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The Xanadu Effect
Episode 53
What happens when we build big? Julia Barton remembers going to the top floor of Dallas’s then-new city hall when she was teenager. The building, des…
14 years, 4 months ago
Galloping Gertie
Episode 52
Even during the construction of the original Tacoma Narrows Bridge, the deck would go up and down by several feet with the slightest breeze. Construc…
14 years, 5 months ago
The Arsenal of Exclusion
Episode 51
“Cities exist to bring people together, but cities can also keep people apart” – Daniel D’Oca, Urban Planner, Interboro Partners. Cities are great. T…
14 years, 5 months ago
DeafSpace
Episode 50
The acoustics of a building are a big concern for architects. But for designers at Gallaudet University in Washington, DC, it’s the absence of sound …
14 years, 5 months ago
Queue Theory and Design
Episode 49
In the US, it’s called a line. In Canada, it’s often referred to as a line-up. Pretty much everywhere else, it’s known as a queue. My friend Benjamen…
14 years, 6 months ago
The Bathtubs or the Boiler Room
Episode 48
Tucked away in a basement mechanical room are two surviving marble bathtubs from a much more elaborate era of congressional life. Installed around 18…
14 years, 6 months ago
US Postal Service Stamps
Episode 47
Somebody might be able to do a great painting that’s 20 x 30 inches, but you take that down to 1 x 1.5 inches, and it’s a challenge to make it work. …
14 years, 7 months ago
Vulcanite Dentures
Episode 46
Before the 1850s, dentures were made out of very hard, very painful and very expensive material, like gold or ivory. They were a luxury item. The inv…
14 years, 7 months ago
Immersive Ideal
Episode 45
Beauty Pill is band I really like from Washington DC. They have released two EPs (The Cigarette Girl From the Future and You Are Right to be Afraid) …
14 years, 8 months ago
The Pruitt-Igoe Myth
Episode 44
The Pruitt-Igoe housing project in St. Louis became most famous at the moment of its demise. The thirty-three high-rise towers built in the 1950’s we…
14 years, 8 months ago