The Table Sessions

TS Episode Page: Four Dimensional Housing

Ken & Austin are joined by friend of the Podcast Bryan Samuel. Bryan is an architectural designer who has been living and working in Washington DC for the past several years and who specializes in Multi-family housing. Bryan brings to us today his team’s exploration into 4D-Housing, a time based concept similar to AIR-BNB re-thinking the use of individual rooms as a monetizable space. After exploring the benefits & limitations of his team’s proposed model we also collectively question several ethical concerns regarding the transient influences such spaces might bring to our communities.

Project Development, Text, & Graphics Courtesy of Bryan Samuel, Drew Kaczmareck, Sabrina Nagel, & Samson Aching

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Bryan Samuel Bio

TS Episode Page: Game of Thrones

The Game of Thrones is played on two continents: Westeros and Essos. Westeros is a tightly defined, familiar island run by families who tend to fight sometimes. Essos is a sprawling, elongated land filled with mysteries for the characters of the story. This west-east perspective is part of a long-standing Western storytelling tradition: define everything possible in the places that feel like home, and keep the “other” a place of endless possibility for hope or terror to arise.

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Napoleon’s March

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The laugh track is a symbol of our culture’s value systems, our current humor and our perceived collective need to keep up appearances. Straight from the desk of the media mogul, the laugh track plainly states, “everyone else is doing it, so you better too.” From a time when friends and family sat around watching sitcoms relating to the American household, the laugh track provided a conditioned respite for awkward pauses after jokes, telling us it was “okay” to laugh-out-loud while among friends.

Society has grown dark. Or rather, our humor has grown dark, cynical, sarcastic, self-deprecating, witty and tragic. We are now conditioned to handle those comedic pauses as individuals, left to process the jokes in the black-box of our own mind. But why? Why did Larry David spend 10 years producing Seinfeld, one of the great shows of all time (which includes a laugh track), and then show his true colors in Curb Your Enthusiasm? Was that inner dark, sarcasm monster of his waiting to be released, or did his taste for comedy evolve along with society’s tastes?

Today, the laugh track seems hokey, but it still creates a pseudo-nostalgia of sitting on your parent’s living room carpet chuckling along to a sitcom with 50 one liners in a row on the same stage set. Something about that worked. And by “worked” I mean it made money (a lot of money) for network executives - and people liked it. The laugh track was just as central to the American family experience as Apple Pie, but at the turn of the century, it vanished.

The laugh track is a simulation of genuine enjoyment. Now, we’d rather just enjoy TV how we want to, on our own terms - and now the content creators recognize this. So, what caused this major shift in the way our television is marketed to us? The rise of the internet, the evolution of the American family model and shifting societal taboos all come into play. Maybe, the loss of the laugh track is a symbol for innocence lost - mostly for the good - making us all Larry David.

TS Episode Page: Inequity Shaping Baltimore

Baltimore is a diverse city with many strong communities and a unique arts scene. The physical landscape of the city has changed significantly over the years, in both good and bad ways. When we see the problems of crime and vacancy that permeate the city, the stories of a bygone Baltimore start to seem especially appealing. We cannot make the mistake of sensationalizing a golden past…

Join Guest Host Gabriel Maslen as he explores the many Inequities shaping the city of Baltimore, Maryland.

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Episode Links:

Lawrence Halprin - General Information (The Cultural Landscape Foundation, 2018)

“White L, Black Butterfly” (City Paper, 2016)

Race, Riots, Real Estate, Architecture - University of Maryland, Master’s Thesis, Robert Grooms (DRUM, 2017)

Liz Ogbu TED Talk (TEDWomen 2017)

Not In My Neighborhood, Antero Pietella, 2010

Arch Social Club, Baltimore, MD

The Uses of Disorder, Richard Sennett, 1992

The Baltimore Plan, 1954 (YouTube)

Creating Defensible Space, Oscar Newman, 1996

Fixing Broken Windows: Restoring Order And Reducing Crime In Our Communities, Kelling & Coles, 1998

The Death and Life of Great American Cities, Jane Jacobs, 1961

Good Design, Good Health - Gabriel Maslen & Vincenze Perla, 2019

The Void - Adan Ramos, 2018

TS Episode Page: Media Trees

In this conversation, we ponder questions like these about how our relationship with different forms of media has evolved throughout our lives. The “media tree” concept is inspired by Ward Shelley, a New York based artist. His vibrant, experimental work inspired this retrospective study.

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Episode Links:

Media Role Models, ver. 1 24” x 41” - Ward Shelley

The Letters of Theodore Roosevelt - Selected & Edited by Elting E. Morison

101 Things to Do Before You Die - Richard Horne

Stages in Human Brain Development (ncbi.nlm.nih.gov)

Hierarchy of Art - Royal Academy

TS Episode Page: 2001 Character Map

Stanley Kubrick and Arthur C. Clarke developed the screenplay in tandem to produce the beloved film (and novel!) in 1968, which explores the past, present and potential future of human existence. Humanity, as we deduce in our conversation, is the main “character” of the film. In a story so purposefully structured, with a cast of actors that come and go throughout, the characters themselves contribute to the larger collective story of humanity.

Rob Kuentzel, is a “2001 is my favorite movie” kind of guy. So naturally, we sat down with Rob to discuss how Clarke & Kubrick teamed up to craft a masterful story.

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Episode Links:

IMDB - 2001 A Space Odyssey

TS Episode Page: System Intervention

If a designer alters existing, understood variables to achieve an outcome, than that outcome can achieve success within reasonable expectations. If a designer transforms their methods for evaluating inputs, a transformative outcome is likely to occur. However, if a designer changes the rules altogether - well, then you get a paradigm shift.

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Episode Links:

Leverage Points - Donella Meadows

IPCC Reports Database

Pattern Language - Christopher Alexander

Manual of Section - LTL

Office of the Public Architect - Future Firm

Subtraction - Keller Easterling

TS Episode Page: The Local, The Visitor, The Brand

To call a place a neighborhood is to attach the presumption of identity. An identity that hinges on a collective understanding amongst its occupants - an unspoken aura that evokes the feeling of that place. But who, or what, has the responsibility of classifying this identity?

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Episode Links:

Google Earth - Website

TS Episode Page: The Real Score: Post-World Cup

The World Cup is one of the few events that truly commands the global stage. It provides A chance for nations to rally passionately behind their team as a unified voice, where even the smallest countries can have their moment in the spotlight.

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Episode Links:

Happiness Index: World Happiness Report 2018

Cost of England’s World Cup Bid: The Guardian

Qatar World Cup Budget: CNN reports

South Africa “Temporary Relocation”: The Washington Post

Chicago Mayor Removes City from World Cup Bid: Chicago Sun Times

Tax Exemption: rob the host country of nearly $250m. The Guardian

Ted Talk - New Insights on Poverty

World Cup 2026 Plan