Danny Forster
Encyclopedia
Daniel K. "Danny" Forster (born September 19, 1977) is an American television host and producer
and architect
. He is best known as the host of the Science Channel series Build It Bigger.
, with his father, George, a neurologist
, and his mother, Alice, a pediatric AIDS
and hemophilia clinician. He graduated from the Dwight-Englewood School in 1995, and returned there in 2008 to give the commencement address. He then attended Wesleyan University
, graduating with honors in 1999 with a BA
in Art and Architectural History. His bachelor's thesis
, "Theoretical Realities," studies the impact of computer-aided design (CAD) on the fabrication of form by looking at the work of Peter Eisenman
and Frank Gehry
.
After college, Forster worked for several years in New York City
before moving to Cambridge, Massachusetts
, and matriculating at Harvard Graduate School of Design
. He received his Master's in Architecture in 2006; his master's thesis invented a vertical urban upward campus whose goal was to create spatial diversity while maintaining homogeneous unit quality.
Forster currently resides in New York City.
in response to a Craigslist
ad. Discovery and Powderhouse
, a production company based in Somerville, Massachusetts
, ultimately hired him to film six episodes of Extreme Engineering
, which was in its third season as a traditional, voiceover-narrated documentary series. According to Joel Olicker, president of Powderhouse, Forster was hired to be the on-camera host on the strength of his "geek chic" and his ability to talk.
Once shooting began, producers were surprised but reportedly not displeased to discover that Forster had a serious fear of heights. Discovery Channel executive producer
Julian Hobbs explained, "We didn't want to replace voice-of-God [narrator] with physical god. We wanted to replace god with human."
Forster said of his Extreme Engineering experience, "There was no preparation. Everything was improvised. Mostly I would just walk up to people and say, 'What are you doing? Can I try it?' Then most of the time I would fail at whatever task it was, which adds comic value and also shows how incredibly skilled these workers are."
The new episodes, with Forster as its curious, enthusiastic, and knowledgeable on-camera host, were a success for the Discovery Channel, which subsequently gave Forster his own show, Build It Bigger. The first season of Build It Bigger, for which Forster traveled everywhere from New Orleans to Shanghai
to Istanbul
over the course of a ten-month shoot, aired on the Discovery Channel from July to October 2007. For its second season, beginning in April 2009, Build It Bigger moved to the Science Channel, another channel owned by Discovery Communications
. Build It Bigger quickly became the Science Channel's highest rated show.
In the hiatus between filming season one and season two of Build It Bigger, Forster filmed a miniseries called Build it Bigger: Rebuilding Greensburg. The miniseries chronicled the struggle of a small town in Kansas not just to rebuild itself after a devastating tornado, but to reinvent itself as America’s first LEED
(Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design) platinum-certified, eco-town. Rebuilding Greensburg aired in November 2008 on Planet Green, a new Discovery Communications network dedicated to sustainable living. Forster also served as sustainable design correspondent for Planet Green.
In 2008 and 2009, Forster hosted the Discovery Education 3M Young Scientist Challenge.
In September 2011, executive producers Forster and Steven Spielberg
are scheduled to release, on the Discovery Channel, the film they made about the reconstruction of Ground Zero: "Rising: Rebuilding Ground Zero."
, an internationally renowned architectural firm in New York City. As Forster has said, "I love doing the show, but I didn't sweat for four years not to be an architect." In 2007, while on the road filming Build It Bigger, Forster started his own architecture firm, Danny Forster Design Studio. At first restricted to Forster's laptop and an ever-changing "office" of hotel rooms, the firm is now located in Brooklyn, New York, with a full-time staff and ongoing projects in Brooklyn, Manhattan
, New Jersey
, Chicago
, and Michigan
.
The firm's inaugural project was the first ever LEED Gold certified home in Northern Michigan
, which was completed in 2008. The home, a lake house in Omena, Michigan, has since been featured in the Architectural Review, Architectural Record, and Traverse Magazine.
owned by Oscar De La Renta
, Julio Iglesias
, and labor lawyer Theodore Kheel, that has been involved in a 30-year effort to develop the island sustainably. The course considered how the resort could organize and develop sustainable housing that would not be predicated on a golf course; the student work will be published in the January 2010 Archivos de Arquitectura Antillana. Forster will teach the course in Spring 2010 at the Syracuse University
School of Architecture.
. Forster was the keynote speaker at the AVEVA International Symposium for Engineering Information Technology (ISEIT) in 2006, delivered executive seminars at The Studley Commercial Real Estate Going Green Conference, and hosted the American Council of Engineering Companies' awards gala in 2007. He was the keynote speaker at the 2008 Solid Works World Expo, the largest 3-D conference in the world. That same year he keynoted Construct 2008, an architecture/engineering conference, and spoke at the Copenmind conference in Copenhagen
.
