Practice Disrupted by Practice of Architecture (Evelyn Lee)

Episode 013: Architecture, And: Entrepreneurship

How are individuals using their training in architecture to explore diverse career paths?

Guest: 

Moe Amaya, Co-Founder of Monograph

Moe Amaya is the Co-Founder of Monograph, a San Francisco-based software company revolutionizing the future in how architectural projects are managed. Born in Arizona, Amaya discovered his passion for design and technology at an early age. Building a bridge between his technological and creative sides, Amaya pursues his career with innovation, organization, and enthusiasm.

While garnering in-depth experience in building tools for startups and architecture firms, and expertise in custom content management systems, Amaya discovered a void for an intuitive cloud-based project management application that was tailored to the industry. He co-founded Monograph with the mission to help architects and engineers oversee projects in an integrated, user-friendly, and ever-evolving interface.

Amaya graduated with a Bachelor of Science in Design from Arizona State University and a Masters of Architecture in Computation from Massachusetts Institute of Technology, where he gained profound experience as a frontend engineer. Upon graduation, Amaya, along with his roommate, Alex Dixon, started a digital agency building websites and interactive tools for architects. Soon after meeting Robert Yuen, the three collaborated and formally became partners at Dixon & Moe – the agency from which Monograph was born.

Learn more about Monograph:

Founded in 2019, Monograph offers firm management software designed to help architects and engineers oversee projects, timesheets, and forecasts in one, integrated and simple interface. The software is deeply rooted in the founders’ experiences in building tools for architecture firms, where they noticed a recurring challenge—architects and project managers were discontent with their existing and non-existent management software. Seeing this void for a simple cloud-based project management application, the co-founders set out to create Monograph, the solution for architects, designers, and engineers to manage their firms more effectively and transparently. As the creators of a software designed by architects for architects, their company is on a mission to empower and arm the professionals who create our buildings and cities with better tools. 

Learn more about Architechie:

We're an intrepid band of architects now working in the tech industry and helping others do the same. We host events, workshops, and throw a killer happy hour.

1. Architechie is first and foremost people.

2. Our unconventional backgrounds are our best asset.

3. Everyone has a different path, and that's a good thing.

4. Together we make up a living wiki: ask us anything.

5. Networking is paramount. So come to our next event.

Show Links:

https://monograph.io/

https://dixonandmoe.com/

https://architechie.org/

Episode 072: Finding Your Voice as a Leader

What lessons on leadership and career growth can we learn from Practice Disrupted co-hosts Evelyn Lee and Je’Nen Chastain?

To celebrate the last day of Women’s History Month, Evelyn and Je’Nen sit down to have an open and honest discussion about their career paths as industry leaders. They’ll discuss stepping into leadership responsibilities as emerging professionals in the AIA, challenges they faced in practice, and mentors who helped them along the way. Learn more about the experiences that have informed their work as well as their diverse contributions to the profession. Across four seasons of Practice Disrupted, Evelyn and Je’Nen continue to encourage individuals to share their personal stories on leadership to elevate more voices in practice.

Hosts:

Evelyn Lee, FAIA, NOMA, is the first-ever Senior Experience Designer at Slack Technologies, Founder of the Practice of Architecture, and Co-Host of the podcast, Practice Disrupted. Lee seamlessly integrates her business and architecture background with a qualitative and quantitative focus to build better experiences for an organization's employees, clients, and guests.

She is widely published, wrote a monthly column for Contract magazine for over 3 years, and now is a frequent contributor to Architect Magazine. Evelyn has received numerous industry awards including the 2016 40 Under 40 award for Building Design + Construction and the 2014 AIA National Young Architects Award. She recently served as the first-ever female Treasurer to the AIA National Board in 2020-2021.

Je’Nen M. Chastain, MBA, Assoc. AIA is the founder of Apostrophe Consulting, a practice focused on helping architects and next-gen leaders strengthen their teams and businesses. In addition to consulting with firm leaders on practice management issues, she mentors architects on career development, leadership, and strategy. She specializes in facilitating conversations that engage multi-generational teams and has designed, developed, and presented dozens of training programs that inspire next-gen leaders. She is currently working on several in-house training solutions with award-winning firms that provide support to their teams.

Je’Nen is a co-host on the podcast Practice Disrupted, a show that explores the evolution of architectural practice through conversations with industry thought leaders. Through this work, she’s transformed her expertise in marketing and communication into a passion for telling the stories of leaders who are moving the practice of architecture forward. Common themes discussed on the show include business strategy, operations, technology, cultural shifts, entrepreneurship, and professional development.

Je'Nen earned both her MBA and BArch, and has trained in architecture. She has received several awards for her leadership in the profession, including the 2017 AIA Associates Award.

📍 Show Links:

Practice of Architecture

Evelyn Lee

Apostrophe...

Episode 050: TRXL Crossover: Calling on Architects to Embrace Change

Why is change necessary in the practice of architecture?

To celebrate our 50th episode of Practice Disrupted we’ve teamed up with fellow podcaster and Gābl Media content creator Evan Troxel to bring you a special crossover episode. Evan is an industry-leading design and technology expert and licensed architect in California. Since launching his newest podcast TRXL in 2020, he has interviewed over 50 thought leaders to discuss how technology is changing our profession. 

From the very start of this podcast, we identified technology as one external force disrupting the practice of architecture. This pivotal moment in time has redefined the way architects practice including the way they draft, model, communicate, and build.

Today we’re talking about change and our collective work across two podcasts to move the profession forward. We’re asking architects to embrace change and we’ll focus on technology as a driver of change, the limitations of architecture studios to implement change, and our shared desire to see this industry evolve.

Guest:

Evan Troxel is a licensed architect in California and Tect's architectural community director. With over 25 years of architectural design and project experience, he strives to better the architectural community in meaningful ways.

Evan is the author of A.R.E. Hacks and also co-hosts a widely recognized architecture and design podcast called Archispeak. In 2020 he launched a new podcast called TRXL where he is joined by guests from the “architechie” community.

When not pushing the profession forward, he’s likely out in the mountains recharging his batteries. An avid mountain biker, rock climber, photography enthusiast, and general adventurer, he’s always searching for his next outdoor experience.

Show Links:

🎧 Listen to TRXL

🎧 Listen to ArchiSpeak

📍 Check out Tect

🔍 Learn about Gābl Media

💻 Learn about our podcast partner Monograph:

Monograph is the cloud-based practice operations solution built for architects by architects. It is easy to use, beautifully designed, and helped firms streamline operations by empowering them to see project and firm-wide financial health in a single tool.  Plan your projects with schedules, budgets, roles, and team members. Track a project’s financial health with their unique MoneyGantt which takes timesheet data and makes it simple to see whether you are on track or not.  Use firm-wide revenue forecasts to make strategic decisions. With Monograph, you never have to make a decision in the dark again. 👉 Visit Monograph now.

💻 Learn about our podcast partner Twinmotion:

Twinmotion is a real-time rendering solution used by...

Episode 126: Redesigning Professional Practice

How are Professional Practice professors redesigning their coursework to support architecture students entering an industry in transition?

Tune in as we kick off a NEW! podcast series centered on Professional Practice. Karen Williams from the University of Oregon School of Architecture & Environment and Nilou Vakil from the University of Kansas School of Architecture and Design join us to discuss their experiences teaching Professional Practice and the potential for this course to evolve and expand. 

We’ll introduce the 2022 NCARB Scholars in Professional Practice program — an annual, multi-day professional development intensive dedicated to ensuring that Professional Practice educators have the resources for students to succeed. Karen and Nilou share their thoughts on expanding education to support future architects, illustrate their individual successes in curriculum approach, and detail what questions students should ask of professors to gain further knowledge.

“How can we talk about the ethics of what we do within the framework of cultural competencies? That is what gets us jobs or brings repeated clients back. People start to trust you to design something for them that serves them, instead of being sort of an egoistic process. I think that part of it is missing from the conversation of business and Professional Practice.” - Nilou Vakil

Tune in next week for a recap of the 2023 NCARB Scholars of Professional Practice.

Guests:

Nilou Vakil, AIA, LEED AP BD+C  is the principal at in situ DESIGN and an Associate Professor of Architecture at KU School of Architecture and Design. Nilou has a personal connection to community involvement in shaping the built environment — she witnessed neighborhood destruction in the Middle East during an eight-year war. With over two decades of experience in the field, she is an expert in community-based architecture, housing, and urban design. As an associate professor, Nilou leads design studios, Ethics and Leadership in Professional Practice, and research seminars focusing on community-based partnerships and service learning. Her contributions to academia and architecture have earned her recognition as one of the top 25 most admired architecture professors by Design Intelligence in 2018, and she received the Faculty Fellow award in the KU Honors Program in 2020. 

Karen Williams, AIA, NCARB, LEED AP is a Project Manager at PIVOT Architecture in Eugene, OR. She is consistently working to educate people about the inner benefits of the architecture community and working toward a more equitable practice. She is a Career Instructor at the University of Oregon where she teaches Professional Practice and Practicum. As a means to be a professional example, Karen reviews architecture programs with NAAB, serves as a member of the Eugene River Guides Board, is a member of the Editorial Committee for ProPEL, and serves as a member of the research and writing team for the AIA Equitable Practice Guides: Justice and Education. 

📍 Show Links:  

Episode 145: The Psychology of Architecture

How can we use architecture and design to address loneliness, promote well-being, and foster inclusive and supportive work environments in the field?

On this episode of Practice Disrupted, I am joined by Erin Peavey, an architect with a background in psychology, to explore the importance of connection, the power of healing, and the role of mental health in the culture of architecture workspaces. Erin is the Health & Well-being Design Leader at HKS and believes in incorporating research on health, well-being, and community engagement into design initiatives. 

First, Erin shares her journey from studying social work to architecture and highlights key takeaways from her HKS report on loneliness, titled “Connecting in Strange Times: The Antidote to Loneliness.” Erin advocates for inclusivity and diversity in the field of architecture and addresses the lack of consideration for diverse perspectives in design while providing practical solutions. 

Then, Erin touches on the forgotten aspects of designing for people with disabilities and discusses how to prevent burnout and overwork in the field. Erin shares her hopes for a shift towards prioritizing well-being and support for co-workers over consistent productivity.

I hope that in architecture, we recognize that because we are creating spaces for people outside of the norm, we need to embody those people in the profession. When you think about who is drawn to architecture, there are heavy feelers, sensors, and people with heightened perception. We need all of the variety to bring in those perspectives and that value. - Erin Peavey

To wrap up the episode, Erin suggests that firm leaders need to encourage their teams to create healthy spaces. She also emphasizes the value of giving hype and praise to our co-workers. Plus, Erin invites you always to seek areas for self-improvement while giving grace for imperfection and failure. 

Tune in next week for an episode about design crises, past and future.

Guest:

Erin Peavey

Erin Peavey is an Architect and a Health & Well-being Design Leader at HKS. Erin’s passion for

creating environments that support health, happiness, and well-being drives her evidence-based, user-centered approach to design. In her leadership role at HKS, she helps integrate research and practice to advance design for health, combat loneliness, and foster resilience across the globe.

Erin is dedicated to giving back to the design for health community as a Cornell Industry Scholar, an editorial board member of the Health Environments Research and Design Journal, a Fellow with the Centre for Conscious Design, and co-lead of the Foundation for Social Connection’s taskforce on the built environment.

Erin was named Best Under 40 in Architecture for Health by the American Institute for Architects (2015), 40 Under 40 by Building Design and Construction (2020), a Top Young Professional by Engineering News Record (2021), and a Rising Star by Healthcare Design Magazine (2019).  

She delights in sharing knowledge and makes insights accessible to a wide audience. Erin uses her platform and network to advance understanding of how to design places and lives that catalyze mental well-being and belonging.  Erin’s work focusing on the power of place to help us live happier, healthier, more connected lives is featured on BBC, NBC-Texas Today, Psychology Today, TEDx, SXSW, Metropolis, NPR/KERA, Architect Magazine, Healthline, her own podcast, Shared Space.

📍...

Episode 074: Exploring the Evolution of Computational Design

What should architects understand about the influence of computational design in practice?

Technology has prompted a massive change in the way we practice architecture. This week we’ve invited Andrew Heumann to the show to help us take a deep dive into the world of computational design and coding. This episode aims to bridge the gap between those new to the niche of computational design and those embedded in the community. Andrew will share his perspective on the evolution of the digital tools that help architects create, the role of coding in architectural design, his work at Hypar, and trends in computational design.

Hypar:

Building technology visionaries have spent 70 years telling us we could generate building designs, but instead, the software industry helped us draw walls. It's time for AEC to do what the software industry has done for 40 years — capture and share its expertise to accelerate the improvement of an entire sector, not just individual projects.

With Hypar, anyone can generate, visualize and analyze buildings to make better decisions faster. You can easily add your own processes and expertise so you don’t start from square one with each new project.

Guest:

Andrew Heumann is a software developer at Hypar, with a passion for building the next generation of software tools for designers. He has previously worked as an automation researcher at WeWork, and before that as an architectural designer at Woods Bagot and NBBJ architects. He has written more than 20 plug-ins for 3D modeling software like Rhino and Revit, including the popular "Human" and "Human UI" plugins for Grasshopper. Outside of his professional work, Andrew is a generative artist, working with data, algorithms, geometry, and machines to create rich visual abstractions that engage and challenge the limits and affordances of digital media. Andrew has studied both architecture and computer science and has lectured and taught seminars at Columbia GSAPP, Yale University, Princeton University, and the California College of the Arts. His work has been published in Wallpaper* magazine, the International Journal of Architectural Computing, CLOG journal, and presented at conferences including ACADIA, SIMAUD, Autodesk University, the Design Modelling Symposium, and the AEC Technology Symposium.

📍 Show Links:

Andrew Heumann

Hypar

Andrew on Twitter @andrewheumann

📚 Continue Learning:

<ATN> #26 What's All The Hype About Hypar W/ ANDREW HEUMANN

TRXL 014: 'A DEGREE OF NUCLEAR', WITH ANDREW HEUMANN

💻 Learn about our podcast partners:

👉 Monograph is the cloud-based practice operations solution built for architects by architects. It is easy to use, beautifully designed, and helped firms streamline operations by empowering them to see project and firm-wide financial health in a single tool.  Plan your projects with schedules, budgets, roles, and team members. Track a project’s financial health with their unique MoneyGantt which takes timesheet data and makes it simple to see whether you are on track or not.  Use firm-wide...

Episode 089: Entrepreneurship in Practice: Taking Risks to Create Value

What does it take to launch, build, and grow an architecture firm?

This week we interview the founding principal of brick. Rob Zirkle and the managing director of business management, Lynn Chock. Founded in 2010, brick. has been on a trajectory of growth since its inception. A nimble team grounded in the belief that design, technology, and service are indelibly linked, we discuss the company’s growth from launch to the present day.  

“Friendly, unconventional, can-do architects”, Bricksters are guided by their mission to: 

• outsmart convention. 
• create value. 
• design like you mean it. 

Learn more about how they are redesigning the business model of architecture.

Guests:

Rob Zirkle founding principal at brick brings a strong record of successful and recognized design excellence to a wide variety of project types in both architecture, interiors, and urban design. Rob brings a sensitivity to the details of design that make memorable architecture transcend the everyday, but he is also laser focused on creating value for clients, the cities where he works and for the many stakeholders whose experiences are shaped by the firm’s designs.

As managing director of business management, Lynn Chock knows that quality + efficiency + happiness = an awesome bottom line. She leverages her extensive experience in HR, accounting, and business management to help brick and its talented staff thrive. For Lynn, a successful firm maximizes value for its clients and the people who live, work, and learn in the buildings they design. Over the last nine years Lynn has worked with brick behind the scenes, constantly improving financial performance and business workflows; finding ways to increase overall productivity and boost the happiness quotient for brick’s most valuable asset: its people.

📍 Show Links: 

brick.

👉 Follow brick. on social:

IG: @brick.inc

LinkedIn: brick.

Twitter: @brick_arch

📚 Continue Learning:

PD 069: A Case Study on Leadership: Expanding Established Design Practices to New Locations

brick: Redesigning The Studio Through Communication (w/ Lynn Chock, Je'Nen Chastain)

📍 Follow Practice Disrupted on Social:

Facebook | Instagram | LinkedIn | Pinterest | Twitter

Episode 005: Coaching is the New Mentoring

What are new ways we can think about mentoring in design practice?

Guest:

Dr. Shannon Arvizu, Epic Teams

Epic Teams seeks to develop the next generation of team leaders to solve today's most pressing challenges. Dr. Shannon Arvizu is an organizational sociologist who has 15 years of research, training and consulting experience. She has worked with Fortune 500 companies, startups, and foundations to help fast-growing organizations transform managers into epic team leaders.

Show Links: 

Epic Teams https://www.epicteams.co/

Agile Leaders https://www.agileleaders.co/

Episode 138: New Realities: Employee Wellness and Organizational Culture in Design Firms

How do organizational dynamics tie to social and emotional well-being at work?

We sit down with Cameron MacAllister Group thought leaders, Saskia Dennis-van Dijl and Annelise Pitts, who are actively advancing Justice, Equity, Diversity, and Inclusion (EDI) inside of AEC firms and across the industry at large. On this episode of Practice Disrupted, we dive into the results and observations from their co-published report, “New Realities: Employee Wellness and Organizational Culture in Design Firms.”

First, Saskia and Annelise share how the project was born from post-pandemic concerns about employee mental health and productivity. We learn about the research’s Competing Values framework used to understand how organizations define effectiveness across two axis points.. From there, we discuss specific data points within the report around burnout, engagement, well-being, and connection to colleagues — and the specific impact those results have on the industry, resulting in increased stress and more responsibility. Saskia and Annelise also point us to what firms are doing well and ways for managers and leaders to maintain sight of the bigger purpose.  

“We think that culture is driven by the work rather than all the other behaviors that happen around doing the work. We have to consider the wellness of the people who work for us at every scale. What are we doing to support individual wellness?” - Saskia Dennis-van Dijl

To wrap up the episode, we discuss how systemic issues hinder workplace wellness. We also talk about the need for creativity when designing and leading AEC practices — to create an action plan that aligns firm and team culture, organizational strategy, and work-life policy and practices.

Tune in next week for an episode about LeaderFlow. 

Guests:

Saskia Dennis-van Dijl, Principal Consultant at Cameron MacAllister Group advises clients in the areas of marketing, practice management, leadership development, and strategic planning. She counsels in-house marketing principals and senior marketing staff on best practices, marketing trends, and prospective clients and also leads training workshops for architects, engineers, and related professionals throughout the United States. Saskia was a founding member of the 2014 Equity by Design research project sponsored by AIA San Francisco and now works with companies around the nation on culture and policy development to achieve goals of diversity and inclusion in all aspects. 

Annelise Pitts, AIA, Associate at Shepley Bulfinch is a passionate designer, facilitator, and advocate for justice, equity, diversity and inclusion in the built environment. As an architect and associate with Shepley Bulfinch, she works with clients nationally, focused primarily on higher education. In her role as a design strategist with LENS, a design strategy, research, and innovation practice group within Shepley Bulfinch, Annelise offers participatory visioning and planning, change management, and organizational development services, collaborating with clients to develop holistic responses to purpose-aligned issues at the heart of the design experience  — sustainability & resilience, health and wellness, and justice, Equity, Diversity, and Inclusion.

📍 Show Links:  

Learn more about Cameron MacAllister Group 

Read Cameron MacAllister Group’s Employee Wellness

Episode 080: Season 4 Finale with Madame Architect

Why is visibility of female leadership important in the profession of architecture?

While the seeming lack of women in architecture has been well-documented, women are, and have been, making waves in all levels of the field. Madame Architect is an online magazine celebrating the extraordinary women that shape our world, a magazine designed to break the architect’s mold and show young women entering the industry the myriad choices they have in crafting a dynamic, meaningful, and interesting career.

