99% Invisible
656 episodes - English - Latest episode: 17 days ago - ★★★★★ - 24.7K ratingsDesign is everywhere in our lives, perhaps most importantly in the places where we've just stopped noticing. 99% Invisible is a weekly exploration of the process and power of design and architecture. From award winning producer Roman Mars. Learn more at 99percentinvisible.org.
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Episodes
577- The Society of Ambiance Makers and Elegant Persons
April 09, 2024 20:49 - 35 minutes - 32.4 MBHailing from central African cities of Brazzaville and Kinshasa, sapeurs have become increasingly recognizable around the world. Since the 1970s, sapeurs (from: le sape, short for "Société des Ambianceurs et des Personnes Élégantes") have been known for donning technicolored three-piece suits with flamboyant accessories like golden walking sticks and leopard-print fedoras, and then cat-walking through their city streets. In recent years, Solange, Kendrick and SZA have all featured sapeurs i...
576- Chambre de Bonne
April 02, 2024 21:08 - 33 minutes - 30.6 MBA chambre de bonne is usually one small room, on the top floor of a five- or six-story apartment building, and it’s usually just big enough to fit a bed and a table. It’s affordable housing in a city where finding housing is nearly impossible. Reporter Jeanne Boëzec tells about the history of the chambre de bonne apartments, and how while cute, they are also cramped and can be unpleasant spaces for people who have to live there, a living embodiment of the gap between the rich in Paris and ev...
Roman Mars Describes Athens GA As It Is
March 29, 2024 23:23 - 36 minutes - 33.8 MBThis is the third and final episode in a three-part series of Roman Mars recording on-location guides to the design features and interesting spots in cities he loves. Roman moved to Athens, Georgia, to pursue a PhD in plant genetics, but dropped out and got into the local music and art scene instead, and started making his way toward radio. Roman Mars Describes Athens GA As It Is Note: This series is made possible by the all-new 2024 Lexus GX and SiriusXM.
575- Autism Pleasantville
March 27, 2024 00:04 - 32 minutes - 30.1 MBA few years back, journalist Lauren Ober was diagnosed with autism. She then made a podcast about her experience called The Loudest Girl in the World. And she found herself imagining a fantasy world where everything is tailored to Lauren’s very specific autistic needs. And she called this magical imagined place, wonderfully devoid of overwhelming stimuli "Autism Pleasantville." "Obviously," Ober notes, "there’s not a one-size fits all diagnosis or even definition of autism ... as the autism...
574- The Monster Under the Sink
March 19, 2024 21:57 - 27 minutes - 24.9 MBIn the middle of the 20th century, the small town of Jasper, Indiana did something that no other city had done before: they made garbage illegal. The city would still collect some things, like soup cans and plastics, but yucky junk, like food waste, wouldn't get picked up. This change was made possible by a new appliance: the garbage disposer – that little grinding machine at the bottom of a lot of kitchen sinks. The Monster Under the Sink
The Power Broker #03: David Sims
March 15, 2024 23:04 - 2 hours - 118 MBThis is the third official episode, breaking down the 1974 Pulitzer Prize winning book, The Power Broker by our hero Robert Caro. Blank Check podcast co-host and The Atlantic movie critic David Sims is our book club guest. On today’s show, Elliott Kalan, Roman Mars, and David Sims will cover the first section of Part 4 of the book (Chapters 11 through the end of Chapter 15), discussing the major story beats and themes. The Power Broker #3: David Sims Join the discussion on Discord and o...
573- Toyetic
March 13, 2024 01:13 - 39 minutes - 36 MBThis year marks the 40th anniversary of a lot of landmarks in pop culture, especially sci-fi and fantasy. So many franchises were born in 1984. Some came to define the genre or invent new genres. The great podcast Imaginary Worlds noticed this and produced a three-part series about 1984's Cambrian explosion of creativity that landed on the big screen, the small screen, bookstore shelves and, of course, the toy store. In this episode we learn about at two iconic franchises that launched in ...
