USModernist Radio - Architecture You Love — Podcast

#461/USModernist Retro: Ernst Wagner + Eric Lloyd Wright 15.06.2026 1h

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.

#460/Children of Genius: Jennifer Lapidus + Jenny Jacks Shreve + Musical Guest Stacey Kent 08.06.2026 1h 11min

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.

#459/Architect Tom Phifer + Author Alastair Gordon + Musical Guest Jeanie Bryson 01.06.2026 1h 13min

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.

#458/Elizabeth Gordon's 1953 Bombshell with Monica Penick + Goff with Alison Fisher + Musical Guest Naema Gheber 25.05.2026 54min

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.

#457/The US Embassy in Dublin: Cormac Murray + Norman McGrath + Christen Johansen + Laurence Lafforgue 18.05.2026 1h 11min

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.

#456/Tom Gluck + Nick Ferrell + Mark Lamster + Special Musical Guest Jon Secada 11.05.2026 1h 9min

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.

#455/Uruguay with David Coffey + Neutra with Cindy Olnick + Musical Guests Lenore Raphael and Chris Hodgkins 04.05.2026 44min

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.

#454/NCModernism with Phil Szostak and Ben Taylor + Musical Guests Vince Giordano and the Nighthawks 27.04.2026 1h 1min

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.

#453/Modernism in Ukraine with Dmytro Soloviov + Ben Wever + Hallie Swensen + Robert Stone 20.04.2026 58min

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.

#452/USModernist Retro: Bjarke Ingels + Musical Guest Halie Loren 13.04.2026 56min

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.

#451/Steve Young + Megan Reilly + Musical Guests Eric Stabnau and the Glenn Miller Orchestra 06.04.2026 51min

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.

#450/American Versailles with Natalie Morath + Modernist Renovations with Linda Brettler and Marcos Santa Ana + Musical Guest John Pizzarelli 30.03.2026 1h 22min

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.

#449/Chris Roman + Ed Dimenberg and Crosby Doe + Holland Murphy + Musical Guest Claudia Burson 23.03.2026 1h 17min

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.

#448/Joe Massaro's Wright Stuff + Corbett Jones + Glenn Kurtz's New York + Musical Guest Jenna Esposito 16.03.2026 1h 6min

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.

#447/USModernist Radio Retro: Where No Furniture Has Gone Before + Special Musical Guest Jennifer Warnes 09.03.2026 1h 9min

We've dug into the podcast vault for the story of Star Trek's furniture. Gene Roddenberry's Star Trek launched a franchise in 1966 and is still going strong 60 years later. Sequels, movies, toys, fan films - there's just no end to Star Trek's bright, progressive, optimistic future where Earth has transcended national and international politics. Something architecture fans may have missed, and we certainly did, is that Star Trek adapted midcentury Modern furniture for the set design, from the Bridge to the Conference Room, to the alien buildings on the planets they landed on. Authors Dan Chavkin and Brian McGuire about talk their book: Star Trek: Designing the Final Frontier, The Untold Story of How Midcentury Modern Decor Shaped Our View of the Future. Later on, legendary singer Jennifer Warnes, who you've loved for I've Had the Time of my Life, Right Time of the Night, Up Where We Belong, and a vast treasure of songs with and by Leonard Cohen.

#446/Carin Carlson + Tim Mitchell + Author Anthony Alofsin + Nevada's Paige Figanbaum + Musical Guests Naomi and her Handsome Devils 02.03.2026 1h 7min

Architects Carin Carlson and Tim Mitchell from Hennebery Eddy Architects restore mid-century and Mission 66–era architecture. Anthony Alofsin, one of the world's leading authorities on Frank Lloyd Wright, joins us to talk about his new book, Frank Lloyd Wright's Bogk House and reveals his new, famous cousin. Paige Figenbaum, Executive Director of the Nevada Preservation Foundation, tells us about Vegas modernism and later, musical guests Naomi & Her Handsome Devils.

#445/Two Gentlemen Admiring Architecture: Australia's Tim Ross + UK's Kevin McCloud + Musical Guest Leigh Pilzer 23.02.2026 1h 14min

Kevin McCloud and Tim Ross are hosts of Tim and Kev's Big Design Adventure, a globe-trotting podcast centered on people, places, architecture, and design. Later, baritone saxophonist Leigh Pilzer, whose powerful sound has anchored ensembles from the DIVA Jazz Orchestra to the immortal Tommy Dorsey Orchestra.

#444/Lawrence Kocher with Ines Martin Robles and Luis Pancorbo + Steven Hurtt on Colin Rowe + Jo Franzen on Ulrich + Musical Guest Kim Kashiw 16.02.2026 1h 7min

The venerable magazine Architectural Record is one of the most influential design publications in the world, clocking in 135 years of extraordinary coverage. You can see all their issues at usmodernist.org/index-ar. Today we'll explore one of their editors, Lawrence Kocher, with Luis Pancorbo and Ines Martin Robles. We'll talk with Steven Hurtt on The Urban Design Legacy of famed critic Colin Rowe, and we'll hear about celebrated architect Ulrich Franzen from Josephine Franzen. Wrapping up, musical guest Kim Kaskiw.

#443/Author Blake Gopnik + Holland Murphy + Saarinen's Arch with Pam Sanfilippo + Musical Guests Jeff Bush + The Tommy Dorsey Orchestra 09.02.2026 53min

First up, for our concrete fans, art critic and author Blake Gopnik looks inside modernism through his book, Brutalist Interiors. Holland Murphy solves the mystery of a house in Dallas. From there, we head to St. Louis, where Pam Sanfilippo of the Eero Saarinen-designed Gateway Arch National Park shares how Saarinen's soaring 630-foot monument endures for millions of visitors. And we wrap up with the Rolling Stones of swing, the Tommy Dorsey Orchestra, carrying forward one of the greatest big bands with leader Jeff Bush.

#442/Holland Taylor + Touring Palm Springs with Shann Carr and JD Cargill + Adele Cygelman on Arthur Elrod + Musical Guest Lenore Raphael 02.02.2026 1h 10min

Starting with Los Angeles, we'll talk with Rudolph Schindler homeowner, and star of Two and a Half Men, Holland Taylor. Then we move to Palm Springs, the center of the Universe for midcentury Modernism. Everybody who's a fan of Modernism needs to plan a trip, and today we'll talk with Palm Springs tour guides Shann Carr and JD Cargill, author Adele Cygelman and her new documentary Arthur Elrod: Modern Cool, Later music from jazz pianist Lenore Raphael.