Podcasts of Speeches from Dwell On Design Conference In San Francisco

If you're like me, you eagerly wait for each new issue of Dwell magazine to arrive in your mailbox every month. But did you know that you can also listen to Dwell podcasts? iTunes has free podcasts of six presentations from last September's Dwell on Design conference in San Francisco.

The presentations cover four topics: The City, Sustainability, Affordability and Prefab. My favorite was number four, which features a delightful thirty minute presentation by designer Jay Baldwin, a self proclaimed "artifact" of Buckminster Fuller. Baldwin studied under Fuller, and in his presentation he talks about the incredibly innovative features of the Dymaxion House, and other similar, subsequent works. He's truly a wealth of wisdom and confidence in the benefits of good design.

All I can say is that you will be truly amazed by the things that Mr. Baldwin talks about. Apparently the house of the future was perfected in the 1940's. Fuller's Dymaxion House was affordable, prefab and easy to construct, energy and space efficient, and pretty cool looking. It was full of features and inventions that are unbelievable considering the era in which it was built. The Wichita Dymaxion pictured has been disassembled and rebuilt at the Henry Ford Museum in Dearborn, Michigan (outside Detroit). I actually live in Metro Detroit and plan to go see the Dymaxion House soon. I'll take some pics when I do and post a firsthand report.


In the meantime, listen to the Dwell Podcasts. They're all very interesting and informative and you'll be inspired.

Image Credit: The Buckminster Fuller Institute