572- WARNING: This Podcast Contains Chemicals Known to the State of California to Cause Cancer or Other Reproductive Harm
March 05, 2024 23:02 - 42 minutes - 39.2 MBIntimidating Proposition 65 warnings can be found on all kinds of products manufactured or distributed in the State of California. They can seem rather terrifying at first, but within the state, they are ubiquitous, on everyday objects from power tools to potato chips, dietary supplements, leather jackets, gas pumps, coffee tables, the list goes on. All of which raises the question: if these labels are on so many things, are they actually useful in warning us of real dangers? 572- WARNING: ...
Roman Mars Describes Santa Fe As It Is
March 02, 2024 00:27 - 33 minutes - 30.8 MBRoman Mars is on a mission to describe the cities that shaped who he is and how he thinks about design. Next up, Santa Fe. Santa Fe wasn’t always on the proverbial map — in fact, the Santa Fe railroad just passed it on by. A lot of care has been taken to keep Santa Fe cute and quaint over its history, with steps to preserve native architecture and historical design. The result is a mixture of structures old and new, but mostly made to look old, for better or worse. Roman Mars Describes Sa...
438- The Real Book [rebroadcast]
February 27, 2024 23:43 - 41 minutes - 38.3 MBSince the mid-1970s, almost every jazz musician has owned a copy of the same book. It has a peach-colored cover, a chunky, 1970s-style logo, and a black plastic binding. It’s delightfully homemade-looking—like it was printed by a bunch of teenagers at a Kinkos. And inside is the sheet music for hundreds of common jazz tunes—also known as jazz “standards”—all meticulously notated by hand. It’s called the Real Book. But if you were going to music school in the 1970s, you couldn’t just buy a co...
Significant Others: A Sneak Peek at the Woman Behind Benedict Arnold’s Betrayal
February 23, 2024 19:49 - 7 minutes - 6.74 MBIt’s been said that history is written by the person at the typewriter. But who did the person who made history depend on? Often, it’s impossible to find out. But once in a while, we get lucky, and the story was not only recorded, it’s really good. Well that’s what this podcast is all about. “Significant Others” is a show that tells a story you might not know about a person you probably do. For example, in this episode we explore how Benedict Arnold might never have turned on his country we...
571- You Are What You Watch
February 21, 2024 01:44 - 31 minutes - 28.7 MBWhat we see on screen has this way of influencing our perception of the world, which makes sense because the average American spends 2 hours and 51 minutes watching movies and TV each day. That’s a whopping 19 percent of our waking hours. Walt Hickey is a data journalist and author of a new book called You Are What You Watch. In it, Walt makes a case for how much film and television shapes us as individuals and as a society, far beyond what we give it credit for. You Are What You Watch
The Power Broker #2: Jamelle Bouie
February 16, 2024 18:13 - 1 hour - 98.2 MBThis is the second official episode, breaking down the 1974 Pulitzer Prize winning book, The Power Broker by our hero Robert Caro. New York Times political columnist Jamelle Bouie is our book club guest. On today’s show, Elliott Kalan and Roman Mars will cover Part 3 of the book (Chapters 6 through the end of Chapter 10), discussing the major story beats and themes, with occasional asides from Jamelle Bouie guiding us through the politics of the era. The Power Broker #2: Jamelle Bouie J...
The Power Broker #02: Jamelle Bouie
February 16, 2024 18:13 - 1 hour - 98.2 MBThis is the second official episode, breaking down the 1974 Pulitzer Prize winning book, The Power Broker by our hero Robert Caro. New York Times political columnist Jamelle Bouie is our book club guest. On today’s show, Elliott Kalan and Roman Mars will cover Part 3 of the book (Chapters 6 through the end of Chapter 10), discussing the major story beats and themes, with occasional asides from Jamelle Bouie guiding us through the politics of the era. The Power Broker #2: Jamelle Bouie J...
570- The White Castle System of Eating Houses
February 13, 2024 22:33 - 42 minutes - 39.5 MBWhite Castle has its own take on fast food hamburgers. For starters, the patties are square, with five holes in each patty. And they’re small, too –- two-and-a-half inch sliders. Just big enough to fit into the palm of your hand. And since they’re steamed on a bed of onions, everything is infused with this very specific onion-esque flavor. Today, White Castles can be hard to find, depending on where you live. But KCUR's Mackenzie Martin, a producer at A People's History of Kansas City, says...
