Historic Preservation Podcast - Season 3

Subscribe on iTunes: bit.ly/GSAPPconversations

GSAPP Conversations offer a window onto the expanding field of contemporary architectural practice through discussions on the current projects, research, and obsessions of a diverse group of invited guests from emerging and well-established practices. Hosted by Columbia GSAPP’s Dean Amale Andraos, the conversations also feature the School’s influential faculty and alumni, and give students the opportunity to engage architects on issues of concern to the next generation.

GSAPP Conversations - Season 4

GSAPP Student Podcasts consist of student-led conversations with designers, practitioners, and scholars in the field.

Student Podcasts

In season 4 of rAADio, we start with the question WHAT IF?
We delve into narratives, challenge historical legacies, amplify marginalized voices, explore imaginative methodologies, and reimagine our realities with a critical lens. We talk about speculation and how it can become  a tool to create alternative realities grounded in truth, while also questioning the very nature of the truth.

rAADio is an investigation by Advanced Architectural design students in the Graduate School of Architecture, Planning, and Preservation at Columbia University. 
As a cohort from a plurality of diverse backgrounds, we aim to observe the many polycentric entanglements of architecture. We explore the questions of how we expand the traditional role and associations of architecture between assemblages, interrelationships, bodies, and technologies; beyond simple scalar translations.

Season 4 of rAADio is produced and directed by: Hadass Rozental, Vaishnavi Chandra Kumar, Harshini Ashok, Manfei Shi, Preethi Ganesh and Ammar Rassai.

Learn more: https://www.arch.columbia.edu/raadio

rAADio

GSAPP Conversations - Season 3

HP Program Director Jorge Otero-Pailos sits down with Gretchen Sorin, Director of the Cooperstown Graduate Program of Museum Studies, to discuss Sorin’s book "Driving While Black: African American Travel and the Road to Civil Rights." The book has since been adapted as an acclaimed documentary on PBS.

Gretchen Sorin’s work highlights not only the centrality of Black road travel--and Black travel guides such as The Green Book necessitated by segregation and anti-Black racism--to the American automobile experience, but also the conspicuous loss of historic sites associated with Black-owned and Black-friendly roadside institutions. Sorin brings attention to the historic insufficiency of the traditional American preservation enterprise in protecting sites centered on narratives of Black travel, the vast majority of which have already been lost. Sorin’s words are a call to action for all preservationists who seek a radically more inclusive and anti-racist field. This conversation was recorded in February 2021.

Historic Preservation Podcast #33: Gretchen Sorin on African American Travels on the Road

Jorge Otero-Pailos, Historic Preservation Program Director, speaks with Matija Strlič, Professor of Analytical Chemistry at University of Ljubljana, Professor of Heritage Science at University College London, and Senior Research Fellow at Smithsonian Institution’s Museum Conservation Institute, chemist by training and accredited conservator. 

Together they discuss Strlič’s career path and his work with conservators in measuring compositions. He sheds light on methods of identifying degradation in materials and human interactions with them. Strlič elaborates on the use of smell to measure the manner of decay of materials in conservation and determine their stability. The two contemplate how we experience objects in relation to their sensual qualities or environments, and discuss how smell can inform our interpretation of both objects and spaces. Strlič hopes to put smell at the center of the conversation about heritage conservation science.

Historic Preservation Podcast #34: Matija Strlič on the Methodology of Smell

Historic Preservation Program Director Jorge Otero-Pailos interviews Susan Macdonald of the Getty Conservation Institute. Macdonald discusses her introduction to concrete through the pursuit of conservation in modern architecture. She raises questions about how the field approaches repurposing, recycling, renewing, and conserving concrete. The two discuss the economic, social, and cultural cost of continually replacing buildings and contemplate alternatives to that process. 

They examine the narrow framework of classifying heritage and discuss how we can think more inclusively about cultural significance, pushing the boundaries of the engagement of preservationists. The podcast wraps up with an examination of stakeholder roles in the preservation of concrete and the link between understanding and process in the conservation of heritage.

Susan Macdonald joined the Getty Conservation Institute in 2008 as Head of Buildings and Sites, where she oversees more than 20 projects that aim to advance conservation practice internationally involving research, field projects, training, and dissemination. Macdonald has worked as a conservation architect in private practice in Australia and in England. She has also worked in the public sector where she was involved in a wide range of conservation issues at the strategic and bottom-up level, involving urban planning, development, economics, policy, technical matters, and world heritage issues. Macdonald is a member of the DOCOMOMO International Specialist Technical Committee and a Vice President of the ICOMOS 20th Century Committee.

Historic Preservation Podcast #35: Susan Macdonald on the Conservation of Concrete

In this season's first episode, death is posed as a question through the dematerialization of the body. Pabla Amigo ('21 AAD) and Gabriela Junqueira Franco ('21 AAD) try to understand the implications of the dematerialization of bodies with our final resting places. Does the state of being alive only relate to the physical body? Can our bodies metamorphose into other forms? The praxis of understanding physical and digital space is complemented by an interview with Jorge Otero-Pailos, conducted by Ali El-Sinbawy ('21 AAD). 

Jorge Otero-Pailos is Professor and Director of Historic Preservation at GSAPP. Otero-Pailos works on the intersection of art, architecture and preservation and as an artist he has been exploring the temporality of dust, pollution and their relationship to life, human activity and architectural legacy.

This episode of rAADio was brought you by:
Max Lauter: Director and Creative Producer, Sound Design, Editing
Alex Hamadey: Sound Designer & Composer, Lead Audio Engineer
Timothy Jacob Kwasny: Recording Audio Engineer

rAADio Season 1: 101 Dematerialization of the Body: Jorge Otero-Pailos

Have you ever asked Mycelium what it wants to be? In Episode 002, Devansh Mehta ('21 AAD) and Benjamin Akhavan ('21 AAD) question the materialization of death through the demonstration of humans exercising control over their own deaths. The materiality and deaths of other species to manipulate our death is complemented by the analysis of understanding the systems required to support the externalized material processes of bodies which humans use to avoid death. Marie-Christine Dimitri ('21 AAD) interviews David Benjamin to understand the ethical implications of using other species in our architecture.

David Benjamin is founding Principal of The Living and Associate Professor at Columbia GSAPP. Benjamin’s work combines research and practice, and focuses on the intersection of biology, computation, and design. His MoMA PS1 pavilion “Hy-Fi” changed the way architects think of organic matter (particularly mycelium) as a building material.

