Archinect Sessions

Whatever becomes of Facebook’s corporate future – and therefore the consequential Internet – will play out in the world of Frank Gehry. The architect’s new HQ for Facebook in Menlo Park, MPK20, opened earlier this week with plentiful Instagrammed fanfare, and Facebook recently submitted plans to build two more Gehry buildings in the area. As we discuss on this week’s podcast, MPK20 is refreshingly old-school FOG, designed to embrace Facebook's “work in progress” feel that Gehry’s rougher materiality embraces. It’s Facebook’s and FOG’s world; we’re just living in it. This episode, we also discuss the arrival of Airbnb in Cuba – whether this style of tourism could encourage architectural preservation, and what the company’s disruptive cachet means when there’s no status quo to disrupt. We’re also featuring part 1 of an interview I did with Kevin Roche, the Pritzker Prize winning architect who got his start over sixty years ago, working with Mies van der Rohe and Eero Saarinen. The 92-year old Roche, now at Kevi

It’s been a strange week, especially in Indiana. On this episode, before getting to the RFRA-ff, we hit on a neat architectural inversion: LA-heavyweight Morphosis designs a "middle-finger" luxury tower in the quaint mountain town of Vals, Switzerland, while the subtly grand Swiss museum-master Peter Zumthor pushes a calligraphic inkblot for LACMA on LA's Miracle Mile. Vals is already home to Zumthor's Therme Spa. It’s like Trading Spaces, but with starchitects! On the latter-half of our show, Amelia, Donna and Ken talk with Brian Newman, Archinect Sessions’ legal correspondent, about Indiana’s controversial revisions to the Religious Freedom Restoration Act – with our own Donna Sink on the ground in Indianapolis, we dig into how this national and local issue would affect architects and the profession. Paul is away this week, on vacation in the outer reaches of Peru, blissfully out of Skype's reach. He'll be back as soon as he re-enters the connected world.

We are delighted to devote the entirety of this episode to an interview with Tod Williams and Billie Tsien. Our discussion spanned their nearly 30 years (and counting) working together, focusing not on individual projects but their architectural philosophy, their material explorations, and their work with landscape. The rising cream throughout was the way Williams and Tsien talk with one another, each pulling on their side of the rowboat to craft a truly collaborative response.

Last week, Michael Graves passed away at the age of 80. In the aftermath, much attention has been paid to his most eye-catching work, but as often occurs when someone of great influence passes away, focusing on the person's products comes at the expense of honoring their humanity – simply, who they were as a person. In this light, this episode we hear from Patrick Burke, principal and studio head at Michael Graves Architecture & Design (where Burke got his start in 1982), reflect on Graves’ life of hard work, perseverance, and empathy. Paul and Amelia also paid a visit to the UCLA IDEAS campus in Playa Vista, to speak with Craig Hodgetts about his rapidly accelerating Hyperloop Studio, where students are bringing Elon Musk’s transit technology into the near-future. Donna also reflects on Thom Mayne’s marathon visit through Indiana, and Ken shares some finer points of career politics.

Ten minutes before we sat down to record this week's episode, the Pritzker Prize Laureate was announced – posthumously. The winner, Frei Otto (1925 - 2015), was a German architect whose impressive work and research with lightweight and sustainable structures influenced countless architects through the 20th century to today. Otto was informed of the prize before his death in Germany this past Monday, March 9, prompting the Pritzker committee to make the formal announcement the day after.  This episode, we reflect on Otto's remarkable life and the Prize's announcement in the midst of his passing. We also examine the uncertain fate (and value) of Frank Gehry's Winton Guest House, which will be up for sale on May 19, and consider whether architects should shoulder the cultural and emotional weight of deciding how we bury our dead. And on the heels of Google's announcement that BIG will collaborate with Heatherwick Studios on their campus expansion, Amelia spoke with curator Brooke Hodge in her office at the Coope

This week Amelia, Paul, Donna and Ken discuss the somewhat controversial Google Headquarters design by BIG and Heatherwick. On a completely different note, we also discuss the new, and the nation's first, slavery museum, Whitney Plantation, in Louisiana. 