In this week’s season 4 finale, we’ve invited senior editor Amy Stone to join us in an interview.

Moderator:

Amy Stone is an architect, a mom of three, and is currently pursuing an MBA at Georgia Tech's Scheller College of Business. Amy is a design manager at Gensler and is dedicated to creating sustainable and equitable environments. Her professional work experience includes a variety of building types, including housing, mixed-use, adaptive-reuse, offices, higher education, and deep-green sustainable projects including the largest Living Building in the Southeast.

Amy is a contributing interviewer and editor and is dedicated to elevating the voice and visibility of women in architecture and design. She studied architecture for her Bachelors's and Masters's at Georgia Tech. She is based in Atlanta. Follow Amy at @_amystone.

Co-Hosts:

Evelyn M. Lee, FAIA, MBA, MPA is a licensed architect in the state of California, with over 15 years of experience working with individuals and companies that are looking to reshape their future. She is the founder of Practice of Architecture, the first-ever Senior Experience Designer at Slack Technologies, and the first female Treasurer to AIA National‘s Board of Directors.

She is widely published, wrote a monthly column for Contract magazine for over 3 years, and now is a frequent contributor to Architect Magazine. Evelyn has received numerous industry awards including the 2016 40 Under 40 award for Building Design + Construction and the 2014 AIA National Young Architects Award. She currently is a candidate for AIA National First VP 23/President 24 and most recently served as the first-ever female Treasurer to the AIA National Board in 2020-2021.

Evelyn has been a featured Keynote Speaker, Invited Guest, Panelist, and Moderator at national design and architecture conferences including AIA National Convention, Dwell on Design, and Women in Green. Her topics focus on developing knowledge leadership, organizational change management, capacity building, stakeholder engagement, and strategic approaches to put design thinking into practice.

Evelyn has nearly 20 years working with individuals, organizations, and...

Episode 037: Lessons from the Class of 2020

What can we learn about navigating uncertainty from graduates of the class of 2020?

2020 was unlike any year. This week we sit down with three talented, emerging leaders from the class of 2020 to hear their journey. We’ll revisit their last semester in the studio, discuss Zoom graduations, and the exhausting process that led them to landing jobs. 

We hope that their lessons learned will inspire others. We also hope that firm leaders will listen to these stories and gain a deeper understanding of the challenges our newest graduates entering the profession have been facing.

Guests:

Alison Katz received a Bachelor of Architecture from Carnegie Mellon University in May of 2020 with a minor in Social and Political History. She is currently working as a Design Associate for buildingcommunityWORKSHOP (a Texas based nonprofit community design center) in Houston. She is interested in the intersection of community based design, sustainability, and politics, and is dedicated to exploring ways to use design tools within the built environment to create a more equitable society for marginalized and historically disenfranchised people.

Haley Evans graduated with a Masters in Architecture from Washington University in St. Louis in May of 2020. In 2018 she received a Bachelor of Science in Architecture from Bowling Green State University. She is currently working as an Urban Designer at H3 Studio, a design, research, and planning firm. She has always steered her practice and studies in a way that integrates architecture, graphic design, and urban design. She is passionate about sustainability and advocates that untraditional design approaches are necessary to create a better and more just future of the build environment.   

Kyra Stark received her Bachelor of Architecture from Auburn University in May of 2020. She currently lives in Seattle, Washington and works at third place design co-operative. Kyra became interested in community-engaged design and affordable housing during her thesis year at Auburn University's design-build program, Rural Studio. Kyra is also passionate about education and leadership, which stems from her time as Treasurer and President of Auburn University’s American Institute of Architecture Students (“AIAS") Chapter, as well as serving on the AIAS National Board of Directors as the South Quad Director. Kyra believes that we all have a role to play in creating a more healthy, sustainable, and equitable future.

Show Links:

buildingcommunityWORKSHOP

H3 Studio

third place design co-operative

AIAS

💻 Learn about our podcast partner Monograph:

Monograph is the cloud-based practice operations solution built for architects by architects. It is easy to use, beautifully designed, and helped firms streamline operations by empowering them to see project and firm-wide financial health in a single tool.  Plan your projects with schedules, budgets, roles, and team members. Track a project’s financial health with their...

Replay: 2022 AIA Whitney M. Young Jr. Honor Award

RIDING THE VORTEX

What lessons on architecture, practice, and change can we learn from AIA Whitney M. Young Jr. Honor Award Recipients Kathryn Prigmore, Kathy Dixon, Katherine Williams, and Melissa Daniel?

Named for civil rights leader Whitney M. Young Jr., the AIA Whitney M. Young Jr. Honor Award distinguishes an architect or architectural organization that embodies social responsibility and actively addresses a relevant issue, such as affordable housing, inclusiveness, or universal access. Architects and design leaders Kathryn Tyler Prigmore, FAIA; Kathy Denise Dixon, FAIA; Katherine Williams, AIA; and Melissa R. Daniel, Assoc. AIA are the winners of this year’s award for their leadership in advancing educational programming to support and increase the number of people of color licensed to practice architecture in the U.S.

According to the American Institute of Architects, “The number of practicing African-American architects had been a stagnant 2% in recent decades. In the early 1990s, there were just 1,800 licensed African-American architects in the country, and only 30 of them were women. As of the summer of 2021, those numbers have grown to 2,435 and 533, respectively, and VORTEX has been a major catalyst in the 254% growth in African-American women architects.”

This episode includes the stories of the VORTEX collaborators, as well as a candid discussion about their careers, what inspires them, and their work to build this program.

Guests:

Kathryn Prigmore, FAIA, NOMAC, NCARB, LEED AP BD+C, CDT is an architect, educator, and design practice leader with an inimitable understanding of the dynamics that impact the management of firms from the perspective of an architect, academic, and regulator. She has over 40 years of design and management experience for award-winning architectural projects of a wide range of sizes, types and delivery methods executed for private and public clients within diverse practice environments. Her academic leadership includes teaching experience in sustainable design. As an award-winning strategic thinker and planner, she is also a leader in regulatory issues and professional ethics. Kathryn is skilled at growing staff into leaders. 

Kathy Denise Dixon was born in Baltimore and grew up in Harford County, Maryland. She is a graduate of Howard University School of Architecture and attended UCLA matriculating with a Master's degree in Urban Planning in 1993. Kathy has been a licensed architect since 1998 and started the firm K Dixon Architecture, PLLC in 2003. She acquired legacy firm Walton Madden Cooper Robinson Poness in 2016. Kathy is a past president of the National Organization of Minority Architects and was elevated to Fellow in the American Institute of Architects in 2017.  She is also the co-author of the book titled “The Business of Architecture: Your Guide to a Financially Successful Firm” published in December 2017.

 Katherine Williams, AIA, NOMA, LEED AP is a licensed architect in Northern Virginia and currently a Senior Project Manager at a DC university. Her career path includes work in traditional architecture firms, community development, and managing commercial construction for a general contractor. Katherine has written extensively about the architecture profession, diversity in the industry, and community development. She has served as editor for multiple publications and was the NOMA magazine editor from 2009-2014. She writes at katherinerw.com and is publisher/editor for

Episode 097: EntreArchitect Annual Meeting Recap

What topics are important to small firm owners?

In November 2022, the EntreArchitect Community came together for the very first time in Austin, Texas. This active and growing online community launched in 2012, bringing together a global community of small firm entrepreneur architects. On any given day, you can jump into the EntreArchitect Community Facebook group and see small firm owners sharing real-world advice, mentorship, and collaborating across time zones to support one another.

In this episode, we’ll document our experience participating in this first-of-its-kind event.

Featured guests:

Bolanle Williams-Olley, Mancini Duffy

Katelyn Parker, Bungalow Roots

Jennifer Kretschmer, J. Kretschmer Architect

Randy Wilburn, Zweig Group

Robert Yuen, Monograph

Mark R. LePage, EntreArchitect

A special thank you to the EntreArchitect musicians featured in this episode:

Dave Lockhart - Lead Guitar/Vocals

Teigen Eilertsen - Guitar/Vocals

Jennifer Kretschmer - Ukelele/Vocals

James Polk - Mandolin/Vocals (of Rough Draft Hattiesburg)

📍 Show Links: 

The EntreArchitect Community Annual Meeting

Join the EntreArchitect Community on Facebook

📚 Continue Learning:

Participate in daily learning conversations with Context & Clarity

Practice Disrupted Episode 056: Leading with Finance & Entrepreneurship featuring Bolanle Williams-Olley

📍 Follow Practice Disrupted on Social:

Facebook | Instagram | LinkedIn | Pinterest | Twitter

Episode 026: Climate Action Through Entrepreneurship

How are architects using their training to fight climate change?

The team at cove.tool is fighting climate change by helping architects, engineers, contractors and developers use data-driven design through automation and cost optimization. They lead by example by making science and transparency central while pushing the boundaries.

Founder, Patrick Chopson joins us to discuss his journey into entrepreneurship and his pursuit to help solve the climate crisis through the use of design, technology, and science. 

Cove.tool is a building design platform for intelligent performance. It is streamlined to automate analysis that helps architects, engineers, and contractors achieve energy, COVID occupancy, daylight, glare, radiation, water, and embodied carbon targets while reducing construction cost.

Guest:

Focusing on the crossover between architecture and technology, Patrick Chopson, AIA leads cove.tool, a web-based design software for buildings using machine learning and automation to drive decision making. He oversees product development and customer acquisition as a Co-Founder. A graduate of Georgia Tech with a Master's in High Performance Buildings, he is a licensed architect with over 16 years of experience in architecture, research, and mechanical engineering firms. Prior to cove.tool he co-founded a successful building performance consulting firm Pattern r+d. Multiple publications include Architect Magazine, Tech Crunch, Site Selection, ArchDaily, and more. 

Show Links:

cove.tool

Episode 129: Architecture, And: Waterfront Design

How do you transform interests into a specialized niche and trailblaze a non-linear path?

On this episode of Practice Disrupted, we sit down with Dena Prastos AIA, a waterfront architect with a background in civil engineering and Founder and CEO of Indigo River, a women-owned transdisciplinary design firm focused on progressive waterfront architecture, resiliency, and climate adaptation. We learn about Dena’s upbringing in Alaska and how access to nature influenced the trajectory of her professional path. She also shares how her unique education and experience in both engineering and architecture have informed the creation of her company.

“My experience was a unique niche through the engineering lens. Wearing my architecture hat, I saw the opportunity to both be the generalist to gather all the specialists in the room, but also be the specialist that can speak the same language. I leaned into this opportunity to have this larger vision — my relationship with nature, and appreciating both the built fabric as well as what is natural and wild.” - Dena Prastos 

We also learn about civil engineering, both in relation to architecture and as an industry of its own, and Dena shares what architects should know about climate adaptation, resiliency, and the waterfront. 

To wrap up the episode, Dena shares advice for anyone in search of the impact they can make in the world while building a career within a specialized niche. This episode offers a unique perspective of the non-linear career path, and the power of approaching areas of growth as another relationship to strengthen. 

Tune in next week for a conversation with Olivia Asuncion, a Project Architect and advocate for individuals with disabilities.

Guests:

Dena Prastos, AIA, is the first "waterfront architect," trailblazing a new category in the industry. Indigo River is a women-owned transdisciplinary design firm focused on progressive waterfront architecture, resiliency, and climate adaptation. A leading authority in New York Harbor and beyond, the firm specializes in climate adaptation through waterfront solutions that seamlessly transcend boundaries — guiding and executing projects from ideation through final construction and operations. Indigo River is a certified Women-Owned Business Enterprise (WBE) committed to helping society evolve together with our environment.

📍 Show Links: 

Indigo River Design Firm

Follow Indigo River on Instagram

Follow Dena on Instagram 

Connect with Dena on LinkedIn

Follow Dena on Twitter 

📍 Follow Practice Disrupted on Social:

Facebook | Instagram | LinkedIn | Pinterest |

Episode 151: The Built Environment Futures Council

How can we thoughtfully integrate AI into the architecture practice and collaboratively shape a sustainable and innovative future for all?

On this episode of Practice Disrupted, we explore the work of the Built Environment Futures Council (BEFC) and its mission to thoughtfully integrate artificial intelligence into architecture and infrastructure. We are joined by key members of the BEFC – co-founders Randy Deutsch and Matthew Krissel, along with committee member Amanda Nicole Bridges. Today, they discuss the power and potential of AI in architecture, its impact on industry practices, and the ethics of integrating it into the daily workflow. 

First, Randy and Matthew share how BEFC started and explain how their vision attracted diverse experts from various backgrounds to form a national council.

Then, the panel discusses how architects can embrace AI as a tool for positive change while learning from past trends and highlights the value of diverse perspectives for the future of architecture and design. We also touch on the ever-evolving role of architects, share advice on efficiently using the extra time freed by AI, and present ways to promote collaboration across industries.

If some of what architects currently do can be done through technology, I don't see that as a full job replacement. To me, it's really exciting to think about more people having access to architects. If we don't have as large of a scope of work on every project, and our role is really specifically targeted towards helping clients ask the right questions, then it actually frees us up to work with more clients. It could lower the bar of entry to something that's more affordable and readily available for more people. I don't see how that is a hindrance. I see that as a great aspect that could lead us to live in a better design world. - Amanda Nicole Bridges

To wrap up the conversation, the group shares what the future holds for BEFC, such as exploring various funding streams and unique engagement strategies. They also encourage you to get further involved with the expansion of AI in the field and explain how you could work with BEFC in the future. 

Tune in next week for an episode about using research to tell the story of architecture. 

Guests:

Matthew Krissel FAIA

Matthew is a fellow of the American Institute of Architects and founder and director of Creative Lab 3, design-driven architecture practice working to bring exceptional design to more people and places, inspire change, and transform our collective future. 

Amanda Nicole Bridges, AIA, NOMA, LEED AP

Amanda N Bridges is a licensed architect and educator in San Francisco. She is currently a Senior Architect at Siol Studios, an integrated architecture, interiors, and landscape design practice, and an Adjunct Lecturer at Stanford University and the University of California Berkeley teaching architecture studio.

Randy Deutsch FAIA

For over thirty years, Randy Deutsch FAIA has been an architect and educator, and in recent years, an author, international keynote speaker, and AI researcher. As a licensed architect, Randy designed over 100 large, complex sustainable projects for which he received the AIA Young Architect Award Chicago.

📍 Show Links:  

Connect with Matthew on LinkedIn

Connect with Amanda on LinkedIn

Connect with Randy on

Episode 019: Architecture, And: Film

How are individuals using their training in architecture to explore diverse career paths?

Guest:

Rebekah Bukhbinder

Rebekah Bukbinder is an Art Director working in film and television. She has collaborated on notable productions including The Mandalorian, Star Wars: Episode IX - The Rise of Skywalker, and The Dark Crystal: Age of Resistance. A graduate of SciArc with a Master of Architecture, Rebekah’s background in architecture and fascination with the ephemeral has led her into the world of filmmaking and ultimately has informed a career in set design and world building. Her work in television and film transports audiences into imaginary worlds for people to experience.  She believes her career has been a balance of taking risks, and serendipitous moments that led her to where she was meant to be. 

You can see more of Rebekah’s work on October 30 when Season 2 of The Mandalorian airs. 

Show Links:

https://tinyurl.com/disneyplusTheMandalorian 

https://tinyurl.com/disneyplusTheRiseofSkywalker 

https://tinyurl.com/netflixTheDarkCrystal

Episode 070: She Builds Crossover in Three Acts

What lessons on change and disruption can we learn from the women who have influenced the industries of building design and construction?

To celebrate the 70th episode of Practice Disrupted we’ve teamed up with our friends at She Builds Podcast to create a very special AEC podcast crossover episode. Tune in to discover how women who shaped the history of the design and construction industry relate to modern themes of change, including: identity & culture; workplace shifts; and disruption in education.

 She Builds Podcast is a podcast featuring the seldom-told stories of women who build; women whose worth is not taught in schools, but who have shaped the industries of architecture, construction, and development over the last century. The podcast was started by three friends who, after graduating from Syracuse University School of Architecture together, wanted to fill in the gaps in their education and share those with others.

Guests:

Norgerie Rivas is an Architectural Associate with a Bachelor’s of Architecture from Syracuse University. She works for an architecture firm in Houston, Texas. Since before she was riding a bicycle she was making model houses and dreaming of becoming an architect.

Norgerie has experience in commercial, healthcare, and retail architecture projects from design through construction. She is also a co-host of She Builds Podcast. She enjoys the process of creating and developing projects, whether they are physical spaces or an internet radio show. 

With She Builds Podcast, Norgerie hopes to share the stories of women in the AEC industry and to inspire future, new, and experienced people in the profession.  

Norgerie enjoys bike rides with her husband, sampling craft beers, and playing board games whenever she has a chance.

Elizabeth Raar (Lizi) is a licensed architect at an architecture firm in Marin County, California. Originally from Holland, Michigan, she always had an interest in architecture and design and knew that would be her profession by the age of 11.

After architecture school, Lizi took an internship at an architectural concept firm in The Hague, Netherlands. In 2014 she moved to San Francisco to take a job at her current firm, which focuses on single-family residential architecture. Lizi loves focusing on making a client's home functional and yet beautiful for them. 

Now with She Builds Podcast, Lizi is so excited to be sharing stories of women in the industry who haven’t been showcased throughout history in the hopes that women will play a more equal part in future architectural history.

When not in the office or podcasting, Lizi is most likely traveling the world, salsa dancing, or baking delicious things. 

Jessica Rogers is a Miami native that now resides in Washington D.C working as a Senior Manager for Program Development at the AIA National Headquarters. There she manages and develops programming and resources for emerging professionals, women in architecture, and EDI Strategies. She is passionate about helping others succeed, elevating the voices of those underrepresented, and creating a more equitable profession. 

Prior to working for the AIA, Jessica was a drafter at several firms in Tampa and Miami, Florida. She has worked on various projects including single-family homes, retail land proposals, and a Port Terminal for the City of Miami.

Jessica attended Design and Architecture Senior High, a magnet art school in the design district in Miami. She loves being creative and trying new things like handling the social media of She Builds Podcast. 

You can typically...

Episode 136: Redesigning the Future of Work

How do you build a people-first workplace environment that is both innovative and supportive?

On this episode of Practice Disrupted, we sit down with Brian Elliott, a leading expert on workplace flexibility and co-author of How the Future Works: Leading Flexible Teams to Do the Best Work of Their Lives who spent two decades building companies and leading teams as a startup CEO and leader at Google and Slack. Brian co-founded Future Forum to help decision-makers tackle real-world challenges, including hybrid work and building for diversity, equity, and inclusion. 

First, we hear about Future Forum as an extension of and in support of Slack, which changed the way we work together. Since Future Forum has ended, Brian shares where to look for insight and data about the workplace to keep topics top of mind and weighs in on the debate between office and work-from-home culture and the opinions about different generations’ approaches to work. Brian also illustrates the need for intentionality if/when people come together and the effect it specifically has on marginalized communities.

At the end of the day, people are people. And what we're talking about here is actually a really core element, which is, ‘How do you drive engagement of employees in the mission and purpose of your business?’ That engagement is what gets them to go the extra mile to try harder to work harder for your customers. It shows up in things like trust and transparency, and how that actually impacts people's work ethic, much more so than anything else. - Brian Elliott

Then, Brian illustrates the overarching element of a flexible, innovative workplace: emphasizing a people-first approach. We learn of a few companies implementing innovative strategies and tactics to their support teams, and Brian provides recommendations for starting those conversations, including creating boundaries for the communication tools put into place. 

To wrap up the episode, Brian gives his perspective on whether architecture should pivot its business model in regard to output, quality, and productivity and gives recommendations for leaders to implement change within their organization. Plus, we learn what the changing economy can mean for the future of workplace culture, and Brian shares how the next steps in his career are still in support of making work life better for people. 

Tune in two weeks from now for an episode with MASS Design about how and why structuring an award-winning architecture as a nonprofit maximizes industry reach.