This episode of rAADio was brought you by:
Max Lauter: Director and Creative Producer, Sound Design, Editing
Alex Hamadey: Sound Designer & Composer, Lead Audio Engineer
Timothy Jacob Kwasny: Recording Audio Engineer

rAADio Season 1: 102 Materialization of Death: David Benjamin

Cultural perspectives of death have changed over time. This week, Michelle Clara ('21 AAD) and Joel McCullough ('21 AAD) investigate how built environments have intersected with last rites ritual and the cultural associations. Philosophical notions of death and global views are explored across Benares, Copenhagen, and Pittsburgh. Michelle Clara interviews Karla Rothstein to understand new ways of understanding and experiencing cemeteries.

Karla Rothstein is an architect and an educator. Teaching graduate design studios at Columbia GSAPP for over eighteen years, Rothstein is Founder and Director of DeathLAB, a trans-disciplinary research and design initiative focused on reconceiving how we live with death in the city. Her areas of inquiry span the intimate spaces of urban life, death and memory, to intersections of social justice and infrastructure.

This episode of rAADio was brought you by:
Max Lauter: Director and Creative Producer, Sound Design, Editing
Alex Hamadey: Sound Designer & Composer, Lead Audio Engineer
Timothy Jacob Kwasny: Recording Audio Engineer

rAADio Season 1: 103 Death Environments: Karla Rothstein

In the fifth episode of the A&E System mini-series, Jiazhen Lin (‘21 MArch ‘21 MSRED) and Isaac Warshauer (‘19 MArch) discuss their involvement in "The A&E System: Public Works and Private Interest in Architectural and Engineering Services, 2000–2020," a publication developed by the Temple Hoyne Buell Center for the Study of American Architecture at Columbia GSAPP from 2017 to 2020.

The "A&E System" project initiated at the Buell Center asked: Who will design and manage the green infrastructure needed to combat climate change? In the United States today, whether this infrastructure is financed publicly or privately, it would most likely be designed and managed by public-private partnerships led by large architecture and engineering (A&E) firms, or what we are here calling the “A&E System.” The resulting publication, a resource for students, teachers, and professionals in the arts and sciences of the built environment, is available on the Buell Center’s “Power: Infrastructure in America” website: https://power.buellcenter.columbia.edu

Subscribe on iTunes: bit.ly/GSAPPconversations

#103 A&E System: Jiazhen Lin and Isaac Warschauer

In the third episode of the A&E System mini-series, Henderson Beck (‘22 MArch ‘22 MSRED) and Anays M González (‘22 MArch) discuss their involvement in “The A&E System: Public Works and Private Interest in Architectural and Engineering Services, 2000–2020,” a publication developed by the Temple Hoyne Buell Center for the Study of American Architecture at Columbia GSAPP from 2017 to 2020. 

“The A&E System” project initiated at the Buell Center asks: Who will design and manage the green infrastructure needed to combat climate change? In the United States today, whether this infrastructure is financed publicly or privately, it would most likely be designed and managed by public-private partnerships led by large architecture and engineering (A&E) firms, or what we are here calling the “A&E System.” The resulting publication, a resource for students, teachers, and professionals in the arts and sciences of the built environment, is available on the Buell Center’s “Power: Infrastructure in America” website: https://power.buellcenter.columbia.edu

Subscribe on iTunes: bit.ly/GSAPPconversations

#101 A&E System: Henderson Beck and Anays M González

In the fourth episode of the A&E System mini-series, Eddy Almonte (‘19 MSUP) and Emma Leigh Macdonald (‘20 MSCCCP) discuss their involvement in “The A&E System: Public Works and Private Interest in Architectural and Engineering Services, 2000–2020,” a publication developed by the Temple Hoyne Buell Center for the Study of American Architecture at Columbia GSAPP from 2017 to 2020. Almonte is currently a Neighborhood Planner at the New York City Department of Housing and Macdonald is a New York City-based writer, editor, and researcher.

“The A&E System” project initiated at the Buell Center asked: Who will design and manage the green infrastructure needed to combat climate change? In the United States today, whether this infrastructure is financed publicly or privately, it would most likely be designed and managed by public-private partnerships led by large architecture and engineering (A&E) firms, or what we are here calling the “A&E System.” The resulting publication, a resource for students, teachers, and professionals in the arts and sciences of the built environment, is available on the Buell Center’s “Power: Infrastructure in America” website: https://power.buellcenter.columbia.edu

Subscribe on iTunes: bit.ly/GSAPPconversations

#102 A&E System: Eddy Almonte and Emma Leigh MacDonald

In the second episode of the A&E System mini-series, Zoe Kauder Nalebuff (‘20 M.S.CCCP) & Maria Linares Trelles (‘19 M.S.CCCP) discuss their involvement in "The A&E System: Public Works and Private Interest in Architectural and Engineering Services, 2000–2020," a publication developed by the Temple Hoyne Buell Center for the Study of American Architecture at Columbia GSAPP from 2017 to 2020. Kauder Nalebuff works as a writer and archival researcher, and Linares Trelles teaches at Parsons School of Design and works in research and curation.  

"The A&E System" project initiated at the Buell Center asked: Who will design and manage the green infrastructure needed to combat climate change? In the United States today, whether this infrastructure is financed publicly or privately, it would most likely be designed and managed by public-private partnerships led by large architecture and engineering (A&E) firms, or what we are here calling the “A&E System.” The resulting publication, a resource for students, teachers, and professionals in the arts and sciences of the built environment, is available on the Buell Center’s “Power: Infrastructure in America” website: https://power.buellcenter.columbia.edu

Subscribe on iTunes: bit.ly/GSAPPconversations

#100 A&E System: Zoe Kauder Nalebuff and Maria Linares Trelles

In the sixth episode of the A&E System mini-series, Claire Cancilla (‘20 MSHP) & Maya Ephrem (‘20 MSUP) discuss their involvement in “The A&E System: Public Works and Private Interest in Architectural and Engineering Services, 2000–2020,” a publication developed by the Temple Hoyne Buell Center for the Study of American Architecture at Columbia GSAPP from 2017 to 2020.

The “A&E System” project initiated at the Buell Center asked: Who will design and manage the green infrastructure needed to combat climate change? In the United States today, whether this infrastructure is financed publicly or privately, it would most likely be designed and managed by public-private partnerships led by large architecture and engineering (A&E) firms, or what we are here calling the “A&E System.” The resulting publication, a resource for students, teachers, and professionals in the arts and sciences of the built environment, is available on the Buell Center’s “Power: Infrastructure in America” website: power.buellcenter.columbia.edu

#104 A&E System: Claire Cancilla and Maya Ephrem

Anna Gasha, Doctoral Student in Historic Preservation at Columbia GSAPP, speaks with Saburo Horikawa, professor of sociology at Hosei University in Tokyo, Japan. 

