The Second Studio (formerly The Midnight Charette) is an explicit podcast about design, architecture, and the everyday. Hosted by Architects David Lee and Marina Bourderonnet, it features different creative professionals in unscripted conversations that allow for thoughtful takes and personal discussions.
A variety of subjects are covered with honesty and humor: some episodes are interviews, while others are tips for fellow designers, reviews of buildings and other projects, or casual explorations of everyday life and design. The Second Studio is also available on iTunes, Spotify, and YouTube.
This week David and Marina of FAME Architecture & Design discuss their stay at the Lighthus, a vacation rental home designed by Peripherie Design Studio's William Liow, AIA. The two cover the design of the home, the value of architecture, communicating to clients, what architects do, and more.
Highlights & Timestamps
(00:00) Acoustics, fountains, and flooring
(15:13) Appreciating how contemporary architecture is created
(21:20) The value of architecture
You see a lot of homes that have crazy a financial value attached to them… and I don’t understand where the actual value is. […] Yes, a house has a financial value associated with it, but mostly it’s supposed to support how you live on a day-to-day basis and be good at doing that, otherwise, it’s not a house.
Unfortunately most of the homes are crap. Not just in terms of construction quality, but also in terms of how it makes you feel and how it performs as a machine for living. What that means is most people have only experienced that, so they don’t actually know what it feels like to be in a space that was well designed. It becomes very difficult to convey that to somebody because you’re to sell them something that haven’t felt yet and you almost need to experience it.
(27:27) Communicating architecture.
(41:47) The cultural value of architecture
In school, you are taught to think about architecture as a very important part of society and culture, and that as an architect you are producing things that contribute to both. So architecture is an expression of contemporary culture, a criticism of culture, and a way to advance culture. Think about that. Most practicing architects, who maybe just do nice simple houses, have that seed of idea planted in their minds from when they were in school. Once that idea gets in there, it never leaves and every architect aspires to that. But that part of architecture and architects that is probably the least well known amongst clients looking to hire an architect.
