Night White Skies
by Sean Lally
Join Sean Lally in conversation about architecture's future, as both earth's environment and our human bodies are now open for design. The podcast engages a diverse range of perspectives to get a better picture of the events currently unfolding. This includes philosophers, cultural anthropologists, policy makers, scientists as well as authors of science fiction. Each individual's work intersects this core topic, but from unique angles. Lally is the author of the book The Air from Other Planets: A Brief History of Architecture to Come and an associate professor of architecture at the University of Illinois at Chicago. He is the recipient of the Prince Charitable Trusts Rome Prize from the American Academy in Rome in Landscape Architecture.www.seanlally.net
Episodes
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108 _ THE END w/ Thoughts For Tomorrow
After eight years and over 100 episodes, the Night White Skies podcast is coming to an end. The program began as a look towards architecture's future knowing that both earth's environments and our human bodies are now open for design, and that's where we'll end. The program sought to engage a...
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107 _ Jeffrey Nesbit / Charles Waldheim_'Technical Lands'
Today's conversation is with Jeffrey Nesbit and Charles Waldheim about their book Technical Lands. It was great to have both Jeffrey and Charles back on the program. They've both been on here separately but today we're discussing their new edited book 'Technical Lands: A Critical Primer'. As they...
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106 _ Catherine Ingraham _ 'Architecture's Theory'
Today's conversation is with Catherine Ingraham and we're discussing her latest book, 'Architecture's Theory'. We each had our own experience in school when first introduced to architectural theory. Those classes were probably somewhat opaque for all of us. Even today you might read new articles...
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105 _ Christopher Schaberg _ 'Adventure'
Sometimes it's only through repetition and time that insight into your actions are revealed. This might come about because aspects of those actions aren't always fully intentional. When it comes to Night White Skies, I firmly believe to be routed in architecture, but I've heard it described by...
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104 _ Vahid Vahdat and James Kerestes _ 'Cinematic Betwixt'
Today's conversation is with Vahid Vahdat and James Kerestes about their book 'Architecture, Film and the In-Between, Spatio Cinematic Betwixt'. Discussions about trying to give shape to an uncertain future have been a recurring topic on this program. This is in part because it seems that even…
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103 _ Aleksandra Jaeschke _ 'Greening Codes'
Today's conversation is with Aleksandra Jaeschke about her book 'The Greening of America's Building Codes, Promises and Paradoxes'. There are realities we live with that are so ingrained in all aspects of our lives that we rarely think to question their origins. They are either intertwined with...
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102 _ Dr Laura Ferrarello _ 'Design Ethics'
Today's conversation is about the role of teaching and discussing ethics during the design process. This week's conversation is about the role of ethics during the design process. For many people, whether working in an office or academia, ethics is likely just a passing topic discussed once a…
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101 _ Jeffrey S. Nesbit _ 'Nature of Enclosure'
Today's conversation is with Jeffrey Nesbit about his book 'Nature of Enclosure'. So much of our architectural education and practice is reliant on the idea of control. Take representation for example. Without being able to quantify information about a site, materials or even people, how can we…
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100 _ Fred Scharmen _ 'Space Forces'
Today's conversation is with Fred Sharmen about his book 'Space Forces'. 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...
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099 _ Tools for Stories w/ Sava Zivkovic
Today's conversation is about the potential impact of new tools for video games on architecture. 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...
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098 _ Parson & Charlesworth _ 'Catalog for the Post-Human'
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 & Charlesworth is an art and design studio that develops tangible worlds as...
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097 _ Michael Jakob _ 'Faux Mountains'
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...
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096 _ Brain Fagan _ 'Resilience'
Brain Fagan is one of the world's leading archaeological writers and an internationally recognized authority on world prehistory. He is a Distinguished Emeritus Professor of Anthropology at the University of California, Santa Barbara, and the author of several widely read books on ancient climate...
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095 _ Amy Brady _ 'The World as We Knew It'
Amy Brady is the author of Ice: From Mixed Drinks to Skating Rinks–a Cool History of a Hot Commodity. She is also the executive director of Orion magazine, a contributing editor for Scientific American, and coeditor of The World as We Knew It: Dispatches from a Changing Climate. Brady has made...