Saburo Horikawa received his Ph.D. in sociology from Keio University in Tokyo. In 2018, his thirty-three years of fieldwork in Otaru, Japan culminated in the publication of Machinami Hozon Undō no Ronri to Kiketsu from the University of Tokyo Press, which has won three major academic awards, including the City Planning Institute of Japan’s highly distinguished “Ishikawa Prize.” The English version of this book, Why Place Matters, was published in 2021 by Springer. Dr. Horikawa has lectured at such institutions as Harvard, SUNY Stony Brook, and the Sainsbury Institute in England and is currently an Associate in Research at the Reischauer Institute, Harvard, and a Visiting Professor at Nanjing University in China. He is now working on a book project titled “Place, Preservation and Politics: A U.S.-Japan Comparison.”

Historic Preservation Podcast #36: Saburo Horikawa on the Preservation Movement in Otaru, Japan

What makes an architect an architect? What are architects without buildings? The third episode of this season, "Misfits in Practice," is conceived around the question: Do we really need to build to be an architect?

In Part 2, we discuss what might be role of the architect beyond the building. We explore some examples of architects rising above conventional architectural practice and finding success in other fields, while using the skills developed in architecture as a crucial edge.

Season 2 of rAADio is produced by Aahana Banker, Daniela Beraún, Rocio Crosetto Brizzio, León Duval, Dhruva Lakshminarayanan, Malavika Madhuraj and Hein Song.

This episode of rAADio was brought you by: 
Max Lauter: Director and Creative Producer, Sound Design
Alex Hamadey: Sound Designer & Composer, Lead Audio Engineer 
Anthony Sertel Dean: Recording Audio Engineer

rAADio Season 2: 207 Misfits in Practice Part 2

What makes an architect an architect? What are architects without buildings? The third episode of this season, "Misfits in Practice," is conceived around the question: Do we really need to build to be an architect?

In Part 1, we talk about the "paper architects" that left a mark in the field, images as tools, and the long lasting debate about architects being generalists or specialists. 

Season 2 of rAADio is produced by Aahana Banker, Daniela Beraún, Rocio Crosetto Brizzio, León Duval, Dhruva Lakshminarayanan, Malavika Madhuraj and Hein Song.

This episode of rAADio was brought you by: 
Max Lauter: Director and Creative Producer, Sound Design
Alex Hamadey: Sound Designer & Composer, Lead Audio Engineer 
Anthony Sertel Dean: Recording Audio Engineer

rAADio Season 2: 206 Misfits in Practice Part 1

In "Resistance in Practice" we circle around the question: Do we really need to accept precariousness to produce good architecture? This episode explores the many faces and consequences of the well established dichotomy between passion and profit in architecture. 

In Part 2, we shift our attention towards the work place. We talk about transitioning from academia to "the real world," recent controversies in architecture offices, and unionizing as a crucial mode of resistance in an increasingly exploitive industry.

Season 2 of rAADio is produced by Aahana Banker, Daniela Beraún, Rocio Crosetto Brizzio, León Duval, Dhruva Lakshminarayanan, Malavika Madhuraj and Hein Song.

This episode of rAADio was brought you by: 
Max Lauter: Director and Creative Producer, Sound Design
Alex Hamadey: Sound Designer & Composer, Lead Audio Engineer 
Anthony Sertel Dean: Recording Audio Engineer

rAADio Season 2: 205 Resistance in Practice Part 2

In "Resistance in Practice" we circle around the question: Do we really need to accept precariousness to produce good architecture? This episode explores the many faces and consequences of the well established dichotomy between passion and profit in architecture. 

Part 1 focuses in the realm of academia, where we usually first encounter the idea that architecture is not work if you are passionate enough. We also recollect the most recent attempts by student workers to achieve better labor conditions at universities. 

Season 2 of rAADio is produced by Aahana Banker, Daniela Beraún, Rocio Crosetto Brizzio, León Duval, Dhruva Lakshminarayanan, Malavika Madhuraj and Hein Song.

This episode of rAADio was brought you by: 
Max Lauter: Director and Creative Producer, Sound Design
Alex Hamadey: Sound Designer & Composer, Lead Audio Engineer 
Anthony Sertel Dean: Recording Audio Engineer

rAADio Season 2: 204 Resistance in Practice Part 1

"Sleepless in Practice" revolves around the question: Do we really need to be sleep deprived to produce good architecture? 

In Part 1, we talk about the historic relationship between inspiration and sleeplessness, from the Greeks to the utopia of the sleepless soldier, and how these different ideas about sleep deprivation eventually get interwoven with issues of individuality and the consumer society we live in today. 

Season 2 of rAADio is produced by Aahana Banker, Daniela Beraún, Rocio Crosetto Brizzio, León Duval, Dhruva Lakshminarayanan, Malavika Madhuraj and Hein Song.

This episode of rAADio was brought you by: 
Max Lauter: Director and Creative Producer, Sound Design
Alex Hamadey: Sound Designer & Composer, Lead Audio Engineer 
Anthony Sertel Dean: Recording Audio Engineer

rAADio Season 2: 202 Sleepless in Practice Part 1

As an extension of Episodes 006 and 007, "Resistance in Practice," we speak with two admins of Dank Lloyd Wright (DLLW), one of the most well-known architecture pages of the digital realm. They have been relentlessly exposing issues of labor exploitation and unionization in architecture through a language that connects a multigenerational crowd: memes. We ask them why they think it is so difficult to unionize in architecture, their thoughts on the dichotomy between teaching and office work, and how they see DLLW's role within the current climate of crisis and change.

Season 2 of rAADio is produced by Aahana Banker, Daniela Beraún, Rocio Crosetto Brizzio, León Duval, Dhruva Lakshminarayanan, Malavika Madhuraj and Hein Song.

This episode of rAADio was brought you by: 
Max Lauter: Director and Creative Producer, Sound Design
Alex Hamadey: Sound Designer & Composer, Lead Audio Engineer 
Anthony Sertel Dean: Recording Audio Engineer

rAADio Season 2: 208 Bonus Episode: Dank Lloyd Wright

In this second season of rAADio, we want to open the conversation about the expectations of architectural practice in academia and the workplace to show that a non conforming practice has many faces, and can be enacted in many ways. We centered the season around 3 questions: 

Do we need to be sleep deprived to produce good architecture?
Do we really need to accept precariousness to be a good architect? 
Do we need to build at all to be an architect?