569- Between the Blocks
February 06, 2024 22:38 - 33 minutes - 30.9 MBSeen from above, Sofia, Bulgaria, looks less like a city and more like a forest. Large "interblock park" green spaces between big apartment structures are a defining characteristic of the city. They're not so much "parks" in the formal sense, with fences and gates, just open green areas growing up in interstitial spaces left behind. But as green as it still looks today, Sofia used to be even greener. Since the fall of Bulgarian communism in the late 1980s, Sofia has lost more than half of ...
568- Don't Forget to Remember
January 30, 2024 23:04 - 39 minutes - 36.5 MBWhen a highway gets made, there’s a clear and consistent process for doing so. Not so, public memorials. From the Vietnam Wall to the National Memorial for Peace and Justice, it’s always different. Sometimes a handful of concerned citizens get together and make it happen. Sometimes a nonprofit pushes for it, or a foundation. There’s usually a lot of activism, and a lot of fraught conversations – about design, location, the story it should tell about what happened, and who it affected. And ...
Roman Mars Describes Chicago As It Is
January 26, 2024 22:07 - 37 minutes - 34.6 MBA few years ago, at the very start of the pandemic, Roman Mars wrote an episode of 99pi in which he simply talked about design details in his house -- realizing that he, like the audience, didn't have many other places to go. (You should check it out. It's called "Roman Mars Describes Things As They Are"-- it’s a real time capsule and a fan favorite.) Since then, he's been thinking about and wanting to record a companion episode out in the world. Over the next couple months, he's going to ...
567- The Double Kick
January 24, 2024 02:12 - 51 minutes - 47.5 MBWatch a skate video today, and you'll notice how similarly shaped the boards are. It’s called the “popsicle” design, because the deck is narrow in the middle and rounded off at both ends, like a popsicle stick. This may seem stupid simple, but that basic, clean popsicle shape is actually the product of a lot of experimentation and iteration. In 1989, one particular board would cement skateboard design as we know it. But to understand it, we have to go back over a decade to the mid-70s, as mo...
Power Broker #01: Robert Caro
January 19, 2024 08:00 - 1 hour - 87.1 MBWelcome to our first official episode, breaking down the 1974 Pulitzer Prize winning book, The Power Broker by our hero Robert Caro. Robert Caro happens to be our special guest for this episode and you do not get more special than that. On today’s show, Elliott Kalan and Roman Mars will cover the Introduction, Part 1, and Part 2 of the book (the intro through the end of Chapter 5), discussing the major story beats and themes, and then we will bring the great Robert Caro to the stage. Powe...
The Power Broker #01: Robert Caro
January 19, 2024 08:00 - 1 hour - 87.1 MBWelcome to our first official episode, breaking down the 1974 Pulitzer Prize winning book, The Power Broker by our hero Robert Caro. Robert Caro happens to be our special guest for this episode and you do not get more special than that. On today’s show, Elliott Kalan and Roman Mars will cover the Introduction, Part 1, and Part 2 of the book (the intro through the end of Chapter 5), discussing the major story beats and themes, and then we will bring the great Robert Caro to the stage. Powe...
566- Imitation Nation
January 16, 2024 23:22 - 34 minutes - 31.7 MBFake cities. Imitation nations. People role-playing as civilians, spies, or enemies, complete with costumes and props. It's all part of an effort coordinated and constructed by the U.S. military to prepare soldiers for war. Fake villages designed for training purposes dot the entire United States, not to mention other countries. Researchers have identified over 400 of them around the world. Imitation Nation
565- Mini-Stories: Volume 18
January 09, 2024 23:51 - 34 minutes - 32 MBOur second and final set of mini-stories for the season: We'll be covering upside-down construction, the linguistics of filler and a fire that has been burning for decades. Check out Lizzie No's latest album Halfsies on Band Camp. She's on tour in 2024. Go see her and say hi for me! Mini-Stories 18
470- Another Visit from the Three Santas of Slovenia
December 26, 2023 23:09 - 38 minutes - 35.5 MBWe're revisiting this Christmas classic from 2021. Happy Holidays! Slovenia is a small country in Central Europe nestled between Italy, Austria, Croatia and Hungary. It's a land of snowy white peaks, green valleys, and turquoise rivers. The country is beautiful in all seasons, but it is perhaps at its most magical around Christmastime. This nation of just over 2 million people is visited by, not one, not two, but three different "santas" every festive season. But it hasn't always been this ...
