Stewart Hicks+

Why We Can’t Build Apartments Like This Anymore

Watch my next video investigating AI Data Centers: https://nebula.tv/videos/stewarthicks-the-buildings-ai-will-leave-behind Get Nebula using my link for 50% off an annual subscription: https://go.nebula.tv/stewarthicks This ordinary-looking staircase is at the center of one of America’s most consequential housing debates. In most of the United States, apartment buildings taller than three stories generally need two separate exit stairs. But architects, housing advocates, and lawmakers argue that this rule has also made many small apartment buildings difficult—or financially impossible—to co

The Gross Reason Suburban Yards Had to Be This Big

Watch the Anatomy of the Nokia 3310: https://nebula.tv/videos/realengineering-the-anatomy-of-the-nokia-3310?ref=stewarthicks Get Nebula using my link for 50% off an annual subscription: https://go.nebula.tv/stewarthicks Why are suburban yards so big? It’s not just because Americans wanted more space, systems underground required it. After World War II, developers began building suburbs at a scale and speed the country had never seen before. But instead of connecting every new house to municipal sewer systems, many developments relied on rural technologies: private wells, septic tanks, and

How New York Got Its Fire Escapes

Watch the Anatomy of the Nokia 3310: https://nebula.tv/videos/realengineering-the-anatomy-of-the-nokia-3310?ref=stewarthicks Get Nebula using my link for 50% off an annual subscription: https://go.nebula.tv/stewarthicks Why is New York covered in fire escapes, while Chicago — a city practically synonymous with burning down — has so few of them? It turns out these two cities learned very different lessons from fire. New York grew upward and inward, packing people into dense tenements where the nightmare was being trapped inside. Chicago grew outward, building quickly and cheaply with wood, w

Why American Homes Feel Like TV Sets

Want to restore the planet’s ecosystems and see your impact in monthly videos? The first 100 people to join Planet Wild with my code STEWART4 will get the first month for free on me: https://planetwild.com/r/stewarthicks/join/4 If you want to get to know them better first, check out their mission building wildlife crossings: https://planetwild.com/r/stewarthicks/m36/4 __Description Television has been redesigning American houses for decades. In this video, I look at the strange feedback loop between TV and domestic space, from *Leave It to Beaver* and the Cold War kitchen to *The Brady Bunch

The Controversy Over Doorless Elevators

Go to https://ground.news/stewarthicks to get 40% off unlimited access to the news tool I actually trust. It helps you cut through the noise and understand how stories are being reported across the spectrum.  This might be the most dangerous elevator in the United States, but it also points to the future of skyscrapers. At Chicago’s Marina City, Bertrand Goldberg used a bizarre continuously moving manlift to solve a specific architectural problem: how do you move people through 20 floors of spiral parking without sacrificing precious space in the tower core? That strange device opens onto a

Why This Tiny Apartment is Taking Over American Cities

Why are apartments shrinking across America — and why does every tiny unit look exactly the same? In 2017, Chicago's first purpose-built micro-apartment building opened, and people couldn't understand why anyone would choose to live in 350 square feet. But since then, these tiny units have become the norm in cities across the country — renting for $1,000 to over $2,000 a month, roughly what a two-bedroom costs elsewhere. In this video, I break down why micro-apartments all share the same oddly specific layout, why building them actually costs *more* than larger units, and why the real story

Why O’Hare Will Never Be Finished

Head to https://givewell.org to donate. At checkout pick YOUTUBE and enter STEWART HICKS to have your donation matched. O’Hare airport one of the largest indoor structures on the continent, and it’s still growing. By the end of its current expansion, the place will hold nearly **9** million square feet of connected interior space. That’s the scale of a small city… inside a building. In this video, I look at how a megastructure like this expands without shutting down, why its layout keeps drifting into strange new shapes over the decades, and how its designers think about the whole thing almo

Why A-Frame Houses Don't Work

Watch Abolish Everything right now! https://nebula.tv/abolish?ref=stewarthicks Get Nebula using my link for 40% off an annual subscription: https://go.nebula.tv/stewarthicks The A-Frame house looks like the purest image of “home”: two walls meeting in a perfect triangle. It’s ancient, familiar, and everywhere—from mountain cabins to Instagram feeds. But as a place to actually live, it’s kind of a disaster. This video looks at where the A-Frame came from, why it exploded in popularity in the 1950s and ’60s, and what makes it so impractical today. We’ll follow its evolution from Alpine chalet

