Since February 2024, Dr. Daas has served as a recurring public voice on GBH’s The Culture Show, bringing architectural, educational, technological, and civic perspectives to a broad public audience through nearly two dozen appearances spanning topics from housing and infrastructure to AI, climate resilience, design culture, and public life.
June 2026: Discussed data centers as the “monoliths of the AI age,” exploring how every technological revolution leaves behind a new physical infrastructure. The conversation examined the energy, water, land-use, design, and civic questions behind AI’s supposedly invisible “cloud,” and why data centers should be governed as infrastructure with public obligations, not simply private real estate.
🔗 https://youtu.be/FWj9s01w2yU?start=12150&end=14305
April 2026: Reflected on architecture’s role in storytelling through The Drama, the A24 feature film starring Zendaya and Robert Pattinson, which was filmed in part at the Boston Architectural College. Discussed how buildings and interiors shape narrative and emotion, and how the BAC’s Newbury Street campus became part of the film’s cinematic landscape.
🔗 https://lnkd.in/egQC9qQD
March 2026: Reflecting on the Los Angeles wildfires and the challenge of rebuilding in a climate-altered world. Explored how resilience is shifting from individual buildings to interconnected systems of architecture, landscape, infrastructure, and community.
🔗 https://lnkd.in/esR4PpYi
February 2026: Reflected on Walden, Thoreau’s cabin, and the idea of deliberate living during periods of social and technological upheaval. The conversation traced how a small experiment near Boston connected to global commerce, civil disobedience, Gandhi, Martin Luther King Jr., and enduring questions of conscience, simplicity, and resistance.
🔗 https://lnkd.in/gd-zSCzq
January 2026: Explored hostile architecture and the values embedded in public space. From anti-homeless spikes to disappearing benches, the conversation considered how design can either reinforce exclusion or support more humane, inclusive cities.
🔗 https://lnkd.in/eWJnZSbF
December 2025: Frank Gehry was far more than flamboyant forms. In this conversation, I joined Jared Bowen at the Boston Public Library to reflect on Gehry’s deeper legacy—how he transformed not just architecture’s look, but its tools, processes, and possibilities. From aerospace tech to digital collaboration, from lamps to fish to titanium towers, Gehry’s restless genius reshaped the field.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QFu40SBEAdU&t=12225s
November 2025: On The Culture Show Live, I reflected on the legacy of Professor Kongjian Yu—landscape architect, visionary, and creator of the “Sponge City” movement—who passed away in September. We had planned an original exhibition of his work at the BAC. Though he never made it to Boston, his ideas continue to ripple outward, offering hope for coastal cities and river towns around the world.
🔗 https://lnkd.in/eMiZiEPe
October 2025: How might we balance AI’s voracious energy needs through ancient Indian wisdom? I discussed AI’s growing energy footprint, the promise of geothermal power, and the Pancha Bhutas—Earth, Water, Fire, Air, and Space—as a framework for sustainable balance.
🔗 https://lnkd.in/eGr3j488
September 2025: The art and science of relocating a building—my segment explored real examples of moving entire structures and what they reveal about adaptive design.
🔗 https://www.wgbh.org/podcasts/the-culture-show/september-3-2025-adela-goldbard-and-pedro-alonzo-jyoti-and-auyon-mukharji-and-mahesh-daas
August 2025: dDevelopment and construction in Boston and what the city’s skyline can accommodate when it comes to building skyscrapers.
🔗 https://www.wgbh.org/podcasts/the-culture-show/august-6-2025-dennis-lehane-on-smoke-a-boston-mayoral-forum-on-arts-and-culture-recap-and-mahesh-daas
July 2025: On the contributions of architect Graham Gund who recently passed away.
🔗 https://www.wgbh.org/podcasts/the-culture-show/july-2-2025-danielle-allen-the-family-heritage-experience-and-mahesh-daas
June 2025: The enduring legacy of Frank Lloyd Wright’s work in New England, with a focus on his two houses in Manchester, NH.
🔗 https://www.wgbh.org/podcasts/the-culture-show/june-4-2025-nemr-revolutionary-history-in-somerville-and-the-legacy-of-frank-lloyd-wright
May 2025: How design shapes civic experience in Boston’s Copley Square.
🔗 https://www.wgbh.org/podcasts/the-culture-show/may-20-2025-the-michelin-guide-in-boston-jajas-african-hair-braiding-and-mahesh-daas
April 2025: On the transformative impact of COVID on higher education.
🔗 https://www.wgbh.org/podcasts/the-culture-show/april-9-2025-amor-towles-the-250th-anniversary-of-paul-reveres-midnight-ride-and-mahesh-daas
March 2025: Discussing the Tatiana Bilbao ESTUDIO: Research Center of the Sea of Cortez exhibition at the BAC’s McCormick Gallery.
🔗 https://www.wgbh.org/podcasts/the-culture-show/march-24-2025-the-ballad-of-wallis-island-the-isu-world-figure-skating-championships-and-mahesh-daas
February 2025: Reflecting on the wildfires in Los Angeles and the relationship between cities, climate, and resilience.
🔗 https://www.wgbh.org/podcasts/the-culture-show/february-5-2025-liza-a-truly-terrific-absolutely-true-story-and-mahesh-daas
January 2025: The Brutalist—a Golden Globe-winning film—and the enduring legacy of Brutalist architecture.
🔗 https://www.wgbh.org/podcasts/the-culture-show/january-8-2025-lynns-search-for-a-poet-laureate-beau-mccall-and-mahesh-daas-on-the-brutalist
December 2024: Five years after the fire, revisiting the rebirth of Notre-Dame de Paris and lessons in restoration.
🔗 https://www.wgbh.org/podcasts/the-culture-show/december-12-2024-engelbert-humperdinck-the-boston-tea-partys-anniversary-and-mahesh-daas
October 2024: Launch of Native(s)—the Walter Hood exhibition hosted at the BAC.
🔗 https://www.wgbh.org/podcasts/the-culture-show/october-23-2024-swoon-keefer-glenshaw-and-mahesh-daas
July 2024: Honoring the Cricket T20 World Cup and tracing the sport’s forgotten roots in U.S. history.
🔗 https://www.wgbh.org/podcasts/the-culture-show/july-3-2024-jazz-at-the-omni-the-boomin-beaver-and-the-cricket-world-cup
June 2024: Discussing Boston’s worsening housing crisis and creative design solutions for affordability.
🔗 https://www.wgbh.org/podcasts/the-culture-show/june-5-2024-the-dybbuk-baseball-and-the-housing-crisis
May 2024: On Shepley Bulfinch’s enduring design legacy—launching a major retrospective exhibition.
🔗 https://www.wgbh.org/podcasts/the-culture-show/may-1-2024-back-to-the-future-joywalk-fenway-and-mahesh-daas
April 2024: On U.S. infrastructure and lessons from the Francis Scott Key Bridge collapse in Baltimore.
🔗 https://www.wgbh.org/culture/2024-04-03/award-winning-composer-jeff-beal-on-what-it-takes-to-craft-a-score
March 2024: AI, robots, architecture, and cities—examining the technological transformations shaping design.
🔗 https://www.wgbh.org/culture/2024-03-06/preserving-the-art-of-film-projection-in-somerville
February 2024: Life, career, and creativity—my first appearance on The Culture Show.
🔗 https://www.wgbh.org/culture/2024-02-07/walk-to-these-local-boston-art-installations-for-lunar-new-year