Unfrozen

Rem Koolhaas is nothing if not enigmatic, which makes him and his first major built work, the Villa dal’Alva, Paris (1990), an ideal first subject of the “Gumshoe” series of architectural mysteries. Cutting through the conventions of academic jargon and trade press, The House of Dr. Koolhaas reopens the “cold case” of Koolhaas and examines evidence in a pulp-detective novel format. Unfrozen turns the lamp back on writer/editor team Francoise Fromonot and Thomas Weaver. -- Intro/Outro: “Beancounter,” by the Cooper Vane -- Discussed: Gumshoe Architectural Mystery Series Thomas Weaver (AA Files) Villa d’Alva, OMA S, M, L, XL Luis Bunuel City of Glass by Paul Auster Ways of Seeing by John Berger Aramis, or the Love of Technology by Bruno Latour The Purloined Letter by Edgar Allen Poe Mannerism Madelon Vreisendorp with Teri Wehn-Damisch: The Film of Delirious New York Countryside, The Future Dali’s paranoiac-critical method Le Corbusier’s Villa Savoye Next up: Oscar Neimayer’s Communist Party Headquarters, Paris, by Littell Shaw Then: The Parthenon Then: Case Study House by Craig Ellwood Poelzig’s I.G. Farben Building, Frankfurt Raymond Chandler James Ellroy  

The Unfrozen squad descends on Venice to experience inperson the full blunt force of the Biennale. Special guests include: Carlo Ratti, the curator of the 19th Architecture Biennale, Anastasia Sukhoroslova, CEO of All Things Urban, and Michele Champagne, graphic artist and contributor to Volume magazine. -- Intro/Outro: “Bounder of Adventure” by The Cooper Vane

Our guest on this episode is Christopher Hawthorne, the Senior Critic at Yale University’s School of Architecture. His previous roles include architecture critic of the Los Angeles Times, and Chief Design Officer of the City of Los Angeles. His current mission is to assemble the Speaker’s Corner at the 2025 Venice Architecture Biennale. Unfrozen hears his unique perspective as both critic and exhibitor. -- Intro/Outro: “Elevator,” by The Cooper Vane -- Discussed: 2025 Venice Architecture Biennale: “Inteligens: Natural, Artificial, Collective” – Carlo Ratti Speakers’ Corner / Re-staging Criticism series, part of the GENS Public Program -         Florencia Rodriguez, Director, School of Architecture, University of Illinois Chicago -         Mark Lee, Sharon Johnston of Johnston Marklee -         Inspiration: “Vincent Scully: Architecture, Urbanism, and a Life in Search of Community,” by A. Krista Sykes -         9 May: “Exhibition as Critical Vessel” o   Florencia Rodriguez, Moderator o  Lesley Lokko, 2023 Biennale curator o  Aric Chen o  Pancho Diaz o  Sarah Herda o  Michael Meredith (MOS) > Building with Writing -         10 May: Conversation on L.A. Fires o   Michael Maltzan o   Alejandro Haiek Coll o  Florencia Rodriguez 11 May: o  Kate Wagner o  Samuel Medina o  Sam Jacob o  Shumi Bose 1980 Venice Architecture Biennale – The Presence of the Past - Paolo Portoghesi -         Strada Novissima, feat. Rem Koolhaas, Frank Gehry, Arati Isozaki, Robert Venturi, Denise Scott-Brown -         Teatro del Mundo, Aldo Rossi -         Critic’s Corner, feat. Vincent Scully, Charles Jencks, Kenneth Frampton & Christian Norberg-Schulz Why “The Brutalist” Isn’t Really About Architecture Kazuyo Sejima Writing About Architecture - Alexandra Lange Caught practicing without a license: Frank Lloyd Wright and Thomas Jefferson International Committee of Architecture Critics Salon de Mobile Ada Louise Huxtable You Have to Pay for the Public Life, by Charles Moore Complexity and Contradiction in Architecture, Robert Venturi Charles Jencks Foundation

A quick one before we’re away. Dan and Greg sum up theirsprings and get ready for spritzes and socializing with smart people in at the 2025 Venice Biennale. -- Intro/Outro: “Bounder of Adventure,” by The Cooper Vane -- Discussed: Going Underground -> The Space Below w/ James Parakh ·        Toronto PATH ·        Montreal RESO ·        Chicago Pedway ·        Minneapolis Skyway ·        Houston Tunnels ·        Oklahoma City Underground ·        Hong Kong Central Elevated Walkway Zohran Mamdami –Make the Subway Great Again Smart City Expo, New York City Business Facilities Live eXchange, New Orleans Curbivore, Los Angeles Jonah Bliss Joshua Harris, Fordham University Marchetti’s constant Zipline Austin Baker Tilly Conference CosMc’s National Association of Realtors survey Waymo RoboCop Sidewalk Toronto Downstate IL secession movement Snow Crash – Neal Stephenson, feat. Mr. Lee’s Greater Hong Kong Paul Romer Charter Cities The Voluntary City - David T. Beto, Peter Gordon and Alexander Tabarrok How to Run the World - Parag Khanna Hell on Earth – The 30 Years’ War Podcast The Network State - Balaji Srinivasan Global Parliament of Mayors / Ben Barber Polarization of reality > revenge of sovereignty Praxis: Med Charter City > Greenland feat. Steven Harper The evermore-relevant Hidden Globe episode Exit, Voice and Loyalty - Albert O. Hirschman Patri Friedman The lost art of imagining the future “My Brain Finally Broke,” - Jia Tolentino in The New Yorker Bruce Sterling – Atemporality

Sara Bronin is an architect, attorney, policymaker, and professor at Cornell University. Born and raised in Houston, the only large US city without zoning, previously served as the Chair of the Planning and Zoning Commission of Hartford, Connecticut. Her book is called Key to the City: How Zoning Shapes Our World, and she joins Unfrozen to demystify the why and wherefore of what you can, cannot, and “must” build in cities all over the US. -- Intro/Outro: “Elevator,” by The Cooper Vane -- Discussed: -         How large-lot mandates contribute to the epidemic of loneliness -         YIMBY prevails in Arlington and Alexandria, VA -         Re-zoning in Minneapolis, Seattle, Portland, OR, and Hartford -         Supreme Court ruling on Shelley vs Kraemer, 1948, outlawing racially restrictive covenants -         Houston’s affordability comes at the cost of flood zones and unpleasant adjacencies -         Gulfton neighborhood -         El Principe Azul nightclub -         Effects of Parking Provision on Automobile Use in Cities: Inferring Causality -         Albany Avenue rezoning and corridor improvements, Hartford -         Denise Best -         Form-based code -         Washington Commanders’ new DC stadium -         Code overhauls in Hartford, Charlottesville VA, and Boston -         Bronin trashes Boston’s zoning code -         Pittsburgh spends $5.8 million on zoning consultant