Ep. 29 Fashion Forward Design and Recycled Architecture! with Andy Bako of University of Texas Austin!

Joined by Architect and educator Andy Bako, the MXD crew unpack the controversy surrounding the accessibility failures of the Hunter’s Point Library by Steven Holl—and the shocking lawsuit that it has resulted in. Is this a failure of ADA compliance, or a deeper failure of spatial design and architectural thinking? And how does something like this happen at the highest level of practice?We also touch on "Architecture Against Architecture", the new manifesto / book by Reinier de Graaf, exploring its critique of the profession—from labor and authorship to the role of manifestos today. Is architecture losing relevance, or just caught in its own contradictions?The second half shifts into Andy Bako's body of work, starting with his exhibition of his studio's work at University of Texas Austin's School of Architecture. The exhibition, entitled "Waste Coats" focuses on the design thinking and culture of high fashion while displaying the studio's deep engagement with material re-use experimentation and the complex techtonics it produces.Other themes in the episode:-Architecture’s overlap with fashion, wearables, and the body-The legacy (and backlash) of parametric design-What a “soft digital” approach looks like today-How recycled materials and waste can drive new aesthetic languages-Why architecture might need to embrace the messy, ugly, and unfinished