PBS will be airing  a new television special on the ten influential American buildings that changed the way we live, work, and play. The buildings were selected in consultation with a panel of historians and architects from across the country. As part of the PBS TV Special, Nine Net has invited Gene Mackey to serve as one of three panelists to discuss the Wainwright Building, one of the featured buildings in the series 10 Buildings That  Changed America  which will begin airing in April. Seating is limited for the panel discussion, so you might want to RSVP early.

Consuming the labor of entire towns, and sometimes taking 100 years to build, the Great Cathedrals were architectural  marvels crafted from hand tools and millions of pounds of stone.  Teams of specialists are now looking for ways to save those on the brink of collapse and for clues to how the builders of Gothic cathedrals reached such spectacular heights.  The stone gargoyles atop the famous Notre Dame cathedral in Paris carried rain from the roof for more than 600 years.  Some believing in superstition claim that along with their practical duty, the grotesque figures frightened away evil spirits. (more…)

Filmmaker Ric Burns tells the epic story of three centuries of American whaling, and the relationship between American whalers and the magnificent creatures they hunted to help fuel the expansion of the American economy. Few aspects of the American experience have resonated more profoundly with American hopes, fears and dreams than the savagely primal experience of whaling. “Into the Deep” is a fantastic sea adventure, a cautionary economic and environmental tale, and a mythic saga of man and nature. On PBS Channel 9 Monday, May 10, 2010 at 9:00 pm. (more…)

Hailed as a “beautifully composed tribute to visionary thinking and political ingenuity,” (New York Times), a two-hour documentary called Earth Days looks back to the dawn and development of the modern environmental movement, from its post-war rumblings in the 1950s to the first wildly successful 1970 Earth Day celebration. National Concern about the environment crystallized on April 22, 1970, when 20 million American mobilized in a dramatic show of support for a cleaner environment. Mackey Mitchell Architects is an underwriter for the “American Experience” series on PBS – Channel 9.