Television producer
The primary role of a television Producer is to allow all aspects of video production, ranging from show idea development and cast hiring to shoot supervision and fact-checking...
and architect
Architect
An architect is a person trained in the planning, design and oversight of the construction of buildings. To practice architecture means to offer or render services in connection with the design and construction of a building, or group of buildings and the space within the site surrounding the...
. He is best known as the host of the Science Channel series Build It Bigger.
Early life and education
Forster grew up in Tenafly, New JerseyTenafly, New Jersey
Tenafly is a borough in Bergen County, New Jersey, United States. As of the 2010 census, the borough population was 14,488. Tenafly is an affluent suburb of New York City....
, with his father, George, a neurologist
Neurologist
A neurologist is a physician who specializes in neurology, and is trained to investigate, or diagnose and treat neurological disorders.Neurology is the medical specialty related to the human nervous system. The nervous system encompasses the brain, spinal cord, and peripheral nerves. A specialist...
, and his mother, Alice, a pediatric AIDS
AIDS
Acquired immune deficiency syndrome or acquired immunodeficiency syndrome is a disease of the human immune system caused by the human immunodeficiency virus...
and hemophilia clinician. He graduated from the Dwight-Englewood School in 1995, and returned there in 2008 to give the commencement address. He then attended Wesleyan University
Wesleyan University
Wesleyan University is a private liberal arts college founded in 1831 and located in Middletown, Connecticut. According to the Carnegie Foundation for the Advancement of Teaching, Wesleyan is the only Baccalaureate College in the nation that emphasizes undergraduate instruction in the arts and...
, graduating with honors in 1999 with a BA
Bachelor of Arts
A Bachelor of Arts , from the Latin artium baccalaureus, is a bachelor's degree awarded for an undergraduate course or program in either the liberal arts, the sciences, or both...
in Art and Architectural History. His bachelor's thesis
Thesis
A dissertation or thesis is a document submitted in support of candidature for an academic degree or professional qualification presenting the author's research and findings...
, "Theoretical Realities," studies the impact of computer-aided design (CAD) on the fabrication of form by looking at the work of Peter Eisenman
Peter Eisenman
Peter Eisenman is an American architect. Eisenman's professional work is often referred to as formalist, deconstructive, late avant-garde, late or high modernist, etc...
and Frank Gehry
Frank Gehry
Frank Owen Gehry, is a Canadian American Pritzker Prize-winning architect based in Los Angeles, California.His buildings, including his private residence, have become tourist attractions...
.
After college, Forster worked for several years in New York City
New York City
New York is the most populous city in the United States and the center of the New York Metropolitan Area, one of the most populous metropolitan areas in the world. New York exerts a significant impact upon global commerce, finance, media, art, fashion, research, technology, education, and...
before moving to Cambridge, Massachusetts
Cambridge, Massachusetts
Cambridge is a city in Middlesex County, Massachusetts, United States, in the Greater Boston area. It was named in honor of the University of Cambridge in England, an important center of the Puritan theology embraced by the town's founders. Cambridge is home to two of the world's most prominent...
, and matriculating at Harvard Graduate School of Design
Harvard Graduate School of Design
The Harvard Graduate School of Design is a graduate school at Harvard University offering degrees in Architecture, Landscape Architecture, and Urban Planning and Design.-History:...
. He received his Master's in Architecture in 2006; his master's thesis invented a vertical urban upward campus whose goal was to create spatial diversity while maintaining homogeneous unit quality.
Forster currently resides in New York City.
Television career
Forster's television career began in 2005 when he sent in an audition disc to the Discovery ChannelDiscovery Channel
Discovery Channel is an American satellite and cable specialty channel , founded by John Hendricks and distributed by Discovery Communications. It is a publicly traded company run by CEO David Zaslav...
in response to a Craigslist
Craigslist
Craigslist is a centralized network of online communities featuring free online classified advertisements, with sections devoted to jobs, housing, personals, for sale, services, community, gigs, résumés, and discussion forums....
ad. Discovery and Powderhouse
Powderhouse Productions
Powderhouse Productions is an American television production company.-Origins:As early as 1986, Powderhouse co-founders Joel Olicker and Tug Yourgrau met while working to produce a documentary for WGBH, the public television station located in Boston, Massachusetts.The collaboration on this...
, a production company based in Somerville, Massachusetts
Somerville, Massachusetts
Somerville is a city in Middlesex County, Massachusetts, United States, located just north of Boston. As of the 2010 census, the city had a total population of 75,754 and was the most densely populated municipality in New England. It is also the 17th most densely populated incorporated place in...
