Published by USModernist Radio
Listen to one of America's top-rated architecture podcasts as the USModernist® Radio crew talks and laughs with fascinating people who own, create, love, and hate Modernist architecture, the most controversial houses and buildings in the world.
Listen on Apple Podcasts1 hr 4 min
On today's episode, architect Anne Fougeron spent thirty years proving that architecture can be both beautiful and socially responsible — and the New York Times named her Suspension House one of the thirteen best modern homes in the world. Laurinda Spear co-founded Arquitectonica in a 600-square-foot studio in Coconut Grove and changed the face of Miami's architecture. And, at 22 years old, our musical guest Aviana Gedler has already won numerous awards and released a debut album.
1 hr 19 min
There's no business like the architecture business, and the AIA chose out first guest Carole Wedge as CEO to lead their 98,000 members. Architects Julia Jamrozik and Coryn Kempster make cool swing sets and pipe installations - and they wrote a book about kids who grew up in Modernist houses. Darcy Frank MacKay is one of those lucky kids. She grew up in a 17,000-square-foot Pittsburgh house with a rooftop dance floor, an indoor swimming pool, and furniture designed by none other than Walter Gropius and Marcel Breuer.
1 hr 34 min
We talk with the brilliant author and architect Richard Saul Wurman, who wrote more than ninety books, founded TED talks, and pretty much created the field of information architecture. Architectural historian Kim Hoagland sues Donald Trump over the East Wing demolition, and musical guest, the lovely Quinn Lemley, brings Hollywood glamour back to life.
1 hr 19 min
On this episode, Ellen Mirro and Howard Miller of Studio TJP; then Dominic Bradbury, author of a new book on the style we all love to love, Nordic modernism. Next Andy Cohen: a magician, business strategist, and NYU professor who argues that architects and illusionists are in exactly the same business. Last to bat, musical guest, Steve Holt, a Montreal jazz pianist who gave up Wall Street and won a Juno nomination.
1 hr 23 min
Will Bruder is a celebrated architect that never went to architecture school, but he became one of the most respected architects in America through apprenticing to Paolo Soleri and Gunnar Birkerts. Alex Josephson quit London's most prestigious architecture program mid-degree and struck out on his own. Greg Case isn't an architect at all — he's an ad guy who out-researched the professionals and rescued a forgotten modernist from obscurity. And Suzy Cash has a graduate degree and a résumé from one of the best firms in the South, yet she traded it for an off-grid life built with her own hands.
1 hr 1 min
On today's episode, international architect Patrik Schumacher, CEO of Zaha Hadid Architects; Elias Tabache shares beautifully shot house videos of his Open Space platform, and later, musical guest Karrin Allyson.
1 hr 0 min
We're revisiting conversations with two special guests who have passed away since these interviews were recorded — architect Paul Rudolph's partner Ernst Wagner and Frank Lloyd Wright's grandson, architect Eric Lloyd Wright. Ernst Wagner died in 2024 at 81. A Swiss exchange student who came to New York in 1970, he met architect Paul Rudolph and the two became lifelong partners both in architecture and in business, co-founding the Modulightor lighting company and building the landmark Modulightor Building on East 58th Street. After Rudolph's death, Ernst spent nearly three decades keeping that legacy alive, founding what has become the Paul Rudolph Institute and opening this iconic building to the public several times a month under the leadership of CEO Kelvin Dickinson.
1 hr 11 min
In another of our wildly popular series, Children of Genius, we talk with family of famous architects, starting with Jennifer Lapidus, granddaughter of Morris Lapidus who reshaped Miami with hotels like the Fontainebleau. Next, Jenny Jacks Shreve, daughter of Arkansas architect Ernie Jacks, who worked on the Kennedy Center with Edward Durell Stone and the Case Study Houses with Craig Ellwood. Later, returning musical guest, Stacey Kent, one of the most noted jazz vocalists in the world.
1 hr 13 min
Acclaimed architect Tom Phifer builds around light, with three decades designing buildings that make walls feel invisible. Author Alastair Gordon has written more than 28 books and knows all the midcentury Modern houses in the Hamptons that shaped American architecture. Jeanie Bryson spent decades as a jazz vocalist, sharing stages with Grover Washington Jr., Kenny Burrell, and Etta Jones. Having a famous but also secret father helped, yet losing her husband and musical partner had her step away from performing for years. Now she's back, and we're lucky to have her.