Our best hope is to begin to expose how we play a part in the networks that exploit our bodies, our labor, and our resources in order to fulfill the expectations of an increasingly demanding world.

Season 2 of rAADio is produced by Aahana Banker, Daniela Beraún, Rocio Crosetto Brizzio, León Duval, Dhruva Lakshminarayanan, Malavika Madhuraj and Hein Song.

This episode of rAADio was brought you by: 
Max Lauter: Director and Creative Producer, Sound Design
Alex Hamadey: Sound Designer & Composer, Lead Audio Engineer 
Anthony Sertel Dean: Recording Audio Engineer

rAADio Season 2: 201 Dissecting Conformity in Architectural Practice

In this episode of rAADio, Armita Peirovani, and Alejandro Marin discuss the ethics surrounding fair compensation and the question of whether architects should unionize or not. They highlight the recent conversations and movements around unions in the architectural profession, referencing the unionization efforts at Bernheimer Architects and the New York Times article on architects confronting their bosses. The hosts draw parallels between the struggles of architects and other professions, such as Hollywood screenwriters, who have used unions to demand better pay and working conditions. They explore the complex dynamics of compensation, authorship, and work-life balance in the field of architecture. The episode delves into the distinction between white-collar and blue-collar jobs, challenging the outdated categorization and advocating for the recognition of all workers' needs. The hosts emphasize the importance of solidarity and collective action in achieving better pay and benefits for architects. 

Season 3 of rAADio is produced by Andy El Set, Alejandro Marin, Armita Peirovani, Francisca Alliende, Maria Candelaria Ryberg, Simran Raswant & Zhoufei Tang.

This episode of rAADio was brought to you by the guidance of Dean Andres Jaque and AAD assistant director Xiaoxi Chen, director and producer Max Lauter, composer and audio engineer Alex Hamadey, and recording engineer Alana de Vito.

rAADio Season 3: 307 To Be or Not to Be

In “Labour in Limbo”, Francisca Alliende and Simran Raswant delve into the topic of labor practices, rights, and ethics in the field of architecture. They start by discussing the labor conditions surrounding the construction of stadiums for the FIFA World Cup in Qatar, highlighting the challenges faced by migrant workers and the exploitative Kafala system. The hosts question the ethical implications of prioritizing iconic projects over basic human rights and explore the responsibility of architects and architecture firms in addressing labor issues. They also reflect on the disconnect between architectural education and the labor force, emphasizing the need for better integration and collaboration with workers.

Season 3 of rAADio is produced by Andy El Set, Alejandro Marin, Armita Peirovani, Francisca Alliende, Maria Candelaria Ryberg, Simran Raswant & Zhoufei Tang.

This episode of rAADio was brought to you by the guidance of Dean Andres Jaque and AAD assistant director Xiaoxi Chen, director and producer Max Lauter, composer and audio engineer Alex Hamadey, and recording engineer Alana de Vito.

rAADio Season 3: 305 Labour in Limbo

In “Let’s ask ChatGPT”, Andy El Set and Maria Candelaria Ryberg discuss the role of technology, particularly artificial intelligence (AI), in architecture and its ethical implications. They explore the use of AI in architectural design, simulation, and generative tools like Chat GPT and Midjourney. The hosts raise questions about the ethical response to new technology and how it can mediate ethics in architecture. They discuss the risks and limitations of AI, including biases, opacity, and unpredictable outcomes. The episode touches on the Blueprint - AI Bill of Rights and the importance of anchoring AI principles over time. The hosts also delve into the challenges of AI policy consultation, increasing public awareness, and ensuring the safety and effectiveness of automated systems, as well as addressing the issue of authorship in generative AI and the potential biases embedded in AI systems. 

Season 3 of rAADio is produced by Andy El Set, Alejandro Marin, Armita Peirovani, Francisca Alliende, Maria Candelaria Ryberg, Simran Raswant & Zhoufei Tang.

This episode of rAADio was brought to you by the guidance of Dean Andres Jaque and AAD assistant director Xiaoxi Chen, director and producer Max Lauter, composer and audio engineer Alex Hamadey, and recording engineer Alana de Vito.

rAADio Season 3: 304 Let’s ask ChatGPT

In “The Gap”, Maria Candelaria Ryberg and Armita Peirovani discuss the ethical gap between academia and practice in architecture. They explore the implications of this gap and question whether it is the answer to solving ethical dilemmas in the field. They examine the historical context of the gap and how the role of architects has evolved over time. The hosts highlight the tension between theoretical knowledge taught in academia and the practical application of that knowledge in the real world. They delve into the licensing process and the expectations placed on recent graduates, as well as the challenges of bridging the gap between theory and practice. 

Season 3 of rAADio is produced by Andy El Set, Alejandro Marin, Armita Peirovani, Francisca Alliende, Maria Candelaria Ryberg, Simran Raswant & Zhoufei Tang.

This episode of rAADio was brought to you by the guidance of Dean Andres Jaque and AAD assistant director Xiaoxi Chen, director and producer Max Lauter, composer and audio engineer Alex Hamadey, and recording engineer Alana de Vito.

rAADio Season 3: 303 The Gap

In “White Noise”, Zhuofei Tang and Alejandro Marin discuss the relationship between ethics and architecture beyond the physical buildings. They explore the implications of architects taking on roles as curators, artists, and exhibitioners, and the changing dynamics of ethics in contemporary society compared to two decades ago. They are joined by guest Emanuel Admasu, a professor at GSAPP and a member of the Black Reconstruction Collective. Admasu discusses the concepts of architecture's content and container, and how his work reframes ethics by addressing political and cultural dynamics within art and architecture. They delve into Admasu's project "Immeasurability" and its exploration of architecture, blackness, and activism. They also discuss the role of activism in their work and the ethical implications of collaboration in a global context. The conversation raises questions about the balance between activism and raising consciousness through design and the potential for transformative impact in the world.

Season 3 of rAADio is produced by Andy El Set, Alejandro Marin, Armita Peirovani, Francisca Alliende, Maria Candelaria Ryberg, Simran Raswant & Zhoufei Tang.