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094 _ Sheila Jasanoff _ 'Ethics of Invention'
Today is a conversation with Sheila Jasanoff about her book 'The Ethics of Invention' and her research and work as the Director of the STS (Science and Technology Studies) at Harvard. *** Night White Skies is a program about our design futures as both the environment and our human bodies are now...
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093 _ Adam Frank _'Alien Anthropocenes'
My conversation this week is with Astrophysicist Adam Frank is a leading expert on the final stages of evolution for stars like the sun, and his computational research group at the University of Rochester has developed advanced supercomputer tools for studying how stars form and how they die.…
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092 _ Chris Forman and Claire Asher _ 'Brave Green World'
Chris Forman is a physicist with a PhD in protein engineering, conducting research at Northwestern University into the organization of soft matter using experimental, theoretical, and computational approaches. Claire Asher is a biologist with a PhD in evolution and genetics, specializing in the...
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091 _ Henry T. Greely _ 'CRISPR People'
Henry Greely is Professor of Law at Stanford University and Professor by courtesy of Genetics, Stanford School of Medicine; Director, Center for Law and the Biosciences; Director, Stanford Program in Neuroscience and Society; and Chair, Steering Committee of the Center for Biomedical Ethics. ***...
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090 _ Emanuele Coccia _ 'The Life of Plants'
Emanuele Coccia is an Associate Professor at the École des Hautes Études en Sciences Sociales (EHESS) in Paris. He received his PhD in Florence and was formerly an Assistant Professor of History of Philosophy in Freiburg, Germany. He worked on the history of European normativity and on…
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089 _ Sherryl Vint _ 'Science Fiction'
Today is a conversation about science fiction with Sherryl Vint. Sherryl is Professor of Media and Cultural Studies at the University of California, Riverside, where she directs the Speculative Fictions and Cultures of Science program. *** Night White Skies is a program about our design futures…
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088 _ Boris_Magrini _ 'Radical Gaming'
This week is a conversation with curator Boris Magrini about the 'Radical Gaming' exhibition currently at the House of Electronic Arts (HEK) in Basel Switzerland. *** Night White Skies is a program about our design futures as both the environment and our human bodies are now open for design....
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087 _ Margret Grebowicz _ 'Origin Stories'
Margret Grebowicz is an environmental philosopher living in upstate New York. She is the author of four books--Mountains and Desire: Climbing vs. the End of the World, Whale Song, The National Park to Come, Why Internet Porn Matters--and is currently finishing a new short book, Rescue Me: On Dog...
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086 _ Daniel Barber _ 'Climate Histories'
Daniel A. Barber is Associate Professor and Chair of the PhD Program in Architecture at the University of Pennsylvania. His research and teaching narrate eco-critical histories of architecture and seek pathways into the post-hydrocarbon future. We discuss on this episode his most recent book...
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085 _ Jackie Higgins _'Sentient'
This week is a conversation with Jackie Higgins. Jackie is a television documentary director and writer, who read zoology at Oxford University, as a student of Richard Dawkins. She made wildlife films for a decade, for BBC as well as for Channel 4, National Geographic and The Discovery Channel.…
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084 _ Aubrey Anable _ 'Rehearsing Our Feelings'
'Rehearsing our Feelings' When it comes to trying to plan for the future, various tools are used to help us with the process. If you have a series of appointments to attend in the coming months, you'll likely use a calendar to schedule time and place. If you plan on building a structure or a...
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Ep. 083 _ Robert Markley_ 'Kim Stanley Robinson;
There is probably no bigger name in science fiction in the last 50 years than Kim Stanley Robinson. Robert Markley (who I'm speaking with today) wrote a book with that very title, 'Kim Stanley Robinson' that looks at his work. The book looks at the works including the alternate histories of The...