Guests:

Brian Elliott is a leading expert on workplace flexibility. After two decades building companies and leading teams as a startup CEO at Google and Slack, Brian co-founded Future Forum, a leading think-tank on the future of work. He’s also the co-author of “How the Future Works: Leading Flexible Teams to Do the Best Work of Their Lives.” Brian has shared his insights and best practices on how to create more effective, connected, and diverse organizations in various publications and media outlets including Axios, Bloomberg, the Economist, Fast Company, Forbes, Fortune, Harvard Business Review, the New York Times, Time and the Wall Street Journal.

His mission is to build a future of work that's better for everyone and believe that in doing so, we can dramatically improve organizational outcomes. Brian is also a proud father, happy spouse, and frequent dog walker.

📍 Show Links:  

Connect with Brian on

Episode 062: 2022 AIA Gold Medal Winners: Brooks + Scarpa

What lessons on architecture, practice, and change can we learn from AIA Gold Medal winners Angela Brooks and Lawrence Scarpa?

In this episode, we welcome Angela Brooks, FAIA and Lawrence Scarpa, FAIA of Brooks + Scarpa to talk about their careers together from undergrad to the 2022 AIA Gold Medal. Their firm, Brooks + Scarpa is known for globally award-winning designs across a variety of project types, often elevating the ordinary into something that is truly extraordinary. In our conversation, we diver deeper into the lesser-known aspects that inform their practice, including mentorship and scholarship, as well as environmental stewardship and advocacy.

Larry and Angie are redefining the role of the architect in the best way possible.

Guests:

Angela Brooks, FAIA is a recognized leader in the field of environmental and social-equity design and is responsible for her firm’s development in the area of housing and policy, leading initiatives and overall design staff management.  

Angie believes that it is not enough to create great buildings and has worked to create complete neighborhoods- she co-founded a non-profit to promote good policy, density and livable communities, lectures extensively on these topics and was 2018 Chair of the National AIA’s Committee on the Environment (COTE), developing programs and advocating for policy changes at the Federal level-promoting design that achieves high levels of performance. In 2020 Angie received the AIA National and Local Citizen Architect Award and the AIA State of California Maybeck Award (the first woman ever to do so) for exemplary achievement in architectural design and ‘a different kind of legacy’ as an advocate for issues that extend beyond buildings.  

Ms. Brook’s firm BROOKS + SCARPA has received over fifty major design awards including five AIA COTE ‘Top Ten Green Building’ Awards. In 2009 Ms. Brooks received the National American Institute of Architects ‘Young Architect’ Award and in 2010 she received the USA Network ‘Character Approved’ Award for her innovative work in the field of architecture and her firm was awarded the National and State Architecture Firm Award from the American Institute of Architects. In 2014, her firm was awarded the Smithsonian Cooper-Hewitt National Design Award in Architecture. 

Lawrence Scarpa, FAIA has garnered international acclaim for the creative use of conventional materials in unique and unexpected ways. He is also considered a pioneer and leader in the field of sustainable design.

Mr. Scarpa has received more than 200 major design awards including twenty-two National AIA Awards, Architect Magazine’s Progressive Architecture and R+D awards, the HIVE 50 Innovator Award, National AIA Collaborative Achievement Award, AIA Los Angeles Chapter Gold Medal, Architect Magazine’s Top 50 Architecture Firms (ranked 2nd, 4th and 9th respectively), AIA California Council Lifetime Achievement Award, Smithsonian Cooper Hewitt National Design Award, Record Houses, Record Interiors, Rudy Bruner Prize, six AIA COTE “Top Ten Green Building” Awards and was a finalist for the World Habitat Award, one of ten firms selected worldwide. His work has been exhibited internationally including the National Building Museum in Washington, DC, MOCA Los Angeles, A+D Museum, and the Smithsonian Museum. He has been featured in NEWSWEEK and appeared on The Oprah Winfrey Show. In addition, Interior Design Magazine honored him with their Lifetime Achievement Award. And his firm Brooks + Scarpa was awarded the National and State of California Architecture Firm Award from the American Institute of Architects. Most recently he was the winner of the  $4.5 mil Housing Innovation Challenge sponsored by Los Angeles County.

He is currently on the faculty at the University of Southern California...

How can architectural form inspire innovation in the fashion and product design industries? 

On this episode of Practice Disrupted, we dive into the intersection of architecture, fashion, and technology with Duane McLemore and Katherine Voorhies, the creatives behind the jewelry brand Xover0. Duane, an architect passionate about digital fabrication, and Katherine, a self-taught graphic artist and fashion designer, discuss how they've blended their backgrounds to build their unique jewelry line.

First, Duane and Katherine share their design philosophy, foundational approach, and creative process for turning architectural form into beautiful jewelry with the help of machinery and 3D printing. We highlight the success and inspiration behind their Geoheart pendant, which was heavily featured in the Netflix film Uglies.

The Geoheart pendant was inspired by Art Deco architecture, and we designed it for Valentine's Day a few years ago. At that time, there wasn't really much of this geometric style – this kind of non-traditional, heart-shaped pendant. So we thought it was an appropriate creative challenge, and that's what we came up with. - Duane McLemore 

Then, they open up about their creative and entrepreneurial challenges and how they overcame these obstacles. Duane and Katherine offer valuable advice for aspiring designers on growing a brand in the digital age, building connections, and pursuing their passions.

To wrap up the conversation, Duane and Katherine share the exciting future for Xover0, from collaborations with TV shows to projects that range from opera masks to car builds. 

Tune in next week for an episode with Whitney Young Jr. Award Winner Douglas Ito FAIA. 

Guests:

Duane McLemore, AIA

Duane McLemore, AIA is an architect licensed in the state of California. He is also a Professor of Architecture who specializes in the creation of digital tools for the application of sophisticated geometries for advanced fabrication. Among other things, Duane is the author of Horta, a component library for implementing the Space Groups in architectural computation, and Leafcutter, a component library for concrete 3d print pre-processing. He presents his research internationally. Duane is a graduate of the University of Southern California School of Architecture and the Bartlett School of Architecture at University College London.

Katherine Voorhies

Katherine Voorhies is a self-taught graphic designer and a fashion designer by training, working in the fashion industry in Paris prior to moving to Los Angeles. After serving as Director of Production for a high-profile gift and stationery company, Katherine founded Xover0 to explore the jewelry arts. She was educated at le Chambre Syndicale de Haute Couture and Parsons, graduating from their Paris program. 

📍 Show Links:  

Connect with Duane on LinkedIn

Follow Xover0 on Instagram

📚Continue Learning:

Xover0's website

Uglies on Netflix 

Scott Westerfeld

Blue Ocean Strategy by  W. Chan Kim & Renee Mauborgne 

📍 Follow Practice...

Episode 042: Building a Great Place to Work

Can you measure workplace culture? And if so, how?

Great Place to Work® is on a mission to build a better world by helping organizations become a great place to work FOR ALL by 2030. Backed by 30 years of research, Great Place to Work® is the global authority on workplace culture.

Great Place to Work® makes it easy for companies to survey employees, uncover actionable insights and get recognized for great company culture. They offer the world’s best employee experience platform, proven to help companies quantify culture, increase employee engagement and do the right thing for their business and their people. Their research shows what it takes to build an outstanding culture for everyone, no matter who they are or what they do for the organization.

In this interview we’ll speak with CEO Michael C. Bush to learn how Great Place to Work® quantifies the employee experience. We’ll also discuss lessons from the research that architects can apply to their small businesses.

Guest:

Michael C. Bush is a global chief executive with over 25 years of experience leading small and mid-sized organizations through transformational growth. Driven by a love of business and an unwavering commitment to fair and equitable treatment, in 2015 Michael acquired ownership and currently serves as global CEO of Great Place to Work® headquartered in Oakland, California with operations in more than 60 countries worldwide. Great Place to Work® is a global people analytics and consulting firm that helps companies of all sizes produce better business results by focusing on the work experience for every employee. Through certification programs, Great Place to Work® recognizes outstanding workplaces and produces Fortune’s annual list of the 100 Best Companies to Work For, the World’s Best Workplaces™ list, the 100 Best Workplaces for Women™ list, the Best Workplaces for Diversity™ list and dozens of other distinguished workplace rankings around the world.

Show Links:

Check out Great Place to Work®

📖Get the book A Great Place to Work For All

💻 Learn about our podcast partner Monograph:

Monograph is the cloud-based practice operations solution built for architects by architects. It is easy to use, beautifully designed, and helped firms streamline operations by empowering them to see project and firm-wide financial health in a single tool.  Plan your projects with schedules, budgets, roles, and team members. Track a project’s financial health with their unique MoneyGantt which takes timesheet data and makes it simple to see whether you are on track or not.  Use firm-wide revenue forecasts to make strategic decisions. With Monograph, you never...

Episode 111: Practice with Purpose - A Guide to Mission Driven Design

How can architects address some of society’s most urgent challenges?

Written by LEDDY MAYTUM STACY Architects, “Practice with Purpose: A Guide to Mission Driven Design” is about designing buildings beyond their property lines to address some of society’s most urgent challenges: the climate emergency, racial and ethnic injustice, chronic homelessness, educational crises, and the preservation of the embodied carbon and culture of existing buildings. These are not discrete phenomena - they are inextricably linked in an ecological and societal emergency that demands creative, integrated design responses. Architects and designers have a historic opportunity to help lead our communities toward an equitable, climate-positive future for all.

This week we sit down with Founding Principal William Leddy and Senior Associate Gwen Fuertes of LMSA to learn more about the firm’s model for practice, their new book, their projects, and net zero carbon architecture.

Guests:

William Leddy, FAIA, is a Founding Principal of San Francisco-based LEDDY MAYTUM STACY Architects, the 2017 recipient of the AIA Firm Award.  For over 30 years, he has been a national leader in the design of environments that celebrate our place in the natural world.  LMSA has received more than 175 design awards and is one of only three firms to have received eleven or more national AIA Committee on the Environment Top Ten Green Project awards. A past chair of the national AIA COTE, he currently serves as the AIA California Vice President for Climate Action, helping to advance the rapid decarbonization of the built environment in California and beyond. He is the co-author of his firm’s new book – “Practice with Purpose: A Guide to Mission Driven Design”, published in late 2022.

Gwen Fuertes, AIA, LEED AP BD+C, has two decades of work in design, research, and analysis of high-performing buildings. She began her career at the US Green Building Council in Washington, DC. She then worked at the Center for the Built Environment (CBE) as a graduate student researcher, acquiring a depth of expertise in building science and post-occupancy analysis. Gwen has worked at LEDDY MAYTUM STACY Architects for over nine years, designing low-carbon, mission-driven projects in Northern California.

Gwen was a member and former co-chair of the AIA 2030 Commitment working group, most recently leading the pivot of the program towards a carbon-focused metric. She was also a member of the LEED Technical Committee. She has taught at California College of the Arts and UC Berkeley as an adjunct lecturer, focusing on energy efficiency, resilience and resource cycles, and considers teaching a passion. She has spoken at numerous national conferences on integrating low-carbon design in practice.

📍 Show Links:  

• Learn more about LEDDY MAYTUM STACY Architects
• Purchase Practice with Purpose: A Guide to Mission Driven Design

📚 Continue Learning:

• Ed Roberts Campus
• Edwin M. Lee...

Episode 095: Voices of Mothers in Practice 

What can architecture firms do to support mothers who are working in practice?

Leaders of the profession share diverse perspectives on their identity between practice and motherhood. This discussion aims to explore the experiences of working mothers in diverse career stages who are raising children of different ages.

Practice Disrupted is committed to elevating conversations on justice, equity, diversity, and inclusion to teach, empower, and build greater awareness across the industry.

Guests:

Christina Cho Yoo, AIA, PE, LEED AP BD+C is co-founder of Atelier Cho Thompson. She received a BS & MS in civil & structural engineering and construction management at Stanford University and received a masters in architecture at the Harvard Graduate School of Design. She was a structural engineer at the international engineering company Arup, where she was the Structural Sustainability Champion for the Americas & worked on projects such as the LEED-Double Platinum California Academy of Sciences, Contemporary Jewish Museum, Kaiser hospitals, Schroder Overcrossing, and various other projects. She went onto work at architecture firms internationally including Kao Design Group on Richard Branson's Eco-Island, SHoP Architects on the Google HQ, Neri & Hu in Shanghai, Mass Studies in Seoul, and Bohlin Cywinski Jackson on Apple stores, the Apple iAd office, and the Square HQ. Christina is a licensed architect and engineer in California and has been LEED accredited since 2003.

Her work has spanned typologies from single-family to multifamily residences, hospitals, labs, museums, innovative workplaces, hospitality and food service, to retail, exhibits, furniture, and graphics for various organizations. Before architecture school, she staged at Tartine Bakery while taking courses at the California Culinary Academy. She has lectured on Green R&D at Harvard and served as a critic at Parsons, Stanford, Harvard, & the California College of the Arts (CCA). She is an Adjunct Professor at the CCA, having taught advanced urban studio on the Post-Retail City and Integrated Building Systems. She served as Design & Innovation Chair of the Stanford Club of SF and currently is on the Board of Directors at Pacific Primary School.

Jennifer T. Matthews, Associate AIA, is a full-time remote Architectural Designer at SS&A Design Collective based in Montgomery, Alabama. With eight years of healthcare design experience, Jennifer has worked on...

Episode 101: Season 6 Launch with Getting Back Into Place

Welcome back to season 6 of Practice Disrupted! 

Co-hosts Evelyn Lee and Je’Nen Chastain sit down with writer and fellow podcaster Sean Joyner of Getting Back Into Place to kick off the first episode of 2023. The discussion includes highlights on what’s ahead for season 6, how the market dip has impacted the tech sector, recommendations for how individuals and firms can prepare for a Recession, and more. Sean shares more about his career path from architecture into writing, and his latest project in podcasting. We discuss his article published on Archinect in 2022, “Debunking Architecture’s Mythological Work Culture.”

Special Guest:

Sean Joyner is a writer and essayist based in Los Angeles. He formerly worked as a full-time Editor and Staff Writer at Archinect. His essays and articles typically explore themes spanning history, pop culture, and philosophy and how they connect to architectural discourse and the experience of architecture.

📍 Show Links:  

Listen to Getting Back Into Place, Hosted by Sean Joyner

📚 Continue Learning:

“Debunking Architecture’s Mythological Work Culture” by Sean Joyner, Archinect

AIAU 2023 Economic Update 1

📍 Follow Practice Disrupted on Social:

Facebook | Instagram | LinkedIn | Pinterest | Twitter

Episode 084: Understanding the Architecture Labor Movement

Who is the Architectural Workers United? 

The Architectural Workers United is organizing towards making architecture more equitable, the profession more just, and our built environment more resilient. Join us as we interview Andrew Daley and Jess Myers to learn more about the architectural labor movement, unions, and the history of labor practices in architecture. What are the biggest misconceptions? What is the benefit? What are the most common questions people ask? We’ll discover all of this and more as we discuss why there is a growing group of advocates standing behind AWU.

Guests:

Andrew Daley is an organizer, activist, and licensed architect living and working in Brooklyn. He is currently working with the International Association of Machinists and Aerospace Workers (IAMAW) on organizing efforts within the architecture industry. He has 12 years of experience working for a number of offices in multiple states, most recently for 7 years at SHoP Architects as a Project Director working on US embassies worldwide.

Jess Myers is an assistant professor in Rhode Island School for Design’s architecture department. Her podcast Here There Be Dragons offers an in-depth look into the intersection of identity politics and security policy in public space through the eyes of New Yorkers, Parisians and Stockholmers. Her work can be found in The Architect’s Newspaper, The Funambulist Magazine, Failed Architecture, Dwell and l’Architecture d’Aujourd’hui. (Read more about Jess on Madame Architect.)

📍 Show Links:  

AWU Website

AWU FAQ Page

AWU How to Unionize

AWU Instagram

AWU Twitter

AWU Contact: architectural.workers.united@gmail.com

📚 Continue Learning:

Labor Resources

DPE Data Sheet

EPI Productivity-Pay Gap

EPI Union Density-Top 10% Income

Episode 010: Organizational Design, Process, and Innovation

How does organizational design support an innovative firm culture?

Guest:

Andrew Cronin, Principal at KieranTimberlake

In over 15 years as an architect, Andrew has focused on a variety of project types including award winning renovations for university clients, an addition and renovation at a local religious institution, a private home in rural Northern California, and an innovative new education center at the Philadelphia Navy Yard. Andrew is currently working on a student residential planning study for a liberal arts college in New England and a precinct planning study for a university in Washington D.C. 

Andrew takes a holistic approach to design practice. As a Principal at KieranTimberlake, he remains deeply connected to digital design, prototyping, and systems integration and engages project teams across the office by co-leading KieranTimberlake's BIM Practices group and works to spread lessons across the firm through KT’s regular weekly knowledge sharing forums. Andrew supports KieranTimberlake’s pursuit of the 2030 Challenge in his role in the Beyond 2030 working group and leads KieranTimberlake’s internal mentorship program. He is also a jury critic and adjunct faculty member at the Antoinette Westphal College of Media Arts and Design at Drexel University.  

Show Links: 

https://kierantimberlake.com/

Episode 007: [Re] Creating Your Career in Architecture

How do you rethink a career in architecture to get unstuck?

Guest:

Laura Weiss Founder at Design Diplomacy

As a professional coach, facilitator, mediator, and consultant, Laura Weiss helps creative leaders engage in powerful conversations that drive change.

A former licensed architect, Laura spent a decade with the global design firm IDEO as a Practice Director and Associate Partner. An expert in service design, she subsequently assumed leadership roles inside a variety of enterprises seeking to build their own capacity for innovation. Today she leads her own practice Design Diplomacy LLC and is an Adjunct Professor at the California College of the Arts.

Laura holds a B.Arch. with honors from Cornell University, an M.Arch. from Yale University, and an MBA from the MIT Sloan School of Management. A lifelong learner, Laura has also earned a Professional Certificate in Mediation and Applied Conflict Studies from Champlain College in Burlington, VT, her CPCC (Certified Professional Co-Active Coach) credential through the Coactive Training Institute and is an ACC (Associate Certified Coach) with The International Coach Federation.

Show Links: 

https://lauraweiss.net/

Create Your Own Path Forward - and Perhaps Away from Architecture (Architect Magazine)

How can knowledge management promote sustainability, equity, and overall architecture firm excellence? 

On this episode of Practice Disrupted, we welcome Corey Squire, associate principal and sustainability director at Bora Architecture & Interiors, member of AIA's Strategic Council, and leader of the creation of the AIA Framework for Design Excellence. As a national lecturer on sustainability, Corey offers an expert perspective on using knowledge management to elevate a firm's performance and sustainability standards within the built environment. 

First, Corey shares his journey into knowledge management and sustainability. He explains the process of implementing a knowledge management system at a firm, highlighting the challenges and benefits of using an intranet platform.

Then, we discuss his approach to building team trust by ensuring the system is valuable to all team members. Corey explains the key principles for effective knowledge management and expands on benefits like gathering information, meeting goals, maintaining equity, diversifying applications, and improving communication within the firm. 

I always ask: How are your goals documented? Sometimes it's an external website, which is fine. Sometimes it's on a document in a server somewhere. But a goal is only so great as you have the resources and support to allow any individual in that organization to be empowered to act towards that goal. That's what the interlinking, updated information, and flow paths we're talking about within the internet allow for. - Corey Squire

To wrap up the conversation, Corey acknowledges the dual nature of knowledge management, balancing the initial time investment with long-term benefits. He shares his vision for the future of knowledge management in architecture and emphasizes the potential of a consistent framework throughout the practice.

Tune in next week for an episode about the intersection of fashion, design, and technology in the architecture field. 

