Alvin Hall

Alvin has an extraordinary range of interests and experiences including television and radio broadcaster, financial educator, bestselling author, and art collector. Until recently, he was best known for his BBC series Your Money or Your Life and books centered around personal finance.

Alvin was introduced to our team as he was completing his award-winning podcast Driving the Green Book which chronicled a journey that he took with Janee Woods Weber between Detroit to New Orleans. The route was informed by the historic travel guide The Negro Motorist Green Book which was published by Victor Hugo Green during the height of segregation and provided information on black-owned businesses and those where one could safely rest, eat, or sleep.  Along the trip he met with people who shared their stories and memories of that time and those places.

Alvin recently published a book based on the podcast but including much more research and information. He has also collected art for over four decades and I am in awe of the collection.

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Every Monday, Olson Kundig starts the week with an all‑office meeting, and once a month this meeting is devoted to an outside guest speaker. The Olson Kundig Speaker Series was created by Alan Maskin over two decades ago with the goal of inspiring staff with presentations from people who work outside the realm of architecture. To date, more than 300 guests have come to speak in our offices. The forum is also available for internal speakers, who share completed project overviews, complex project details, and research findings, all with the aim of increasing our shared knowledge.

The 2023 theme of The Speaker Series is Other Plans. Other Plans is a retelling of stories untold which capture the unexpected moments in time that have altered our narratives. These are the plot twists, the detours, the pivots that challenge us to tap into the truest versions of ourselves and press on toward the future — even if that future is a vastly different destination to where we had planned. At its core, Other Plans is an examination of the human condition to better understand how each individual responds and adapts in the face of change.