Scratching the Surface

We're taking the summer off and rebroadcasting some of our favorite episodes in the archives over the next few months. Today we're rebroadcasting our 2024 episode with Nicholas de Monchaux, who was recently appointed the new dean at UC Berkeley's College of Environmental Design. We'll be back with new episodes in September!
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Nicholas de Monchaux is an architect, designer, and author. He is currently Professor and Head of Architecture at MIT. He is the author of Spacesuit: Fashioning Apollo and Local Code: 3,659 Proposals about Data, Design, and the Nature of Cities. Until 2020, he was Professor of Architecture and Urban Design and Chair in New Media at UC Berkeley. In this conversation, Jarrett and Nicholas talk about reframing our definitions of design, what a contemporary architecture education could look like, and building a multidisciplinary practice. Links from this episode can be found at: https://scratchingthesurface.fm/243-nicholas-de-monchaux
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We're taking the summer off and rebroadcasting some of our favorite episodes in the archives over the next few months. First up is our 2017 conversation with Pentagram partner Abbott Miller! We'll be back with new episodes in September!
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Abbott Miller is a designer, writer, and a partner at Pentagram where he leads a team designing identities, exhibitions, and books. Before Pentagram, Abbott ran a studio, Design Writing Research, with Ellen Lupton and wrote for publications like Eye, Print, and I.D. A monograph of his design and writing, called Design and Content, was published in 2014. In this conversation, Abbott and I talk about where his interest in critical theory came from and how he’s worked to incorporate it into his design work, using writing to find new ways into design, and how his various interests have come together in his current work designing exhibitions at Pentagram. Links from this episode can be found at: https://scratchingthesurface.fm/post/161266191870/30-abbott-miller
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We're continuing to publish new content on our Substack. Paid subscribers get bonus interviews every month. Sign up and support the show here: surfacepodcast.substack.com

Giorgia Lupi is an information designer and partner at Pentagram. Her work synthesizes data and storytelling for clients such as Google, IBM, Gates Foundation, and the New York Times. She’s the author of Speak Data with Phillip Cox, and previously published Dear Data, Observer, Collect, Draw, and the picture book This is Me and Only Me. In this conversation, Jarrett and Giorgia talk about the evolution of how we talk about data, blending clarity and communication with artistic expression, and how the COVID-19 pandemic changed how she thought about data and her work. Links from this episode can be found at scratchingthesurface.fm/290-giorgia-lupi
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Marco Ferrari is the co-founder of Studio Folder, an agency for visual design and spatial research based in Milan, and the head of the Information Design program at Design Academy Eindhoven. His work focuses on information design and data visualization, the politics of data collection, and visualizing borders and climate. In this conversation, Jarrett and Marco talk about Studio Folder’s setup that blends client work and original research, how his background in architecture informs his work, and why he’s not that interested in the design profession. Links from this episode are available at www.scratchingthesurface.fm/289-marco-ferrari
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Alan Ricks and Sierra Bainbridge are founding members of Model of Architecture Serving Society (MASS). Alan, an architect and co-executive director, and Sierra, director of the Landscape Studio and Abundant Futures Lab, are co-authors of the new book, Seeking Abundance: Design, Ecology, and a Flourishing Planet, that looks at MASS’s work across three projects as examples of multidisciplinary collaboration, regenerative practices, and community engagement. In this conversation, Jarrett talks with Alan and Sierra about MASS’s structure as a non-profit, architecture for the more-than-human, and why design should not be about minimizing harm but rather maximizing abundance. Links from this episode are available at www.scratchingthesurface.fm/288-alan-ricks-sierra-bainbrdige
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Help support the show by joining our Substack: surfacepodcast.substack.com