Penelope Dean is an architectural theorist and critic whose research focuses on contemporary architectural culture with an emphasis on the exchanges between architecture and the allied design fields. She is currently an Assistant Professor at the University of Illinois at Chicago's College of Architecture, Design, and the Arts and is the founding editor of Flat Out, a fascinating new independent magazine of architecture and design criticism. In this episode, Penelope and I talk about the concept behind Flat Out as well as her own background moving from practice to academia, audiences for design criticism, and how to inject more humor into the critical discourse. Links from this episode can be found at scratchingthesurface.fm.