250 If You Build It

Cheesy and Fondue talk about cheese and architecture. We talk about several buildings shaped like cheese graters. We learn about a library that looks like a giant slice of Emmental, a chain of cheese-shaped retail stores and a yellow sculpture in Melbourne called the Cheese Stick. And of course, we tell a very cheesy joke!

Find us at www.justcheesy.com and everywhere you enjoy social media! https://linktr.ee/JustCheesy

Why is cheddar the most dangerous of all the cheeses? Because it is very sharp!

Show Notes

https://www.roadsideamerica.com/tip/54704

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/122_Leadenhall_Street

https://www.londonontheground.com/post/how-the-cheesegrater-got-its-wedge-shape

https://knowyourlondon.wordpress.com/2018/11/30/leadenhall-building-cheesegrater/

https://adelaideaz.com/articles/Adelaide's%20SAHMRI%20'cheese%20grater

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/South_Australian_Health_and_Medical_Research_Institute

https://architectureau.com/articles/beyond-parametricism-transforming-the-city-with-sustainable-design/

https://www.atlasobscura.com/places/eplf-learning-center

https://www.architecturalrecord.com/articles/8237-rolex-learning-center-by-sanaa

https://www.bangordailynews.com/2019/01/09/news/a-cheese-shaped-building-a-missing-giant-mouse-and-the-maine-town-that-fondly-recalls-both/

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Cheese_Stick

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Episode Transcript

(00:02):
Just Cheesy the podcastpresented by Just Cheesy Productions.
Hi there. I'm your host, Fondue
Cheesy. Here
in this week's episode, we'retalking all about cheese and architecture.
We talk about buildings shapedlike cheese graters. We learn about
a library that looks like aslice of cheese, a chain of cheese

(00:24):
shaped retail stores, and ayellow sculpture called the Cheese
Stick. And of course, we'regonna tell a very cheesy joke. Tuned
for episode if youf Build iton Just cheesy the podcast. 122 Leadenhall
street in the city of Londonis the most famous cheese named building
in the world. According toWikipedia and multiple architectural

(00:47):
sources. It is a 225 meter skyscraper.
Wow.
It was designed by RichardRogers of Rogers Sturk harbor and
Partners. And do you know whatit's called?
No.
The cheese grater.
The cheese grater.
And it's called that because aman named Peter Rees was shown model
of the proposed buildingduring the design phase.
Okay.

(01:07):
He said he could imagine hiswife using it to grate parmesan.
And that's how it got itsname. According to Londonontheground.com
though, there's a real reasonfor this shape.
There is.
It has a tapered wedge profile.
Okay.
And this is because of St.Paul's Cathedral.
Really.
Since 1938, a series ofprotected viewing corridors have
existed in London. And thisprevents new buildings from obstructing

(01:31):
key sight lines to St. Paul'sDome. According to Landing 42, each
floor of the building isexactly 750 millimeters narrower
on one side than the floorbelow. And this creates a slope that
clears the protected sight line.
Wow.
And it looks like they'rehaving fun nicknaming these buildings.
There's another building therethat has what they call steps and

(01:52):
rotations. And they call itthe Jenga. You know, like the game.
And there's another one acrossfrom the greater called the Scalpel
because of its angular shapes.Apparently these cheese graters are
all over the place.
Yeah.
And London is not the onlycity with a cheese grater.
It's not?
According to Adelaide,Adelaide AZ and the building's own
information page. The SouthAustralian Health and Medical Research

(02:12):
Institute in Adelaide openedin 2013 and the locals immediately
started calling it the cheesegrater. It has triangulated diagrid
facade. I've never heard ofthat. With more than 6,000 triangular
windows. Each one is hooded inmetal against the sun, with the depth
of the hood changing as youmove up the curve of the building.
Wow.
This building costs $200million, and it houses about 700

(02:37):
researchers. And there's.There's a bunker in the basement
holding South Australia's only cyclotron.
Yeah. Of course.
According to the architects atWoods Bagot, the facade was not inspired
by a cheese grater.
It wasn't.
They say it was inspired bythe skin of a pine cone. Oh, it's
been called a whole bunch of things.
It has.
It's been called the pinecone, of course, the spaceship and

(02:58):
the prickly pear. But thecheese grater name actually was the
one that stuck. Of course,there's another one, and this one
is at Harvard.
It is.
According to Fast Company, thescience and engineering complex in
Boston's Allston neighborhood.Neighborhood is wrapped in a metal
screen made of 14,000 panelsof precisely cut stainless steel.
14,000.
They say it looks exactly likea giant cheese grater. The facade

(03:22):
is actually not decorative.It's a heat and light control system
with no moving parts. Thepanels were modeled to block the
sun in the summer and let thesun in the winter in. This helps
to cut the building's heatingand cooling costs.
Nice.
The architect was StephenBenesh, and according to Fast Company,
his goal was to keep the suncompletely out of the building on
the hottest 200 days of the year.