This episode of rAADio was brought to you by the guidance of Dean Andres Jaque and AAD assistant director Xiaoxi Chen, director and producer Max Lauter, composer and audio engineer Alex Hamadey, and recording engineer Alana de Vito.

rAADio Season 3: 302 White Noise

“The Opener” episode of rAADio sets the stage for the third season's exploration of ethics in architecture. The hosts discuss the significance of biennales and their themes, expressing a desire for these events to be more in touch with current politics and ethics. We reflect on the 2000 biennale's theme of "Less Aesthetic, More Ethics" and emphasize the need to revisit and redefine ethics in architecture. Throughout the season, we aim to uncover ethics in various aspects such as labor, technology, and disciplines, addressing topics like the Biennales and their pomp and show, gap between academia and practice, the unethical side of AI, the invisibility of labor, and the struggles of unions. We invite listeners to join them in exploring the meaning of ethics in architectural practice, profession, and academia.

Season 3 of rAADio is produced by Andy El Set, Alejandro Marin, Armita Peirovani, Francisca Alliende, Maria Candelaria Ryberg, Simran Raswant & Zhoufei Tang.

This episode of rAADio was brought to you by the guidance of Dean Andres Jaque and AAD assistant director Xiaoxi Chen, director and producer Max Lauter, composer and audio engineer Alex Hamadey, and recording engineer Alana de Vito.

rAADio Season 3: 301 Opener

rAADio Season 4: 402 POSTCOLONIAL FICTIONS

rAADio Season 4: 405 PSYCHE DELIS

rAADio Season 4: 404 QUEER TIME

rAADio Season 4: 403 SENSING TIME

rAADio Season 4: 401 INTRODUCTION

Aaron Forrest and Yasmin Vobis, co-founders of Ultramoderne, talk about how their practice began, their systems-based approach, and interest in material experimentation. Ultramoderne was founded in Providence, Rhode Island, in 2015. The office is committed to creating architecture and public spaces that are at once modern, playful, and generous. The principals are driven by an experimental approach that leads to conceptually rigorous and well-executed designs. The office has experience working at a wide variety of scales, from single-family residences to urban-scale planning, and its work has been recognized internationally, including the 2015 pavilion commission from the Chicago Architecture Biennial, the Architectural League of New York, and AIAri. 

"For us the work is always a dialogue between abstraction and reality. I think that the projects look simple on the surface: squares, circles, triangles, and so forth. But I think that for us the abstraction is a way of reorganizing a piece of reality.” 
—Yasmin Vobis

Constructing Practice #12: Ultramoderne

Jan De Vylder, of architecten de vylder vinck taillieu, talks about the importance of pure or rough use of materials in their work, and Flemish architecture influences of the firm. Founded by Jan De Vylder, Inge Vinck, and Jo Taillieu, the practice is based in Gent, Belgium. The architects question the distinction between décor and construction, and believe that understanding how to build something that architecture can play out its critical potential. 

"Our practice was founded because we enjoy making things. For us, architecture is not only a matter of designing things, but also a matter of understanding how things can be made" 
—Jan De Vylder

Constructing Practice #13: Architecten De Vylder Vinck Taillieu

Grahame Shane, Professor in Columbia GSAPP’s Urban Design Program speaks with Els Verbakel, who gave a lecture at the recent event “UD Sessions: The Expanded Field of Urban Design” featuring alumni of the Urban Design Program. Els Verbakel is founding partner of Derman Verbakel Architecture and the Head of the Graduate Program in Urban Design at Bezalel Academy of Arts and Design Jerusalem. She directs the UNESCO Chair in Urban Design and Conservation Studies at Bezalel and she is the head of the Academic Committee for the Israel Urban Forum. Els obtained a PhD in Architecture at Princeton University, Master of Science in Architecture and Urban Design at GSAPP, and a Masters in Civil Engineering and Architecture from the University of Leuven, Belgium. She published the books, In Search of the Public: Notes on the Contemporary American City (2013) and Constellations: Constructing Urban Design Practices, and guest edited a special issue of AD Magazine titled, “Cities of Dispersal” (2008). Grahame and Els talk about her experience in GSAPP’s Urban Design Program, her practice at Derman Verbakel Architecture and her teaching in Jerusalem.

UD Sessions #1: Els Verbakel

Grahame Shane, Professor in Columbia GSAPP’s Urban Design Program speaks with Skye Duncan, who gave a lecture at the recent event “UD Sessions: The Expanded Field of Urban Design” featuring alumni of the Urban Design Program. Skye Duncan is an urban designer with over a decade of experience in architecture, urban design, planning, and landscape architecture. She joined National Association of City Transportation Officials (NACTO) in 2014 as the Director of the Global Designing Cities Initiative. Skye previously worked as a Senior Urban Designer at the NYC Department of City Planning in the Office of the Chief Urban Designer. She contributed to the NYC DOT Street Design Manual and helped develop much of the Planning Department’s work on public health and the built environment. She was a contributing author to Active Design Guidelines (2010) and led a team to produce Shaping the Sidewalk Experience (2013). Here she talks about her motivation to study urban design at Columbia, and her current work at the Global Designing Cities Initiative.

UD Sessions #4: Skye Duncan

Subscribe on iTunes: bit.ly/GSAPPconversations

Columbia GSAPP Associate Professor Mabel O. Wilson (MArch ‘91) speaks with Sharon Sutton (MArch '73) about the publication of her new book, When Ivory Towers Were Black, which tells the story of how an unparalleled cohort of ethnic minority students earned degrees from Columbia University’s School of Architecture during a time of fierce struggles to open the ivory tower to ethnic minority students. A book launch and discussion was held at Columbia GSAPP on February 23, 2017.

“Social justice in this case is occurring on two levels: the one is opening up the elite professions to historically marginalized students; the other is using institutional resources to improve historically marginalized populations. And that has been my life agenda.” - Sharon Sutton

GSAPP Conversations #3: Sharon Sutton in Conversation with Mabel O. Wilson

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Dean Amale Andraos speaks with Professor Hilary Sample, who directs the Core Architecture Studios at Columbia GSAPP and is the co-founder of MOS Architects with her partner Michael Meredith. They discuss the lasting influence of Ordos 100 on the firm’s thinking, the role of representation, and how MOS Architects pursues an inclusive way of working and thinking while maintaining a purposefully small office. Sample directs GSAPP’s Housing Studio, which has a long tradition at the School and invites students to think across typologies and scales while considering a range of cultural, geographic, and environmental contexts. Sample speaks of the studio’s travel to Mexico, which coincided with the November 2016 Election, and the importance of considering New York City’s housing legacy in relation to global references.

