Design 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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99% Invisible-56- Frozen Music

June 14, 2012 00:10:53 10.53 MB Downloads: 0

Goethe said, “Architecture is frozen music.” I like that. Of course that was before audio recording, so now, for the most part, music is frozen music. It’s only very recently in the history of music that we’ve been able to … Continue reading →

99% Invisible-55- The Best Beer in the World

May 31, 2012 00:13:50 13.36 MB Downloads: 0

If you’re a beer nerd, or have a friend who’s a beer nerd, you’ve heard of Belgian beers. Belgians take beer very seriously. Amongst the 200 Belgian breweries, there’s a very specific sub-type: Trappist beers. According to our reporter Cyrus … Continue reading →

99% Invisible-54- The Colour of Money

May 16, 2012 00:17:10 16.51 MB Downloads: 0

US paper currency is so ubiquitous that to really look at its graphic design with fresh eyes requires some deliberate and focused attention. So pull out a greenback from your wallet (or look at a picture one online) and just … Continue reading →

99% Invisible-53- The Xanadu Effect

May 01, 2012 00:11:49 11.38 MB Downloads: 0

What happens when we build big? Julia Barton remembers going to the top floor of Dallas’s then-new city hall when she was teenager. The building, designed by I.M. Pei, is a huge trapezoid jutting out over a wide plaza. Julia … Continue reading →

99% Invisible-52- Galloping Gertie

April 18, 2012 00:12:56 12.44 MB Downloads: 0

Even during the construction of the original Tacoma Narrows Bridge, the deck would go up and down by several feet with the slightest breeze. Construction workers on the span chewed on lemon wedges to stop their motion sickness. They nicknamed … Continue reading →

99% Invisible-51- The Arsenal of Exclusion

April 03, 2012 00:11:16 10.82 MB Downloads: 0

“Cities exist to bring people together, but cities can also keep people apart” – Daniel D’Oca, Urban Planner, Interboro Partners. Cities are great. They have movement, activity and diversity. But go to any city and it’s pretty clear, a place … Continue reading →

99% Invisible-50- DeafSpace

March 22, 2012 00:12:10 11.69 MB Downloads: 0

The acoustics of a building are a big concern for architects. But for designers at Gallaudet University in Washington, DC, it’s the absence of sound that defines the approach to architecture. Gallaudet is a university dedicated to educating the deaf … Continue reading →

99% Invisible-49- Queue Theory and Design

March 08, 2012 00:10:23 9.98 MB Downloads: 0

In the US, it’s called a line. In Canada, it’s often referred to as a line-up. Pretty much everywhere else, it’s known as a queue. My friend Benjamen Walker is obsessed with queues. He keeps sending me YouTube clips of … Continue reading →

99% Invisible-48- The Bathtubs or the Boiler Room

February 26, 2012 00:11:36 11.15 MB Downloads: 0

“I have this habit of walking into any door that’s unlocked…You start poking around, going into doors…you find the coolest things…” -Andrea Seabrook, NPR Congressional Correspondent In the eight years Andrea Seabrook has been reporting on Congress, she has made … Continue reading →

99% Invisible-47- US Postal Service Stamps

February 10, 2012 00:12:55 12.41 MB Downloads: 0

Somebody might be able to do a great painting that’s 20 x 30 inches, but you take that down to 1 x 1.5 inches, and it’s a challenge to make it work. -Ethel Kessler, Art Director for USPS Stamp Services … Continue reading →

99% Invisible-46- Vulcanite Dentures

January 27, 2012 00:09:54 9.52 MB Downloads: 0

Before the 1850s, dentures were made out of very hard, very painful and very expensive material, like gold or ivory. They were a luxury item. The invention of Vulcanite hard rubber changed everything. It was moldable, it could be precisely … Continue reading →

99% Invisible-45- Immersive Ideal

January 18, 2012 00:12:33 12.07 MB Downloads: 0

Beauty Pill is band I really like from Washington DC. They have released two EPs (The Cigarette Girl From the Future and You Are Right to be Afraid) and their last album, The Unsustainable Lifestyle, came out in 2004. In … Continue reading →

99% Invisible-44- The Pruitt-Igoe Myth

January 05, 2012 00:11:56 11.46 MB Downloads: 0

The Pruitt-Igoe housing project in St. Louis became most famous at the moment of its demise. The thirty-three high-rise towers built in the 1950’s were supposed to solve the impending population crisis in inner city St. Louis. It was supposed … Continue reading →

99% Invisible-43- Accidental Music of Imperfect Escalators

December 19, 2011 00:07:49 7.52 MB Downloads: 0

“There’s a secret jazz seeping from Washington’s aging Metro escalators – those anemic metal walkways that fill our transit system…they honk and bleat and squawk…why are you still wearing those earbuds?” -Chris Richards, “Move along with the soundtrack of Metro’s … Continue reading →

99% Invisible-42- Recognizably Anonymous

December 08, 2011 00:11:04 10.64 MB Downloads: 0

Anonymous is not group. It is not an organization. Rob Walker describes Anonymous as a “loosely affiliated and ever-changing band of individuals who… have been variously described as hackers, hacktivists, free-expression zealots, Internet troublemakers, and assorted combinations thereof.” But when … Continue reading →