architecture and urbanism, with many radio, television, and documentaries to his credit. He is the presenter of The Great Interior Design Challenge and the Radio 4 series The Design Dimension. He was previously architecture and design critic for BBC2’sThe Culture Show and architecture critic of The Times. He presented The Secret Life of Buildings for Channel 4, and his seven-part BBC 2 series, Saving Britain’s Past, examined Britain's obsession with heritage. An Honorary Fellow of the Royal Institute for British Architects, which is the British equivalent of our AIA, Dyckhoff writes for the Guardian, GQ, Wallpaper, and the New Statesman, among others. 

Today 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 others, and has authored several books, among them Modernism Rediscovered (2000) and NorCalMod: Icons of Northern California Modernism (2006).

Today 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 Boston Brutalist Map, published by Blue Crow Media.  Natascha Drabbe is an architectural historian and founder of the Iconic Houses Network, connecting important 20th century houses from Frank Lloyd Wright’s Fallingwater to Mies van der Rohe’s Villa Tugendhat. She divides her time between Amsterdam and Utrecht, where she runs the Van Schijndel House that inspired her to set up the house museum network.

Craig Ellwood was not a licensed architect but to his Los Angeles design clients he was a true design genius, and he could sell, too.  Derided by the architecture profession of which he was formally not a part, he rose to public fame when three of his designs were included in the iconic Case Study House series. His houses are still incredibly prized today.  Michael Boyd is a landscape, furniture, and architectural designer. He is the principal of BoydDesign, a consultancy for the restoration and preservation of Modernist architecture – and listen to this, kids, he lives in Oscar Niemeyer’s only North American house.  If you don’t know who Oscar Niemeyer is, start googling. Michael is the creator of PLANEfurniture, a line of architectural furnishings featured at the SF MOMA, The Palm Springs Museum, and the University of California Santa Barbara. His new book, Making L A Modern, is about the man, the myth, the designer Craig Ellwood - and he joins us from that amazing Niemeyer house in Santa Monica.

Anyone 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 including the Modern Architecture Travel Guide East and West Coast editions.  Don't leave home without them!

USModernist 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.

Modernist 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.  Crawford also was named among the top 100 chefs in America by Esquire magazine’s longtime national dining critic John Mariani.  Raleigh architect, artist, banjo player, and returning podcast guest Louis Cherry has taught in the NCSU College of Design on and off for over 20 years, and since 1992 he has designed a dozen restaurants.

USModernist 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 the Hammer Museum in 2013 and The Utopian Impulse: Buckminster Fuller and The Bay Area in 2012.  Since 2010, she has been building SFMOMA’s Architecture and Design collection. Christiane Robbins, Professor and Director of USC’s Matrix Program for Digital Media, and Katherine Lambert, Professor at the California College of the Arts join George to discuss their new film, Gregory Ain, the Most Dangerous Architect in America. With images of FBI surveillance records recently obtained, they explore architect Ain’s career and why J. Edgar Hoover and the FBI watched him and his family for years.

People who like Modernism show it in various ways. They buy the books, they watch the documentaries, they get a few pieces of furniture, they may visit the work of a few famous architects.  Sometimes they build or buy a Modernist house.  Michael LaFetra is way beyond that. Born in Los Angeles, Michael had a successful career creating restaurants in New York City before he moved back home to LA in 1999.  Since then, he bought a Modernist house.  Then another.  Then another.  As far as we can tell, he may be the foremost collector of Modernist houses in the country; with houses designed by Quincy Jones, John Lautner, Rudolph Schindler, Frank Gehry, Richard Neutra, Paul Williams, Pierre Koenig, Ray Kappe, and more. Dropping by the studio, it’s a special reunion of Lulu and the Lounge Lizards, with Linda Smith as lead singer, Richard Tazwell on piano, David Shore on drums, and Jeff Brown on Sax.      

USModernist 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 as Frey and Kocher's Aluminaire House. Michelle Delk is a Partner, Landscape Architect and ASLA Discipline Director with Snøhetta, an architecture and design firm that has garnered international acclaim for projects including the Bibilioteca Alexandrina in Alexandria, Egypt, the expansion of the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art, Norwegian National Opera and Ballet in Oslo, and the Jim Hunt Library in Raleigh NC.  She discusses the design of the Willamette Falls Riverwalk in Oregon and how landscape architecture inspires us in ways most people don't realize.    

