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.

On today's episode, architect Anne Fougeron spent thirty years proving that architecture can be both beautiful and socially responsible — and the New York Times named her Suspension House one of the thirteen best modern homes in the world. Laurinda Spear co-founded Arquitectonica in a 600-square-foot studio in Coconut Grove and changed the face of Miami's architecture. And, at 22 years old, our musical guest Aviana Gedler has already won numerous awards and released a debut album.

There's no business like the architecture business, and the AIA chose out first guest Carole Wedge as CEO to lead their 98,000 members. Architects Julia Jamrozik and Coryn Kempster make cool swing sets and pipe installations - and they wrote a book about kids who grew up in Modernist houses. Darcy Frank MacKay is one of those lucky kids. She grew up in a 17,000-square-foot Pittsburgh house with a rooftop dance floor, an indoor swimming pool, and furniture designed by none other than Walter Gropius and Marcel Breuer.

We talk with the brilliant author and architect Richard Saul Wurman, who wrote more than ninety books, founded TED talks, and pretty much created the field of information architecture. Architectural historian Kim Hoagland sues Donald Trump over the East Wing demolition, and musical guest, the lovely Quinn Lemley, brings Hollywood glamour back to life.

On this episode, Ellen Mirro and Howard Miller of Studio TJP; then Dominic Bradbury, author of a new book on the style we all love to love, Nordic modernism. Next Andy Cohen: a magician, business strategist, and NYU professor who argues that architects and illusionists are in exactly the same business. Last to bat, musical guest, Steve Holt, a Montreal jazz pianist who gave up Wall Street and won a Juno nomination.

Will Bruder is a celebrated architect that never went to architecture school, but he became one of the most respected architects in America through apprenticing to Paolo Soleri and Gunnar Birkerts. Alex Josephson quit London's most prestigious architecture program mid-degree and struck out on his own. Greg Case isn't an architect at all — he's an ad guy who out-researched the professionals and rescued a forgotten modernist from obscurity. And Suzy Cash has a graduate degree and a résumé from one of the best firms in the South, yet she traded it for an off-grid life built with her own hands.

On today's episode, international architect Patrik Schumacher, CEO of Zaha Hadid Architects; Elias Tabache shares beautifully shot house videos of his Open Space platform, and later, musical guest Karrin Allyson.

We're revisiting conversations with two special guests who have passed away since these interviews were recorded — architect Paul Rudolph's partner Ernst Wagner and Frank Lloyd Wright's grandson, architect Eric Lloyd Wright. Ernst Wagner died in 2024 at 81. A Swiss exchange student who came to New York in 1970, he met architect Paul Rudolph and the two became lifelong partners both in architecture and in business, co-founding the Modulightor lighting company and building the landmark Modulightor Building on East 58th Street. After Rudolph's death, Ernst spent nearly three decades keeping that legacy alive, founding what has become the Paul Rudolph Institute and opening this iconic building to the public several times a month under the leadership of CEO Kelvin Dickinson.

In another of our wildly popular series, Children of Genius, we talk with family of famous architects, starting with Jennifer Lapidus, granddaughter of Morris Lapidus who reshaped Miami with hotels like the Fontainebleau. Next, Jenny Jacks Shreve, daughter of Arkansas architect Ernie Jacks, who worked on the Kennedy Center with Edward Durell Stone and the Case Study Houses with Craig Ellwood. Later, returning musical guest, Stacey Kent, one of the most noted jazz vocalists in the world.