Winner of this year's MoMA PS1 Young Architects Program, Andrés Jaque of the Office for Political Innovation, joins us on the podcast this week to discuss his winning design, COSMO. In a continued thread from last year's YAP, The Living's "Hy-Fi", Jaque's COSMO focuses on issues of sustainability and ecology – its main element is a series of pipes that will purify water with biological treatments. Before winning the YAP, Jaque's office already had a piece in MoMA's permanent collection, IKEA Disobedients (2011), the museum's first "architectural performance" acquisition. COSMO will be installed from June 23 through September 7.

Far away from the snowscapes peppering the rest of the country, the salt flats and dry martinis of Palm Springs exists in a time and place apart. An original enclave of midcentury modernism, Palm Springs has been able to preserve that heritage thanks in large part to Palm Springs Modernism Week, a series of events, lectures and tours whose proceeds go straight back into architectural preservation and advocacy. On this episode, we discuss Palm Springs' modernism in the midst of the city's generational transition, and feature a conversation Paul and Amelia had with PSMOD board member, Mark Davis. We also check in on another (contested) southern Californian icon – the Broad Museum, which opened for a one-day public sneak peek last Sunday. As always, you can send us your architectural legal issues, comments or questions via twitter #archinectsessions, email or call us at (213) 784-7421.

What do Robert Ivy FAIA, EVP/CEO of the AIA, and Jimenez Lai, of Bureau Spectacular, have in common? Other than they're both architects, not so much! What better way to celebrate a profession at the crossroads than featuring interviews with both in our latest podcast episode. Paul, Amelia, Donna and Ken spoke with Ivy about the AIA's newly launched "I Look Up" (#ilookup) public awareness campaign for architects, and Jimenez Lai joined us in studio to discuss his latest Graham Foundation-funded collaboration, Treatise. As always, you can send us your architectural legal issues, comments or questions via twitter #archinectsessions, email or call us at (213) 784-7421.

It seems as if the tumult and intrigue that ran through Frank Lloyd Wright's life has lived on at Taliesin. After being embroiled in accreditation issues, suspending Fall 2013 enrollment, and working through rocky fundraising plans, Taliesin recently appointed Aaron Betsky to lead the school and help it regain solid footing. Betsky was previously the Director of the Cincinnati Art Museum and has quite the art/architecture pedigree: he's served as the Director of the 2008 International Architecture Biennale in Venice, SFMOMA's Curator of Architecture and Design, and the Director of the Netherlands Architecture Institute in Rotterdam. Betsky joined Paul, Amelia, Donna and Ken on the podcast to talk about his plans to make the school the "best experimental and its role in the changing world of architecture education. It also turns out that Betsky is quite the DJ. News this week was also rather Wright-ous, with the nomination of 10 FLW structures to the UNESCO World Heritage List, and the Hollyhock House's reopen

This episode is a doozy. Paul and Amelia left the temperate sunshine of Los Angeles for Washington, DC's frigid monumentality, to interview Bjarke Ingels on the eve of his "Hot to Cold" exhibition at the National Building Museum. The 40-year old architect shared some quick-won wisdom about scaling a business, the Danish condition, and the indispensability of humor and play in architecture. Donna and Ken joined Paul and Amelia to speak with Lian Chang about her recently published visualizations of the Archinect Salary Poll for the ACSA, in charming emoji-based data sets. The Sessions co-hosts also discuss Aaron Betsky's new appointment as the head of the deeply troubled Taliesin West, and what Thom Mayne's demolition of Ray Bradbury's house means for architecture preservation and sentimentality. And for another climatological analogy, Paul and Brian Newman, Archinect Sessions's legal correspondent, poke at the tip of the iceberg concerning issues of copyright in architecture.   A reminder: send us your archite

At first we thought we could cram all of this week's amazing podcast content in under one hour. That dream was not to be, but we decided to give no f*cks, in honor of our guest Elizabeth Timme. The tenacious and game-changing Timme spoke with Donna and Amelia (with the appropriate amount of f*cks) about her work with LA Más, a non-profit design studio aimed at social justice issues in Los Angeles. In other matters of justice, Paul sat down with Archinect Sessions's legal correspondent, Brian Newman, about a recent lawsuit against SOM that went all the way up to California's Supreme Court, and the far-reaching implications for architects. We also talk with Aaron Willette about the Bigger Than A Breadbox / Smaller Than A Building competition, aimed at revitalizing the pavilion's role in architectural research (deadline is February 15!). Willette runs the FABLab at Taubman, and is a long-time Archinector. Finally, we let out a collective sad sigh for Architecture for Humanity's closure. And a reminder: send us y