USModernist 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 Degeneres.  Los Angeles Magazine named Cory as one of Six Women who Changed The Face of LA Architecture and her architecture firm specializes in Modernist design. She was the force behind preserving Crestwood Hills in LA, a neighborhood full of Modernist houses that by now would likely have been extinct if not for her efforts.  Producer Leo Zahn premiered "Sinatra in Palm Springs – The Place He Called Home" at Modernism Week, exploring Frank Sinatra’s primary home for almost 50 years. From his houses to where he ate to where he entertained, the film features interviews with Barbara Sinatra, Mel Haber, Tom Dreesen, Nelda Linsk, Bruce Fessier, Trini Lopez, Michael Fletcher, and others who knew and lived and played with Frank Sinatra.  After completing USC Film School, Zahn studied architecture and design in Europe. Over the course of his 30 year career in advertising he directed and photographed more than 600 commercials.

Architect Paul McClean grew up Ireland, thinking of houses and getting in trouble for drawing them in high school.  He graduated from the Dublin Institute of Technology in 1994 and by 2000, he was on his own in Los Angeles. His clients include Irish real estate investor Paddy McKillen, Tyler and Cameron Winklevoss of Facebook fame, and developer Niles Niami, a spec Modernist house clocking in at 104,000 square feet, with an asking price of half a billion. It is the largest and most expensive Modernist house in the world. Dropping by the studio, longtime North Carolina swing band Rebecca and the Hi-Tones play "Straighten Up and Fly Right" by Nat King Cole.  We visit with Rebecca and Keith as they share the story of the band.

USModernist 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 Colorado and became a fulltime realtor specializing in Modern, starting with his own house designed by architect Cliff May. Now he's the force behind Denver's Modernism Week this August.   You also might not think of Indiana and Modern, but that state has a lot going on.  George welcomes back Marsh Davis of Indiana Landmarks to catch up on Modernist preservation in the Hoosier state.

In 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 welcomes former students, old friends, and respected colleagues Abie Harris, Roger Clark, Ben Taylor, and Jerzy Główczewski to talk about the man, the myth, the legend, Henry Kamphoefner.

USModernist 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 brought it back to its original glory.  George talks about the house and it's journey from the past into the future with Brent Harris in a rare visit, poolside at the Kaufmann House. Hugh Kaptur is the last living major mid-century modern architect in Palm Springs. He's the Obiwan of Modernism, the last of the Jedi. Alongside other celebrated Palm Springs architects, such as E. Stewart Williams, Donald Wexler, Bill Cody, John Porter Clark, and Albert Frey, Kaptur created the Modernist vibe that Palm Springs is famous for, from hotels to fire stations to apartment complexes to houses. From the 1950's through today, he's been turning out head-turning award-winning architecture. Kaptur has a star on the Palm Springs Walk of Stars. He was featured in the documentary Quiet Elegance.

Architect Ellen Cassilly worked in Paris with Christian DePortzamarc, who you’ll recall was a winner of the Pritzker Prize, and Arata Isozaki in Tokyo, before coming to North Carolina.  After bringing exciting projects together for other firms, such as the NC Museum of Art Ampitheatre, she started Ellen Cassilly Architect in 1999.  She is featured in the book, Drawing From Practice, and she co-teaches the architectural design/build studio at NC State University’s College of Design.  With her husband Frank Konhaus, they gave birth to a spectacular house/museum/gallery called Cassilhaus, a combination of their names. The house now celebrates its 10th anniversary. Cassilhaus is more than just beautifully designed and built, it’s part gallery, part artist quarters, part home!

USModernist 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 designer, educator, architectural historian, author, and writer.  One of Modernism Week's most popular speakers, Annalisa is passionate about the protection and preservation of mid century architecture. She owns 'The Jack House' on Sydney's Upper North Shore.   Alan Hess is an architect and architectural historian. He's been in so many architecture documentaries, we call him the Samuel L. Jackson of Modernism!  Alan is the author and/or co-author of nineteen books exploring about Modernist architecture and is a frequent speaker at Modernism Week.

In this digital age, everyone’s taking photos, billions of them, primarily with their phones.  We talk today about architectural photography, and how both digital and social changes in photography affect decisions about the kind of buildings we see built, the design competitions where photos play a part, and how you can take better photos of architecture you love, like your own house. Our first guest is architect Harry Wolf, joining us from his home in Portugal.  Harry worked at Skidmore, Owings, and Merrill in New York and opened Wolf Architecture in North Carolina and later NY and LA.  If you were watching closely, Harry was in the documentary Concert of Wills about the making of the Getty Center.  Harry won five national AIA honor awards and over 30 regional and state AIA honors.  He is a frequent juror for the George Matsumoto Prize, North Carolina’s highest honors exclusively for Modernist houses.   Raleigh Architect Matt Griffith graduated in Architecture from the NCState College of Design. Before founding the award-winning design firm in situ studio with past podcast guest Erin Sterling Lewis, Matt worked in the offices of Marlon Blackwell and another past podcast guest, Frank Harmon.  Matt and Erin won twenty-two local and state design awards, including several of the George Matsumoto Prizes we mentioned earlier.  He lives in a mid-century modernist house and is Associate Professor at the NCState School of Architecture.  Photographer Jim Sink has been shooting buildings, with his camera, for nearly 50 years.  He is a graduate of the US Naval School of Photography. Since 1980, he’s been an award-winning architectural photographer, creating beautiful images of homes, offices, theatres, and other structures that influence design and construction decisions across North Carolina and the nation.  