Guests:

Corey Squire, AIA

Corey Squire, AIA an Associate Principal and Sustainability Director at Bora Architecture & Interior in Portland Oregon, and a member of the AIA's Strategic Council. He lectures nationally on a range of sustainability-related topics and led the creation of the AIA Framework for Design Excellence and associated Toolkit, resources that are actively redefining excellence in the built environment. Corey is the author of the recently published book, People, Planet, Design: A Practical Guide to Realizing Architecture’s Potential.  

📍 Show Links:  

Connect with Corey on LinkedIn

People Planet Design - Discount Code: PPD

📚Continue Learning:

KA Talk on Sustainability Knowledge Management 

AIA Framework For Design Excellence 

Bora Architecture & Interiors 

Guru 

Squarespace 

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Episode 009: Voices from the Future of the Profession

Future leaders of the profession share diverse perspectives on race, equity, and architecture.

Guests:

Leslie Epps, NOMA Student Representative, AIAS & NOMAS Leader at The City College of New York

Sarah Curry, AIAS, Assoc. AIA, NOMA

Beresford Pratt, AIA, NOMA

Melanie Ray, AIA, NOMA, LEED Green Associate, NCARB, Fitwel Amb.

Kendall A. Nicholson, Ed.D, Assoc. AIA, NOMA, LEED GA

Leslie Epps, NOMA Student Representative, AIAS & NOMAS Leader at The City College of New York

Leslie Epps is an accomplished rising fifth year architecture student at the Bernard and Anne Spitzer School of Architecture. She has been passionate about architecture for half of her life and is eager to learn more and enact change moving forward in her career. Awarded NOMA Student Member of the Year 2019, Leslie Epps founded the CCNY NOMAS Chapter in 2018 and served as President until early 2020. Epps also received the title of NOMA Student Representative and serves on the NOMA Board of Directors for the role. In the future she aspires to combine architecture with urban planning in an effort to address social issues and ultimately better society. 

Sarah Curry, AIAS, Assoc. AIA, NOMA

Sarah Curry just finished an exhilarating year of living and working in Washington, DC as the 2019-2020 President of the American Institute of Architecture Students. No matter what her next chapter of life holds, she intends to explore and practice her passions for evidence-based and equitable design while pursuing licensure. None of that work would feel fulfilling though, if she is unable to continue advocating for the underserved and supporting design students and others who are interested in designing responsibly for those who need it the most. Originally from outside of Atlanta, Sarah earned her B.Arch in 2018 from Auburn University and completed her Thesis Design-Build Project at Rural Studio the following year. Her very flexible life plans include going to graduate school, teaching, and eventually enjoying nontraditional practice in the vast field of architecture.

Beresford Pratt, AIA, NOMA

Beresford Pratt is a licensed architect and Associate at Ayers Saint Gross in Baltimore, MD where he has worked on a multitude of education/institutional projects. He is passionate about active learning environments and pipeline initiatives, and he enjoys this cross pollination with his professional work. He is currently serving his second year in the AIA as the Mid Atlantic Young Architects Regional Director in the Young Architects Forum (YAF), and he is currently an editor for the YAF’s publication Connection. Beresford is also a co-founder of Baltimore’s local chapter of The National Organization of Minority Architects (Bmore NOMA). Beresford sits on the board and is the Communications Chair/Director. Outside of the industry, if he is not playing soccer, he enjoys volunteering his time with the United Way Central Maryland, and he currently sits on the Emerging Leaders United Council.

Melanie Ray, AIA, NOMA, LEED Green Associate, NCARB, Fitwel Amb.

Melanie Ray is a licensed architect and Associate in the Housing/Mixed-Use studio at Hord Coplan Macht in Baltimore, MD. Since graduating from Penn State’s architecture program in 2015, she has worked on various mixed-use and affordable housing projects, as well as community development projects in Baltimore city and beyond. She is the 424th living black woman licensed in the US to practice architecture and seeks to be an active mentor to promote the goal of doubling the number of licensed black architects by 2030. She currently serves as the Vice President of the Baltimore Chapter of NOMA, Bmore NOMA, and the Northeast University Liaison for NOMA National. In addition to her work at HCM, Melanie is a regular...

Episode 112: Leading Climate Action Through Adaptation & Mitigation

How can architects support their communities before a disaster happens?

This week we speak with Illya Azaroff, an internationally recognized leader in disaster mitigation, adaption, regenerative design and resilient planning strategies. Following Superstorm Sandy, Illya was a frequent consultant to New York City and other public entities on issues of resilience, policy and sustainability. His work has continued to expand beyond New York into wide-reaching US and international communities. Illya is using his training in architecture to help the communities he partners with access funding and implement climate-focused solutions. We discuss some of the projects he supports, strategies he recommends architects can take action on, and the difference between adaptation and mitigation. Illya further explains why architects must become global leaders in climate action.

Guest:

Illya Azaroff, FAIA, is an Architect, Geographer, and professor at New York City College of Technology (CUNY). He is the founding director of +LAB Architect, whose mission is to build resilient capacity and advance goals for a sustainable, regenerative future while giving underserved communities greater voice and visibility. Illya serves on the AIA National Board (2023-25). He served as a COP-27 delegate and is leading the COP-28 delegation for the AIA this year. Currently, Illya serves as a technical expert on the New York Climate Impact Assessment.

📍 Show Links: 

https://www.pluslabglobal.com/

https://illyaazaroff.com/

📚 Continue Learning:

Listen to PD Episode 004 - Purpose Driven Practice

COP

https://www.aia.org/articles/6571631-aia-delegates-at-cop27-provide-key-takeawa

https://www.aia.org/resources/6077668-framework-for-design-excellence

Adaption

https://www.undrr.org/publication/sendai-framework-disaster-risk-reduction-2015-2030

https://climatechampions.unfccc.int/wp-content/uploads/2022/11/SeS-Adaptation-Agenda_Complete-Report-COP27_FINAL-1.pdf

Performance Based Codes

http://media.iccsafe.org/downloads/CodesPlus/Performance-Based-Building-Design-Concepts-Chapter2.pdf

2030 Commitment

https://www.aia.org/pages/6464938-the-aia-2030-commitment

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Episode 088: Latina Voices in Practice

“Why is it that the largest community of color within the US still makes up such a small percentage of the profession?” ~ACSA Hispanic & Latinx in Architecture

Four leaders in the profession share their diverse perspectives on race, equity, and architecture.

Practice Disrupted is committed to elevating conversations on justice, equity, diversity, and inclusion to teach, empower, and build greater awareness across the industry. Building from prior diversity conversations, this week we learn about Hispanic & Latinx in Architecture.

Guest:

Venesa Alicea-Chuqui, AIA, NOMA, LEED AP BD+C, WELL AP, an Architect, Educator and Advocate, is Founding Principal of NYVARCH Architecture, a NYC based collaborative Architectural Practice focused on building community and equity through design.  With over 15 years of experience designing multi-family sustainable affordable, and supportive housing developments and civic projects, she is committed to working with local communities to develop good design, both sustainable and socially conscious. She’s the Vice Chair of Outreach to the AIA Small Firm Exchange and President of the Architecture Alumni Group of the Alumni Association of the City College of New York, her alma mater (B.Arch ‘05), where she has also taught the Coop Internship and Professional Practice classes. Committed to design justice in the built environment, she’s an active contributor to Dark Matter University, Design as Protest, and a former co-chair to the AIANY Diversity & Inclusion and Emerging New York Architects committees. She is past chair of the AIANY Puerto Rico Resiliency task force, an active member of the AIANY Planning and Urban Design Committee, and a 2019 Fellow of the Association for Community Design.

Siboney Diaz-Sánchez is an affordable housing advocate and the community engagement administrator for the City of San Antonio's Neighborhood and Housing Services Department. She serves as a NOMA Empowerment Committee Co-Chair, organizes with Design As Protest Planning and Policy Committee, and is proud to teach Community Practice at The Boston Architectural College. In 2021 she joined the Association for Community Design board of directors.  Prior to returning to San Antonio Siboney was an Enterprise Rose Fellow and project/design manager at Opportunities Communities in the Boston area working for two non-profit community development corporations, The Neighborhood...

Episode 159: Architecture, And: Senior Product Manager at Higharc

How can technology, software, and product management roles transform and expand the traditional architecture practice?

On this episode of Practice Disrupted, we sit down with Abe Drechsler, a licensed architect and current product manager at Higharc, to explore the intersection of the architecture practice and evolving technology. Throughout our conversation, Abe explains his role as a product manager, where he leverages digital tools to automate and streamline design processes and compares the traditional architecture practice to one that prioritizes tech. 

First, Abe shares why he transitioned from traditional architecture practice to product management and highlights the potential of tech-oriented roles within architectural firms. We touch on the workplace culture at Higharc and the pros and cons of the architecture industry-wide call back to working in person in the office.

Then, Abe discusses the impact of technology on automating tasks, allowing architects to focus on design and other human-centric aspects of the practice. He also notes the differences between architecture and product management, including the physical nature of architecture as opposed to the digital divide and flexibility of tech.

In architecture, there's a clear understanding of what you're trying to build and what the client wants, at the end of the day. It's very obvious that if a client wants a hospital, chances are they're going to expect the hospital four years later. But in tech, there's a whole lot more exploration because you are not really sure what the final solution is going to be when you start off. You have to have the conversations and you can build something wildly different depending on how the initial conversations go. - Abe Drechsler 

To wrap up the conversation, Abe offers his advice to recent architectural graduates who are considering non-traditional career paths. He emphasizes the influence of alternative practices on the future of built environments and outlines the opportunities they present in the field.

Tune in next week for an episode where I'm going in the interview seat and we have a special guest back on the podcast.

Guest:

Abe Drechsler, AIA

Abe is a Product Manager and Licensed Architect with a passion for design and digital technologies. As a product manager at Higharc, he develops methods for systematizing and automating the design and documentation of homes. Previously as an Architect at KieranTimberlake and Ballinger he has worked on a variety of project types and scales. Throughout his career he’s focused on expanding the value of architecture and making design more accessible.

📍 Show Links:  

Connect with Abe on Linkedin

Check out Higharc 

Within Formal Cities Trailer

Architechie Slack Workspace 

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Episode 051: Designing a Culture of Mentorship

How can architects rethink studio culture through conversations on mentorship?

In this week’s episode Evelyn Lee interviews Practice Disrupted co-host Je’Nen Chastain to learn more about her work on mentorship and leadership development at Apostrophe Consulting. Je’Nen shares her vision for helping her clients assess and redesign their talent development strategies. She explains why this is critical at the individual level to support better project work.

As architect leaders continue to seek out ways to improve their firm operations, Je’Nen believes mentorship is an underutilized pathway towards strengthening creative teams from the inside out. Over the past decade she has studied leaders and leadership in architecture, yielding the creation of training programs and resources in support of architects and emerging professionals. Her work has become increasingly focused on organizational behavior, specifically in support of helping emerging architect leaders grow and reimagine their studio environments. 

Tune in to learn more about her work, her observations, and key skills leaders can work on today to enhance mentorship conversations in practice. Interested in working with Je’Nen? Check out Apostrophe Consulting

Guest:

Je’Nen Chastain is a consultant trained in architecture and business management with a decade of experience working with award-winning architects. She founded Apostrophe Consulting to help architecture firms win more work, build a culture of leadership and trust within the studio, and create a pipeline for emerging leaders to grow. She is the co-host of Practice Disrupted, a podcast that addresses how technology, cultural shifts, and emerging best practices in business are prompting industry disruption and transformation. A recipient of the 2017 AIA Associates Award, Je’Nen holds both a B.Arch and an MBA. She specializes in facilitating conversations that engage multi-generational teams and has designed, developed, and presented dozens of professional development training programs that inspire next-gen leaders.

Show Links:

📍 Apostrophe Consulting

📚 Continue Learning:

WorkLife with Adam Grant, season 4, episode 20: Is it Safe to Speak Up at Work? (Transcript)

💻 Learn about our podcast partner Monograph:

Monograph is the cloud-based practice operations solution built for architects by architects. It is easy to use, beautifully designed, and helped firms streamline operations by empowering them to see project and firm-wide financial health in a single tool.  Plan your projects with schedules, budgets, roles, and team members. Track a project’s financial health with their unique MoneyGantt which takes timesheet data and makes it simple to see whether you are on track or not.  Use firm-wide revenue forecasts to make...

Episode 131: Five Topics on Mental Health for Architects & Designers

What are specific strategies architects and designers can implement to support their mental health?

For this week’s episode, we’ve selected five mental health topics that commonly relate to the practice of architecture: identity, perfectionism, stress + anxiety, burnout, and coping strategies. Allison Grubbs, a Licensed Clinical Social Worker, Licensed Clinical Addictions Specialist, and Certified Clinical Supervisor, joins us to discuss these in-depth. Allison is actively working with the North Carolina State University College of Design to integrate mental health into the curriculum. She’ll share her insight on supporting design students and practitioners alike.

We begin the conversation by addressing the identity of becoming an architect. We learn whether perfectionism is externally or internally motivated (or both!). We also hear Allison’s perspective on why boundaries are the key to leading with vulnerability. We discover the power of explicitly acknowledging big emotions or moments and how stress impacts the mind and body. Allison also illustrates how she defines burnout, and provides differentiation for certain feelings, such as belonging and fitting in, and feeling stressed and overwhelmed.

“We will always have ruptures, we will always have issues that come up. A big piece of parenting, work, partnership, any kind of family work, is about repair. And if leaders can get really good at repair, it really helps the whole culture.” - Allison Grubbs

To wrap up the episode, Allison shares ways leaders can use curiosity and self-awareness to better understand their humanness and perception. Her advice: gestures of curiosity and kindness toward ourselves and others are the gateway to making a big difference in support of what we consider most important, mental health included.

Tune in next week for a conversation with Canoa's Head of Design and Head of Brand, as they talk about a new Firm Ownership, Mergers, and the transition to working in tech.

Guests:

Allison Grubbs is a Licensed Clinical Social Worker, Licensed Clinical Addictions Specialist, Certified Clinical Supervisor, and is Certified in the work of Dr. Brené Brown. She was trained in 2013 by Brené Brown and has been facilitating her work in both clinical and professional settings ever since. She has been practicing as a therapist for about 16 years and maintains a private practice in downtown Raleigh. Allison also works with leaders and organizations to help them practice and grow in emotionally healthy ways. You can connect with Allison on her website.

📍 Show Links:  

Connect with Allison Online

Thank you to Claire Craven and Matt Fornaro for their contributions to this episode.

📚 Past Episodes Referenced:

PD #96 Addressing Mental Health in Architecture

PD #124 Architecture, And: Mental Health in the Profession

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Episode 064: A Case Study for Practice: Stayner Architects

How can architects redesign the practice model of architecture?

In this week's episode, we interview Christian Stayner to learn more about his process for designing his projects and the business model for his firm. Stayner Architects is a case study firm bridging the role of the architect, developer, designer, builder, strategist, and even expanding into the role of operator.

Stayner Architects, a practice based in Los Angeles, is focused on architecture for food systems – the spaces where food is produced, consumed, grown, and distributed – specifically for nonprofit educational and cultural institutions. Additionally, the practice is unique in that it acts as developers and operators of roughly half of the projects in the office at a given time – much of this in food and hospitality. Sometimes this also involves the construction of projects under their general contractor license.

The practice has been working to consolidate its food systems knowledge into an online resource called Tools & Utensils, which launches in February and provides educational and cultural institutions strategies for approaching issues such as sustainability, STEM learning, labor equity, and public health/nutrition.

Guest:

Christian Stayner, AIA, NCARB, Managing Partner of Stayner Architects, is a licensed architect in California, Hawaii, Oregon, Arizona, New Mexico, and a general contractor in California. He received his undergraduate degree in International Development from Harvard College and his professional degree from the Graduate School of Design at Harvard University. His undergraduate and graduate research focused on temporary settlement patterns due to forced migration resulting from war and colonialism, specifically two long-term refugee settlements in southern and central Somalia.

Christian has fifteen years of experience in architectural design, project and construction management, and development. His expertise includes designing and managing projects from conception through ongoing operations, and works across scales, from campus master planning to single-family homes. He has consulted for governmental and non-governmental agencies, academic and cultural institutions, and private corporations. Christian has held academic appointments at the University of Michigan’s Taubman College, Woodbury University’s School of Architecture, and at Arizona State University’s Herberger Institute for Art and Design. His research focuses on geographies of architectural materials including production networks, infrastructures, and logistics.

Christian’s work has been exhibited at the Venice Architecture Biennale, California College of the Arts, the University of Virginia, Woodbury University, and the Istanbul Museum of Modern Art. Before taking on his current role at Stayner Architects, he worked as an architect in Rotterdam and New York City for firms including the Office for Metropolitan Architecture and Thomas Phifer & Partners.

📍 Show Links:

Stayner Architects

📚 Continue Learning:

> Tila project overview > shop: Tilda

> Bacetti project overview > visit: Bacetti

> Desert Wave House project overview > visit:

Why is everyone talking about Monograph?

Founded in 2018 by Robert Yuen, Alex Dixon, and Moe Amaya, the initial agency called Dixon & Moe has grown into a 50-person team, now known as Monograph. 

In their search to build tools and websites for startups and architecture firms, they noticed a recurring challenge—architects and project managers kept complaining about their existing and non-existent project management software. Even more prevalent, there was a disconnect between how projects were managed, budgets were forecast, and time was tracked. Often they would hear that existing solutions are “cumbersome” or “tedious”. Why wasn’t there a solution that could help architects manage their firms more effectively, with more transparency?

This week we interview Robert Yuen, the CEO and Co-Founder of Monograph to learn about the company’s growth, pursuit in solving the challenges of the industry, and vision for the future. Let’s just say that their plans are much bigger than project management.

Guest:

Robert Yuen, Assoc. AIA, is the CEO and Co-Founder of Monograph, a software company revolutionizing the future in how architectural projects are managed. Having worked as an architectural designer in his hometown Chicago and ultimately setting his roots down in San Francisco, Yuen discovered his passion for designing software solutions for the AEC industry. A serial entrepreneur, a trained architect, and zealously productive, Robert is an active member and avid public speaker within the architecture, design, and engineering industries.

His experience in working with some of the industry’s most renowned firms and designers, including SOM, Holabird & Root, and BluHomes, led him to discover a void for a simple cloud-based project management application that was tailored to the industry. As such, Yuen co-founded Monograph alongside his co-founders Alex Dixon and Moe Amaya, to help architects and engineers oversee projects in an integrated, user-friendly, and ever-evolving interface. Robert graduated with a Masters in Architecture and a Masters in Science in Digital Technologies from the University of Michigan.

📍 Show Links:

Monograph

💻 Learn about our podcast partners:

👉 Monograph is the cloud-based practice operations solution built for architects by architects. It is easy to use, beautifully designed, and helped firms streamline operations by empowering them to see projects and firm-wide financial health in a single tool.  Plan your projects with schedules, budgets, roles, and team members. Track a project’s financial health with their unique MoneyGantt which takes timesheet data and makes it simple to see whether you are on track or not.  Use firm-wide revenue forecasts to make strategic decisions. With Monograph, you never have to make a decision in the dark again. 👉 Visit Monograph now.

👉 ArchIT:

Tired of dealing with generic IT providers? ArchIT offers Complete IT Solutions for Architecture, Design, and Engineering firms, including helping architects fight back against ransomware and cybersecurity attacks. Visit http://getarchit.com/pd  to set up your free 15-min Cyber Security Assessment, or custom solutions for your design firm.

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Episode 133: 2023 Whitney M. Young, Jr. Award Honoree Robert L. Easter, FAIA, NOMAC

How does a desire to make a difference bring visibility to underserved and marginalized students, and future practitioners?

On this episode of Practice Disrupted, we’re incredibly honored to be in conversation with Robert L. Easter, FAIA NOMAC, an AIA National Award winner, recipient of the 2023 Whitney M. Young Jr. Award, whose work broadens diversity, equity, and inclusion within the profession. Robert is the founding Principal of Kelso & Easter, Inc. (KEi) Architects, an award-winning full-service architecture firm passionate about the built environment and how it influences the world in which we live.