In celebration of Ehrlich Architects winning the 2015 AIA Architecture Firm Award, we had Steven Ehrlich and Takashi Yanai in-studio to reflect back on the firm's history and their work with "multicultural modernism". We also discuss the feelings around Boston's US Olympic bid nomination, and former president Bill Clinton's appointment as keynote speaker to AIA's 2015 National Convention. We also dump a fair amount of schadenfreude on Karim Rashid. This episode also features the voice of reason, aka our legal correspondent Brian Newman, talking with Paul about the importance of contracts. And, partly inspired by this thread, we'd like to open the call for your architecture horror stories. Send them to us, along with your architectural legal questions, comments or questions about the podcast, via twitter #archinectsessions, email or call us at (213) 784-7421.

Happy new year! We're happy to announce Archinect Session's inaugural 2015 episode features a conversation with urban planner, architect, artist, programmer, educator, and of course, beloved Archinect blogger, Mitch McEwen. Principal at firms McEwen Studio and A(n) Office, Mitch has also written the Archinect blog Another Architecture since 2012. Paul, Amelia, Donna and Ken talk with Mitch about living and working in Detroit, her collaborative pursuits, and the profession's impending new wave of interdisciplinary practice. And in the spirit of resolutions for the new year, Paul spoke with Archinect's lawyer-correspondent, Brian Newman at Dykema Gossett PLLC, about the many forms of arbitration – how to resolve legal disputes, from straight-up talking it out out, to taking it to the Supreme Court.  As always, you can send your architectural legal questions, comments or questions about the podcast to us, on twitter #archinectsessions or call us at: (213) 784-7421.

This week, with the encroaching holiday craziness picking up steam, we're releasing a mini-version of Archinect Sessions to cap off the 2014 podcasting season. For this special XS session, Paul, Amelia, Donna and Ken make predictions for the world of architecture in 2015, and discuss our plans for the year's end. We'll return from the hiatus with a new episode airing on January 8th.

How far we've come: this week, we're thrilled to have Christopher Hawthorne on the podcast, architecture critic for the Los Angeles Times. Paul, Amelia, Donna and Ken talk with Christopher about his recent 3-part series on architecture and immigration in southern California, the role of the architecture critic at a major national newspaper, and his take on new media journalism. We're also proud to introduce our inaugural bit with Archinect's lawyer-correspondent, Brian Newman at Dykema Gossett PLLC, where we submit our architectural legal queries to an actual lawyer. And per usual, we check in on recent news, discussing the stormy marketing campaign for a Steampunk luxury condo building. And has it really already been ten episodes? To celebrate Archinect Sessions' rite-of-passage into double digits, we reflect on how it's been going so far – what we'd like to change, criticism we've received, and our favorite episodes. Send your architectural legal questions, comments or questions about the podcast to us, on

This week, architect-turned-coffee entrepreneur Yeekai Lim of Cognoscenti Coffee joins us in-studio, to talk pop-up shops and hospitality architecture. Afterward, Paul, Amelia, Donna and Ken hash out the recently announced finalists for the Guggenheim Helsinki competition.

Michael Rotondi joins us in-studio this week, for a special conversation with Orhan Ayyüce about architecture education and Rotondi's Los Angeles roots. Paul, Amelia, Donna and Ken also discuss ol' fashioned southern contextualism in Charleston, South Carolina, in response to Clemson University's scrapped modern building plans.

This week on the podcast: continuing our earlier discussion on student debt, special guest (and fellow Archinector) Quilian Riano joins Paul, Amelia, Donna and Ken to discuss the Architecture Lobby's advocacy for increasing the value of architecture, both monetarily and in the public eye. We also cover Karim Rashid's recent inflammatory New York Times interview.

This week on the podcast: student debt, Chicago's "State of the Art of Architecture", and our new series, Archinect's Lexicon. Paul, Amelia, Donna and Ken are joined by architecture students Jarrod and Elliott to discuss how student debt is changing their lives and careers. We also consider what Chicago has in store for its inaugural architectural biennial next year, and how architectural language (and English in general) is changing with the internet. As always, you can tweet questions/comments about podcast topics to #archinectsessions, or leave a message for us at (213) 784-7421. You could hear your voice on the next episode.