Architecture

Um, there's a much longer version of this we can get into that just kinda deals with growing up in Arkansas and, um, you know, kind of the-- all of the different things that happen, uh, in some of the sort of rural, uh, and low-income communities that I came from.

Um, but I think the-- maybe one of the best ways to try and understand this book is to think about or to understand why this book was important to me to write, um, is to just sort of begin with, um, you know, the fact that I'm, I'm trained in both landscape architecture and city planning, um, that I kind of come to this work through experience in government, um, in design offices, and working with folks who kind of think about these two different sides of the way the built environment and the world around us is produced.

Some at, you know, kind of the, the headwaters of, like, the, the policy stream through which transformations of the built environment happen on the policy side, and folks who are at kind of the tailwaters, um, on the design side, who are sort of handed RFPs and, and frameworks and go about the building of the things that are often abstract when they're imagined and enacted in, in legislative chambers.

Um, and I found both of those spaces really frustrating, um, in different ways, um, and especially on the design side, um, frustrating because of the way or the political economy of the built environment itself, the way it's produced, the way that it's managed, the way that it's designed and built, and how little agency, you know, designers have to kind of shape those processes.

And so I really began from this idea that, like, we need a different case study library.

We need new reference points.

We need to expand, like, what we mean by, you know, climate policy and what we mean by landscape architecture and architecture and city planning.

And to do that, we have to look in some unfamiliar places.

I feel like, yeah, I, I feel like that's the thing at the moment.

Um, architecture-wise, um, it's a good trend.

Like, I'm all for it.

Um, I think indoor outdoor spaces are-

The land is owned by the Port Authority, but it's a complicated situation, right? They did a bunch of contests.

Part of what I say in the book is that 9-11 is not only a story about terrorism, it's also a story about architecture.

The buildings were targeted for their architecture.

They were seen as symbols of American capitalism, irregardless of the companies that worked inside them.

And so it became a battle between various architects who were winning contests and lots of crazy designs.

I talk about this more in Taurus of History were proposed.

And there was a desire to have buildings narrate stories.

So Daniel Lipskin, who won the contest for the the site plan, right? He's a master at narrative architecture.

But we also want to be kind of looking back earlier too.

So when we're talking about romantic architecture in Edinburgh, you discuss in the book that actually there are some ways in which we probably want to be looking at 17th century Scotland for some of these foundations.

Can we talk about that?

Yes, of course.

So...

So that's even earlier, and that's fitting into Scottish Romanticism, Edinburgh Romanticism, I think.

But as for architecture, otherwise, a top guy, of course, was Robert Adam, who was one of the world's great architects, and he came from Kirkcaldy and Fife.

For example, at Carlton Hill, the cliff edge setting of the observatory, a romantic setting in the cliff edge, the observatory in Carlton Hill.

When zero goals spark dance parties, you know the bar's been set lower than a limbo stick at a toddler's birthday bash [upbeat music]

Home Architettura bets on rehabilitation and industrialization, calls it the future, but labor shortages and rising costs loom large.

In a world where buildings age like fine wine but budgets sour like milk, the promise of industrialization is just another blueprint for wishful thinking [upbeat music]

Scientists test living desert biocrusts to restore dry lands, promise resilience.

Today, I'm speaking with Dr. Beth Weinstein, author of Architecture and Choreography: Collaborations in Dance, Space, and Time, published by Routledge in twenty twenty-four.

Beth is an architect focusing on sites of intersection between the spatial and performative, working across scales from the drawing board to urban spaces and landscapes to render invisible conditions sensible.

She is professor of architecture and program chair of object and spatial design at the University of Arizona in Tucson, Arizona.

Welcome to the New Books Network, Beth, and thank you so much for joining me.

How are you doing today?

Thank you so much for this invitation.

Thank you so much for joining me.

Um, as we get started, for people not familiar with your work, how does architecture and choreography fit into your background and set of interests, and who are you trying to reach with this book?

That was some good rice, too.

Located on Deck 8, Tamara's Architecture is an inviting open-view kitchen with tandoor ovens in a contemporary setting for an elevated experience.

The entire space is inspired by North Indian temples and luxury courtyards.

Yeah.

That was some good rice, too.

Located on Deck 8, Tamara's Architecture is an inviting open-view kitchen with tandoor ovens in a contemporary setting for an elevated experience.

The entire space is inspired by North Indian temples and luxury courtyards.

Yeah.

Author Ellen DeBoten, he explores beautifully in his book, The Architecture of Happiness, that one of the most unmentioned causes of both happiness and misery is the quality of our environment.

In his book, he explores this idea that we're heavily influenced by who we can be, by what we're surrounded by.

and that it's architecture's task to really remind us of our full potential.

So in the heart of this book, he really talks about how surroundings affect us emotionally and that the buildings, the rooms, colors and materials in those environments can really reflect qualities that we value and perhaps even encourage those qualities within us.

And I find that really fascinating because it's something I've experienced throughout my whole design career.

And there is more if you want to keep exploring.

At MUAC La Coracha there is Paz Errázuriz: Poéticas de Resistencia alongside Tejiendo Historias and Arquitectura sin Centro: Archipiélago.

Three very different ways of looking at people, materials, and the spaces we build around ourselves, photography, textile art, architecture.

At Salas Mingorance, El Nombre del Bicho Ya Te Lo He Dicho brings contemporary figurative painting and satire.