(03:43):
Wow.

(04:33):
The $1 billion science andengineering complex is not a sponsor,
but if it was, the ad would goright here. According to Atlas Obscura,
from the air, there is abuilding that looks like a giant
slice of Emmentaler cheese,and it's called the Rolex Learning
Center. The building wasdesigned by architects from Japan

(04:54):
in the Tokyo based studio s an a a.
Okay.
The building opened in 2010,and it houses a library, student
workspaces, offices, arestaurant, and a cafe. And it's
spread over 215,000 square feet.
Wow.
According to the ArchitecturalRecord, its rectangular form is punctuated
by a dozen or so variouslysized holes called patios. The patios

(05:18):
bring daylight to all areas ofthe building, and larger ones serve
as entrances. According to theTumblr architecture account Consortia,
the concrete was poured over aprecise framework of sloping geometries
created from 1400 individualmolds. Atlas Obscurus says the building
was partially financed bydonations from Rolex, Nestle, Novartis,

(05:39):
and other Swiss companies. TheWorld Architect site says that there's
critics that describe thebuilding as lasagna or Swiss cheese.
They say the architects callthe holes patios, but they say everyone
who's seen it from above hasthe same thought, and it Looks like
Swiss cheese.
Yeah, it does.
In New England in the 1970s,there was a chain of retail shops
built in the shape of giantSwiss cheese wheels. According to

(06:02):
the Bangor Daily News and theBerkshire Eagle, the stores were
circular. They were paintedyellow with black spots to resemble
a wheel of Swiss cheese. Eachone was 9ft tall and 40ft in diameter,
and they were made primarilyof wood. Each store had a six foot
tall mascot on the roof, agiant mouse named Chunky.
Chunky.
And he was shown eating awedge of cheese. Of course, according

(06:24):
to the Bangor Daily News,students from Ellis Worth High School
in Maine stole the mouse fromtheir local cheese house every single
year of crazy. And of course,they put it on the roof of their
school as a prank. Accordingto a former history teacher quoted
in the article, authoritiesregarded it as harmless. The principal
would call the owner of thestore every year and say, we have
your mouse. Sadly, they saythat the stores were eventually put

(06:47):
out of business by big boxgrocery stores that had specialty
cheese sections in their deli.
Oh, no.
As of 2019, two of thedistinctly styled buildings remained.
And as of 2025, according toRoadside America, the shops are closed.
They do have a few pics ofwhat it looked like, and to me, it
looks awesome. It was a roundbuilding with a triangle wedged V

(07:08):
shape that served as the entry.
Nice.
According to Wikipedia, theMelbourne International Gateway is
a large sculptural work.
It is.
And it sits over the CityLinktoll road in the suburb of Parkville.
Okay.
This is on the main routebetween Melbourne Airport and the
city center.
Right.
It was designed byarchitecture firm Denton, Corker
Marshall, and it opened in 2000.

(07:28):
Okay.
It's a yellow steel beamapproximately 70 meters in length,
accompanied by 39 smaller red beams.
Okay.
And according to Wikipedia, itwas inspired by the Victorian Gold
rush of the 1850s. The redbeams are supposed to represent the
wheat industry.
Okay.
Also, according to Wikipedia,no one knows it for the gold rush.

(07:49):
They don't.
They call it the cheese stick.
I'm ready for a joke fondue.
Okay. Why do architects keepmaking greater shaped buildings?
Oh, I don't know. Why?
Because they want thebuildings to look sharp. Get it?
Yeah, I get it.
Oh, I like that one. And Ithink it was a little bit cheesy.

(08:12):
Thanks for listening to JustCheesy, the podcast episode. If you
build it.
Thank you.
If you enjoyed this episode,you can listen to more just like
it on justcheesy.com orwherever you get your podcast.
And remember, stay cheesy everybody