Ep. 070 _ Fred Scharmen _ 'Space Settlements'

Ep. 070 _ Fred Scharmen _ 'Space Settlements'

Author: Sean Lally March 16, 2020 Duration: 48:36

Fred Scharmen teaches architecture and urban design at Morgan State University's School of Architecture and Planning. He is the co-founder of the Working Group on Adaptive Systems, an art and design consultancy based in Baltimore, Maryland. His work as a designer and researcher is about how we imagine new spaces for future worlds, and about who is invited into them. His first book, Space Settlements—on NASA's 1970s proposal to construct large cities in space for millions of people—is out now from Columbia Books on Architecture and the City. He received his Masters Degree in Architecture from Yale University. His writing has been published in the Journal of Architectural Education, Log, CLOG, Volume, and Domus. His architectural criticism has appeared in the Architects Newspaper, Slate, CityLab, and in the local alt-weekly Baltimore City Paper.


In a world where the very ground we stand on and the bodies we inhabit are becoming malleable territories for design, Night White Skies offers a necessary space for conversation. Host Sean Lally guides these discussions, which venture far beyond traditional architectural discourse to ask what kind of future we are actually building. This podcast thrives on the friction and insight generated by bringing together an unexpected mix of voices-from philosophers and scientists to policy makers and science fiction authors. You’ll hear how a cultural anthropologist’s research on ritual intersects with a material scientist’s work on smart environments, or how a novelist’s vision of tomorrow clarifies the ethical dilemmas faced by urban planners today. Each episode is a deep, meandering exploration, avoiding easy answers in favor of nuanced, often surprising connections. The aim is to piece together a broader, more complex picture of the transformations currently unfolding around and within us. By engaging with such a diverse range of thinkers, the Night White Skies podcast doesn't just report on change; it actively participates in the difficult, essential work of imagining what comes next.
Author: Language: English Episodes: 108

Night White Skies
Podcast Episodes
EP. 017 _ Daisy Ginsberg _ 'Synthetic Biology' [not-audio_url] [/not-audio_url]

Duration: 57:55
Alexandra Daisy Ginsberg is a designer, artist and writer, developing experimental approaches to imagine new roles and ideals for design. Designing objects, workshops, writing and curating, Daisy investigates design's ae…
EP. 016 _ Philippe Rahm _ 'The Gradient' [not-audio_url] [/not-audio_url]

Duration: 59:10
Philippe Rahm is a Swiss architect, principal in the office of Philippe Rahm architectes, based in Paris, France. His work, which extends the field of architecture from the physiological to the meteorological, has receiv…
EP. 015 _ James Hughes _ 'Ethics of Human Enhancement' [not-audio_url] [/not-audio_url]

Duration: 49:02
James Hughes is a bioethicist and sociologist. He's the Executive Director of the Institute for Ethics and Emerging Technologies, and author of Citizen Cyborg: Why Democratic Societies Must Respond to the Redesigned Huma…
EP. 014 _ Darran Anderson _ 'Imaginary Travels' [not-audio_url] [/not-audio_url]

Duration: 57:15
Darran Anderson is the author of Imaginary Cities (Influx Press/University of Chicago Press) and the forthcoming Tidewrack (Vintage/Farrar, Straus and Giroux). He has also written the forthcoming e-book In Defence of Exp…
EP. 013 _ David Gissen _ 'Lost Atmospheres' [not-audio_url] [/not-audio_url]

Duration: 49:05
David Gissen is the author of books, essays, exhibitions and experimental writings and projects about environments, landscapes, cities, and buildings from our time and the historical past. David is Professor of Architect…
EP. 012 _ Geoff Manaugh _ 'Sentient Landscapes' [not-audio_url] [/not-audio_url]

Duration: 56:15
Geoff Manaugh is the founder and author of the BLDGBLOG website. Manaugh is a former editor at Dwell magazine, former Editor-in-Chief at Gizmodo, and a contributing editor at Wired UK. Manaugh is the editor of Landscape…
Ep. 011 _ Albert Pope _ 'Is Climate an Architectural Design Problem?' [not-audio_url] [/not-audio_url]

Duration: 1:04:43
"Is Climate an Architectural Design Problem?" Albert Pope is the Gus Sessions Wortham Professor of Architecture. He teaches in the school's Undergraduate and Graduate Program and is currently the director of the school's…
Ep. 010_Bradley Cantrell [not-audio_url] [/not-audio_url]

Duration: 50:05
Bradley Cantrell is a landscape architect and scholar whose work focuses on the role of computation and media in environmental and ecological design. Professor Cantrell received his BSLA from the University of Kentucky a…
Ep. 009 _ A Brief Belated Introduction [not-audio_url] [/not-audio_url]

Duration: 8:14
Episode 009 is a brief and belated introduction about the 'Night White Skies' podcast discussing the shows ambitions and guests going forward.
Ep. 008 _ Gretchen Bakke [not-audio_url] [/not-audio_url]

Duration: 1:02:22
Gretchen Bakke is the author of 'The Grid: The Fraying Wires Between Americans and Our Energy Future'. Gretchen Bakke holds a Ph.D. from the University of Chicago in Cultural Anthropology. Her work focuses on the chaos a…