CAC Recommends: April 2

While CAC staff, docents and volunteers work remotely and practice spatial distancing, we’re compiling lists of our favorite architecture-themed movies, TV shows, books, podcasts and more for your enjoyment. This week, we’re focused on Modernism.

Chicago is recognized as the world capital of this style, which revolutionized our visual landscape in the mid-20th century. Here are a few recent works that highlight the buildings and architects of this oft-misunderstood design movement.

PODCAST: “ARCHITECTURE YOU LOVE”

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Join host George Smart as the US Modernist Radio crew talks and laughs with people who enjoy, own, create, dream about, preserve, love and hate Modernist architecture—a style that includes some of the world’s most exciting and controversial buildings. Smart, founder of Durham-based nonprofit organization North Carolina Modernist Houses, takes public knowledge of Modern architecture from local to national levels. New episodes are released weekly. —Hallie Rosen, CAC Director of Program Operations

BOOK: “THE MAN IN THE GLASS HOUSE”

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Philip Johnson is one of the most recognizable and influential figures on the American cultural landscape. The first recipient of the Pritzker Prize and MoMA’s founding architectural curator, Johnson made his mark as one of America’s leading architects with his famous Glass House in New Canaan, Connecticut and his controversial AT&T Building in New York City (now 550 Madison Avenue). History buffs will appreciate Mark Lamster’s unflinching biography of the complex life and work of this architect, consummate power broker and shaper of public opinion. —Madison Smith, CAC Coordinator of Programs

FILM: “EAMES: THE ARCHITECT AND THE PAINTER”

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This 2011 documentary tells the story of a “painter who rarely painted” and an “architecture school dropout who never got his license.” Charles and Ray Eames’ personal and professional romance reminds us that design is—at its heart—a way of looking at the world. It will leave you wanting to make something beautiful. —Adam Rubin, CAC Director of Interpretation

 CAC Recommends content does not necessarily reflect the views or opinions of the Chicago Architecture Center, members of its board and staff, or other stakeholders.