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Ep._082 _ Stewart Hicks / Allison Newmeyer _'Character'
What does it mean for architecture to have character? Stewart and Allison are co-founders of Design With Company, who's work is interested in concepts that are shared between architecture and literature, including: narrative fictions, type, and character. The work has earned awards such as the...
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Ep. 081 _ Elena Manferdini _'Material Forms'
Elena Manferdini, principal of Atelier Manferdini. She currently teaches at the Southern California Institute of Architecture SCI-Arc where she serves as the Graduate Programs Chair.
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Ep. 080 _ Amy Brady _ 'Burning Worlds'
Amy writes about arts, culture, and the environment. She is the Deputy Publisher of Guernica magazine and the Editor-in-Chief of the Chicago Review of Books, where she also writes a monthly column called "Burning Worlds." It explores how contemporary fiction addresses issues of climate change.…
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Ep. 079 _ Michael Benedikt _ 'Architecture Beyond Experience'
Michael Benedikt is an ACSA Distinguished Professor of Architecture at the University of Texas at Austin, where he holds the Hal Box Chair in Urbanism and teaches design studio and architectural theory. He is a graduate of the University of the Witwatersrand in South Africa and of Yale…
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Ep. 078 _ John May _ 'Signal, Image, Architecture'
This week is a conversation with John May and we're discussing a book he recently wrote called 'Signal, Image, Architecture. It's a short book with an objective to define the playing field today for this discussion. The book makes a clear distinction between that of a drawing, a photograph and an...
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Ep. 077 _ Holly Jean Buck _ 'After Geoengineering'
Today is a conversation with Holly Jean Buck and we're discussing her book After Geoengineering: Climate Tragedy, Repair and Restoration. I think for many of us that like to think we're working in at least the general wheelhouse of climate change, we still don't have a firm grasp of what...
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Ep. 076 _ James Bradley _ 'Ghost Species'
James Bradley is an author and critic. His books include the novels, Wrack, The Deep Field, The Resurrectionist and Clade, a book of poetry, Paper Nautilus and the Penguin Book of the Ocean and of course most recently Ghost Species. Today is a conversation with the author and critic James Bradley...
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Ep. 075 _ Sylvia Lavin _ 'Postmodernization'
Today is a conversation with Sylvia Lavin and we're discussing her recent book 'Architecture Itself and Other Postmodernization Effects'. Book Sylvia Lavin is Professor of History and Theory of Architecture at Princeton University. Prior to her appointment at Princeton, Lavin was a Professor in…
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Ep. 074 _ Natasha Sandmeier _ 'Stranger than Fiction'
Natasha Sandmeier's work and research straddles the worlds of architecture and visualization – with a long-standing interest the role of media within the creation and production of speculative architectures and environments. She is an educator and leads the postgraduate Entertainment Studio at…
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Ep. 073 _ Jeffrey Nesbit _ 'Extraterrestrial'
Just yesterday two astronauts launched into outer space from the United States for the first time in 9 years. Interesting side note, this launch was the first time in 40 years that NASA astronauts launched in a new space craft...The Space Shuttle had been around for over thirty years. Today is a...
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Ep. _072 _ Jane Hutton _'Reciprocal Landscapes'
Jane Hutton is a landscape architect and Assistant Professor at the University of Waterloo School of Architecture. Her research looks at the extended material flows of common construction materials and their social and ecological relations. Recent publications include Reciprocal Landscapes…
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Ep. 071 _ Larry D. Busbea _'Responsive Environments'
Larry Busbea is Associate Professor of Art History at the University of Arizona. He is the author of Topologies: The Urban Utopia in France, 1960-1970 (MIT Press, 2007), The Responsive Environment: Design, Aesthetics, and the Human in the 1970s (University of Minnesota Press, 2020), and Proxemics...
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Ep. 070 _ Fred Scharmen _ 'Space Settlements'
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 work as a designer and researcher is about how we...
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Ep. 069 _ Christopher Schaberg _'Searching for the Anthropocene'
Christopher Schaberg is Dorothy Harrell Brown Distinguished Professor of English at Loyola University New Orleans, USA. In addition to his new book Searching for the Anthropocene: A Journey into the Environmental Humanities, he is the author of The Textual Life of Airports: Reading the Culture of...
