Philadelphia played a central role in the development of the “Big Three” radio and television networks. The city’s CBS-affiliate, WCAU, strove to showcase the new mediums through innovative architecture, engineering, and design. This lecture, given by archivist and mid-century scholar, William Whitaker, examines the station’s built legacy and impact on our region’s modernism.
Recorded on April 28, 2021.
About the Speaker:
William Whitaker is curator of the Architectural Archives at the University of Pennsylvania Stuart Weitzman School of Design. He is coauthor (with George Marcus) of The Houses of Louis Kahn. Trained as an architect at Penn and the University of New Mexico, Whitaker works most closely with the archival collections of Louis I. Kahn, Lawrence Halprin, and the partnership of Robert Venturi and Denise Scott Brown, in support of teaching, scholarship, preservation, and public engagement.
He co-curated over forty exhibitions including Experiments in Environment: The Halprin Workshops, 1966-71 (Graham Foundation), Anne Tyng: Inhabiting Geometry (Graham Foundation and Penn’s ICA), and, most recently, Design With Nature Now (with the McHarg Center) – a major program of exhibitions, conference, and public programs that highlight the dynamic and visionary approaches to landscape design and development in the face of climate change and global urbanization. He is project director for, What Minerva Built, an exhibition project focused on America’s first independent female architect, Minerva Parker Nichols.
Thank you sponsor for making this event possible!
Archer & Buchanan Architecture proudly supports the Lower Merion Conservancy. A full-service architectural design firm celebrating our twenty-fifth year, Archer & Buchanan is built upon the philosophy that buildings will be inhabited for a century or more and should continue to gain character, beauty, and value as the years pass. Recognized for exceptional design of projects that include preservation, restoration, and adaptive reuse along with new design, additions and renovations, Archer & Buchanan meets the needs of sophisticated clients who value a collaborative design process, attention to detail and quality craftsmanship.