Podcast Episodes

99% Private

Episode 9

Privately Owned Public Open Spaces, or POPOS, are these little gardens, terraces, plazas, and seating areas that are private property, but are mandated for public use. City planners require developer…

Published on 14 years, 11 months ago

99% Free Parking

Episode 8

It’s weird how much anxiety comes from parking in a city. Beyond the stress of looking for parking, you must contend with the frequently unreliable meters. The signage can be indecipherable. As a poi…

Published on 14 years, 11 months ago

99% Alien

Episode 7

Humans need a few basic things to survive- air, water, food, heat, shelter- but just surviving isn’t really enough. We also need familiarity, a little comfort, interaction, a small place of our own. …

Published on 14 years, 11 months ago

99% Symbolic

Episode 6

Before I moved to Chicago in 2005, I didn’t even know cities had their own flags. In Chicago, the city flag is everywhere. It’s incorporated into all different aspects of city life and the design ele…

Published on 15 years ago

99% Forgotten

Episode 5

At the top of Mt. Olympus in San Francisco, on what was once thought to be the geographic center of the city, is a pedestal for a statue that isn’t there. There’s no marker. You can just make out the…

Published on 15 years ago

99% Details

Episode 4

It’s a stick with bristles poking out of it. It doesn’t even qualify as a simple machine, but the careful thought and design that went into the creation of the modern, angled bristle, fat handled too…

Published on 15 years ago

99% Reality (only)

Episode 3

There’s not much that we can do about all the physical matter that’s been designed and built by someone else. It is the way it is. But with the advent of portable devices with GPS, a compass, and a n…

Published on 15 years ago

99% 180

Episode 2

In the beginning, former AIA-SF president Henrik Bull and the Transamerica Pyramid did not get along. The building was an affront to late 1960’s modernist ideals. It was silly. It looked like a dunce…

Published on 15 years ago

99% Noise

Episode 1

This episode of 99% Invisible is all about acoustic design, the city soundscape, and how to make listening in shared spaces pleasant (or at the very least, possible). It features an interview with De…

Published on 15 years ago

99% Invisible: The Trailer

Design is everywhere in our lives, perhaps most importantly in the places where we've just stopped noticing. 99% Invisible is a weekly exploration of the process and power of design and architecture.…

Published on 15 years, 1 month ago