He’s been called “the Ira Glass of design.” His radio show, 99% Invisible – “a tiny show about architecture and design” – focuses on the invisible activity that shapes our world. In August 2012, 99% Invisible became the highest-funded journalism project in Kickstarter history, raising over $170,000 from 5,661 backers. In 2012, with over 4 million downloads online, 99% Invisible peaked at #2 in iTunes ranking for all podcasts in the US.

As host and producer of 99% Invisible, Roman Mars has explored everything from the Purple Hotel – Lincolnwood, IL’s most famous building – to poetically-named structures in Santiago, Chile.

Here Mars brings his eye for design, his talent for storytelling, and his rich layers of music and sound effects to Unity Temple, where he performs an extended version of 99% Invisible.

Roman Mars presentation, “Stories about the Built World,” is a part of Unity Temple Restoration Foundation’s Break the Box program series. Break the Box is made possible by generous grants from the MacArthur Fund for Arts and Culture at The Richard H. Driehaus Foundation, the Gaylord and Dorothy Donnelley Foundation, and the Illinois Arts Council, an Agency of the State of Illinois.

Recorded live Thursday, May 10, 2013 at Frank Lloyd Wright’s Unity Temple.