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On Average
Episode 226
In many ways, the built world was not designed for you. It was designed for the average person. Standardized tests, building codes, insurance rates, …
9 years, 10 months ago
Photo Credit
Episode 225
Founded by architect Walter Gropius in 1919, the Bauhaus school in Germany would go on to shape modern architecture, art, and design for decades to c…
9 years, 11 months ago
A Sea Worth its Salt
Episode 224
The largest body of water in California was formed by a mistake. In 1905, the California Development Company accidentally flooded a huge depression i…
9 years, 11 months ago
The Magic Bureaucrat
Episode 223
In 1996, President Bill Clinton and the Congress undertook a reform effort to redesign the welfare system from one that many believed trapped people …
9 years, 11 months ago
Combat Hearing Loss
Episode 222
The US military buys a lot of foam ear plugs. Visit any base and you’ll find them under the bleachers at the firing range, in the bottoms of washing …
9 years, 11 months ago
America’s Last Top Model
Episode 221
In 1943, the Army Corps of Engineers began construction on a scale model that could test flooding in all 1.25 million square miles of the Mississippi…
9 years, 11 months ago
The Mind of an Architect
Episode 220
In the late 1950s, the Institute of Personality Assessment and Research embarked on a mission to study the personalities of particularly creative sci…
10 years ago
Unpleasant Design
Episode 219
Benches in parks, train stations, bus shelters and other public places are meant to offer seating, but only for a limited duration. Many elements of …
10 years ago
Remembering Stonewall
Episode 218
It started with a place called the Stonewall Inn. Gay bars had been raided by police for decades. Gay, lesbian, bisexual, and transgender people had …
10 years ago
Home on Lagrange
Episode 217
In 1968, an Italian industrialist and a Scottish scientist started a club to address what they considered to be humankind’s greatest problems—issues …
10 years ago