We begin the conversation by learning about Robert’s hope for the architectural industry. He shares where he believes there’s room for evolution, and the role his parents played in his determination to fight for, support, and uplift diverse communities. 

From there, we learn about Robert’s response to winning the 2023 Whitney M. Young Jr. Award, and Robert’s path to becoming the 15th president of the National Organization of Minority Architects (NOMA). He describes his hand in its evolution, particularly in building relationships with students at Historically Black Colleges and Universities (HBCUs). Robert also describes the difference between “being rewarded” and “being rewarding” and illustrates some of his most meaningful takeaways and moments from his vast portfolio of work.

“Things are starting to change because you get involved in the fight. And you learn that you've got more allies than you think you do. And that there are people who want to help you achieve some of the goals that are important to you. There are a lot of biases I had when I was a young person that have gone away because of this endeavor.” - Robert L. Easter 

To wrap up the episode, Robert shares why having empathy and compassion for the “most important social and cultural issues of our time” allow us to become better problem solvers in our personal and professional lives.  

Tune in next week for the next episode in our Architecture, And series.

Guests:

Robert L. Easter, FAIA NOMAC is an AIA National Award winner, and the recipient of the 2023 Whitney M. Young Jr. Award. Robert began practicing in Baltimore, Maryland where he served as a Project Architect and designer for Ford & Associates, Inc. In 1992, Robert was elected as the fifteenth president of the National Organization of Minority Architects (NOMA), as a vigorous advocate for increased minority participation in the public and private sector building industry.

In 2017, Robert was invited to participate in the Dean’s Forum of the AIA’s Large Firm Round Table where he helped create partnerships between firms and the seven historically black colleges and universities (HBCUs) to advance the hiring and licensing process. In 2020, Robert was elevated to the AIA’s College of Fellows. Robert was also a member of the AIA Virginia Board of Directors and in 2022 was elected as the first African American to serve as the components president. 

Robert recently retired as the chair of the Hampton University Department of Architecture after 15 years, where he adopted the Integrated Path to Architectural Licensing program. His work, both civic and professional, has been recognized in national print media, including NOMANews, the New York Times, Metropolitan Magazine, the Richmond Times Dispatch, the Richmond Free Press, Progressive Architecture Magazine, and Inform Magazine.

📍 Show Links:  

Connect with Robert on LinkedIn

Read AIA’s

Show teaser

Episode 153: AI and Ethics in Architecture

How can architects responsibly use AI image-generation tools in their practice while considering the ethics and concerns? 

On this episode of Practice Disrupted, we discuss all things AI in architecture and explore the responsible use of AI image generation for design. Joining this conversation is Damon Leverett, an architect, artist, and educator at the University of Arizona. His seminar on AI has been accepted as a workshop at the AIA24 National Conference on Architecture in Washington, DC. Today, Damon shares his expert insights on how architects can leverage AI capabilities with the risks that come with it.

First, Damon addresses the common question of whether AI will replace architects or enhance their efficiency. He explains why he believes AI tools will streamline tasks and give architects more time for creativity. Damon also highlights the practical applications of AI for image creation in design as well as its limitations.

Then, we talk about the concerns and anxieties surrounding the use of AI in architecture, daily life, and literature. Damon suggests that architects should actively engage in the development of AI to ensure that their voices are heard and that it serves the field most efficiently. 

I think the uniqueness of AI that sets it apart is that AI is an imagination machine. It has, sort of, this infinite potential. So, if you look at a tool, say, for creating database drafting, there are so many limitations that may seem fairly large. But in my view, the limits of AI in the context of designers and architects are infinite. There are so many things that can be created. -Damon Leverett 

To wrap up the episode, Damon offers advice to young architects on integrating new tools into their practice and stresses the importance of resilience in navigating the ever-evolving landscape of architecture and technology. He also shares his vision for the future of this technology, where the demands of rapid population growth and the need for more city infrastructure can be met efficiently with the help of AI. 

Tune in next week for an episode with Nyasha Harper-Michon about being an archtivist, a term she coined for architecture and built environment professionals and enthusiasts driving environmental, social, and economic reform to foster positive changes in society and within the built environment sector. 

Guest:

Damon Leverett, AIA, NOMA

Damon is an architect, artist, and educator based in the southwest region of the United States. He is a former senior lecturer at the School of Architecture and a current adjunct lecturer at the College of Information at the University of Arizona, where he teaches architecture design, building technologies, installation design, and computing in the arts. Damon is also a co-lead for the University of Arizona’s Artificial Intelligence Industry Working Group, which focuses on the university’s interaction in AI education, training, and collaborative activities.

📍 Show Links:  

Connect with Damon on LinkedIn

Follow Damon on Instagram

Leverett Arts

📚Continue Learning:

Artificial Intelligence Presents New Possibilities, Considerations and Challenges for Architecture and Construction

Episode 053: Immigrant Architects

Leaders of the profession share diverse perspectives on equity and architecture.

Expanding our diversity series, this week we learn about the lived experiences of individuals who immigrated to the United States.

Guests:

Originally from Colombia, Graciela Carrillo, AIA, LEED AP, immigrated to the United States in 2003. She recently joined Nassau BOCES Facilities Services as a Senior Manager where she is managing school operational and capital projects. Graciela has committed a decade of volunteer leadership service to the AIA. Currently she is serving as the President 2020-2021 as well as the Chapter’s Women In Architecture Co-Founder and Co-Chair. Graciela was the past 2017-2018 NY Regional Director (YARD) for the Young Architects Forum (YAF). She is also the Co-Founder of the Immigrant Architects Coalition, a group committed to helping and providing resources for immigrant architects to achieve a prosperous career in the US. In 2019, Graciela was the recipient of the AIA NYS Young Architect Award.

Gloria Kloter, AIA, NCARB, CODIA, is founder and CEO of Glow Architects. A practicing architect both in her home country of the Dominican Republic and in the US, she has dedicated her career to helping other young architects grow. She is the founder of the Foreign Architects, a private community in Facebook where she mentors young and aspiring immigrant architects on how to obtain their architect license in the United States. Gloria also serves as the Architect Licensing Advisor of the State of Florida through AIA Florida. She is a part of the Board of Directors of the AIA Tampa Bay where she is the chairperson of the Women in Architecture committee. She was also honored for the 2019 Sho-Ping Ching Women’s Leadership Summit Scholarship, a recognition to mid-career women architects who are advancing toward leadership roles and are making a positive impact within their communities. 

Shahad Sadeq, Assoc. AIA is an Iraqi immigrant architectural designer at Smithgroup. She is an active member of the AIA in her local chapter in Dallas, Texas. Shahad is passionate about amplifying diverse voices in the profession and developing sustainable workplace culture. She currently is co-leading the immigrant architect coalition and sits on the J.E.D.I. committee board of Smithgroup. She previously helped found an Equity in Architecture effort through the AIA Kansas City Chapter.

Yu-Ngok Lo, FAIA, CDT, LEED AP is the founding principal of YNL Architects, Inc. His work received numerous design awards such as the NAHB Best of American Living Awards, Gold Nugget Awards, Aurora Awards, American Residential Design Awards, and various AIA Design Awards. The projects of his firm have been published in ArchDaily, Hinge Magazine, CONDE, CommArch Magazine, and Hospitality-Interiors Magazine. Yu-Ngok is a past recipient of the AIBD Designer of the Year, AIA Presidential Citation, AIA National Young Architects Award, BD+C 40 Under 40, 2015 ENR 20 Under 40, and the AIACC Young Architect Award. He was elevated to the AIA College of Fellows in 2020.

Show Links:

📍 Immigrant Architects Coalition

📍

How can architects protect and monetize their creative work with the help of intellectual property (IP) laws? 

On this episode of Practice Disrupted, we’re joined by Ana Juneja, an award-winning intellectual property (IP) attorney and founder of Ana Law® – the first law firm offering flat-fee, 100% guaranteed services for patents, trademarks, and copyrights. In our conversation, Ana explores the essential role of IP in the architecture field.

First, Ana breaks down the four main types of intellectual property: copyrights, trademarks, patents, and trade secrets. She explains how each type applies to architecture and protecting creative works within client relationships and employee contracts.

Then, we dive into the intersection of AI and IP rights. Ana shares advice on protecting your designs, tools, and software created with AI and outlines the steps to securing patents and trademarks for your work.

You're investing in your trademark in order to protect your name, your marketing, and your branding. If you're building up this brand, you're putting in so much time, money, energy, and effort into doing so – you wouldn't really want to lose it…Whereas copyrights and patents are things that, for architects in particular, are incredibly valuable avenues to monetize your brand. It is really protection for your own investments that you're making into your business. - Ana Juneja

To wrap up the conversation, Ana highlights common IP mistakes architects make and offers practical tips to avoid them. She emphasizes the importance of understanding IP laws, using strong contracts and NDAs, and taking proactive steps to safeguard your work. 

Tune in next week for an episode about 

Guests:

Ana Juneja

As an award-winning intellectual property attorney and the founder of Ana Law®, Ana Juneja helps celebrities, athletes, influencers, start-ups, entrepreneurs, and corporations secure + monetize their brands and ideas in the US and abroad. Ana Law® is the first and only law firm that offers flat-fee, 100% guaranteed patent, trademark, and copyright services. Ana has a 100% success rate and often speaks on important topics such as emerging legal issues surrounding security, AI, and social media. 

Additionally, Ana has extensive experience with social media intellectual property infringement issues. Ana’s insider connections with premier media agencies allow her to have direct access to key social media platforms, such as Meta (Facebook/Instagram), TikTok, and Twitter. These essential services are an important component of brand protection strategy for Ana’s celebrity, athlete, & influencer clients.

📍 Show Links:  

Connect with Ana on LinkedIn

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Episode 150: Women Defining AI for Architects

How can we bridge the gender technology gap and ensure ethical development of AI while empowering women and non-binary individuals in STEAM fields? 

On this episode of Practice Disrupted, Evelyn welcomes Helen Lee Kupp and Nichole Sterling, the co-founders of the Women Defining AI community, to the show. Helen and Nichole are dedicated to bridging the gender technology gap and advocating for ethical AI development by merging their tech expertise. They are on a mission to empower women and reshape the narrative around AI to promote an inclusive technological future.

First, we dive into the beginning of Women Defining AI, which sprouted from their shared passion for accessible AI knowledge. They highlight how their work extends beyond online platforms through a successful in-person event emphasizing the importance of fostering community. Helen and Nichole explore the gender tech gap, especially in STEAM industries, and why women need to be involved in the development of AI. They discuss the importance of understanding the language of AI for the workplace and in daily life and experimenting with its applications. 

Then, they share tips for optimizing AI models, like asking follow-up questions and training them to perform exactly how you want. They also touch on data privacy concerns behind AI, regulatory protocols, the emergence of new job roles in the future of the AI era, and how to leverage human jobs with AI jobs.

It's important that women stay close to AI. When following the developments, we're starting to see different behaviors from workplaces. More workplaces are looking for AI fluency and AI skills. So, there's already a gender gap, right? Just from a STEM perspective. But if now workforces are and workplaces are looking for AI fluency and their skill sets, women are just going to continue to fall behind. - Nichole Sterling

To wrap up the conversation, Helen and Nichole share their perspective on the often hostile mindset architects have surrounding AI and the undeniable fundamental changes AI has on the industry paradigm. They also emphasize the importance of learning and absorbing the model despite initial resistance.

Tune in next week for a special panel discussion on the Built Environment Futures Council and the integration of artificial intelligence into architecture and construction.

Guests:

Helen Lee Kupp

Helen Lee Kupp is the co-founder and creator of Women Defining AI, a community of female leaders tackling the biggest topics of understanding today’s generative AI widespread adoption through experimentation, support, and community learning. She takes a practical approach towards helping leaders navigate the biggest changes in work — both from AI/technology, and the flexible/hybrid work revolution. She is the co-author of WSJ Bestselling book “How The Future Works: Leading Flexible Teams to Do the Best Work of Their Lives”. She believes in closing the gender technology gap - starting with women at work - to create a future of work that looks and feels fundamentally different for her two kids and the women she mentors. We can & should do better.

Nichole Sterling

Nichole Sterling, co-founder of Women Defining AI, has always been a utility leader blending strategy, marketing, HR, and finance in tech industries. Her impact on company success ranges from returning $4M YOY to field operations teams through corporate learning initiatives, increasing sales pipeline activities by 10 - 30x by establishing a RevOps philosophy, and even driving innovation within local municipal government. Nichole's current focus is on developing AI technologies, leading a stealth company specializing in digital twins and AI agents. A fervent advocate for women in tech, Nichole combines her passion for AI with a commitment to ethical and...

Episode 041: Season 3 Launch

Welcome back to Practice Disrupted! 

To celebrate the launch of season 3 we’ve organized a special crossover episode between the Design Voice Podcast and Practice Disrupted. Guest moderator Catherine Meng will interview Evelyn Lee and Je’Nen Chastain to discuss podcasting, the practice of architecture, and more.

The Design Voice Podcast seeks to elevate and amplify the voices of women in the architecture, engineering, and construction professions. Each episode features honest conversations with those who shape the built environment. By telling their stories, this podcast hopes to serve as a source of education, inspiration and empowerment. 

The evolution of architectural practice has been relatively slow towards change, yet modern shifts in business and design management have prompted today’s leading architects to rethink how they work. Practice Disrupted addresses how technology, cultural shifts, and emerging best practices in business are prompting industry disruption and transformation. The series features thought leaders on business, innovation, entrepreneurship, and/or architecture. 

Hosts:

Evelyn M. Lee, FAIA, MBA, MPA is a licensed architect in the state of California, with over 15 years of experience working with individuals and companies that are looking to reshape their future. She is the founder of Practice of Architecture, the first-ever Senior Experience Designer at Slack Technologies, and the first female Treasurer to AIA National‘s Board of Directors.

Je’Nen M. Chastain, MBA, Assoc. AIA is trained in architecture and business management with a decade of experience working with award-winning architects. She founded Apostrophe Consulting to help architects improve firm culture, and strengthen their teams and businesses. She specializes in talent development, change management, and business strategy, including marketing and communication.

Moderator:

Catherine Meng is an architect at DLR Group in San Francisco. Her broad design experience includes projects in the multi-family housing, higher-education, workplace, and commercial sectors. Before moving to San Francisco, Catherine practiced in Shanghai, and New York City. Catherine is also the creator and host of the Design Voice Podcast, which seeks to elevate and amplify the voices of women in architecture, engineering, and construction. 

Show Links:  

Check out Design Voice Podcast

To join the PoA Lab, visit practiceofarchitecture.com/lab

💻 Learn about our podcast partner

Episode 148: The Future of Tech within AEC

How can technology, innovation, and sustainable practices transform the architecture, engineering, and construction industry?

On this episode of Practice Disrupted, I chat with Dave Lemont, the past CEO of Revit and the Executive Chairman of Acelab with over 30 years of experience in high-tech startup companies. In our conversation, Dave shares his invaluable insights on scaling software companies, revolutionizing the architecture industry, and the massive potential in the future of digital tools. 

First, Dave discusses how his passion for photography and architecture influenced his career path. He also highlights how his entrepreneurial mindset and desire to innovate the industry immensely helped him grow and lead his companies. Dave's expertise lies in identifying product-market fit and creating solutions that address broader market needs rather than niche segments.

As the executive chairman of Acelab, Dave is dedicated to revolutionizing material management in the AEC space, allowing architects to access sustainable building materials efficiently. He touches on the potential of these digital tools in architecture and explains why architects need to be engaged in the evolution of AI. 

Architecture is an opportunity to do something for people in the world. Not all the software that I've managed or sold in my life had that potential impact. How this room feels affects me all day. Where you go to school, the efficiency of that building, and how our museums look or how we feel when we walk in – all of those things affect our lives. It's a privilege to be involved in technology that can make that more efficient. - Dave Lemont

To wrap up the episode, Dave shares his recommendations on building your pipeline and adjusting workflow to keep your business afloat amidst the ever-changing and often confusing landscape architects operate within. Dave also shares his perspective on bridging the gap between traditional architectural practices and digital innovation while advising young architects to use a grassroots approach to incorporate new technology into their companies. 

Tune in next week for an episode about using people analytics to improve employee engagement. 

Guest:

David Lemont

David Lemont is an accomplished business leader, go-to-market strategist, and advisor with over 30 years of experience in high-tech startup companies. David has extensive experience in SaaS business applications with keen expertise in construction tech. Helped five companies to successful exits to high-tech leaders such as Autodesk, Trimble, HP, Oracle, etc.

He is best known for his role as CEO of Revit; the predominant way buildings are designed in 3D today. Dave is currently the Executive Chairman of Acelab.

📍 Show Links:  

Connect with Dave on LinkedIn

Explore Acelab’s free specification workflow tools

📍 Follow Practice Disrupted on Social:

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Check out our past...

Welcome to the launch of Practice Disrupted! Meet hosts Evelyn Lee and Je’Nen Chastain who will begin to discuss the changing nature of architectural practice.

Hosts:

Evelyn Lee, Founder of Practice of Architecture & Senior Experience Designer for Slack Technologies

Je’Nen Chastain, Founder of Apostrophe Consulting

Evelyn M. Lee, AIA, MBA, MPA is a licensed architect in the state of California, with over 15 years of experience working with individuals and companies that are looking to reshape their future. She has been a featured keynote speaker, panelist, and moderator at national conferences and symposiums. Her topics focus on developing knowledge leadership, organizational change management, capacity building, stakeholder engagement, and strategic approaches to put design thinking to work in life and in practice. She also serves on the advisory council to ZeroSixty, an accelerator for the AEC Industry and is the first female Treasurer to AIA National‘s Board of Directors. When not working on the Practice of Architecture, Evelyn works as the first-ever Senior Experience Designer at Slack Technologies.

Je’Nen M. Chastain, MBA, Assoc. AIA is a business strategy consultant trained in architecture and business management with expertise in marketing, communications, and leadership development. She founded Apostrophe Consulting with the goal of helping architecture firms win more work, build a culture of leadership and trust within the design studio, and create a pipeline for emerging leaders to grow in our industry. A recipient of the 2017 AIA Associates Award, Je'Nen holds both a B.Arch. and an MBA. She previously spent nearly a decade in the San Francisco Bay Area, collaborating with award-winning architecture firms on design, marketing, and business development efforts. She has spoken across the country on leadership development, career advancement, emerging professionals, mentorship, and women in architecture.

Show Links:  

practicedisrupted.com

http://practiceofarchitecture.com/ 

https://apostrophe.consulting/  

Follow us on social media: @practiceofarch

Episode 004: Purpose Driven Practice

What is purpose-driven practice, and how do you design it in your business?

Guest:

Illya Azaroff, Founding Director +LAB Architect PLLC  

Illya Azaroff, AIA, is founding principal of +LAB architect PLLC and Assoc. Professor at the New York City College of Technology (CUNY). He is a recognized leader in disaster mitigation, resilient planning strategies and design with more than 25 years of experience. He consults with design teams across the US and the world. Currently, he is leading the AIA New York Unifies Task for City and State on issues surrounding COVID19. 

Show Links: 

+LAB Architect PLLC https://www.pluslabnyc.com/ 

Season 02 trailer

Replay: Voices from the Future of the Profession

Future leaders of the profession share diverse perspectives on race, equity, and architecture.

Guests:

Leslie Epps, NOMA Student Representative, AIAS & NOMAS Leader at The City College of New York

Sarah Curry, AIAS, Assoc. AIA, NOMA

Beresford Pratt, AIA, NOMA

Melanie Ray, AIA, NOMA, LEED Green Associate, NCARB, Fitwel Amb.

