Arts and Music

Songs About Buildings and Moods

What do the buildings we create say about us? How does a musical interpretation change our perception of a building? Songs About Buildings and Moods uses storytelling and performance to create a unique series exploring the connection between music and architecture. The buildings include Saarinen's masterpiece for TWA, Calatrava's Milwaukee Art Museum and a Black church in Chicago among others.

Frank Lloyd Wright’s Emil Bach House & Milwaukee's City Hall

27m 50s

The Emil Bach house by Frank Lloyd Wright is a gem on Chicago’s north side and a perfect example of his signature Prarie-style architecture. Milwaukee's City Hall has been a civic icon since it opened in 1895. Its striking Flemish Renaissance style is an homage to the German immigrants who helped build Milwaukee.

Episodes

  • Stony Island Arts Bank and Cranbrook Academy of Art: asset-mezzanine-16x9

    Stony Island Arts Bank and Cranbrook Academy of Art

    S2 E5 - 28m 29s

    Once a thriving bank that was abandoned by white residents during the Great Migration, the Stony Island Arts Bank has been repurposed and reimagined by Theaster Gates' Rebuild Foundation as a thriving hub for Black culture. The Cranbrook Academy of Art is a stunning mecca of design just outside of Detroit created by renowned architect Eliel Saarinen.

  • Brooklyn Tower and the Wrigley Building: asset-mezzanine-16x9

    Brooklyn Tower and the Wrigley Building

    S2 E4 - 28m 25s

    Brooklyn's first super-tall tower looms over one of the most beautiful bank interiors in the country in the Dime Savings Bank which was originally built to serve workers building the first subway tunnels between Brooklyn and Manhattan. Built on five-cent sticks of chewing gum, Chicago's Wrigley Building is an iconic masterpiece that defines Chicago's Magnificent Mile.

  • Biblioteca Vasconcelos and Ohio State Reformatory: asset-mezzanine-16x9

    Biblioteca Vasconcelos and Ohio State Reformatory

    S2 E3 - 28m 29s

    Shelves hung from the ceiling give the tens of thousands of books in Mexico City's Biblioteca Vasconcelos the illusion of floating in the air. The library is a thriving culture hub hosting dance, film, music, art exhibits and more. Ohio State Reformatory was a notorious maximum security prison that would later serve as the set for the film The Shawshank Redemption.

  • Estudios Churubusco and the Fisher Building: asset-mezzanine-16x9

    Estudios Churubusco and the Fisher Building

    S2 E2 - 28m 29s

    Estudios Churubusco is Mexico's premiere film production studio and the birthplace of Mexico's Golden Era of Cinema and host of numerous American productions while Detroit's Fisher Building is architect Albert Kahn's masterpiece and a poignant symbol of Detroit's glorious past and hopeful future.

  • Ex Teresa Arte Actual and George Peabody Library: asset-mezzanine-16x9

    Ex Teresa Arte Actual and George Peabody Library

    S2 E1 - 28m 28s

    Ex Teresa Arte Actual is a former 17th century convent in Mexico City's historic Zocalo neighborhood that has been reimagined as a vital center for contemporary art and music. The George Peabody Library in Baltimore is one of the most beautiful library spaces in the world with a historic collection to match.

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