“Students come here to look for a sense of being global citizens and being a part of a collective – even though we are in this incredible culture of individuals and individuality. At the heart of the Core, which is the primary thing I am teaching at the School, is that the students are thinking about how they are part of a collective, not just an individual. I think that’s been a big shift for the practice of architecture. It’s of course about finding your own identity within that, but also about how you really exist within a much broader realm – making architecture on one hand for yourself but also for others, and to think about that as a way forward.” – Hilary Sample

GSAPP Conversations #7: Hilary Sample in Conversation with Amale Andraos

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Dean Amale Andraos speaks with Kate Orff about the role of climate change in the design of future cities, with a particular look at the role water plays in reframing urban infrastructure and networks. Orff directs Columbia GSAPP’s Urban Design Program and is founder of the landscape architecture and urban design studio SCAPE, which focuses on resiliency and has received particular attention for the natural breakwater “oyster-tecture” developed for Staten Island.

In this eleventh episode of GSAPP Conversations, Orff joins Dean Andraos to discuss what it means to think across scales and connect our human life with the geological time scale, how traveling international studios allow students to better address challenges shared by otherwise very different cities, and teaching the reciprocity of physical design and social context.

“We are teaching our students very differently now, because they need to be able to operate differently in light of not only climate change, but also in light of very different political and social systems that characterize the urban context.” – Kate Orff

GSAPP Conversations #11: Kate Orff in Conversation with Amale Andraos

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Third-year MArch student Ayesha Ghosh speaks with Anupama Kundoo on the occasion of her lecture at Columbia GSAPP in November 2016. Kundoo, who started her award-winning practice in 1990, discusses the relationship between material and technology, involving people in the making of their houses to develop a new model for affordable housing, and her belief that many global versus local arguments miss the fact that people are not as different as one thinks.

“My deep belief is that architecture lies in the non-material. … Architecture is all about occupying the void and shaping the void and designing the void. Materials are there to hold the space.” - Anupama Kundoo

GSAPP Conversations #22: Anupama Kundoo in Conversation with Ayesha Ghosh

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Current Columbia GSAPP student Jarrett Ley speaks with Zeynep Çelik Alexander, who taught the course “Questions in Architectural History” at GSAPP in the Fall of 2016 and delivered the school’s 2017 Detlef Mertens Lecture on the History of Modernity. Alexander is an associate professor at the Daniels Faculty of Architecture, Landscape, and Design at the University of Toronto. In this podcast, she discusses her ongoing research on the history of modern architecture since the Enlightenment and the meaning of “Gestaltung”, the need for developing new language suitable for contemporary practice, and the role of architecture schools within the context of research universities.

“We haven’t yet developed the language with which to understand the world that we live in.” – Zeynep Çelik Alexander

GSAPP Conversations #21: Zeynep Çelik Alexander in Conversation with Jarrett Ley

ArchDaily’s Editor-at-Large James Taylor-Foster speaks with Columbia GSAPP faculty Christoph Kumpusch, who directs the school’s Core I studios. Kumpusch introduces his Extraction Lab, a new five-year project launching in August 2017 with a student summer workshop at the Burning Man festival in Black Rock Desert, Nevada.

GSAPP Conversations [Bonus #2]: Extraction Lab - Christoph Kumpusch with James Taylor-Foster

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Dean Amale Andraos speaks with Evan Sharp, co-founder and chief product officer of Pinterest and GSAPP alumnus, in advance of his lecture at the school on September 7, 2018.

They discuss how architectural thinking has informed Sharp’s practice as a designer and entrepreneur, and delve into the role of architects as image makers with the capability to shape dreams, and the importance of a more human centered approach to design and technology.

“I think architecture is ultimately about shelter, environment, and the human. In technology, it’s easy to forget sometimes who you’re building for, because you don’t see or interact with them. So having that body memory, that the point of all this is people, is really powerful. And that’s something I learned at GSAPP.” - Evan Sharp

GSAPP Conversations #51: Evan Sharp in Conversation with Amale Andraos

Jorge Otero-Pailos, director of GSAPP’s Historic Preservation Program, speaks with Daniel Abramson in advance of his Fall 2016 lecture at the school. They discuss Daniel Abramson’s book, Obsolescence: An Architectural History, in which he investigates the notion of architectural expendability and the logic by which buildings lose their value and utility. 

“It seems like today in general, obsolescence has given way to new thought about comprehending and managing change… an impulse to conserve rather than expand existing resources.”  - Daniel Abramson

Historic Preservation Podcast #1: Daniel Abramson on Obsolescence

Jorge Otero-Pailos, director of GSAPP’s Historic Preservation Program, speaks with Andrew Johnston in advance of his Fall 2018 lecture at the school. Andrew Johnston is associate professor and director of the program in Historic Preservation, Architectural History and Architecture at the University of Virginia. Previously, Johnston served as founding director of the Master of Architecture and Urban Design programs at Xi’an-Jiaotong Liverpool University in Suzhou, China. 

They discuss Johnston’s work on old industrial sites and emptied historic villages in China, both of which represent an important part of the country’s heritage. Johnston also addresses the ties between economic development of these sites and the preservation agenda in the region.

“These villages are discussed as the next real estate frontier in China. Where is development going to go next if you have to keep feeding this development engine? It’s these villages that have been emptied that everybody is starting to look at now as “what do we do with these?” - Andrew Johnston

Historic Preservation Podcast #9: Andrew Johnston on Heritage

Jorge Otero-Pailos, director of GSAPP’s Historic Preservation Program, speaks with Richard Pieper in advance to his Fall 2018 lecture at the school. Richard Pieper is an architectural conservator specializing in the documentation of historic architectural technology and the conservation of metals and masonry materials. They discuss the meaning of the “soul” of a building within conservation and the difference between imitation and substitution materials. 

“We’re at a crossroads here…. we’re at a moment where the conservator needs to stand up and say to the younger people who are coming onboard, don’t make substitution the immediate default mode. Make replacement in kind the default mode for your work.” - Richard Pieper

Historic Preservation Podcast #10: Richard Pieper on Material Conservation

This Spring, Untapped New York collaborated with Columbia GSAPP to create a mini-series of podcast episodes designed to welcome incoming students to the GSAPP family. 

Throughout the series, we explore architecturally interesting and historic New York City neighborhoods that house Columbia University’s campus and surrounding communities. This is the first of three conversations specifically produced for the School.

Today, Michelle Young and Justin Rivers of Untapped New York discuss the neighborhood of Morningside Heights, which is home to Columbia University’s Morningside Campus and to Columbia GSAPP. Michelle Young is GSAPP faculty, alum ('12 MSUP), and founder of Untapped New York. Throughout this episode, Justin Rivers, Chief Experience Officer at Untapped New York, will discuss five spots including Alma Mater, the Guastavino Dome at the Cathedral of St. John the Divine, Riverside Church’s Labyrinth, Ulysses S. Grant’s Tomb, and the meeting of 125th and 129th Streets.

