#21 Practice Forward Podcast (Mark Foster Gage)

V Owen Bush introduced Mark Foster Gage as a renowned architect, author, and thought leader, and they discussed Mark Foster Gage's real resort project, Treyam, located in Saudi Arabia, which features an "otherworldly" design with elevated structures and immersive glass elements. Mark Foster Gage explained his design philosophy, which emphasizes pushing architectural boundaries through speculative work and aesthetics, and criticized modernism for its "anti-aesthetic" approach, advocating for beauty and civic pride in architectural design. They also discussed advancements in construction, the impact of computation on architecture, biases in architectural software, and the importance of reintroducing the concept of beauty into architectural discourse.

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Scan2Plan Website

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https://www.scan2plan.io/

Mark Foster Gage is an architect, author, and thought leader challenging architecture’s traditional boundaries through his bold embrace of aesthetics and speculation. As the principal of Mark Foster Gage Architects and Robert A. M. Stern Professor of Architecture at Yale, his work provocatively questions how beauty shapes our cities, communities, and political realities. Through iconic speculative projects like the Khaleesi Tower, writings including On the Appearance of the World, and his influential philosophy of “Speculative Aesthetics,” Mark repositions architecture as a powerful force for social dialogue, ethical reflection, and cultural imagination.

MFGA website

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https://www.mfga.com/