This is the 99% Invisible City.

I'm Roman Mars.

For the first time in a long time, I'm in our office in beautiful downtown, Oakland,

California.

A couple people actually still work here.

Two people can occupy the space without violating any social distancing guidelines.

There's two entrances.

There's two different bathrooms.

There's two different kitchens.

I usually work at home, but today I'm here because our first book, The 99% Invisible

City, has just been released into the world.

Since it's a guide to the city with stories and histories of the seemingly mundane things

around you, my co-author, Kirk Olsett and I are going to use it to explore all the everyday

objects right outside our own headquarters.

But before we even leave the office, just looking at the window, there's a brick building

next door.

And the tops of its walls are dotted with a bunch of square metal plates.

These anchor plates are a few inches across.

They're pretty thin and they're spun in a bunch of different orientations.

So even though they're painted to blend in with the brick, once you notice them, they

kind of stand out.

You could think of them like giant washers with bolts or rods tying them into the bricks

...