Most Podern Podcast

By Minkoo Kang, Libo Li, and Alex YuenArts Design

Most Podern Podcast episodes

March 04, 2024 Season 2: Careers - Season Preview
On the inaugural season of Most Podern, where we embark on an exploration of a fundamental question: How do we shape the world around us professionally? Join hosts Minkoo Kang, Libo Li, and Alex Yuen as they guide us on an insightful journey into the dynamic landscape of careers in and around the built environment.
Through candid conversations with professionals from an array of fields and pursuits, we delve into the intricacies of careers that quietly influence our world. From passionate architects to determined startup founders, our guests generously share their personal journeys, challenges, and aspirations as they navigate their professional paths.
Get ready for engaging discussions with experts and innovators as we uncover valuable insights into professional success as well as personal fulfillment. Whether you're a seasoned professional seeking new perspectives or someone just starting out on your journey, we invite you to join us over the conversation!

Season 2 Schedule
March 4 - Season Introduction with your hosts
March 11 - Jacki Schaefer - Career Coach
March 18 - Andrew Kao - Former VP at CBRE Hana, Former VP at Miller Knoll
March 25 - Evan Wiskup - Founder of [Wiskup Architecture] Co-founder of neighbor
April 1 - Evan Smith - Co-founder of Highland Park Technologies
April 8 - Zach Soflin - Founder & CEO of Layer
April 15 - Brandon Hall - Founder of BHA

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48 min
February 05, 2024Designing and Teaching With Freedom and Joy: Alex
Alex is an urban designer and architect from San Francisco. He’s a founding partner of Collective Operations (CO) and teaches urban design at Harvard GSD. In this conversation, Alex discusses how he fell in love with cities, how Steph Curry inspired his approach to his career, and his motivations as a teacher, urban designer, architect, and developer.
Highlights
1:17 When and where Alex fell in love with cities

8:00 Perceptorship at DS+R

12:15 First days at OMA

15:10 The economics of towers

17:45 What motivated Alex to move into development

21:50 Taking a vacation after OMA

24:00 How Alex got into teaching

28:41 How Steph Curry inspired Alex to play with freedom and joy

39:00 The three questions for a successful project

40:00 Practice as a way to talk beyond the discipline

43:27 Alex’s ideas for the Most Podern Podcast

47:50 Introducing Season 2: Careers
References and Links
Troy Schaum

Sarah Whiting

Felipe Correa

Stephen Curry

DS+R
Charles Renfro, Liz Diller, and Rick Scafidio

Culture Shed

High Line

Columbia Medial tower

OMA
Milstein Hall
51 min
January 29, 2024How to Go From Architecture to Tech: Libo
Libo is a Data Engineer at Meta. He trained as an architect and worked in a wide variety of roles across different companies. In this conversation, we discuss his move from design into technology, the motivations and challenges in career transitions, and the relationship between a title and one’s identity.
8:45 Transitioning from design into “tech”

12:15 The culture shock of going to WeWork

18:05 Working in a Revit forward design environment

21:08 The newness of BIM

22:05 Data and BIM as a medium of communication

25:30 What was WeWork good at at?

31:10 Labeling oneself as an architect

33:50 Learning from Meta

37:40 Respecting the challenge of a transition

39:10 The three threads of change in the digital/physical environment

43:00 The most modernist version of the future

References and Links
KPF

CAZA

WeWork

The Shed
45 min
January 22, 2024From Design to Finance, to Discovering the Value of Design: Minkoo
Minkoo Kang is a designer and developer from Seoul. In this episode we talk to Minkoo about his journey into design, what motivated his move towards finance, and discovering the value of design.
1:00 How Gaudi inspired his journey into design

4:08 The limitations even at the highest levels of design

9:58 Burning out at OMA

16:41 Money as the missing element

19:55 Experiencing different disciplines at MIT

33:29 John Portman as architect developer

38:26 Development projects Minkoo is working on now

45:13 The struggle with community activists

50:00 The stigma against developers

52:15 Minkoo's hopes for this podcast
People, Companies, and Things Mentioned.
OMA

MIT Real Estate Innovation Lab

Andrea Chegut

Hedonic Analysis

John Portman

Alloy

DDG

Le Corbusier
55 min
January 16, 2024Introduction: Minkoo, Alex, and Libo Start a Podcast
Welcome to the Most Podern Podcast!
In this episode, we discuss why we are starting this podcast and what we think is missing from the conversation around the built environment.
1:10: What makes us a good trio to start a podcast

3:14: What does “establishing convening power in the build environment mean?”

6:32: Bridging conversations and culture

9:40: Agency and time as a key constraint of Architecture

13:30: What we want to do with this podcast

16:15: Why we want to invite plumbers on the show

24:24: What lessons listeners can take away from our future episodes

27:50: What aspirational impact will Most Podern have on the world?
OMA is an international architecture firm lead by Rem Koolhaas.
MIT - Massachusetts Institute of Technology is a well known University in Boston Massachusetts in the US
Rem Koolhaas is a Dutch architect, theorist, and urbanist. He co-founded the internationally acclaimed firm, OMA.
Links and References
32 min