Kendall A. Nicholson, Ed.D, Assoc. AIA, NOMA, LEED GA

Leslie Epps, NOMA Student Representative, AIAS & NOMAS Leader at The City College of New York

Leslie Epps is an accomplished rising fifth year architecture student at the Bernard and Anne Spitzer School of Architecture. She has been passionate about architecture for half of her life and is eager to learn more and enact change moving forward in her career. Awarded NOMA Student Member of the Year 2019, Leslie Epps founded the CCNY NOMAS Chapter in 2018 and served as President until early 2020. Epps also received the title of NOMA Student Representative and serves on the NOMA Board of Directors for the role. In the future she aspires to combine architecture with urban planning in an effort to address social issues and ultimately better society. 

Sarah Curry, AIAS, Assoc. AIA, NOMA

Sarah Curry just finished an exhilarating year of living and working in Washington, DC as the 2019-2020 President of the American Institute of Architecture Students. No matter what her next chapter of life holds, she intends to explore and practice her passions for evidence-based and equitable design while pursuing licensure. None of that work would feel fulfilling though, if she is unable to continue advocating for the underserved and supporting design students and others who are interested in designing responsibly for those who need it the most. Originally from outside of Atlanta, Sarah earned her B.Arch in 2018 from Auburn University and completed her Thesis Design-Build Project at Rural Studio the following year. Her very flexible life plans include going to graduate school, teaching, and eventually enjoying nontraditional practice in the vast field of architecture.

Beresford Pratt, AIA, NOMA

Beresford Pratt is a licensed architect and Associate at Ayers Saint Gross in Baltimore, MD where he has worked on a multitude of education/institutional projects. He is passionate about active learning environments and pipeline initiatives, and he enjoys this cross pollination with his professional work. He is currently serving his second year in the AIA as the Mid Atlantic Young Architects Regional Director in the Young Architects Forum (YAF), and he is currently an editor for the YAF’s publication Connection. Beresford is also a co-founder of Baltimore’s local chapter of The National Organization of Minority Architects (Bmore NOMA). Beresford sits on the board and is the Communications Chair/Director. Outside of the industry, if he is not playing soccer, he enjoys volunteering his time with the United Way Central Maryland, and he currently sits on the Emerging Leaders United Council.

Melanie Ray, AIA, NOMA, LEED Green Associate, NCARB, Fitwel Amb.

Melanie Ray is a licensed architect and Associate in the Housing/Mixed-Use studio at Hord Coplan Macht in Baltimore, MD. Since graduating from Penn State’s architecture program in 2015, she has worked on various mixed-use and affordable housing projects, as well as community development projects in Baltimore city and beyond. She is the 424th living black woman licensed in the US to practice architecture and seeks to be an active mentor to promote the goal of doubling the number of licensed black architects by 2030. She currently serves as the Vice President of the Baltimore Chapter of NOMA, Bmore NOMA, and the Northeast University Liaison for NOMA National. In addition to her work at HCM, Melanie is a regular volunteer for pro bono design projects through such organizations as The...

Episode 149: Using Data to Create a Better Employee Experience

How can organizations use data to enhance the employee experience and drive positive cultural change within their workplace?

On this episode of Practice Disrupted, Dr. Serena Huang, a data analytics executive in Fintech, joins us to discuss how organizations can optimize the employee experience by leveraging data and communication strategies in the workplace. As a data analytics executive, Dr. Huang is passionate about leading change, building high-performance teams, and helping business leaders see data as an asset in large organizations. 

First, Dr. Huang defines the employee experience as various aspects of work, from physical environments to manager interactions and digital work capabilities. She emphasizes the importance of measuring employee experience beyond physical space and attendance and suggests surveys and feedback tools to gauge workplace culture and gather recommendations. 

Then, we explore the challenges and apprehensions that can arise when introducing survey data to the workplace, including concerns about legal action and the fear of uncovering uncomfortable truths. For architects, we address the common fear about not being able to afford an immediate solution for desires such as taking time off. Dr. Huang shares advice for effectively communicating with architecture leaders who are reluctant to engage in surveys due to these fears, yet recognize their need for growth. She believes leadership needs timely action, collaborative problem-solving, and transparency to drive change.

It comes down to communication. Fundamentally, as humans, we all need to be heard, whether at home, in a relationship, or at work. For employees to feel heard, instead of ignoring the elephant in the room, why don't we ask about it and then come up with some solutions? It may not be the perfect solution, but I think the leadership team should come from a place of genuine care, communicate that back to the employees and say, "We heard you." - Dr. Serena Huang

To wrap up the conversation, Dr. Huang shares her perspective on employees and leaders navigating their career alongside their mental health management. She advocates for leadership therapy and coaching sessions to enhance self-awareness and emotional well-being.

Tune in next week for an episode about women defining AI for architects.

Guest:

Dr. Serena Huang

Dr. Serena Huang is an accomplished thought leader and professional keynote speaker with 150+ speaking engagements covering topics including people analytics, AI, future of work, personal branding, and data storytelling. She regularly guest-lectures at top MBA programs including Kellogg, Wharton, and Haas. Dr. Huang's unique ability to speak to audiences of different cultures and backgrounds, along with her experience in both F100 and startups make her an in-demand speaker. Her 2024 focus is helping organizations realize the full potential of AI through creating a new workforce strategy and improving internal talent mobility.

Prior to founding Data With Serena, Dr. Huang led sizable analytics teams at prominent organizations including PayPal, Kraft Heinz, GE, and Koch Industries. She pioneered the applications of machine learning algorithms to predict absenteeism and turnover and led corporate councils for Ethical AI in these global organizations. Dr. Huang holds a Ph.D. in Economics with specializations in Econometrics and Labor Economics. 

📍 Show Links:  

Connect with Dr. Huang on LinkedIn

How can firms effectively leverage knowledge management to stay ahead of the evolving industry?

In this episode of Practice Disrupted, we explore the evolution of knowledge management in the AEC industry with Christopher Parsons, founder and CEO of Knowledge Architecture. Christopher’s work centers on developing ways to manage and share knowledge within AEC firms. Together, we discuss the future of knowledge management and how firms can stay ahead of industry shifts.

First, Christopher defines knowledge management as integrating people, processes, and technology to maximize a firm’s expertise. He breaks down the benefits for firms of all sizes and outlines the three key eras of knowledge management: tacit knowledge, social media, and AI.

Then, we discuss why Christopher believes AI will drive the next major shift in knowledge management. He touches on effectively leveraging AI to optimize its potential, the challenges and opportunities of implementing AI in AEC, and generational critical knowledge transfer.

I think there's this idea that our industry right now is in a permanent state of change that's only picking up speed… Part of knowledge management is learning what to unlearn… don't be too attached to the way we've done things or the knowledge that we've acquired, and be willing to continue to upgrade yourself and your company in terms of what you know and how you work – knowing that the half-life of knowledge is shrinking every year more and more. - Christopher Parsons

To wrap up the conversation, we highlight how knowledge management supports the development of soft skills and strong leadership within firms. Christopher shares practical tips for starting to integrate knowledge management into firms and personal routines. He also shares his perspective on the future trends for knowledge management.

Tune in next week for an episode about starting Modellus Novus.

Guest:

Christopher Parsons

As Founder and CEO of Knowledge Architecture, Christopher is responsible for product development, marketing, and organizational health. Christopher has been a technology leader in the AEC industry since 2002, including serving as the Chief Information Officer for Steinberg Architects and the Information Technology Director for SMWM (now Perkins+Will).

Christopher has a degree in History from Wake Forest University. He’s an avid reader, trail runner, birdwatcher, and cook.

📍 Show Links:  

Connect with Christopher on LinkedIn

Check out Knowledge Architecture 

📚Continue Learning:

AEC Knowledge Management 101

Synthesis Overview

Synthesis AI Roadmap

Critical Knowledge Transfer Series at KA Connect

KA Connect Talk Archive

Deep Smarts by Dorothy Leonard and Walter C. Swap 

Critical Knowledge Transfer by Dorothy...

How do we expand mental health support to professionals across the industry of architecture?

Peter Exley, FAIA, RIBA, NOMA, a former AIA National President, Gregg A. Garmisa, J.D., Principal and General Counsel at Studio Gang, and Korey D. White, AIA, NCARB, Senior Associate at DLR Group and a member of the AIA Strategic Council join us to address the growing concerns related to the mental health and well-being of individuals working in the profession of architecture. 

“As the industry continues to transform and grapple with inequities, workforce diversity, labor challenges and climate change, among other current issues, we challenge our colleagues to join in a collective and inclusive commitment to expand mental health support throughout our profession.”

– Peter Exley, Gregg Garmisa, and Korey White, “We Need a Safe Place to Address Our Mental Health,” Chicago Architect, Summer 2022. 

In this episode, we’ll discuss the problem we’re facing related to mental health in the profession of architecture and steps we can take to start to address this challenge.

This episode is dedicated to anyone who is currently or has previously struggled with burnout, mental health, addiction, substance abuse, or related mental health challenges. You are not alone. There is a community of allies who seek to destigmatize, raise awareness, build acceptance, and build better overall well-being practices within our profession.

Guests:

Peter Exley’s career is committed to an equitable and inclusive built environment for children, families, and communities.

As co-founder of Architecture Is Fun, he uses the power of design to build places and spaces that reflect the values, ambitions, and purpose of every stakeholder on myriad civic, cultural, private, and not-for-profit agencies.

As a teacher, he is nurturing future architects as the primary and credible resource with the explicit training and qualification to lead the creation of healthy and equitable net-zero place-making.

As the 97th President of the American Institute of Architects, he led AIA’s delegation to COP26 in Glasgow, and advanced the AIA Headquarters renewal project embodying the urgent need for climate action alongside a dramatic transformation for workplace, member, and community experience.

Gregg Garmisa is Principal and General Counsel at Studio Gang, based in the Studio’s Chicago office. Gregg interacts with clients, consultants, and our design teams on all projects to establish and maintain productive and collegial professional relationships.

Immediately prior to joining the Studio, Gregg was Vice President and General Counsel at a national engineering and sustainability consulting firm, where he became one of Studio Gang’s earliest collaborators. Before that, he practiced law and provided public policy guidance to clients in Washington, DC, and Chicago, and served as a legislative advisor to a US senator on Capitol Hill.

Gregg is an invited member of the Society of Illinois Construction Attorneys, a former board member of the American Institute of Architects Chicago, and a former trustee of the Chicago Architecture Center. He is an experienced lecturer on current topics at the intersection of the design profession and the law, which he has delivered at undergraduate- and graduate-level architecture programs as well as conferences...

Episode 075: Growing an AEC Startup / The Evolution of a Company

Why is everyone talking about Monograph?

Founded in 2018 by Robert Yuen, Alex Dixon, and Moe Amaya, the initial agency called Dixon & Moe has grown into a 50-person team, now known as Monograph. 

In their search to build tools and websites for startups and architecture firms, they noticed a recurring challenge—architects and project managers kept complaining about their existing and non-existent project management software. Even more prevalent, there was a disconnect between how projects were managed, budgets were forecast, and time was tracked. Often they would hear that existing solutions are “cumbersome” or “tedious”. Why wasn’t there a solution that could help architects manage their firms more effectively, with more transparency?

This week we interview Robert Yuen, the CEO and Co-Founder of Monograph to learn about the company’s growth, pursuit in solving the challenges of the industry, and vision for the future. Let’s just say that their plans are much bigger than project management.

Guest:

Robert Yuen, Assoc. AIA, is the CEO and Co-Founder of Monograph, a software company revolutionizing the future in how architectural projects are managed. Having worked as an architectural designer in his hometown Chicago and ultimately setting his roots down in San Francisco, Yuen discovered his passion for designing software solutions for the AEC industry. A serial entrepreneur, a trained architect, and zealously productive, Robert is an active member and avid public speaker within the architecture, design, and engineering industries.

His experience in working with some of the industry’s most renowned firms and designers, including SOM, Holabird & Root, and BluHomes, led him to discover a void for a simple cloud-based project management application that was tailored to the industry. As such, Yuen co-founded Monograph alongside his co-founders Alex Dixon and Moe Amaya, to help architects and engineers oversee projects in an integrated, user-friendly, and ever-evolving interface. Robert graduated with a Masters in Architecture and a Masters in Science in Digital Technologies from the University of Michigan.

📍 Show Links:

Monograph

💻 Learn about our podcast partners:

👉 Monograph is the cloud-based practice operations solution built for architects by architects. It is easy to use, beautifully designed, and helped firms streamline operations by empowering them to see projects and firm-wide financial health in a single tool.  Plan your projects with schedules, budgets, roles, and team members. Track a project’s financial health with their unique MoneyGantt which takes timesheet data and makes it simple to see whether you are on track or not.  Use firm-wide revenue forecasts to make strategic decisions. With Monograph, you never have to make a decision in the dark again. 👉 Visit Monograph now.

👉 ArchIT:

Tired of dealing with generic IT providers? ArchIT offers Complete IT Solutions for Architecture, Design, and Engineering firms, including helping architects fight back against ransomware and cybersecurity attacks. Visit http://getarchit.com/pd  to set up your free 15-min Cyber Security Assessment, or custom solutions for your design firm.

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Episode 155: The Evolution of Architecture Education at the Boston Architectural College 

How can architectural education evolve to better prepare students and non-licensed professionals for the challenges and opportunities of the profession?

On this episode of Practice Disrupted, we have an insightful conversation with Beth Lundell Garver, AIA, NOMA Dean and Founding Director of Gateway Office (GO), a community-based design center at the Boston Architectural College (BAC). Today, we discuss the future of architectural education, the need to bridge the gap between academia and the real-world application of architecture, and how BAC is working towards positive change in the field. 

First, Beth reflects on balancing work and motherhood and advocates for recognizing women's unique challenges in the profession. She then explains her concept of "architectural advocates," that highlights the crucial role of non-licensed professionals in advancing design and social justice in the architectural field.

Then, we dive into the importance of empowering architectural advocates to broaden the definition of architecture beyond building design and into relationships and community engagement. Beth touches on the landscape of architectural education and emphasizes the need for more hands-on experience and career support for students.

Empower people to support and recommend policies that inform the built environment and acknowledge the critical nature of that. Architecture cannot just be about new construction anymore…really urgently has to start being more about redesigning spaces, taking pieces apart, and reusing them in ways that are different. Architectural advocates can help us a lot with that. - Beth Lundell Garver

To wrap up the conversation, Beth addresses the everyday stresses on young architects, such as design studio culture, the state of helplessness, and the lack of salary data. She shares how we can work towards change in these areas by prioritizing diversity and inclusion and fostering a sense of connection within the field to help pave the way for the future. 

Tune in next week for an episode with returning guest Wandlie Mithiyane to learn more about his two most recent endeavors, The Anti-Racist Hotdog and The Tea.

Guest:

Beth Lundell Garver, AIA, NOMA

Bethany Lundell Garver, AIA, NOMA, is Dean and Faculty of Practice and Founding Director of Gateway Office (GO), the community-based design uncenter at the Boston Architectural College. She leads college-wide efforts to connect education with practice through distinguished reflective assessment and experiential learning initiatives. Her research and teaching focus on community engagement, professional practice, construction administration, and urban design.

📍 Show Links:  

Connect with Beth on Linkedin

📚Continue Learning:

Gateway Office

Boston Architectural College 

American Institute of Architecture Students

Higher education linked to greater wellbeing, job fit and societal progress, Lumina-Gallup study finds

Building a...

Episode 073: Architecture, And: Civic Leadership

How are individuals using their training in architecture to explore diverse career paths in government and public service?

The Mayors’ Institute on City Design (MICD) is a leadership initiative of the National Endowment for the Arts in partnership with the United States Conference of Mayors. Since 1986, the Mayors’ Institute has helped transform communities through design by preparing mayors to be the chief urban designers of their cities. MICD has hosted over 1,200 mayors representing all 50 states, the District of Columbia, and Puerto Rico. 

This week we’ll interview Trinity Simons, the Executive Director of the Mayors’ Institute on City Design, and Jake Day, the Mayor of Salisbury, Maryland. Trinity and Mayor Day both started their careers in architecture. We’ll interview them to learn more about their current leadership responsibilities, the path from architecture to civic leadership, and how their foundational education informs their work.

Guests:

Trinity Simons helps local leaders across the nation improve their communities, bringing together her advanced training in architecture and planning with a conviction about the importance of the built environment and respect for the democratic process. For the last decade, she has served as the executive director of the Mayors’ Institute on City Design (MICD). At MICD, she works with mayors across the country on the nation’s most pressing urban planning and design challenges. During her tenure, she has led the expansion of leadership development and learning opportunities for mayors, building off the successful MICD Institute model, to now include virtual seminars for mayors, advanced technical assistance, and the innovative MICD Just City Mayoral Fellowship. She speaks and writes frequently about the intersection of design and politics, and how design is a tool that can help mayors creatively address numerous challenges simultaneously, including equity, affordability, and sustainability. Under her leadership, in 2021, MICD was awarded the Landscape Architecture Foundation’s Founders’ Award, its highest honor for organizations.

Trinity previously directed the Enterprise Rose Architectural Fellowship, a prestigious fellowship program for emerging architects and landscape architects to achieve design excellence in affordable housing through work with community development corporations.

Trinity has a Bachelor of Architecture from the Fay Jones School at the University of Arkansas and a Master of City Planning with a focus on city design and real estate development from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology.

Jake Day is the Mayor of Salisbury, Maryland. Born and raised in Salisbury, he was elected to the City Council at the age of 30 and unanimously elected President. First elected Mayor in 2015, he was reelected in 2019 with 86% of the vote. Under his leadership, Salisbury has established a Housing First program to reduce chronic homelessness, opened its first 2 youth community centers and recreation programs, borne witness to Maryland’s fastest declining rate of opioid overdoses, and the fastest dropping crime rate of any US city in the last decade. The renaissance of Downtown Salisbury has helped Salisbury become Maryland’s fastest-growing City, America’s 7th fastest growing job market, and America’s 16th fastest-growing metro area. As Mayor, Jake oversaw the complete reorganization of the Salisbury government; restoring employee morale, customer service, efficiency, and transparency. 

Jake earned a bachelor’s degree in Architecture from the University of Maryland, a Master’s Degree in Urban Design from Carnegie Mellon University, and a Master of Science in Environmental Policy from Oxford University where he graduated with...

Episode 091: How the Future Works

How do you attract and retain the best talent?

We bring back leaders from the Future Forum to talk about tactics they are sharing with executives from organizations of all sizes and industries to win the battle for talent by building a future of work that is flexible, inclusive, and connected. 

The Future Forum is a consortium focused on building new ways of working that are flexible, inclusive, and connected. They research and convene executives to design a people-centered and digital-first workplace. In June 2020, Future Forum began surveying thousands of workers and managers globally quarterly, asking them questions about productivity, sense of belonging, and preferred ways of working.

The Forum's new book, How the Future Works: Leading Flexible Teams to Do the Best Work of Their Lives, is a Wall Street Journal Bestseller and provides readers with a blueprint for empowering teams with the flexibility and choice they need to do their best work. 

Guest:

Helen Kupp is Senior Director and co-founder of Future Forum. She has led many of Slack's largest cross-functional and growth initiatives, and is the creator of many of Future Forum's playbooks, tapping Future Forum's research and networks along with her experiences at Slack, Bain & Company, startups, and her MBA from Harvard Business School. She is also co-author of How The Future Works: Leading Flexible Teams to Do the Best Work of Their Lives. Helen is the lucky mom of two wonderful children.

Chrissie Arnold is the Director of Advisory Services for the Future Forum, where she is focused on designing and leading executive workshops about the Future of Work. Chrissie provides Fortune 100 company executives with a blueprint to build high-functioning, engaged teams in the digital-first era. Prior to this role, Chrissie spent seven years at Slack in roles across Customer Experience, Customer Success, and Product, with a common thread of helping customers get more value out of Slack by driving transformation in their organizations. Before Slack, Chrissie worked in non-profit leadership and academia. Her work included women's legal advocacy, human rights education and transitional justice in post-war environments, and leading recreational therapy programs for children with cancer and HIV around the world. Chrissie has a BA in Human Geography and an MA in Educational Studies, both from the University of British Columbia. She's a Mom to a couple of feisty toddlers who keep her humble, and loves any excuse to get out in the mountains!