USModernist 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 Skylark.  And later, he talks with Lindsay Blake, location expert, is creator of the blog I Am Not a Stalker.  She's a walking encyclopedia of TV and movie locations all around California.  She'll share the ground rules of not-stalking and her quest for the home of Tal Weaver, an obscure character in her favorite show, Beverly Hills 90210. (Since this show was recorded, Lindsay found the Tal Weaver house!)

Richard Neutra was one of the world’s most important architects, and today his work is even more popular.  Neutra designed more than 300 amazing Modernist houses in California and elsewhere. In 1949, Time Magazine featured Neutra on its cover and ranked him second only to Frank Lloyd Wright in American architecture. Neutra hired several architects who went on to independent success, including Gregory Ain, Harwell Hamilton Harris, and Raphael Soriano.  Our first guest is Neutra’s son and a good friend of the podcast, Raymond Neutra, who has been traveling the world photographing his father’s houses.  He is author of Cheap and Thin: Neutra and Frank Lloyd Wright. Joining Raymond is Barbara Lamprecht, one of the world’s foremost experts on Richard Neutra’s architecture.  If you’ve been in any Modernist house worth talking about, you’ve seen one of her Neutra books on the Noguchi or Nelson coffee table.  She is an architect and architectural historian and a kind of forensic examiner, performing environmental reviews, and applying for the National Register of Historic Places, National Historic Landmarks, and Mills Act programs. She specializes in Modernism and has appeared in the documentaries GlobeTrekker, Visual Acoustics, and Coast Modern.

Gregory Ain was inspired to become an architect after visiting Rudolf Schindler's King’s Road house. He worked for Richard Neutra as well as Harwell Hamilton Harris. As a result of a proposed housing project suspected of being communist by Senator Joseph McCarthy -- because it was racially integrated -- Ain was investigated by the FBI over 30 years.  He was considered the most dangerous architect in America, and this broad and inaccurate accusation caused the loss of many commissions.  Our first guest is Ain’s daughter, Emily Ain.  Architect Pierre Koenig apprenticed in the offices of Raphael Soriano and A. Quincy Jones.  He designed the iconic, world-famous Stahl House, the most famous "case study house," up in the hills above LA.  His innovative steel buildings often hung onto cliffsides and masterfully defied gravity.  We are joined by his son, attorney Randy Koenig, specializing in the legal needs of design professionals.

Johnny Örbäck was about 47 when he had a fantastic idea.  It was 1999, and as Managing Director of a public housing agency in Malmo, Sweden, he decided to commission the world’s most unique housing project from architect Santiago Calatrava. Calatrava, known for wildly creative buildings and bridges all over the world is famous for being an architectural genius, and he’s also famous for enormous cost overruns, for example, the World Trade Center Transportation Hub in New York, with a $3.9 billion price tag, $2 billion over budget. The New York Times has documented every Calatrava financial disaster, including his truly brilliant City of Arts and Sciences in Valencia, Spain that came in at four times the original price. What's it like to be a client of Calatrava?  Today, you'll find out.

Covering topics from England to the Congo, today’s show features host George Smart and the stars, producers, and creators of the latest architecture documentaries, recorded in New York at the Architecture and Design Film Festival late last year.  George’s first guest is Sarah Howitt, Producer and Director of Building Hope: The Maggie’s Centres, beautiful architect-designed facilities for patients with cancer and their families in the UK. Next, George is joined by Thatcher Bean, producer of Made in Ilima, which tracks the collective building process of a modern school and community center in Ilima, a town in a remote and ecologically sensitive region of the Democratic Republic of the Congo.

