Episode 20: Redeeming Ruins and the Future of Architecture with Dan Barasch

Minds Worth Meeting

From declining rural villages to the inner cities of the world’s great metropolises, ruined buildings and abandoned spaces stand waiting to be repurposed and revived. Doing so not only restores function to these structures but can potentially reinvigorate entire communities. In this episode, Minds Worth Meeting sits down with Dan Barasch, leading expert on the future of architecture and design and co-founder and executive director of New York’s The Lowline, a technology-enabled underground park inside a long-unused Manhattan trolley terminal, the first of its kind in the world. Barasch’s insights can inspire not just designers, architects and urban planners but community leaders and real estate developers. Drawing on his experiences conceiving and directing the ongoing Lowline project, Barasch reveals how to reimagine and rebuild in abandoned spaces in a way that strengthens community bonds, honors the historic character of neighborhoods and towns and contributes to the aesthetic inheritance of humanity. Barasch also discusses his new book, “Ruin and Redemption in Architecture” (Phaidon Press, April 2019), and how it can provide examples and creative motivation to those seeking to resurrect buildings and spaces which have been destroyed or allowed to decay. For more information about the future of design and urban planning and Dan Barasch’s work as discussed in this episode, visit the links below: • The Big Business of Ruins • From Ruin to Redemption: Incredible Before-and-After Images Show How Abandoned Buildings Have Been Given New Leases on Life • The Upside Down: Inside Manhattan’s Lowline Subterranean Park Follow Dan on Twitter: @kineticdb and @thelowlinenyc Dan Barasch is available for speaking engagements and advisory/consulting services through exclusive representation by Stern Speakers, a division of Stern Strategy Group®. For more from Minds Worth Meeting, follow us on social media @sternstrategy, @sternspeakers and visit https://sternstrategy.com/minds-worth-meeting/.