#477/Dimitry Vergun + Florida's Don Singer + Saarinen's Concordia Seminary + Musical Guest Jen Ash

Dimitry Vergun, who passed away last month, was an architect, earthquake expert, and structural engineer behind some of California's most audacious houses. Architect Don Singer, one of the last living midcentury Modernists in Florida has a huge legacy of houses you can see on USModernist. Then we discover Eero Saarinen's remarkable Lutheran Concordia seminary in Fort Wayne IN with Robert Roethemeyer and Paul Prange. Later, returning musical guest Jen Ash.

We're on today with two special guys from the Netherlands, Jan-Richard Kikkert and Tycho Saariste, the Lewis and Clark of architectural exploration, going to visit nearly all the John Lautner houses in the world.  Next, David Mauer and Elizabeth Godley are bringing one of those Lautner houses back from decades of decline. We'll wrap up with returning podcast guest Nicole Zuraitis, the Grammy-winning jazz singer-songwriter with a new album – but before that, Kyle Bergman shares what's up for this fall's Architecture & Design Film Festival in New York.

Right here in Raleigh NC, like every town, there are buildings mostly lost to history.  But not every town has a book, and today in the studio we'll talk with preservationists Mary Ruffin Hanbury and Ian Dunn about the Lost Moderns of Raleigh.  Author Brian Goldstein tracks the work of architect Max Bond across three continents. Sarah Hill explores Modernist jewelry, and later, musical guest Karen Myatt from Toronto. 

Herb Greene is a giant in the field of organic architecture, and his great-niece Lila Cohen is making a long-awaited documentary about his life and work. Jesse Lazar is Executive Director of AIA New York, one of the largest and most active chapters in the country. Monica Penick talks about her new book. And closing us out, musical guest Harin W, using AI to create the sound of vintage atomic era lounge music.

Let's visit one of our favorite Modernist cities, New Canaan CT. It's a town full of Modernist houses made famous by architects called The Harvard Five others - and today we'll talk with David Prutting, the New Canaan contractor who's built many Modernist houses over the last 50 years. Then we'll talk with the architect of New Canaan's newest Modernist house, Sacha Roubeni. Later, we're back in the studio with returning musical guest Carrie Marshall.

Today's episode brings together some big names in design: architects Steven Holl and Dimitra Tsachrelia, then authors Robert Ivy, Cathleen McGuigan, and Peter MacKeith discussing their new book Out There: Architecture Across America. And later, returning podcast guest, for whom we swoon, Halie Loren.

Cameron Hassid bought a bankrupt, boarded-up Richard Neutra apartment building in Los Angeles and turned its restoration into a second career. Bay area architect Darren Kelly is an expert on Rush Creek Village, Ohio's little-known Usonian-inspired community, and the author of a new book. Author Patrick Cannon retired from public relations and wrote a comprehensive book on Frank Lloyd Wright's work in Oak Park and River Forest. And closing us out, returning musical guest Nicole Lvoff.

It's author day on the show. Trig Thoreson wrote a biography of architects Louis Sullivan and Daniel Burnham. Owen Hopkins wrote a book on Brutalist buildings in London. Craig McDonald wrote Mid-Century Modern Midland, exploring the architectural history of Midland, Michigan. Later, returning musical guest Lucy Woodward, one of our favorites.

Christopher Hawthorne spent fourteen years as the L.A. Times' architecture critic before becoming Los Angeles's first-ever Chief Design Officer. Chris Freeland runs Library Services at the Internet Archive, leading the charge to keep our digital past from fading away, and later, musical guest Kitty Kallen, via her son Jonathan Granoff. Kitty's 1954 hit "Little Things Mean a Lot" topped the charts for nine straight weeks and made her one of the defining voices of the era.

It's our Children of Genius edition – part of a long-running series interviewing the kids of famous architects. First up, not falling far from the tree, architect Christen Johansen, son of Harvard Five member John Johansen in Connecticut's epicenter of Modernism, New Canaan. Next, Ben Colburn — a Massachusetts real estate attorney whose father, I.W. Colburn, helped define Chicago modernism and even bought an island in Scotland. Later, musical guest Veronica Swift.