Architecture

Steve Lacy performs at The Fillmore Silver Spring in Maryland on Oct. 15, 2022.

What's making us happy: A guide to your weekend listening, viewing and reading

5:00pm December 02, 2022

Each week, the guests and hosts on NPR's Pop Culture Happy Hour share what's bringing them joy. This week: Midwest Modern Twitter account, Unclear and Present Danger podcast, Gemini Rights and more.

Maya Lin, in 1988, examining inverted water table being fabricated for the Civil Rights Memorial she designed to be installed in Montgomery, Alabama.

Arts

Maya Lin doesn't like the spotlight — but the Smithsonian is shining a light on her

5:00am November 12, 2022

by Chloe Veltman

Heavily criticized 40 years ago for her Vietnam Veterans' Memorial design, the artist-architect-activist prefers to talk about her artistic process rather than her life

Politics & Government

Effort to add downtown Winston-Salem to historic register progresses

5:07pm October 04, 2022

by April Laissle

An effort to add a section of downtown Winston-Salem to the National Register of Historic Places is moving forward.

Arts

The St. Regis Chicago is the world's tallest structure designed by a woman

8:26am June 11, 2022

by Scott Simon

Scott Simon speaks with Jeanne Gang, the architect behind the St. Regis Chicago. The 101-story skyscraper is the world's tallest structure designed by a woman.

Women were an integral part of the construction effort. Among their jobs: Carrying cement for a building project in Chandigarh, India in 1956.

Arts

PHOTOS: See the bold buildings that sprang up after South Asia regained independence

8:13am April 23, 2022

by Diane Cole

An exhibit at the Museum of Modern Art shows how Bangladesh, India, Pakistan and Sri Lanka celebrated their freedom with a revolutionary vision for buildings and cities. Women played a vital role.

Arts

Pritzker winner Diébédo Francis Kéré makes buildings to serve West African community

2:56pm March 20, 2022

NPR's Michel Martin talks to Diébédo Francis Kéré, the first African to win the Pritzker Architecture Prize.

Queue Listen Now

Diébédo Francis Kéré, this year's Pritzker Architecture Prize winner.

For the first time in its history, architecture's top award goes to a Black architect

10:00am March 15, 2022

by Neda Ulaby

The 2022 Pritzker Architecture Prize honors Diébédo Francis Kéré, who comes from a village with no school in Burkina Faso. He has designed primary schools for "many children to be happy and learn."

Rubble and a damaged vehicle is seen across the street from the Kyiv TV Tower on Wednesday.

Arts

Ukrainian heritage is in peril. The Smithsonian hopes to rescue what it can

5:52pm March 03, 2022

by Andrew Limbong

The Smithsonian Institution says it is in touch with contacts inside Ukraine who specialize in rescuing and preserving cultural heritage sites in times of crisis.

Dragon blood tree at Diksam Plateau, on Yemen's Socotra Island. It's one of the sites included on the 2022 Watch from the World Monuments Fund.

Sites in Beirut, Benghazi and Brownsville, Texas, make a most-endangered list

11:23am March 01, 2022

by Neda Ulaby

Beirut's historic city center and the traditional territory of the Carrizo Comecrudo Tribe of Texas are among 25 places listed by World Monument Watch as in urgent need of preservation.

Friendship Hospital in Bangladesh, winner of the 2021 RIBA International Prize. The hospital's zig-zag canal collects rainwater and aids in cooling the site.

A rural hospital in Bangladesh is named the world's best new building

5:00am February 05, 2022

by Nell Clark

The prestigious architectural prize celebrates the 80-bed hospital's human-centered design, built in harmony with the waterlogged local environment with a modest budget and local low-cost materials.