564- Mini-Stories: Volume 17
December 20, 2023 00:46 - 48 minutes - 44.1 MBIt's the most wonderful time of the year. It's mini-stories season! Gather the kids around the fire because We have a year-end mix of short stories about a rogue architect, spooky kitchens, a hundred year old music streaming service, and the crazy way the French tried to make telling time less crazy. Today's episode featured a story from Sound Detectives. Listen to Sound Detectives on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, or wherever you listen to podcasts, and go to sounddetectivespodcast.com to find c...
563- Empire of the Sum
December 13, 2023 01:09 - 33 minutes - 31 MBKeeping track of numbers has always been part of what makes us human. So at some point along the way, we created a tool to help us keep count, and then we gave that tool a name. We called it: a calculator. But depending on what era you were born in, and maybe even what country, what constituted a 'calculator' varied widely. Keith Houston wrote about the evolution of the calculator in his latest book, Empire of the Sum The Rise and Reign of the Pocket Calculator. It is exactly the kind of ne...
562- Breaking Down The Power Broker (with Conan O'Brien)
December 05, 2023 21:53 - 44 minutes - 42.3 MBToday's episode features #1 Robert Caro superfan, Conan O'Brien. The Power Broker by Robert Caro is a biography of Robert Moses, who is said to have built more structures and moved more earth than anyone in human history. And he did it without ever holding elected office. Outside of New York City, Robert Moses wasn't exceptionally well known. Inside of New York, he was mostly accepted by the media as simply the man who built all those nice parks. But The Power Broker, which is subtitled Rob...
344- The Known Unknown [rebroadcast]
November 29, 2023 03:29 - 45 minutes - 41.6 MBRoman note: This is one of my favorite episodes of all time. Should be a movie. Enjoy! The tradition of the Tomb of the Unknowns goes back only about a century, but it has become one of the most solemn and reverential monuments. When President Reagan added the remains of an unknown serviceman who died in combat in Vietnam to the Tomb of the Unknowns in Arlington National Cemetery in 1984, it was the only set of remains that couldn’t be identified from the war. Now, thankfully, there will ne...
561- Long Strange Tape
November 22, 2023 01:45 - 34 minutes - 31.5 MBThe Cassette tape was great in so many ways, but let’s be honest, they never really sounded great. But because the cassette was so much cheaper and easier to use and portable, a lot of people didn't care so much about the audio quality. They just wanted to be able to use something that they could carry around with them. The cassette’s other big advantage: it was easy to record on. We talked to Marc Masters about his new book High Bias, about the history of the cassette. One chapter about c...
560- Home on the Range
November 15, 2023 02:10 - 39 minutes - 35.8 MBIn a lot of ways, Lincoln Heights, Ohio, sounds just like any other suburb. If you walk around town, you’ll hear kids playing outside the local elementary school. You’ll hear the highway that takes commuters down to Cincinnati. At the woods on the edge of town, the birdsong is delightful. The town feels calm and peaceful - at least, until the gunfire starts. Most weekdays, it begins in the morning, and lasts through the afternoon. Sometimes it goes past sundown, and occasionally into the wee...
559- The Six-Week Cure
November 07, 2023 23:39 - 34 minutes - 32.1 MBIn the mid-1900s, people flocked to Reno, Nevada -- not for frontier gold or loose slots, but to get out of bad marriages. The city became known as the "Divorce Capital of the World." For much of modern history, it has been relatively easy to get married, and extremely difficult to get divorced -- and for a time, this was true in the New World as well. But Reno provided the cure: The Six-Week Cure.
558- The Fever Tree Hunt
October 31, 2023 21:35 - 40 minutes - 37.6 MBMost heists target gold, jewels or cash. This one targeted illegal seeds. As the British established their sprawling empire across the subcontinent and beyond, they encountered a formidable adversary — malaria. There was a cure — the bark of the Andean cinchona tree. The only problem? The Dutch and the French were also looking to corner the market in cinchona. And the trees themselves were under threat. This week on 99pi, we feature a story from Stuff the British Stole, a co-production of A...