54 min
Elizabeth Gordon was editor-in-chief of House Beautiful. In April 1953 she published an influential and controversial editorial that rocked the architecture world, presenting Modernism as uncomfortable, impractical, and like communism a threat to American cultural values. We'll talk with author Monica Penick, author of the definitive book on Gordon, 2001's Tastemaker. Next up, Alison Fisher just closed a wildly successful exhibition at the Art Institute of Chicago on Bruce Goff, an architect who made Frank Lloyd Wright look restrained. Wrapping up, Naama Gheber is a jazz vocalist with four albums and a voice critics have compared to Peggy Lee.
1 hr 11 min
On this special edition of USModernist taped live earlier this year at the Onera Foundation in New Canaan CT, we explore diplomacy through Modernist architecture with three guests: Dublin architect Cormac Murray gives a talk on John Johansen's US Embassy in Dublin; legendary photographer Norman McGrath, who shot that building soon after it opened, and architect Christen Johansen, son of John Johansen, discusses family legacy. Laurence Lafforgue of the Onera Foundation hosts.
1 hr 9 min
New York architect Tom Gluck of GLUCKplus, son of architect Peter Gluck, takes us behind the scenes of projects from prefab high-rises in Manhattan to his Tower House in upstate New York. Nick Ferrell brings the history of Modernist lighting design in Modeline of California: Pioneer of Modern Lighting , with lamps that have inspired designers for decades. And freshly-minted Pulitzer prize winner Mark Lamster updates the endangered IM Pei-designed City Hall in Dallas. Later on, special musical guest, the Grammy-winning Miami singer Jon Secada.
44 min
In Bakersfield CA, David Coffey preserves two houses one by Neutra, and one by Wright, but today we talk about his passion, Modernism in Uruguay. In Los Angeles, Cindy Olnick stewards the Neutra Institute. Later on, jazz duo Lenore Raphael and Chris Hodgkins reunite for their joyful new album, Pennies From Heaven.
1 hr 1 min
We're talking about North Carolina, our home state. Architect Phil Szostak has shaped some of the state's most prominent cultural spaces and houses. Architect Ben Taylor's long career starting in the 1950's has left a lasting mark across North Carolina. Later, it's straight out of Birdland with musical guests Vince Giordano and the Nighthawks.
58 min
Imagine doing Modernist preservation – in a war zone. Dmytro Soloviov documents Ukraine's modernist architecture. Ben Wever cares for one of America's modernist treasures, the Miller House in Columbus, Indiana. Hallie Swenson uncovers the stories of San Diego Modernism, and architect Robert Stone brings new desert Modernism to life.
56 min
We dug into the podcast vault for one of the most successful and admired architects in the world, Bjarke Ingels of BIG. Later, we swoon over jazz vocalist Halie Loren.
51 min
Ready for a dose of music, design, and spectacle? Steve Young digs up wild, forgotten midcentury industrial musicals and somehow makes them catchy again. Megan Reilly turns WestEdge LA into a playground of design, ideas, and inspiration. And Erik Stabnau keeps the venerable Glenn Miller Orchestra swinging, blowing the roof off of jazz clubs, arenas, coliseums, and amphitheaters after almost 100 years.
1 hr 22 min
Archivist Natalie Morath is keeper of Eero Saarinen's GM Technical Center history, bringing the amazing campus to life for yet another generation of fans. Linda Brettler renovated Raphael Soriano's 1964 Grossman House, and Marcos Santa Ana transformed the Wagoya House. Later, musical guest John Pizzarelli, with a sound that's both timeless and new.
1 hr 17 min
Chris Roman designs a Modernist fire station in Richmond VA. Authors Edward Dimendberg and Crosby Doe share the story of the breakout project for Richard Neutra, the Lovell Health house in Los Angeles. Holland Murphy investigates an architectural mystery in Dallas, and from northwest Arkansas, musical guest Claudia Burson.
1 hr 6 min
Joe Massaro brought an unbuilt Frank Lloyd Wright design to life and weathered 20 years of criticism from Wright purists; Corbett Jones share his new documentary on Arts and architecture magazine and the Case Study Houses; Glenn Kurtz gracked down the men in Lewis Hine's iconic Empire State Building photographs, turning symbols into real people; and musical guest Jenna Esposito keeps the 60's alive.