How Comfort Slowly Broke the American Home

Want to restore the planet’s ecosystems and see your impact in monthly videos? The first 100 people to join Planet Wild with my code STEWART10 will get the first month for free at: https://planetwild.com/r/stewarthicks/join/10 If you want to get to know them better first, check out their project using sculptures to protect the ocean: https://planetwild.com/r/stewarthicks/m21/10 From Joey and Chandler’s recliners in Friends to Martin’s battered chair in Frasier, the La-Z-Boy is both furniture and cultural icon. But where did these chairs come from, and why did they define comfort in the Americ

Why These Rooms Disappeared From Our Homes

Watch my next video about how La-Z-Boy dominated living rooms right now (https://nebula.tv/videos/stewarthicks-how-lazboy-won-the-comfort-war) Get Nebula using my link for 40% off an annual subscription: https://go.nebula.tv/stewarthicks Old house plans often included a room called the parlor. Today, most of us live without one. So what were they for, and why did they vanish? This video traces how parlors functioned as both waiting rooms and stages for displaying household status in the 19th century. It follows their rebranding into “living rooms,” and the persistence and decline of dining

The Fire That Invented the School Fire Drill

Watch my next video about old house plans buildings right now https://nebula.tv/videos/stewarthicks-old-house-plans-decoded Get Nebula using my link for 40% off an annual subscription: https://go.nebula.tv/stewarthicks In December 1958, a fire broke out at *Our Lady of the Angels School* in Chicago. Within minutes, the building was consumed, and 92 children along with 3 nuns tragically lost their lives. It remains one of the deadliest school fires in U.S. history. Yet, out of this disaster, came some of the most sweeping changes to building codes, fire safety standards, and school practices

How Fake Buildings Keep Cities Alive

Watch my next video right now!https://nebula.tv/videos/stewarthicks-how-we-learned-to-escape-building-fires Get Nebula using my link for 40% off an annual subscription: https://go.nebula.tv/stewarthicks Have you ever walked past a building in a city like Chicago and wondered why no one ever seems to go in or out? It's likely a cleverly disguised piece of critical infrastructure: a substation. In this video, we explore these hidden-in-plain-sight facilities that power entire neighborhoods, examining how and why cities disguise such vital structures. We dive into the world of urban infrastructu

How a Bombproof Building Works

Compare news coverage. Spot media bias. Avoid algorithms. Try Ground News today and get 40% off your subscription by going to https://www.ground.news/Hicks Watch my next video three weeks early!:https://nebula.tv/videos/stewarthicks-chicago-is-full-of-fake-buildingswhy Description: This video reveals the careful balance cities must maintain between safety, accessibility, and aesthetics, showcasing why the Dirksen Courthouse in Chicago is a prime example of urban resilience in the post-9/11 world. Guided by a scenario inspired by real events: a planned Vehicle-Borne Improvised Explosive Devi

Why Buildings Stopped Spinning

Watch my next video about bomb-proof buildings right now! https://nebula.tv/videos/stewarthicks-how-bombproof-buildings-work Get Nebula using my link for 40% off an annual subscription: https://go.nebula.tv/stewarthicks In 1961, architects and engineers gathered around an enormous steel carousel in a Seattle parking lot to witness the birth of the American revolving restaurant. This was the mechanism for the Eye of the Needle restaurant, perched atop Seattle's futuristic Space Needle, promising diners a miniature journey into space. It made an enormous impact on visitors, leading to over a h

Why Futuristic Buildings Age So Badly

Head to Henson Shaving https://bit.ly/39XCoKw pick out a razor, add 100 pack of blades, use code: STEWARTHICKS and the blades are FREE! Watch my next video all about Revolving Restaurants right now on Nebula: https://nebula.tv/videos/stewarthicks-why-this-awkward-dining-trend-is-coming-back Description: In January 1977, Parisians entered a building through glass tubes suspended on its outside. Its escalators, plumbing, and structural framework were placed on the exterior, leaving the interior completely open and flexible. This design reflected a cultural moment obsessed with transparency, de