557- Model Village
October 24, 2023 20:22 - 35 minutes - 33 MBFor decades, society has dealt with people with dementia and other forms of cognitive decline by storing them away in unstimulating, medicalized environments. But around the world, a new architectural movement is starting to challenge that old paradigm. Designing environments where people with dementia can live as normally as possible, until the very end. Model Village
328- Devolutionary Redesign
October 17, 2023 22:15 - 31 minutes - 29.4 MBIt’s hard to overstate just how important record album art was to music in the days before people downloaded everything. Visuals were a key part of one's experience with a record or tape or CD. The design of the album cover created a first impression of what was to come. Album art was certainly important to reporter Sean Cole, one particular album by one particular band: Devo. This is the story of Devo’s first record and the fight over the arresting image of a flashy, handsome golf legend on...
556- You Ain’t Nothin But a Postmark
October 10, 2023 23:04 - 32 minutes - 29.7 MBOver a decade after Elvis Presley’s death, the king of rock & roll took over headlines once again as Americans weighed in on which portrait of Elvis would be forever immortalized on a 29 cent US postage stamp. It was put to a popular vote: should the stamp feature an image of young Elvis at the start of his rise, or an older Elvis in his iconic white jumpsuit. The resulting Elvis stamp eventually outsold every single commemorative stamp before and since. You Ain’t Nothin But a Postmark
555- The Big Dig
October 03, 2023 19:18 - 55 minutes - 50.9 MBOver its more than 40 year journey from conception to completion, Boston’s Big Dig massive infrastructure project, which rerouted the central highway in the heart of the city, encountered every hurdle imaginable: ruthless politics, engineering challenges, secretive contractors, outright fraud and even the death of one motorist. It became a kind of poster child for big government ‘boondoggles.’ But the full story is of course much more complicated – and really represents a turning point in ho...
554- Devil in the Details
September 26, 2023 22:02 - 34 minutes - 31.6 MBThis week we have two stories featuring the devil. An infamous "training video" teaching cops how to spot and stop "satanic crimes." And a stretch of highway with the misfortune of being officially named US Route 666. Devil in the Details
553- Cautionary Tales of the Sydney Opera House
September 19, 2023 22:41 - 40 minutes - 37.2 MBThe Sydney Opera House is one of the most iconic and distinctive buildings in the world. It took a relative newcomer and architectural outsider to dream it up, but the saga of making this world heritage landmark a reality is a tale for the ages: a cautionary tale. And for Cautionary Tales, I turn to the brilliant Tim Harford. I’ve been dying to hear the story of the Sydney Opera House told in this way, and Tim and his team just nailed it, and I know you are going to love it as much as I do....
552- Blood in the Machine
September 12, 2023 22:32 - 29 minutes - 26.7 MBBrian Merchant is a tech reporter, and he'd been covering the industry for years when he started to notice a term that kept coming up. When he wrote a story that was critical of tech, he'd be accused of being a "Luddite." Like most people, Brian knew at least vaguely what the term "Luddite" meant. But as time went on, and as Brian watched tech grow into the disruptive behemoth it is today, he started to get more curious about the actual Luddites. Who were they? And what did they really beli...
389- Whomst Among Us Let the Dogs Out AGAIN
September 05, 2023 21:03 - 38 minutes - 35.5 MBAll kinds of songs get stuck in your head. Famous pop tunes from when you were a kid, album cuts you've listened to over and over again. And then there's a category of memorable songs—the ones that we all just kind of know. Songs that somehow, without anyone’s permission, sneak their way into the collective unconscious and are now just lingering there for eternity. There’s one song that best exemplifies this phenomenon— "Who Let The Dogs Out" by the Baha Men. The story of how that song ende...
