Today is a conversation with Michael Jakob and we’re talking about his writing on Faux Mountains. These are the mounds, piles, and hills that are linked not only to architecture and landscape architecture but Land Art, Urban Design and beyond. With such a long history, this shape has been a construct that has been around for thousands of years yet continues to evolve in its cultural significance. Michael has a new book out now with the same name so be sure to have a look for that.&nbsp;

097 _ Michael Jakob _ 'Faux Mountains'

This week’s conversation is with Jessica Charlesworth and Tim Parsons and we are talking about their design work which explores some of the key social, ecological, and technological challenges of our time. Parsons &amp; Charlesworth is an art and design studio that develops tangible worlds as discursive tools for critically appraising urgent issues. Co-founded by Jessica Charlesworth and Tim Parsons, the studio’s investigative, research-driven, speculative approach uses installation, sculpture, designed objects, writing, photography and digital media to explore key social, ecological and technological challenges of our time, including climate change, the future of work, and the ethics of technology. Their current project, Multispecies Inc. manifests the output of a fictional group of ecologists striving to cohabit with other species with the help of advanced technologies.   &nbsp;

098 _ Parson & Charlesworth _ 'Catalog for the Post-Humans'

Today’s conversation is about the potential impact of new tools for video games on architecture.&nbsp;    &nbsp;   As architects, we have no shortage of external pressures we need to be aware of and  engage. From climate change to new forms of communication technologies and social justice to name only three ...the list is long and at times overwhelming to think about. Many of these issues that we’re looking to better understand are not new, but how we tackle them today and intertwine a few of them together probably should be. So, it would make good sense for architecture to keep an eye out for tools and techniques that might allow us to engage such pressures in novel ways. One of them that interests me in particular is video games. I’ve discussed this with guests in the past including author Aubrey Anable and curator Boris Magrini, but today is with film director Sava Zivkovic. Zivkovic doesn’t use the software to make video games but instead movie films and this is because of the efficiency of the software with its real-time rendering. Tools that offer efficiency to a process often have a negative connotation for creativity. But in the case of the gaming  software we’re seeing today, I think it’s opening the doors for something altogether novel for the architect. And that’s social interaction with design. You might call this a storyline, an interface between people and space. I’m not sure. But today is a conversation with how a director is using these tools and it will be up to the architect to see how far we can push these opportunities.&nbsp;   Sava Zivkovic is a director based in Belgrade, Serbia. His directing work includes critically acclaimed and award-winning short films like IRRADIATION, HUXLEY, FREIGHT, and IFCC. As a director for Axis Studios, he has created game cinematics for Dead Island 2, Diablo Immortal, Outriders, Solium Infernum, Destiny 2 and Gears of War 5.&nbsp;    &nbsp;   Book Title as a link by person's name&nbsp;   You can find all episodes at &nbsp;   Other episodes linked to the topic include  and &nbsp;   Thoughts or suggestions, email me at &nbsp;     &nbsp;

Ep099 _ Gaming and Film for Architecture w/ Sava Zivkovic

Today’s conversation is with Fred Sharmen about his book ‘Space Forces’.&nbsp;   Sometimes what you need is a little distance to get a clearer perspective on your current situation. Doing so lets you see a larger whole which often allows you to ask questions that might otherwise go unasked. This new distance might not give you any new answers to your current situation at first but just having new questions can be enough to keep you moving. When it comes to the topic of outer space, many people question why we would put so many resources into exploring a future in space when we have so many unresolved problems and crises here on Earth. This is obviously a valid argument, and one that Fred covers, but his book also goes to great lengths to demonstrate that it’s through this new perspective, this distance gained from earth that we can better understand our assumptions for how we currently live, how we currently govern and what we place value on here on earth. As Fred says, ‘Living in space is a thought experiment for how we better understand how we live on Earth.’&nbsp;   Fred Scharmen teaches architecture and urban design at Morgan State University's School of Architecture and Planning. He is the co-founder of the Working Group on Adaptive Systems, an art and design consultancy based in Baltimore, Maryland. His first book, Space Settlements was published in 2019. His writing has been published in Atlantic CityLab, Slate, Log, Volume, and Domus the Architect's Newspaper, and in the local alt-weekly Baltimore City Paper.&nbsp;   Fred Scharmen’s &nbsp;    You can find all episodes at &nbsp;    Thoughts or suggestions, email me at &nbsp;    &nbsp;&nbsp;

100 _ Fred Scharmen _ 'Space Forces'

Sean Lally’s work is a synthesis of two intense pressures on society today: humanity’s manipulation of the en­vironment and the bio engineering of the human body. The first is changing the makeup of the physical spaces we occupy and the second, the very body that perceives that space. Lally’s work with Weathers are experiments that report on potential futures ahead, ones that do not fall along the false dichotomy presented in the media that earth can only be preserved or destroyed. The work instead embraces the belief that for humanity to live sus­tainably and responsibly, earth’s environments, as well as the human body, will just have to artificially evolve together. Lally’s work speculates on the shapes and aesthetics of space including the social and political dynamics that will emerge when both the design of the environment and the human body are recognized as necessarily elastic for humanity to move forward.

 Lally received his Bachelors degree in Landscape Architecture from UMASS Amherst, his Masters in Architecture from UCLA and is a tenured associate professor at the University of Illinois at Chicago in the School of Architecture. Lally is the author of the The Air from Other Planets: A Brief History of Architecture to Come and recipient of the Prince Charitable Trusts Rome Prize from the American Academy in Rome in Landscape Architecture.

Night White Skies w/ Sean Lally