Paul Goldberger on Architecture as an Act of Optimism

In the eyes of the architecture critic Paul Goldberger, a building is a living, breathing thing, a structure that can have a spirit and even, at its best, a soul. It’s this optimistic perspective that has given Goldberger’s writing a certain ineffable, captivating quality across his prolific career—first at The New York Times, where he served as the paper’s longtime architecture critic, winning a Pulitzer Prize in 1984; then as the architecture critic at The New Yorker from 1997 to 2011; and now, as a contributing editor at Vanity Fair. Goldberger is the author of several books, including Building Art: The Life and Work of Frank Gehry (2015), Why Architecture Matters (2009), and Building Up and Tearing Down: Reflections on the Age of Architecture (2009). He is also the chair of the advisory board of the Glass House in New Canaan, Connecticut, where we recorded this episode, our third “site-specific” interview on Time Sensitive. On the episode, Goldberger discusses the Glass House’s staying power as it turns 75, the evolution of architecture over the past century, what he’s learned from writing architects’ obituaries, and the Oreo cookie from a design perspective. Special thanks to our Season 10 presenting sponsor, L’École, School of Jewelry Arts. Show notes: Paul Goldberger [05:17] Glass House [05:17] Philip Johnson [07:06] Ludwig Mies van der Rohe [07:06] Farnsworth House [08:42] Brick House [12:37] Gordon Bunshaft [12:37] Lever House [12:37] Frank Lloyd Wright [12:37] Guggenheim Museum [13:18] TWA Flight Center [13:18] Kevin Roche [13:18] Ford Foundation building [13:18] CBS Building [15:17] Noyes House [16:17] U.N. Headquarters [17:50] Centre Pompidou [17:50] I.M. Pei [17:50] Louvre Pyramid [17:50] Frank Gehry [17:50] Guggenheim Bilbao [20:00] Walt Disney Concert Hall [23:20] Stuyvesant Town [24:24] “Oreo, at 75, the World’s Favorite Cookie; Machine Imagery, Homey Decoration” [25:46] “Quick! Before It Crumbles!: An architecture critic looks at cookie architecture” [25:46] Nora Ephron [26:18] “Design Notebook; Commonplace Things Can Be Great Designs” [27:16] Bauhaus [29:10] Fallingwater [29:10] Richard Neutra [29:10] Lovell House [29:10] Gehry House [29:10] Louis Kahn [32:38] “Philip Johnson, Architecture’s Restless Intellect, Dies at 98” [32:38] “Louis I. Kahn Dies; Architect Was 73” [35:30] Paul Rudolph [36:50] Zaha Hadid [37:22] “New Police Building” [38:19] Henry Geldzahler [41:31] Why Architecture Matters [43:21] Chrysler Building [47:28] Vincent Scully [48:18] Lewis Mumford [1:00:47] The City Observed: A Guide to the Architecture of Manhattan [1:00:47] World Trade Center [1:02:49] “Here Is New York” by E.B. White [1:05:33] Design: The Leading Hotels of the World [1:07:25] Ritz Paris [1:07:25] The Dylan Amsterdam [1:09:01] “Why Buildings Grow On Us”