Hugh Hefner passed away last year after decades at the helm of Playboy magazine, the first mainstream magazine featuring nude centerfolds that depending on your point of view, liberated women, demeaned women, or both.  But you may not know that for nearly 20 years, Playboy promoted Modernist design like no other publication. Features on Frank Lloyd Wright, Bucky Fuller, Mies Van Der Rohe, Charles Eames, and others influenced a generation. Professor Beatriz Colomina is Director of PhD Graduate Studies at Princeton University's School of Architecture. Her books include Privacy and Publicity: Modern Architecture as Mass Media, awarded the 1995 International Book Award by the AIA; Sexuality and Space awarded the 1993 AIA International Book Award; She also had an essay published in the book The Sex of Architecture. In 2016, her exhibition Playboy Magazine and the Architecture of Seduction highlighted the magazine’s role in popularizing Modernism. Originally from New Zealand, Sandra Costa was a Playboy bunny in Miami and Los Angeles from 1967 to 1974.  Soon she was known as the Kiwi bunny. She’s a well-known celebrity designer and founder of the Sandra Costa Design Group, providing custom interior design and remodeling - an award-winning furniture designer and a grandmother of three.  

Seattle has coffee, and rain, and Amazon, and amazing Tom Kundig houses.  It also has our guest today, Eugenia Woo, one of Seattle’s top advocates for Modernist historic preservation. She is the director of preservation services at Historic Seattle and is a co-founder and board member of Docomomo WEWA. Founded in 1974, Historic Seattle preserves Seattle’s architectural legacy. Eugenia has a BA in political science from the University of California at Berkeley and a Masters of Urban Planning and Preservation Planning from the University of Washington. We talk about key Modernist buildings in Seattle and Woo's work to save them.

From the Architecture and Design Film Festival in New York City, held late last year, host George Smart's first guests are Ted Bosley and Lori Korngeibel talking about the Gamble House in Pasadena, America’s most famous Arts and Crafts house, and later, George is joined by Catherine Ledner and Roy Beeson, creators of a new documentary about Catherine’s father, New Orleans architect Albert Ledner, who died shortly after the film premiered.

Tammy Hauser is Executive Director for the Center for Architecture Sarasota, a nexus for midcentury Modernist houses.  She's the CEO of Blue Sky Thinking, a consulting firm based in Sarasota for nonprofit organizations. This spring, the Center for Architecture Sarasota hosts an exhibition on Larry Scarpa, a Modernist architect based in Los Angeles, who uses conventional materials in unexpected ways and is considered a leader in sustainable design.  She's also a commercial theater producer and creator of The Ultimate Pajama Party™, a theatrical experience for women.

You may recall that a few months ago, host George Smart interviewed Kyle Bergman, director of the Architecture and Design Film Festival in New York City.  Today’s special bonus edition features George and the stars, producers, and creators of the latest architecture documentaries, recorded in New York at the Architecture and Design Film Festival late last year.   Many Americans think the last World's Fair was in New York in 1964 but they've been going on around the world ever since - just without America's participation. George’s first guest is Mina Chow, producer and star of Face of a Nation: What Happened to the World’s Fair, and later on, he talks with Bruce Inglis, director of Photography for the documentary Glenn Morcutt: A Spirit of Place.

Hawai'i is full of Modernist architecture!  Today we talk with Dean Sakamoto who lives and works in both Hawai'i and Connecticut. He worked with the Univ of Hawai'i Department of Urban and Regional planning and he founded SHADE, Hawai'i's first public interest design organization that plans designs and builds in the rapidly urbanizing tropics.  He also is on the board of DOCOMOMO Hawai'i which has their annual tour every October. Returning to the podcast is our good friend Brad Dunning, one of California’s most sought-after interior designers.  He's worked on numerous Richard Neutra houses and offices, including his own, with Tom Ford on his 1955 Neutra home, Courteney Cox on her Neutra office complex, the famous Kaufman house in Palm Springs, and other houses by A. Quincy Jones, Paul Williams, John Lautner, and Wallace Neff.  He gives a rockin’ talk on Hawai'i modernism every so often at Palm Springs Modernism Week, and he has written about architecture and design for Vogue, the New York Times, the Los Angeles Times, and GQ Magazine. 

There are certain Modernist houses that just can’t be captured in a photo, a video, or even a 3D rendering. For example, Fallingwater in Pennsylvania is considered Frank Lloyd Wright’s greatest residential work.  It continues to attract millions of people, and in 1991 the AIA named Fallingwater the "best all-time work of American architecture."  Denise Miner is Public Tour Supervisor at Fallingwater.  She’s been associated with the house in some way almost all her life and has worked there as a guide for more than 30 years.   Her grandfather and two uncles were part of Fallingwater’s construction and she is the Obiwan Kenobi of Fallingwater, training their team of wonderful guides.   However, there ain’t no party like a west coast party, and in LA there’s a house that’s not only iconic, it’s a true Hollywood movie celebrity.  Former football player Buck Stahl created the vision for the Stahl House, also known as Case Study House 22, designed by Pierre Koenig. The two-bedroom house features a wraparound view from the mountains to the sea. It starred in countless movies and TV plus music videos for ATB and Wilson Phillips. In 2013 it was listed on the National Register of Historic Places.  Shari Stahl Grunwald grew up in the home and administers the property with her brother Bruce.  