551- Office Space
August 29, 2023 22:18 - 32 minutes - 30.3 MBIn most big cities, there’s a housing crisis. And empty office buildings are creating a different crisis known to urbanists as a ‘doom loop.’ Converting an office into housing can solve both of these crises at once, using one piece of property. This solution just seems so obvious and elegant. But for all the hype around this idea, there are surprisingly few adaptive reuse projects actually underway. Office Space
550- Melanie Speaks
August 22, 2023 23:45 - 50 minutes - 46.3 MBThe story of a voice training VHS tape that helped trans women at a time when other resources were hard to access. The way a person's voice changes over time feels like a simple, and overlooked act of magic. Whether intentionally or subconsciously, our voices are products of our environments as much as they are part of us. Today we’re featuring an episode about voices from a series called Sounds Gay, a brilliant show about queer culture, community and music. Plus, guest host Swan Real disc...
549- Trail Mix: Track Two
August 15, 2023 23:26 - 34 minutes - 31.3 MBWelcome to our second episode of short stories all about what may be the original designed object: the trail. If you haven’t heard the first episode yet you should totally go back and listen. It’s a lot of fun. Take this episode with you on your next hike! Trail Mix: Track Two
548- Trail Mix
August 08, 2023 22:02 - 35 minutes - 32.3 MBWe deconstruct and examine what might be the original designed object-- the humble trail. We discuss how park trails are designed, what makes a good trail, and...what even is a trail anyway? Trail Mix
547- Cooking with Gas
August 01, 2023 21:04 - 29 minutes - 26.7 MBBack in January, Bloomberg News published a story quoting an obscure government official named Richard Trumka Jr. He works with the Consumer Product Safety Commission, which regulates stuff like furniture and electronics and household appliances. Basically, the agency is supposed to make sure that the stuff we buy is safe, and won't kill us or make us sick. The Bloomberg story talked about how a growing body of research shows that gas stoves are really bad for indoor air quality. They let o...
546- The Country of the Blind
July 25, 2023 23:52 - 47 minutes - 43.7 MBAndrew Leland grew up with full vision, but starting in his teenage years, his sight began to degrade from the outside in, such that he now sees the world as if through a narrow tube. Soon—but without knowing exactly when—he will likely have no vision left. In this episode, Andrew takes us through the fascinating history of alternative reading technologies designed for blind people and discusses his fantastic new book The Country of the Blind, which is out today! The Country of the Blind
545- Shade Redux
July 18, 2023 20:22 - 29 minutes - 27.4 MBThis past May, the city of Los Angeles rolled out a brand new, state-of-the art feature for bus shelters. It’s called La Sombrita. La Sombrita is a metal screen that’s intended to provide shade for the thousands of people who ride the bus every day. The shade screen is about two feet wide, ten feet tall, and it kinda looks like a curved teal metal surfboard filled with tiny holes. Right away, Angelinos were not happy. This heated conversation got us thinking about our interview with Sam Bloc...
544- Chick Tracts
July 11, 2023 19:35 - 34 minutes - 32.1 MBIn the 1980s, the little Christian comic books known as Chick Tracts were EVERYWHERE. You’d find them in movie theaters and bus station bathrooms, on subways, and all over shopping malls. People would slip them inside VHS rentals or library books. Many Chick Tracts are black and white Christian horror stories that pull from a huge cast of characters: witches, bikers, Hindus, rock and rollers, Catholics, queer people, truckers, Masons and trick-or-treaters. And at some point in the tract, t...
543- In Proximity: Ryan Coogler and Roman Mars
July 05, 2023 03:25 - 30 minutes - 27.9 MBIn Proximity is a podcast from Proximity Media about craft, career, and creativity. Proximity founder Ryan Coogler talks all about podcasts with Roman Mars, host and creator of 99% Invisible, a sound-rich narrative podcast about architecture and design. They discuss holding pandemic meetings about the business of podcasting, Roman’s journey from science to public radio to 99% Invisible, finding the balance between being an artist and business owner plus why Roman believes a producer is the ...
542- Player Piano
June 27, 2023 19:46 - 53 minutes - 49.1 MBThis week we're featuring an episode of The Last Archive The Last Archive is a history show. Our evidence is the evidence of history, the evidence of archives. Manuscripts, photographs, letters and diaries, government documents. Facebook posts, Youtube videos, DVDs. Oral histories. This stuff is known as the “historical record,” but of course it’s not a record, in the sense of an audio recording: It’s everything. On this episode of The Last Archive, the story of the composer Raymond Scott’...