, ultimately hired him to film six episodes of Extreme Engineering
Extreme Engineering
Extreme Engineering is a documentary television series that airs on the Discovery Channel and the Science Channel. The program features futuristic and ongoing engineering projects. As of April 2011, the show is airing its ninth season. Danny Forster first hosted the series in season 4 and has been...
, which was in its third season as a traditional, voiceover-narrated documentary series. According to Joel Olicker, president of Powderhouse, Forster was hired to be the on-camera host on the strength of his "geek chic" and his ability to talk.
Once shooting began, producers were surprised but reportedly not displeased to discover that Forster had a serious fear of heights. Discovery Channel executive producer
Executive producer
An executive producer is a producer who is not involved in any technical aspects of the film making or music process, but who is still responsible for the overall production...
Julian Hobbs explained, "We didn't want to replace voice-of-God [narrator] with physical god. We wanted to replace god with human."
Forster said of his Extreme Engineering experience, "There was no preparation. Everything was improvised. Mostly I would just walk up to people and say, 'What are you doing? Can I try it?' Then most of the time I would fail at whatever task it was, which adds comic value and also shows how incredibly skilled these workers are."
The new episodes, with Forster as its curious, enthusiastic, and knowledgeable on-camera host, were a success for the Discovery Channel, which subsequently gave Forster his own show, Build It Bigger. The first season of Build It Bigger, for which Forster traveled everywhere from New Orleans to Shanghai
Shanghai
Shanghai is the largest city by population in China and the largest city proper in the world. It is one of the four province-level municipalities in the People's Republic of China, with a total population of over 23 million as of 2010...
to Istanbul
Istanbul
Istanbul , historically known as Byzantium and Constantinople , is the largest city of Turkey. Istanbul metropolitan province had 13.26 million people living in it as of December, 2010, which is 18% of Turkey's population and the 3rd largest metropolitan area in Europe after London and...
over the course of a ten-month shoot, aired on the Discovery Channel from July to October 2007. For its second season, beginning in April 2009, Build It Bigger moved to the Science Channel, another channel owned by Discovery Communications
Discovery Communications
Discovery Communications, Inc. is an American global media and entertainment company. The company started as a single channel in 1985, The Discovery Channel. Today, DCI has global operations offering 28 network entertainment brands on more than 100 channels in more than 180 countries in 39...
. Build It Bigger quickly became the Science Channel's highest rated show.
In the hiatus between filming season one and season two of Build It Bigger, Forster filmed a miniseries called Build it Bigger: Rebuilding Greensburg. The miniseries chronicled the struggle of a small town in Kansas not just to rebuild itself after a devastating tornado, but to reinvent itself as America’s first LEED
Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design
Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design consists of a suite of rating systems for the design, construction and operation of high performance green buildings, homes and neighborhoods....
(Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design) platinum-certified, eco-town. Rebuilding Greensburg aired in November 2008 on Planet Green, a new Discovery Communications network dedicated to sustainable living. Forster also served as sustainable design correspondent for Planet Green.
In 2008 and 2009, Forster hosted the Discovery Education 3M Young Scientist Challenge.
In September 2011, executive producers Forster and Steven Spielberg
Steven Spielberg
Steven Allan Spielberg KBE is an American film director, screenwriter, producer, video game designer, and studio entrepreneur. In a career of more than four decades, Spielberg's films have covered many themes and genres. Spielberg's early science-fiction and adventure films were seen as an...
are scheduled to release, on the Discovery Channel, the film they made about the reconstruction of Ground Zero: "Rising: Rebuilding Ground Zero."
Architectural career
During his years at the Graduate School of Design, Forster worked for two summers (2004 and 2005) at Pei Cobb Freed & PartnersPei Cobb Freed & Partners
Pei Cobb Freed & Partners is an architectural firm that was founded in 1955 by I. M. Pei as I. M. Pei & Associates, in 1966 called I. M. Pei & Partners, and received its current name and organization in 1989. The founders were I. M. Pei, Henry N. Cobb, and Eason H. Leonard. Pei and Leonard retired...
, an internationally renowned architectural firm in New York City. As Forster has said, "I love doing the show, but I didn't sweat for four years not to be an architect." In 2007, while on the road filming Build It Bigger, Forster started his own architecture firm, Danny Forster Design Studio. At first restricted to Forster's laptop and an ever-changing "office" of hotel rooms, the firm is now located in Brooklyn, New York, with a full-time staff and ongoing projects in Brooklyn, Manhattan
Manhattan
Manhattan is the oldest and the most densely populated of the five boroughs of New York City. Located primarily on the island of Manhattan at the mouth of the Hudson River, the boundaries of the borough are identical to those of New York County, an original county of the state of New York...