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Ep. 068 _ Elisa Iturbe _ 'Carbon Form'
Elisa Iturbe is a critic at the Yale University School of Architecture (YSoA), where she also coordinates the dual-degree program between YSoA and the Yale School of Forestry & Environmental Studies. Her writings have been published in Log, Dearq, and Pulp, in addition to a forthcoming piece in...
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Ep. 067 _ Charles Waldheim _ 'Overcoming Spatial Fixity'
Today is a conversation with Charles Waldheim. Waldheim is a Canadian-American architect and urbanist. Waldheim's research examines the relations between landscape, ecology, and contemporary urbanism. He is author, editor, or co-editor of numerous books on these subjects, and his writing has been...
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Ep. 066 _ Jo Lindsay Walton _'Strange Economics'
Today is a conversation with Jo Lindsay Walton and we're discussing a book called 'Strange Economics' which is edited by David F. Shultz. The book consists of 23 new science fiction pieces written specifically for the book that foreground various types of economic models. Jo is a guest editor of...
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Ep. 065 _ Dr Lisa Feldman Barrett _ 'How Emotions Are Made
Lisa Feldman Barrett, PhD, is a University Distinguished Professor of Psychology at Northeastern University, with appointments at Harvard Medical School and Massachusetts General Hospital. In addition to the book How Emotions are Made: The Secret Life of the Brain, Dr. Barrett has published over...
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Ep. 064 _ Alexander Eisenschmidt _ 'The Good Metropolis
Alexander Eisenschmidt is the author of 'The Good Metropolis, Between Urban Formlessness and Metropolitan Architecture' Birkhauser, 2018 Alexander is a designer, theorist, and Associate Professor at the School of Architecture, University of Illinois at Chicago, where he teaches design studios and...
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Ep. 063 _ Nancy Y. Kiang _ 'The Color of Plants on Other Worlds'
Dr. Kiang is a biometeorologist at NASA's Goddard Institute for Space Studies, New York. She conducts research on the interaction between the biosphere and the atmosphere, focusing on life on land. Dr. Kiang also relates this work to research in astrobiology, particularly with regard to how...
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Ep. 062 _ Neil M. Denari 'Career Arcs'
Neil Denari is principal of Neil M. Denari Architects / NMDA and a Professor in the Department of Architecture and Urban Design at UCLA. With NMDA, Denari works on building projects in North America, Europe and Asia. In 2012, NMDA won first prize in the New Keelung Harbor Service Building...
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Ep. 061 _ Mark A. Cheetham _ 'Land Art-Eco Art'
This week is with Mark A. Cheetham discussing his book 'Landscape into Eco Art: Articulations of Nature since the 60's'
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Ep. 060 _ Rachel Armstrong _ 'Far From Equilibrium'
This week is with Rachel Armstrong, Professor of Experimental Architecture at the Department of Architecture, Planning and Landscape, Newcastle University. Rachel Armstrong leads Metabolism research in developing artificial biology systems showing qualities of near-living systems. Armstrong is…
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Ep. 059 _ Edward Tenner _ 'The Efficiency Paradox'
'The Efficiency Paradox: What Big Data Can't Do'. Edward Tenner is a distinguished scholar of the Smithsonian's Lemelson Center for the Study of Invention and Innovation and a visiting scholar in the Rutgers University Department of History. His essays and reviews have appeared in The New York...
About this show
Join Sean Lally in conversation about architecture's future, as both earth's environment and our human bodies are now open for design. The podcast engages a diverse range of perspectives to get a better picture of the events currently unfolding. This includes philosophers, cultural anthropologists, policy makers, scientists as well as authors of science fiction. Each individual's work intersects this core topic, but from unique angles. Lally is the author of the book The Air from Other Planets: A Brief History of Architecture to Come and an associate professor of architecture at the University of Illinois at Chicago. He is the recipient of the Prince Charitable Trusts Rome Prize from the American Academy in Rome in Landscape Architecture.www.seanlally.net
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