After WWII, states looked at their aging capitol buildings and considered sweeping new plans to bring technology, commerce, government, and even the performing arts into the full 20th century.  One of the few state capitols to actually achieve this was Albany NY.  The Empire State Plaza is series of Modernist office and cultural buildings that started in the late 1950’s, and it’s gorgeous.  It’s a stunning achievement spearheaded by NY Governor Nelson Rockefeller and designed primarily by architect Wallace Harrison. Albany’s master plan was so successful, other states wanted to do the same thing.  One of those was North Carolina.  In 1965, the State Capital planning Commission issues a report and a design they had been working on for several administrations.  The goal was, like Albany, to transform the epicenter of downtown Raleigh, the state capitol, into a city of the future.  The blue ribbon panel of architects, consultants, and government members presented a beautiful plan. One of those consultants from 1965 is a young man with a lot of potential who just turned 90.  Lewis Clarke is one of North Carolina’s most celebrated and prolific landscape architects.  Clarke came to Harvard on a Fulbright Scholarship taught at the the NCSU School of Design from 1952 to 1968. His teaching influenced generations of architects and his 1300 projects, papers, photographs, and slides are now at the NC State University Special Collections Research Center, their third largest collection. And he’s received awards from Lady Bird Johnson, Betty Ford, and Nancy Reagan.   Erin Sterling Lewis is a partner in situ studio in Raleigh.  Her firm  won multiple design awards, including our own Matsumoto Prize, and she teaches at NC State University. She was President of AIA North Carolina representing the thousands of architects in the state.  She also works with NCModernist on our high school outreach program, Project BauHow, and has served on countless AIA committees plus the Raleigh Historic Development Commission and the Raleigh Planning Commission. 

Australian comedian Tim “Rosso” Ross has starred in countless Australian radio and TV series.  He’s a writer for Men’s Style Australia, Rolling Stone and Sydney Magazine.  He’s interviewed and talked with celebrities like Will Farrell, John C. O’Reilly, and Hugh Jackman through shows such as Merrick and Rosso Unplanned, The B Team, Uncharted, Facing the Hangover, and Australia Versus.  He’s a speaker, giving talks on Modernism at the Museum of Sydney, Government House, and Sydney Design Week.  And he’s been part of an 80’s hair band called Black Rose, where he totally rocks it in lycra. In 2013 Tim started a unique stand-up show ‘Man about the House’ set in real Modernist houses, with sell-out seasons in Melbourne, Sydney and New Zealand.  The best part is, he got up 7am his time to talk with us, for which we are profoundly grateful. 

Roberta 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 dozen years she played Dr. Casey Reed on the Young and The Restless. USModernist Radio is sponsored by Sarah Sonke of ModHomes Realty.  Listen via iTunes. Listen on Android and Windows PC's via Libsyn.

Architect Edward Durell Stone like many of his generation fell in love with Modernism. His first independent commission was a 1933 Modernist house for Richard Mandel, which led to many other prominent commissions including the Museum of Modern Art in New York and the Kennedy Center in Washington.  Stone is one of the few architects to make the cover of TIME. Business Week called Stone "the man with a billion on the drawing board" for the number and scale of prestigious projects in development.  About that time, however, Stone had a change of philosophy about Modernist design and moved away from what he called the “transient enthusiasms” of Modernism. Stone was not alone.  By 1970, the Modernist movement was nearly dead.  In North Carolina, Stone worked with Raleigh architects John Holloway and Ralph Reeves on two of the state’s most recognized and treasured buildings, the 1963 North Carolina Legislative Building and 20 years later, the North Carolina Museum of Art.  We talk with Stone’s son, Hicks Stone, and Reeves’ son, Bernie Reeves.  Hicks Stone is the author of Edward Durell Stone: A Son's Untold Story of a Legendary Architect.He is the principal of Stone Architecture LLC and has been featured in House & Garden, Palm Beach Cottages & Gardens, The New Yorker and This Old House.   North Carolina publisher and political writer Bernie Reeves created Spectator Magazine; Triangle Business Journal; Triad Business Journal; and Raleigh Metro Magazine.  He ran for Congress in 2010, writes for the National Review, and has been a good friend to NC Modernist and US Modernist since we started.