Last Sunday, architect Earl Parson was kind enough to endure all kinds of technical troubles for the sake of a 35-minute informal webcast interview with him about his work.

I wanted to interview Earl now because he’s speaking in Denver on November 6th on “The Role of Ideas in Architecture.” I thought that a video interview would be a great introduction for the people in the FRO community who don’t yet know him. Sadly, technical troubles prevented me from recording the video feed of him from Skype. (That’s particularly sad, because Earl is darn handsome!) Hence, as you’ll see, the video below shows far too much of me at the beginning and the end. However, don’t despair! You’ll see lots of great pictures of Earl’s in-progress Tennessee House in the middle. Also, the sound and video quality from the interview isn’t great, due to the fact that I had to use to the version recorded as a live webstream.

Now… without further ado or apology, here’s the video:

If you prefer to just listen to the audio, you can do that here:

Listen Now

40:37 minutes

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• Enhanced M4A File (18.6 MB)
• Standard MP3 File (18.3 MB)

Here are the pictures of the Tennessee house discussed in the interview:

Last but not least, here is the announcement for Earl’s upcoming FROST lecture:

Earl Parson on “The Role of Ideas in Architecture”

Please join us on Saturday, November 6th for a FROST Supper Talk by Architect Earl Parson:

• What: FROST Supper Talk by Earl Parson on “The Role of Ideas in Architecture”
• When: Saturday, November 6, 2009, 3:00 pm Doors Open; 3:15 pm Lecture Begins; 4:45 pm Q&A Begins; 5:30 pm Dinner at Dixon’s Downtown Grill. (Note: Dinner is optional and everyone is expected to pay for what they order, plus tax and 20% gratuity which will be automatically added to our bill.)
• Where: Room 640 (Zenith) in the Tivoli Student Union Building, UC Denver Campus. (That’s Building 7 on the campus map. See also the parking map.)
• Cost: $30 for regular attendees; $15 for students
• RSVP by November 1st to kelly@frontrangeobjectivism.com. Please indicate whether you plan to attend the dinner or not.
• Payment: You may pay at the door via cash or check. To pay in advance, please send a check to: “FROGS Inc.” c/o Betty Evans; 1140 US Hwy 287 STE 400-283; Broomfield, CO 80020. You can also use PayPal to send your payment to frogsinc@frontrangeobjectivism.com.

About the lecture:

“The events of any given period of history are the result of the thinking of the preceding period.” — Ayn Rand, “For the New Intellectual”

Join architect Earl Parson as he explores the application of this brilliant observation by Ayn Rand, regarding the relationship of ideas to history, to the field of architecture. By examining primary source documents, including writings, drawings, and photographs of existing buildings, we will examine the ideas that emerged in 19th Century architectural thinking which led to, and made possible, the fabulous career of one of the 20th Century’s greatest architectural minds: Frank Lloyd Wright.

As a designer, Wright was a superlative genius. As a young man, his creativity was channeled and focused by his close relationship to perhaps the greatest architectural thinker of all time: Louis Sullivan. Sullivan’s early theories of modern architecture were themselves heavily influenced by the writings of French architect and theoretician, Eugene-Emmanuel Viollet-le-Duc.

This presentation will examine these men, their theories, and their buildings, to discover the link between their ideas and concrete actions in 19th and early 20th Century architecture.

Earl Parson is an architect, and an Objectivist, practicing in Los Angeles. You can follow the construction progress of his latest designs at his blog, Creatures of Prometheus.

I hope that you can join us!