📍 Show Links: 

Future Forum

Twitter: @FutureForum

YouTube: Future Forum by Slack

📚 Continue Learning:

How the Future Works

📍 Follow Practice Disrupted on Social:

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Episode 130: Designing for Inclusion with Olivia Asuncion

How do architectural design decisions create physical symbols that tear down social barriers and inequities?

On this episode of Practice Disrupted, we sit down with Olivia Asuncion, AIA, a Project Architect at Quattrocchi Kwok Architects and advocate for individuals with disabilities. Even further, as a Fulbright Scholar, Olivia was recently appointed by President Biden to the U.S. architectural and transportation barriers compliance Access Board. We learn about Olivia's disability and how accessibility and inclusive design helped her both find her voice in the field, and navigate  barriers and challenges faced along the way. Then, Olivia shares how workplace culture needs to shift in order to accommodate its (in)visibly disabled employees, and provides suggestions for navigating constructive conversations. 

“The biggest and most powerful thing that a person in an architecture office can and should learn, is to listen and to believe the needs of the people who are working there. We need to shift our understanding that what's ‘needed to function well at a job’ differs between people.” - Olivia Asuncion

To wrap up the episode, Olivia shares the impact of her appointment to the U.S. Access Board and the types of future opportunities it can lead to in support of the future of accessible and universal, inclusive design.  

Tune in next week for an open conversation about mental health with Allison Grubbs, a Licensed Clinical Social Worker, Licensed Clinical Addictions Specialist, and Certified Clinical Supervisor.

Guests:

Olivia Asuncion, AIA Olivia has oriented her career path towards advocating for inclusive design. She received her undergraduate degree in Architecture at the University of California Berkeley, then began her professional career at Equity Community Builders helping non-profit organizations with their construction management needs. This includes assisting in the construction management of the Ed Roberts Campus, a universally-designed building in Berkeley, CA. After receiving her Master of Architecture degree from University of Oregon, she served as an architect at Shah Kawasaki Architects in Oakland, CA, working on public safety buildings and office spaces for public sector clients. Currently, Olivia is a Project Architect at Quattrocchi Kwok Architects, working on K-12 educational facilities. 

📍 Show Links:  

Meet QKA Firm

Connect with Olivia on LinkedIn 

Check out Olivia’s Faculty Bio

Follow Olivia on Instagram

📚 Past Episodes Referenced:

PD #57 Southeast Asian American Architects 

📚 Continue Learning:

White House statement appointing Olivia to U.S. Access Board

📍 Follow Practice Disrupted on Social:

Episode 065: Training Confidence in Technical Detailing

How do you teach technical foundations in architecture to boost career confidence?

Many emerging professionals struggle to find their confidence in the more technical aspects of practice. There is limited onboarding toward the advanced skills architects aspire to master in building envelopes and systems. This week, we sit down and have a candid conversation with Christine Williamson, founder of the Building Science Fight Club. Her mission is to teach architects about building science and construction through teaching and consulting.

Building science is where architectural design meets the practical realities of intelligent construction. Learning the fundamentals can provide architects and designers with the foundation they need to design buildings that are as durable, efficient, and comfortable as they are beautiful.

About ten years into professional practice as a building scientist, Christine noticed that her classmates from architecture school — talented men and women whom she knew to be intelligent, creative, and attentive — lacked confidence on the job site. Learn how this lead her towards designing a business and creating a robust curriculum of on-demand training videos. 

Building Science Fight Club includes a five-part series covering the fundamentals, walls, roofs, foundations, windows, and doors, qualifies for over 10 LU|HSW.

Guest:

Christine Williamson has spent her career in building science forensics, discovering why buildings fail, and working with owners, architects, and builders to remedy the problems.  Her new construction consulting helps architects use building science not only to mitigate the risk of failure but also to help them make their projects as energy-efficient as they are beautiful.  She is the founder of the Instagram account @BuildingScienceFightClub, an educational project that teaches architects about building science and construction.  She graduated from Princeton University and studied at Boston Architectural College before completing her Master's of Architecture at NewSchool of Architecture + Design.  She is a member and past chair of ASHRAE Technical Committee 1.12, Moisture Management in Buildings. Christine is a frequent lecturer on building science at universities, conferences, and professional associations, in addition to serving as a guest critic for architecture school studio reviews.

📍 Show Links:

Building Science Fight Club

📚 Continue Learning:

Christine on EntreArchitect

Christine on The Young Architect Podcast

Christine on Life of an Architect Podcast

💻 Learn about our podcast partner Monograph:

March 8th - 10th, Monograph is hosting Section Cut, a virtual conference and career fair dedicated to firm owners and operation leaders. Hear from leaders at Cottage, Krueck Sexton, Verdant Studio, and more! Register today to reserve a seat by visiting https://sectioncut.com/

💻 Learn about our podcast partner

Episode 076: Practice Applications Digital Architecture, Block Chain, and NFTS

What are practice applications of digital architecture, block chain, and NFTs?

This week on Practice Disrupted we are going deeper into technology talk about all the buzzwords around the metaverse, cyber currency, blockchain, and NFTs to talk expert Wendy W Fok on the potential implications these technologies have on practice and the fabric of our communities. 

This conversation delves deeper into:

• The Metaverse, is it truly something new or an extension of www 1 & 2, and what is the real opportunity there.
• Cyber and digital currency, worthwhile payment for services rendered and how different is it from a credit card transaction?
• Blockchain’s implication on  data ownership, but also project team attributions and policy implications at the urban scale
• Looking beyond the marketplace that is NFTs, and its future ability to bring together digital communities within a physical space

Guest:

Wendy W Fok (she/them), trained as an architect, is interested in design, technology, and creative solutions for the built environment. 

They have experience in Product Development and Program Management from Zero to Launch, Design-Build, Manufacturing, Hardware/Software, and Digital Fabrication. Proficient in 3D modelling, innovative material research, design-build, augmented reality (AR) and mixed reality (XR) design, and other types of engagement that could promote a larger discussion of how consumers interact with products and delivery for architecture, real estate, retail, and innovative business development.

Grantee of the New York City Corps Artist Grant (2021), Fellow at the MacDowell (2022), Urban Design Forum (since 2018), they were featured as Autodesk Remake’s Women in Reality Computing (2017), winner of the Autodesk AiR (2016), Digital Kluge Fellowship, Library of Congress (2014/15), ADC Young Guns 11 Award (2013), AIA Dallas Women in Architecture (2013), Perspective 40 under 40 (2011), and Hong Kong Young Design Talent Award (2009). 

Fok was the co-editor of AD Journal’s “Digital Property – Open Source Architecture”, published by Wiley. Their recent book chapter “Bio-Data Matter of New York City” is published by Routledge in “Data, Matter, Design – Strategies in Computational Design”, edited by Frank Melendez, Nancy Diniz, Marcella Del Signore. Fok is currently working on “digitalSTRUCTURES” in issues of digital property and data infrastructures. 

Fok holds a Doctor of Design from Harvard Graduate School of Design (GSD) partnering with the Harvard Law School, obtained her Master of Architecture and Certification of Urban Policy/Planning from Princeton University, and a Bachelor of Arts in Architecture with a Concentration in Economics (Statistics) from Barnard College, Columbia University.

📍 Show Links:

Digitalstructures.cc

IG: @WendyWFok

Twitter: @W_W_F

Personal: http://wendyfok.com

📚 Continue Learning:

Fok is currently working on “digitalSTRUCTURES” in issues of digital property and data infrastructures.

💻 Learn about our podcast partners:

👉 Monograph is the cloud-based practice operations solution built for architects by architects. It is easy to use, beautifully designed, and helped firms streamline operations by empowering them to see project and firm-wide financial health in a single tool.  Plan your projects with schedules, budgets, roles, and team members. Track a project’s...

How is Quinn Evans embracing sustainability, historic preservation, and equity in their practice to positively impact the future of architecture, environments, and communities?

On this episode of Practice Disrupted, we're joined by the next generation of leaders from Quinn Evans, the 2025 AIA Firm of the Year Winner: Julia Siple, Principal and Director of Sustainability, and Senior Associates Nakita Reed and Charles Sparkman. We discuss Quinn Evans' focus on sustainable architecture, their workplace environment, and how this award will shape the firm's future.

First, our guests share their paths to becoming architects, joining Quinn Evans, and what it means to the firm to win the award. Because the award also involves creating a positive work culture, the panel explains how the firm fosters an enjoyable work environment, embraces diversity, and supports employee development through mentorship and engagement groups.

Then, we discuss the firm’s inspired approach to professional and leadership development. They also reflect on ways they’ve continued to collaborate within the hybrid remote work model.  

As architects, we should be designing things that we want a preservationist to want to preserve in 50 years. As preservationists, we're not just trying to preserve things in amber. It's about how we sensibly manage change and understand how to see things from multiple viewpoints. The sustainability impacts, the cultural impacts, the neighborhood impacts, and all of the ways that existing places really matter are what we strive for and we thrive in at Quinn Evans. Winning the firm of the year...it's great to finally see preservation, adaptive reuse, sustainability, and stewardship shine. - Nakita Reed

To wrap up the conversation, we touch on Quinn Evans' commitment to learning, curiosity, and industry evolution. They express their hopes for the future of the firm with the role of technology and AI in historic preservation. 

Tune in next week for an episode with Practice of Architecture’s New CIO, Larry Fabbroni.

Guests:

Julia Siple, AIA, LEED AP BD+C | Principal, Director of Sustainability

Julia is an architect and advocate for design that positively impacts people, ecosystems, and climate. As Quinn Evans’ director of sustainability, she leads efforts to empower teams and projects to achieve sustainable and high-performing outcomes. 

Nakita Reed, AIA, CPHC, LEED AP BD+C, NOMA | Senior Associate

Nakita's career focuses on the intersection of historic preservation, sustainable design, and equity. She is skilled in both restoration and adaptive use of historic buildings and serves on multiple boards, including the Zero Net Carbon Collaboration for Existing and Historic Buildings (ZNCC).

Charles Sparkman, AIA, LEED AP BD+C | Senior Associate

Charles's integrated design approach synthesizes art, building science, and research into architecture that is rich in meaning and beautiful in craft. He is adept in complex historic preservation projects and new construction that elevates campuses and communities.

📍 Show Links:  

Connect with Julia on LinkedIn

Connect with Nakita on LinkedIn

Connect with Charles on LinkedIn

Connect with Quinn Evans on LinkedIn

Follow Quinn Evans on

How can diverse leadership, perspectives, and ideas drive innovation and meaningful change in the AEC industry?

On this episode of Practice Disrupted, we have a fascinating conversation with Rolf Provan, the unconventional CEO of Luckett and Farley, an architecture, engineering, and interior design firm. Rolf's unique marketing background in well-known household brands, informs our discussion on innovation, leadership, and opportunities for meaningful change in the AEC industry.

First, we explore Rolf's background and how it shaped his love for design. He shares his journey to becoming CEO at Luckett and Farley and his approach to bridging communication between employees and leadership. We discuss industry challenges, Rolf's strategies to address these issues, and the mindset he's adopted in his role.

Then, Rolf outlines the firm's approach to sustainability and their method for setting environmental change goals. He emphasizes the importance of collaboration and diverse perspectives, and how to effectively cultivate ideas and implement change.

I can't innovate if I'm not willing to look at what somebody in a different profession or with a different background or with different beliefs or a different culture is doing…Celebrating differences and bringing different perspectives from different places, to me, is perhaps the most valuable thing that we can do. Architecture can't get better if we keep using the same tool set against the same thing over and over. - Rolf Provan 

To wrap up the conversation, we touch on the self-limiting beliefs in architecture that have held the industry back. Rolf offers advice for those aspiring to enter careers where they have little experience and shares his perspective on ways to make an impact in the future of architecture and design. 

Tune in next week for an episode about intellectual property and the future of practice. 

Guests:

Rolf Provan

Rolf has driven client-focused innovation and change for some of the worlds biggest brands and businesses, including Shell, Coca-Cola, Volvo, BAT and Anthem. A creative at heart and a "dot-connector," Provan is dialed in with the design community and understands the innovative power of an inter-disciplinary design approach for the clients in each of the market sectors Luckett & Farley serves. 

Since he joined Luckett & Farley he has helped define the company's purpose and vision and has advocated for the central role that design must play in our community and in our region. His vision is to leverage Luckett & Farley's inter-disciplinary approach to improve the quality of life, enhance workforce development, and enable the regional economy through impactful design harnessing the power of design for good.

📍 Show Links:  

Connect with Rolf on LinkedIn

📚Continue Learning:

Hidden Potential by Adam Grant

📍 Follow Practice Disrupted on Social:

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Check...

Episode 068: 2022 AIA Whitney M. Young Jr. Honor Award Winners: RIDING THE VORTEX

What lessons on architecture, practice, and change can we learn from AIA Whitney M. Young Jr. Honor Award Recipients Kathryn Prigmore, Kathy Dixon, Katherine Williams, and Melissa Daniel?

Named for civil rights leader Whitney M. Young Jr., the AIA Whitney M. Young Jr. Honor Award distinguishes an architect or architectural organization that embodies social responsibility and actively addresses a relevant issue, such as affordable housing, inclusiveness, or universal access. Architects and design leaders Kathryn Tyler Prigmore, FAIA; Kathy Denise Dixon, FAIA; Katherine Williams, AIA; and Melissa R. Daniel, Assoc. AIA are the winners of this year’s award for their leadership in advancing educational programming to support and increase the number of people of color licensed to practice architecture in the U.S.

According to the American Institute of Architects, “The number of practicing African-American architects had been a stagnant 2% in recent decades. In the early 1990s, there were just 1,800 licensed African-American architects in the country, and only 30 of them were women. As of the summer of 2021, those numbers have grown to 2,435 and 533, respectively, and VORTEX has been a major catalyst in the 254% growth in African-American women architects.”

This episode includes the stories of the VORTEX collaborators, as well as a candid discussion about their careers, what inspires them, and their work to build this program.

Guests:

Kathryn Prigmore, FAIA, NOMAC, NCARB, LEED AP BD+C, CDT is an architect, educator, and design practice leader with an inimitable understanding of the dynamics that impact the management of firms from the perspective of an architect, academic, and regulator. She has over 40 years of design and management experience for award-winning architectural projects of a wide range of sizes, types and delivery methods executed for private and public clients within diverse practice environments. Her academic leadership includes teaching experience in sustainable design. As an award-winning strategic thinker and planner, she is also a leader in regulatory issues and professional ethics. Kathryn is skilled at growing staff into leaders. 

Kathy Denise Dixon was born in Baltimore and grew up in Harford County, Maryland. She is a graduate of Howard University School of Architecture and attended UCLA matriculating with a Master's degree in Urban Planning in 1993. Kathy has been a licensed architect since 1998 and started the firm K Dixon Architecture, PLLC in 2003. She acquired legacy firm Walton Madden Cooper Robinson Poness in 2016. Kathy is a past president of the National Organization of Minority Architects and was elevated to Fellow in the American Institute of Architects in 2017.  She is also the co-author of the book titled “The Business of Architecture: Your Guide to a Financially Successful Firm” published in December 2017.

 Katherine Williams, AIA, NOMA, LEED AP is a licensed architect in Northern Virginia and currently a Senior Project Manager at a DC university. Her career path includes work in traditional architecture firms, community development, and managing commercial construction for a general contractor. Katherine has written extensively about the architecture profession, diversity in the industry, and community development. She has served as editor for multiple publications and was the NOMA magazine editor from 2009-2014. She writes at

Episode 110: Architecture, And: Ceramics

How do you balance a career in architecture while exploring a passion for art?

This week we’re joined by Betty Chung, a registered architect, designer and ceramic artist, currently working as an architect by day and as a ceramic artist by night. Her ceramic work is a synthesis of art and architecture, exploring forms by their materiality and texture through 2 & 3 dimensions expressing  form and the creation of sculptural yet usable objects. In this interview we explore how Betty has successfully built parallel careers in architecture and an artist. She has continued to practice while also building her ceramic business from the ground up. She discusses her work in the built environment, in clay, and raising her new daughter.

Guest:

Betty Chung began her interest in ceramic in 2008 through involvement at the Auckland Potters Studio, working alongside with some world-class Ceramic Artists. From this early work she recognised the importance of expressing her Asian  heritage, fused with her up-bringing within Western culture. It is from this bi-cultural aspect that characterises her ceramic and architectural work.

Betty has exhibited her work both in Australia and New Zealand. Betty’s work are now found about the world from a unique commission for an exclusive dinner set for a 60m luxury super yacht, Athos, to commission in restaurants, to sales at the Te Uru Gallery, Tauranga Gallery and other local retails, cafes and restaurants.

📍 Show Links: 

Learn more about Betty Chung Ceramics

Learn more about Isthmus Group

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Episode 036: Architecture, And: Robotics

How are individuals using their training in architecture to explore diverse career paths?

Continuing our on-going series “Architecture, And”, we invite Brian Ringley onto the show to discuss his role as a construction technologist at Boston Dynamics. Brian is part of the team developing Spot, an agile mobile robot that navigates terrain with unprecedented mobility. In this episode we’ll learn more about Spot, Boston Dynamics, and how Brian’s passion for technology and architecture led him to this innovative company.

Guest:

Brian Ringley is a construction technologist at Boston Dynamics where he promotes new value-add autonomous capabilities for construction project delivery and works to expand the construction application ecosystem with the Spot SDK. Prior to Boston Dynamics, he was a Senior Construction Automation Researcher at WeWork where he managed the construction robotics research program and contributed to initiatives in design automation, unitized prefabrication, and construction site progress monitoring. He has also taught architecture courses for many years, most recently at Pratt GAUD where he led seminars in computational fabrication and industrial robotic automation for industrialized construction.

Show Links:

Boston Dynamics 

Boston Dynamics, 'Do You Love Me?'

Meet Spot

‘Beyond the Master Builder: How Robots Can Really Transform the Role of the Architect’ by Brian Ringley, published in Architect

‘Boston Dynamics: Inside the workshop where robots of the future are being built’, 60 Minutes

💻 Learn about our podcast partner Monograph:

Monograph is the cloud-based practice operations solution built for architects by architects. It is easy to use, beautifully designed, and helped firms streamline operations by empowering them to see project and firm-wide financial health in a single tool.  Plan your projects with schedules, budgets, roles, and team members. Track a project’s financial health with their unique MoneyGantt which takes timesheet data and makes it simple to see whether you are on track or not.  Use firm-wide revenue forecasts to make strategic decisions. With Monograph, you never have to make a decision in the dark again. 👉 Visit Monograph now.

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Episode 071: A Case Study for Practice: Shepley Bulfinch

What workplace policies and recruitment strategies actually attract talent? 

This week is both a case study for practice management and firm leadership, featuring two CEOs working in partnership to help their firm grow and navigate this pivotal moment of industry transformation. 

Shepley Bulfinch is a national architecture firm that tackles complex challenges, focusing on visionary design in education, healthcare, and urban development. They are a nationally certified woman-owned business and a firm member of the Large Firm Round Table. 

Current CEO Angela Watson, FAIA, and immediate past CEO Carole Wedge, FAIA share their thoughts on practice management, their firm’s new workplace policies, and their leadership transition. They’ll also discuss key strategies the firm has implemented to attract new talent to the team. Learn how Shepley Bulfinch has embraced change to move the practice forward.

Guests:

Angela Watson, FAIA, LEED AP, is the President and CEO of Shepley Bulfinch, where she focuses on creating environments that support people in learning, teaching, and collaborating. Throughout her 25-year career, she has led more than a dozen award-winning projects. Angela publishes and presents widely, including a number of studies that investigate the impact of light on occupant well-being to better understand the relationship between space and behavior. Her passion for teaching in both the classroom and studio makes her a leader who fosters a collaborative team process that challenges all members to reach their full potential. Born and raised in Germany, she attended Universität Karlsruhe and earned her Master of Architecture from MIT, where she returned as a design studio lecturer from 2006-2010. She was named a Senior Fellow at the Design Futures Council in 2020.