You can learn more about Untapped New York at www.untappedcities.com.

Untapped New York Explores Morningside Heights

Marc Norman in Conversation with Kate Ascher

In episode #90, faculty Kate Ascher speaks with Marc Norman, Associate Professor of Practice in Urban and Regional Planning at University of Michigan’s Taubman College, and founder of consulting firm Ideas and Actions. Teaching courses in real estate finance and economic development, Marc Norman also advises municipal, private, and non-profit clients on housing and development. Kate Ascher is the Milstein Professor of Urban Development at Columbia GSAPP, where she teaches real estate, infrastructure and urban planning courses. 

During the conversation, they discuss land use and cost as it relates to housing and street real estate. Using New York City as an example, they also explore the need for a multifaceted strategy that involves development, innovative finance, and community engagement in the reimagination of public housing. Marc Norman makes the case for further experimentation on a city and state level that has the ability to scale up and lead us into the future. The episode was recorded prior to Marc Norman’s lecture at GSAPP on March 2nd, 2020.

Subscribe on iTunes: bit.ly/GSAPPconversations

#90 Marc Norman: Rethinking Equitable Development

At the one year anniversary of the Notre Dame fire, Jorge Otero-Pailos, director of GSAPP’s Historic Preservation Program, speaks about the future of Notre Dame Cathedral in Paris with Lindsay Cook, faculty at Vassar College where she teaches medieval art and architecture. Her research focuses on the intersection of medieval architectural and institutional history in Paris and its environs, particularly centered on Notre-Dame of Paris.

They discuss the long history of the cathedral and Cook’s English translation of “Notre Dame Cathedral: Nine Centuries of History” by Dany Sandron and Andrew Tallon. The book includes numerous visualizations of Notre Dame throughout the years to illustrate the different stages of the building's construction.

“It’s easy to look at the cathedral today and see it as a unified, fixed entity, but it really was never that way throughout the Premodern Period. Underneath each of the visual reconstructions [in the book] is a 3D laser scan that was made of the building in 2010. The other images are created using texture overlaying on top of the laser scan data, peeling back the layers of time and showing moments where we know something about what the cathedral looked like.” - Lindsay Cook

Historic Preservation Podcast #23: Lindsay Cook on Notre Dame

Sophie Hochhäusl in Conversation with Emmanuel Olunkwa

In episode #91, CCCP student Emmanuel Olunkwa speaks with architectural historian Sophie Hochhäusl. Hochhäusl is an Assistant Professor for Architectural History and Theory at the University of Pennsylvania. Her scholarly work centers on modern architecture and urban culture in Austria, Germany, and the United States, with a focus on the history of social movements, gender studies, and environmental history. 

Today, Austrian architect Margarete Schütte-Lihotzky (1897-2000) has been widely recognized as one of the most significant female figures in modern design who worked in Austria, Germany, the Soviet Union, and Turkey in the 1920s and 1930s. These decades of professional work were marked by a drastic break between 1940 and 1945, when Schütte-Lihotzky was interned for her participation in the Communist resistance against the Nazi regime. Her recollections from the years of internment became the subject of the 1984 German-language book “Erinnerungen aus dem Widerstand (Memories of the Resistance).”

In this episode, Sophie Hochhäusl discusses her book “Memories of the Resistance: Margarete Schütte-Lihotzky and the Architecture of Collective Dissidence, 1919-1989,” which explores the architect's book as a critical historical document that exemplifies the spatialization of organized dissent in the 1940s. It provides a glimpse into resistance as lived practice and how dissent became activated by solidarity and collective action. The episode was recorded following Sophie Hochhäusl’s lecture at GSAPP on February 24, 2020.

Subscribe on iTunes: bit.ly/GSAPPconversations

#91 Sophie Hochhäusl: Memories of the Resistance

This Spring, Untapped New York collaborates with Columbia GSAPP to create a mini-series of podcasts designed to welcome incoming students to the GSAPP family. Throughout the series, we explore architectural and historic highlights of Columbia University’s neighborhood and surrounding New York City communities. 

In this second installment, Michelle Young and Justin Rivers of Untapped New York explore neighborhoods in Upper Manhattan where many of GSAPP’s students choose to live. They head from Morningside Heights to Harlem, Hamilton Heights, Washington Heights, and Inwood. Along the way, they point out culinary and cultural highlights of each neighborhood, including NYC’s largest slice at Koronet Pizza in Morningside Heights, Harlem’s Apollo Theater, the Audubon Mural Project in Hamilton Heights, and the many parks and views of Washington Heights. We also hear from Columbia affiliated residents of Harlem and Washington Heights who tell us about why they love their neighborhoods. 

You can learn more about Untapped New York at www.untappedcities.com.

Untapped New York Explores Upper Manhattan

Jorge Otero-Pailos, director of GSAPP’s Historic Preservation Program, speaks with Aron Vinegar, Professor of Art History in the Department of Philosophy, Classics, History of Art and Ideas at the University of Oslo, Norway. 

His main areas of interest and publication include: modern architecture, design, and preservation; the intersections of art history, visual studies, theory, and aesthetics; and philosophical approaches to art and architecture. These domains of inquiry are driven by two intersecting constellations of concern: habit and the ‘unthought’, and issues of suspended judgment, ontological indifference, and self-preservation.

As the COVID-19 pandemic fundamentally disrupts our habits, Aron Vinegar reflects on how habits define our understanding of ourselves, our cultures and the heritage we preserve. Given our inability to keep matter, like viruses, from getting into our out of our bodies, Vinegar suggests that we need to rethink our ideas about bodies as different from their environments, objects as separate from subjects, and tangible heritage as distinct from intangible heritage.

Historic Preservation Podcast #24: Aron Vinegar on the Oddities of Habit

Jorge Otero-Pailos, director of GSAPP’s Historic Preservation Program, speaks with Laurajane Smith in advance of her Spring 2020 lecture at the school. Laurajane Smith is professor and director of the Centre of Heritage and Museum Studies, Research School of Humanities and the Arts, at the Australian National University. She founded the Association of Critical Heritage Studies, and has been editor of the International Journal of Heritage Studies since 2009. 

They discuss Smith’s research around cultural heritage and the emotions of nostalgia, delving into ways that particular forms of emotion have been taken up and weaponized by right wing populist movements.