, New Jersey
New Jersey
New Jersey is a state in the Northeastern and Middle Atlantic regions of the United States. , its population was 8,791,894. It is bordered on the north and east by the state of New York, on the southeast and south by the Atlantic Ocean, on the west by Pennsylvania and on the southwest by Delaware...
, Chicago
Chicago
Chicago is the largest city in the US state of Illinois. With nearly 2.7 million residents, it is the most populous city in the Midwestern United States and the third most populous in the US, after New York City and Los Angeles...
, and Michigan
Michigan
Michigan is a U.S. state located in the Great Lakes Region of the United States of America. The name Michigan is the French form of the Ojibwa word mishigamaa, meaning "large water" or "large lake"....
.
The firm's inaugural project was the first ever LEED Gold certified home in Northern Michigan
Michigan
Michigan is a U.S. state located in the Great Lakes Region of the United States of America. The name Michigan is the French form of the Ojibwa word mishigamaa, meaning "large water" or "large lake"....
, which was completed in 2008. The home, a lake house in Omena, Michigan, has since been featured in the Architectural Review, Architectural Record, and Traverse Magazine.
Academic career
While filming the second season of Build It Bigger, Forster began his academic career, returning to the Harvard University Graduate School of Design as a member of the faculty. He taught an upper level graduate architecture studio about sustainable design. The course, entitled "Puntacana: The Modern, the Vernacular, The Sustainable," looked at a resort in the Dominican RepublicDominican Republic
The Dominican Republic is a nation on the island of La Hispaniola, part of the Greater Antilles archipelago in the Caribbean region. The western third of the island is occupied by the nation of Haiti, making Hispaniola one of two Caribbean islands that are shared by two countries...
owned by Oscar De La Renta
Oscar de la Renta
Oscar de la Renta is one of the world's leading fashion designers. He was named to the International Best Dressed List Hall of Fame in 1973.-Career:...
, Julio Iglesias
Julio Iglesias
Julio José Iglesias de la Cueva , better known simply as Julio Iglesias, is a Spanish singer who has sold over 300 million records worldwide in 14 languages and released 77 albums. According to Sony Music Entertainment, he is one of the top 15 best selling music artists in history,...
, and labor lawyer Theodore Kheel, that has been involved in a 30-year effort to develop the island sustainably. The course considered how the resort could organize and develop sustainable housing that would not be predicated on a golf course; the student work will be published in the January 2010 Archivos de Arquitectura Antillana. Forster will teach the course in Spring 2010 at the Syracuse University
Syracuse University
Syracuse University is a private research university located in Syracuse, New York, United States. Its roots can be traced back to Genesee Wesleyan Seminary, founded by the Methodist Episcopal Church in 1832, which also later founded Genesee College...
School of Architecture.
Lectures and public appearances
Since 2006, Forster has lectured nationally and internationally on architecture, education and sustainability to audiences as large as 10,000 and as small as a fifth grade class in Northern New JerseyNew Jersey
New Jersey is a state in the Northeastern and Middle Atlantic regions of the United States. , its population was 8,791,894. It is bordered on the north and east by the state of New York, on the southeast and south by the Atlantic Ocean, on the west by Pennsylvania and on the southwest by Delaware...
. Forster was the keynote speaker at the AVEVA International Symposium for Engineering Information Technology (ISEIT) in 2006, delivered executive seminars at The Studley Commercial Real Estate Going Green Conference, and hosted the American Council of Engineering Companies' awards gala in 2007. He was the keynote speaker at the 2008 Solid Works World Expo, the largest 3-D conference in the world. That same year he keynoted Construct 2008, an architecture/engineering conference, and spoke at the Copenmind conference in Copenhagen
Copenhagen
Copenhagen is the capital and largest city of Denmark, with an urban population of 1,199,224 and a metropolitan population of 1,930,260 . With the completion of the transnational Øresund Bridge in 2000, Copenhagen has become the centre of the increasingly integrating Øresund Region...
.
Miscellany
- From 2000 to 2002, Forster performed stand-up comedy in New York City clubs such as Gotham Comedy ClubGotham Comedy ClubGotham Comedy Club is a venue for stand-up comedy in New York City. The comedy club is located on 208 West 23rd Street between Seventh and Eighth Avenues in Chelsea.Several movies and television shows have been filmed at the club...
, Stand Up New York, and Caroline's Comedy Club. - In 2001, Forster founded UrbanFilter, an Internet real-estate start-up designed to enable young people to find apartments in major cities. The company was acquired in 2002.
External links
- Danny Forster's official website
- Profile by the Science Channel