Historic Preservation Podcast #21: Laurajane Smith on Weaponized Nostalgia

Jorge Otero-Pailos, director of GSAPP’s Historic Preservation Program, speaks with alumni Rob Thomson, Federal Preservation Officer for the Presidio Trust, in advance of his Spring 2020 lecture at the school. The Presidio Trust is a unique, financially self-sufficient U.S. federal agency responsible for managing the Presidio of San Francisco, national park and home to the Golden Gate Bridge.

They discuss the park’s long military history which lasted from 1776 until 1994. The years following, the park underwent a grand period of experimentation in historic preservation, land use, public-private partnerships, and governance that has resulted in a remarkably successful National Park site and a revitalized National Historic Landmark District.

Historic Preservation Podcast #22: Rob Thomson on the Presidio

Joshua Jih Pan in Conversation with Johnny Chiu

In episode #94, founder of J.C. Architecture Johnny Chiu (‘06 MSAAD) speaks with Joshua Jih Pan ('67 MARCH), founder of J.J. Pan & Partners.

Based in Taipei with additional offices in Shanghai, Beijing, and Xiamen, J.J. Pan & Partners is an architectural and planning firm dedicated to providing creative solutions in the design and planning of human environments. J.C. Architecture is a multidisciplinary design firm based in New York City and Taipei whose projects range from architecture to interior, industrial, visual, and jewelry design.

During the conversation, they discuss Pan’s educational background (including his time at GSAPP) and the steps he took to establish his studio as one of the largest, and most successful firms in Taiwan. Pan stresses the importance of taking advantage of every opportunity to showcase quality and relevant design, regardless of project scale. He also encourages early career architects to recognize the value of their work and charge fair fees for their services. Finally, he shares his vision for the future of architecture in Taiwan which prioritizes sustainability and is inclusive of aging populations.

Subscribe on iTunes: bit.ly/GSAPPconversations

#94 Joshua Jih Pan and Johnny Chiu: Learning From Alumni

Sigi Koko in Conversation with Lola Ben-Alon

This fall, Faculty Lola Ben-Alon hosts a mini-series on natural and living building materials as part of the GSAPP Conversations podcast. The Natural Materials mini-series consists of conversations with designers, builders, and product developers of clay, bamboo, fibers, and bacterial concrete. Natural materials are defined as minimally processed, readily available, nontoxic, healthy, and engaging materials. They are critically needed to reduce carbon emissions and extractive harmful impact associated with conventional building materials.
 
In kicking off the Natural Materials mini-series, Lola Ben-Alon, Assistant Professor of Architectural Technology speaks with East-Coast-based architect Sigi Koko about building naturally with earthen materials like clay, as part of an architectural practice. Koko’s work displays amazing ways that earthen materials behave in the dramatically different climates of the United States, and how we could benefit from incorporating these earthen materials in our own work. The conversation is the first of a four-part mini-series on how experimenting with and utilizing natural materials is changing the future of architecture and design pedagogy. (This conversation was recorded remotely in November 2020.)

Subscribe on iTunes: bit.ly/GSAPPconversations

#95 Natural Materials: Sigi Koko on Clay

Elora Hardy in Conversation with Lola Ben-Alon

This week as part of the Natural Materials mini-series, faculty Lola Ben-Alon speaks with architect, artist, and designer, Elora Hardy (IBUKU), about designing and building with bamboo in Indonesia. Hardy’s work, from her time as a designer at DKNY to her time as an architectural designer in Bali today, has garnered international attention. Her complex designs utilize natural materials, namely bamboo. The structures seem to defy nature, while at the same time following the natural properties of the materials used.

The Natural Materials mini-series consists of conversations with designers, builders, and product developers of clay, bamboo, fibers, and bacterial concrete. Natural materials are defined as minimally processed, readily available, nontoxic, healthy, and engaging materials. They are critically needed to reduce carbon emissions and extractive harmful impact associated with conventional building materials. (This conversation was recorded remotely in November 2020.)

Subscribe on iTunes: bit.ly/GSAPPconversations

#96 Natural Materials: Elora Hardy on Bamboo

Chris Magwood in Conversation with Lola Ben-Alon

In the next installment of the Natural Materials mini-series, faculty Lola Ben-Alon discusses building with natural fibers with researcher and builder, Chris Magwood. Magwood is currently a director at The Endeavour Centre, where he leads several initiatives in training building professionals in working with different natural fibers -- like hemp and plant husks -- in newer, more holistic ways, helping bring buildings to ‘net zero.’

The Natural Materials mini-series consists of conversations with designers, builders, and product developers of clay, bamboo, fibers, and bacterial concrete. Natural materials are defined as minimally processed, readily available, nontoxic, healthy, and engaging materials. They are critically needed to reduce carbon emissions and extractive harmful impact associated with conventional building materials. (This conversation was recorded remotely in November 2020.)

Subscribe on iTunes: bit.ly/GSAPPconversations

#97 Natural Materials: Chris Magwood on Fibers

In this episode, Anna Gasha, a Ph.D. student in GSAPP’s Historic Preservation program, speaks with Dr. Renée Ater, an art historian of 19th and 20th Century American art. Ater taught in the Department of Art History and Archaeology at the University of Maryland until her retirement in July 2017. Her research and writing have focused on the intersection of race, monument building, and national identity. She is currently researching, designing, and writing a digital project called Contemporary Monuments to the Slave Past: Race, Memorialization, Public Space, and Civic Engagement, at slaverymonuments.org.

Ater discusses the importance of providing accessible resources for the general public to learn about public monuments. Ater hopes that digital scholarship projects like her own will help audiences become more informed citizens familiar with the political implications of symbols used within public spaces.

Renée Ater on Monuments and Accessible Storytelling

HP Program Director Jorge Otero-Pailos speaks with art historian and data scientist Emily Spratt about her major research collaboration with chef Alain Passard. The project utilizes AI to examine and create images of plates from the three-star Michelin restaurant Arpège in Paris.
 
In their project, Spratt and Passard explore the art and history of culinary presentation from the garden to the table with General Adversarial Networks (GANs). Although GANs have been associated with “deepfakes,” their work demonstrates that this technology offers promising possibilities for creative exploration. They are the first to use this application of AI in the world of haute cuisine. At the core of this collaboration is an investigation of what encompasses intangible heritage, the role of visuality in the culinary arts, and a nuanced approach to the concept of documentation in gastronomy. This conversation was recorded virtually in February 2021.

Historic Preservation Podcast #32: Emily L. Spratt on the Art of Culinary Presentation with AI

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