 Carole Wedge, FAIA, LEED AP, is a Principal and former President and CEO at Shepley Bulfinch. Her work in both leadership and design capacities is noted for its success in achieving organizational change and strategically positioning her clients for the future. Carole is recognized for her leadership in moving the firm forward, growing the quality and creativity of the firm’s work, and aligning the brand. She is the recipient of the 2020 Edward C. Kemper Award. A senior member of the firm’s Education Practice Group, her experience includes projects at Princeton University, University of Houston, and Harvard Business School.

📍 Show Links:

https://shepleybulfinch.com/

💻 Learn about our podcast partners:

👉Monograph:

March 8th - 10th, Monograph is hosting Section Cut, a virtual conference and career fair dedicated to firm owners and operation leaders. Hear from leaders at Cottage, Krueck Sexton, Verdant Studio, and more! Register today to reserve a seat by visiting https://sectioncut.com/

👉 ArchIT:

Tired of dealing with generic IT providers? ArchIT offers Complete IT Solutions for Architecture, Design, and Engineering firms, including helping architects fight back against ransomware and cybersecurity attacks. Visit http://getarchit.com/pd  to set up your free 15-min Cyber Security Assessment, or custom solutions for your design firm.

👉 NCARB:

Shape the Future of Architecture....

Episode 154: Being an Archtivist

How can architects embrace activism, innovation, and collaboration to create more inclusive, sustainable, and empathetic environments?

On this episode of Practice Disrupted, Nyasha Harper-Michon, an architect, strategist, and advocate for sustainability and inclusion, joins us to discuss the intersection of architecture, activism, and innovation. Nyasha is an 'Archtivist’. This is a term she created for architects and built environment professionals who lead environmental, social, and economic reform to foster positive societal changes. 

First, Nyasha explains the relationship between activism and architecture, which challenges the traditional practice and promotes innovation. She shares her strategies for implementing collaboration and integrated solutions into the practice to work towards more inclusive designs. 

Then, Nyasha critiques the ‘Reference Man’ of design, explains why designers need to consider various perspectives and identities in their planning, and shares her advice for fostering a more diverse built environment. Plus, she shares how her nomadic childhood shaped her perspective on empathy and cultural awareness in the architectural practice.

I think one tangible thing that we can all do is to dismantle and challenge the idea of, of  ‘Reference Man’ being the center of all that we do. I think if we do that, it will really influence our environmental work, our social work, and all of the work that we do...‘Reference Man’ is very exclusive. It doesn't represent anyone. I think that when we design for this guy, or when we think about this guy, we are creating something that is just not going to be able to address the challenges that we face today. - Nyasha Harper-Michon

To wrap up the conversation, Nyasha reflects on the transformative experience of being a new mother to twins, which deepened her commitment to creating a better future through her practice. She relates her process of training the twins to sleep through the night to how architects can be active participants in built environment issues by changing their mindset and using their agency despite feeling powerless at times. 

Tune in next week for an episode about the history and enduring legacy of the Boston Architectural College. 

Guest:

Nyasha Harper-Michon

Nyasha Harper-Michon is a purpose-driven architect, built environment expert, business strategist and inclusion & sustainability advocate who thrives at the intersection of cities, design, inclusion, sustainability, and technology. She is a self-proclaimed 'Archtivist'—a term she coined for architecture and built environment professionals and enthusiasts driving environmental, social, and economic reform to foster positive changes in society and within the built environment sector. 

📍 Show Links:  

Connect with Nyasha on Linkedin

Follow Nyasha on Instagram

Check out Nyasha’s Website

📚Continue Learning:

Archtivists Essay

Madame Architect Interview

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Episode 146: Architecture, And: Design Crises, Past and Future

As architects, how can we adapt to technological advancements like AI and be proactive in the face of disasters and climate change?

On this episode of Practice Disrupted, renowned designer, educator, writer, and post-disaster expert Eric J. Cesal discusses being an architecture optimist within the current landscape, how technology is evolving, where the opportunities lie, and what architects need to focus on going forward. Eric is recognized for leading reconstruction efforts after major disasters like the Haiti earthquake and Superstorm Sandy. 

First, Eric highlights his journey to becoming a disaster architecture expert. He talks about completing his degrees amidst Hurricane Katrina and the 2008 recession, which deepened his appreciation for design.

Then, we shift the conversation to the impact of automation on architecture and the disruptive potential of AI. Eric shares where he is already seeing the impact of AI and offers perspectives on how we can get proactive in using it. He suggests that architects should be involved with the evolution of AI from the beginning so that our voice is included in the process. 

Half of the world's cities are going to be underwater by 2100. We're gonna have to redesign or relocate most of the world's major cities. It’s going to be horrible, but it’s a really exciting design challenge. The more proactively we engage that opportunity, the more architects put themselves out in front, and the better the outcomes for everybody else. I think that it's central to my optimism that behind every crisis is an ability to build something better than what existed before. - Eric J. Cesal 

To wrap up the episode, Eric shares advice for young architects looking to design for an AI-first future. He encourages designers to "design themselves," diversify their knowledge, be proactive, and stick to their values. 

Tune in next week for an episode about the power of copywriting for architects.

Guest:

Eric J. Cesal

Eric J. Cesal is a renowned designer, educator, writer, and post-disaster expert, recognized for leading reconstruction efforts after major disasters like the Haiti earthquake and Superstorm Sandy. Trained as an architect, he possesses expertise in international development, economics, and design futurism. Cesal, often referred to as “Architecture’s First Responder,” headed Architecture for Humanity’s post-disaster programs (2010-2014) and is a prominent voice in discussions on disaster resilience, having contributed to multiple leading publications.

Cesal has lectured across the world, and has taught at top design schools worldwide, including UC Berkeley and Harvard, focusing on disaster reconstruction, resilience, and sustainable design. Cesal authored “Down Detour Road, An Architect in Search of Practice” and hosted the groundbreaking podcast Social Design Insights for the Curry Stone Foundation. He co-founded Design for Adaptation and is involved in projects at the nexus of design, climate change, and AI. He holds a B.A. in Architectural Studies from Brown University and advanced degrees in Architecture, Construction Management, and an M.B.A. from Washington University in St. Louis.

📍 Show Links:  

Connect with Eric on LinkedIn

Follow Eric on Twitter/X

Learn more about Eric

Check out Eric’s Substack Life as a Disaster

📚Continue Learning:

Down Detour Road: An...

Episode 056: Leading with Finance & Entrepreneurship

How can architecture firms focus on elevating their financial management?

This week we explore our love/hate relationship with numbers and discover tips and tricks that help keep projects and their budgets financially sound. Bolanle Williams-Olley is a CFO and partner at Mancini, but also an incredible entrepreneur managing multiple businesses in various stages of growth all at the same time.

Our conversation with her will help you reframe your approach to accounting and bookkeeping tasks and leave you asking yourself what type of business you want to build next. You will also get a first look at her BOLD framework from her new book, Build Boldly launching early next month focused on how individuals can spark courageous action for grow and become leaders that inspire others to rise and be their best.

Guest:

Bolanle Williams-Olley sets a new standard of expectations for financial professionals. As Chief Financial Officer for Mancini, Bolanle brings a unique vision to the firm’s leadership team and thrives on building relationships between finance and management teams to ensure the overall financial success of projects and her firm. 

At 36-years-old, she is a true multi-hyphenate. In addition to her C-suite role, she is also a mom of two and a dynamic leader in the built industry as the founder of several impact organizations for improving education in a low-income school in Nigeria (where she was raised), empowering women in the A/E/C industry and at small design firms, as well as creating awareness about NGOs across Nigeria. 

Show Links:

📍 She Builds Money

📍 She Builds Waves

📍 She Builds Lives

📍 BolaneWO.com

📍 Build Boldy Book

💻 Learn about our podcast partner Monograph:

Monograph is the cloud-based practice operations solution built for architects by architects. It is easy to use, beautifully designed, and helped firms streamline operations by empowering them to see project and firm-wide financial health in a single tool.  Plan your projects with schedules, budgets, roles, and team members. Track a project’s financial health with their unique MoneyGantt which takes timesheet data and makes it simple to see whether you are on track or not.  Use firm-wide revenue forecasts to make strategic decisions. With Monograph, you never have to make a decision in the dark again. 👉 Visit Monograph now.

💻 Learn about our podcast partner ArchIT:

Tired of dealing with generic IT providers? ArchIT offers Complete IT Solutions for Architecture, Design, and Engineering firms, including helping architects fight back against ransomware and cybersecurity attacks. Visit https://getarchit.com/pd/ to set up your free 15-min Cyber Security Assessment, or custom solutions for your design firm.

📍 Follow

Episode 094: The Design for Freedom Movement

How can architects eliminate forced labor in building material supply chains to create a more equitable future?

“Over the past few decades, substantive strides have been compounding to sustainably design and construct with less harm to nature; yet there is a startling blind spot in terms of the entropic brutality forced upon the workers who are critical to the production of the very materials we source. Their suffering should not be built into our construction” 

– Sharon Prince, CEO and Founder of Grace Farms Foundation

The $12 trillion construction industry is the #1 industrial sector at risk of forced labor. Sharon joins us to discuss the new Design for Freedom Toolkit and her work to help implement ethical, forced labor-free material sourcing strategies across the AEC industry. 

Guest:

Sharon Prince is the CEO and Founder of Grace Farms Foundation and commissioned SANAA to design Grace Farms in New Canaan, Connecticut. The Foundation’s interdisciplinary humanitarian mission is to pursue peace through nature, arts, justice, community, faith, and Design for Freedom, a new movement to eliminate forced labor from the building materials supply chain. The open, porous architecture of the River building at Grace Farms is embedded into 80 acres of natural landscape. The building, designed to break down barriers between people and sectors, invites all to pause and reflect, while also encouraging engagement with its initiatives, creating new outcomes.

📍 Show Links: 

https://gracefarms.org/

📚 Continue Learning:

Learn about the comprehensive resources for design and construction professionals to help ensure ethical material sourcing strategies: https://www.designforfreedom.org/

https://www.fastcompany.com/90762815/sharon-prince-grace-farms-most-creative-people-2022

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Replay: Latina Voices in Practice

“Why is it that the largest community of color within the US still makes up such a small percentage of the profession?” ~ACSA Hispanic & Latinx in Architecture

Four leaders in the profession share their diverse perspectives on race, equity, and architecture.

Practice Disrupted is committed to elevating conversations on justice, equity, diversity, and inclusion to teach, empower, and build greater awareness across the industry. Building from prior diversity conversations, this week we learn about Hispanic & Latinx in Architecture.

Guest:

Venesa Alicea-Chuqui, AIA, NOMA, LEED AP BD+C, WELL AP, an Architect, Educator and Advocate, is Founding Principal of NYVARCH Architecture, a NYC based collaborative Architectural Practice focused on building community and equity through design.  With over 15 years of experience designing multi-family sustainable affordable, and supportive housing developments and civic projects, she is committed to working with local communities to develop good design, both sustainable and socially conscious. She’s the Vice Chair of Outreach to the AIA Small Firm Exchange and President of the Architecture Alumni Group of the Alumni Association of the City College of New York, her alma mater (B.Arch ‘05), where she has also taught the Coop Internship and Professional Practice classes. Committed to design justice in the built environment, she’s an active contributor to Dark Matter University, Design as Protest, and a former co-chair to the AIANY Diversity & Inclusion and Emerging New York Architects committees. She is past chair of the AIANY Puerto Rico Resiliency task force, an active member of the AIANY Planning and Urban Design Committee, and a 2019 Fellow of the Association for Community Design.

Siboney Diaz-Sánchez is an affordable housing advocate and the community engagement administrator for the City of San Antonio's Neighborhood and Housing Services Department. She serves as a NOMA Empowerment Committee Co-Chair, organizes with Design As Protest Planning and Policy Committee, and is proud to teach Community Practice at The Boston Architectural College. In 2021 she joined the Association for Community Design board of directors.  Prior to returning to San Antonio Siboney was an Enterprise Rose Fellow and project/design manager at Opportunities Communities in the Boston area working for two non-profit community development corporations, The Neighborhood Developers and Nuestra Comunidad.  While in Boston she developed design standards for affordable housing, helped secure funding for a low income housing tax credit housing development,...

Episode 122: Entrepreneurship in Architecture, Apostrophe Consulting

What does it take to build a purpose-driven architecture management consulting business?

Co-hosts Evelyn Lee and Je’Nen Chastain are back on the mic — except this time, Evelyn is guiding the conversation and interviewing Je’Nen! On this episode of Practice Disrupted, Evelyn and Je’Nen share how they first connected in the architectural design world, and Je’Nen talks about how her entrepreneurial spirit and non-linear career path gave her a unique perspective in her business, Apostrophe Consulting.

Apostrophe Consulting is a purpose-driven, woman-owned management consulting practice dedicated to helping architects transform their companies. With expertise in talent development, change management, and business strategy, Je’Nen helps her clients navigate growth in a changing world.

To wrap up the episode, Evelyn asks Je’Nen what her hope and vision is for the future of both the field of architecture and Apostrophe Consulting. Stay until the end to hear what Je’Nen has to say, as well as her advice for anyone looking to step into entrepreneurship.

“The number one is finance. And the number two is mental health. Those are the two things that I think most entrepreneurs need to be ready to navigate. I don't think you have to have it all figured out at the start — you can transition into this and still be successful. And there's nothing wrong with that.”

Tune in next week to hear a conversation with Evelyn and Je’Nen about the MIT School of Architecture and Planning and how the program has driven innovation.

Guest:

Je’Nen Chastain, MBA, Assoc. AIA is the Founder of Apostrophe Consulting, a practice focused on helping architects and next-gen leaders strengthen their teams and businesses. In addition to consulting with firm leaders on practice management issues, she co-hosts Practice Disrupted, a podcast with a growing audience of over 30k unique listeners. She earned her MBA from Mills College and BArch from the University of North Carolina at Charlotte. She has received several industry leadership awards, including the 2017 AIA Associates Award and Presidential Citations from AIA California & North Carolina. She wrote the business plan for the AIA Leadership Institute 2015-2020 and served on the AIA national board of directors in 2010.

📍 Show Links:  

Apostrophe Consulting

📚 Related Past Episodes:

PD #119 Architecture, And: YouTube, Entrepreneurship, & Architecture

PD #89 Entrepreneurship in Practice: Taking Risks to Create Value

PD #75 Growing an AEC Startup, The Evolution of a Company

PD #56 Leading with Finance & Entrepreneurship

PD #26 Climate Action Through Entrepreneurship

💻 Learn about our podcast...

Episode 048: Architecture, Identity, & Culture

How are architects exploring identity and culture through practice?

An architect at Vines Architecture, Vershaé has dedicated her career to the exploration of culture in the built environment. A rising design leader in the southeast, Vershaé has contributed to major cultural projects including the National Museum of African American History and Culture, the Motown Museum Renovation and Addition in Detroit, the Martin Luther King Jr. Central Branch Public Library in Washington, DC, the Gregg Museum of Art and Design Expansion at North Carolina State University, and leads both the Emily Krzyzewski Center Expansion in Durham, NC and Henrietta Lacks Building in Baltimore, MD. 

Vershaé helps her clients navigate and design in response to cultural narrative. Through research, storytelling, service, and advocacy she is raising the visibility and representation of historically underrepresented voices. In addition to her project leadership, she contributes to advancing the profession through volunteer service with AIA and NOMA.

Guest:

Vershaé Hite, AIA, NOMA is a licensed architect and Associate at Vines Architecture. Since 2004, Vershaé’s academic and professional career have exposed her to a range of unique experiences throughout the United States, China, Israel and Palestine that have carefully constructed her crafted, compassionate perspectives on the relationship between design and the human condition. Her role as an architect and project leader is founded on her theoretical interests regarding the interconnectedness of culture, community, and art to architecture. For Vershaé, this emerges from a unique framework that she developed while obtaining her master's degree in London. The deeply rooted meanings in her work are extensions of well-crafted, honest stories - are a direct result of both her sensitivity to diverse social and cultural landscapes and an investigative process that looks to film, literature, and experimental art.

As such, her professional portfolio is characterized by complex cultural projects, historic renovations, libraries and higher education projects. As an Architect with award-winning firms like The Freelon Group, Perkins+Will, Andre Johnson Architect, and Vines Architecture, she is well versed in working with complex cultural matters through architectural design and execution. 

Show Links:

Vines Architecture

National Museum of African American History & Culture

SAY IT LOUD - North Carolina

Beyond Black

Emily K Center

NCNOMA

💻 Learn about our podcast partner Monograph:

Monograph is the cloud-based practice operations solution built for architects by architects. It is easy to use, beautifully designed, and helped firms streamline operations by empowering them to see project and firm-wide financial health in a single tool.  Plan your projects with schedules, budgets, roles, and team members....

Episode 087: Designing New Workplace Policies

If you launched an architecture firm with the goal of designing workplace policies above and beyond the baseline, what would those policies look like?

This week we discover how the desire to lead with better policies informed the creation of Saam Architecture, a mid-size practice based in Boston. President and CEO Diana Nicklaus has led with the goal of reimagining what is possible. The proof is in the numbers. Her practice is a place women want to work because the policies in place support their needs. 

The Saam studio is a place where collaboration is celebrated. Whether it is sitting together in their Boston office or working remotely, they maintain a high level of communication and trust, empowering their team to operate in spaces and places that improve the quality of service to their clients and the quality of their team’s lives. They are cyclists, sailors, runners, gardeners, singers, kayakers, hikers, yogis, and musicians. But above all, they are a team dedicated to a common goal: to enjoy delivering value to their clients.

Guest:

With over 20 years of experience, Diana Nicklaus has practiced architecture in both the United States and Italy, with projects throughout the continental U.S. and Europe. Her portfolio includes high-profile, large-scale institutional projects, including those in the higher education, healthcare, cultural arts, and K-12 education sectors.

As an advocate for women’s leadership and equitable practice, she has shared Saam’s strategies in numerous presentations and interviews, including Equity by Design and the AIA Women’s Leadership Summit. Diana was a founding co-chair of the Massachusetts Building Congress Women’s Network, the Founding President of Boston Professional Women in Construction, and is currently serving as the Secretary of the Board for the Boston Society of Architecture.

📍 Show Links: 

Saam Architecture

📍 Follow Practice Disrupted on Social:

Facebook | Instagram | LinkedIn | Pinterest | Twitter

Bonus Episode: Autodesk AI

How is AI reshaping the way architects design, collaborate, and innovate?

On this bonus episode of Practice Disrupted, we sit down with Amy Bunszel, the Executive Vice President of Architecture, Engineering and Construction Design Solutions at Autodesk, and Ryan McNulty, Principal of MBH Architects, to dive into the future of Artificial Intelligence (AI) as it relates to architectural practice — including The Phoenix, one of Ryan’s recent projects recently showcased at AU 2023.

First, Amy describes the positive impact of AI and how the technology can help the built world — and its customers — improve the sustainability of projects. She explains the role Autodesk AI plays in delivering more innovative projects to clients in a way that will transform both the industry and individual practice.  

AI can help with three things: automation, augmentation, and vast data analysis. The sustainability challenges in the world are also accelerating the need for change. The built environment is responsible for 42% of annual global CO2 emissions. Now is the time to leverage all the great technology we can to drive towards some of these important goals. - Amy Bunszel

From there, Ryan illustrates why and how AI can be useful for architecture from a project standpoint. He shares how AI helps to diminish architectural administrative tasks and focus on architectural decisions — one example being The Phoenix, a West Oakland affordable housing project created in collaboration with Autodesk. We also learn Ryan and Amy’s future plans for integrating AI into different projects and tools in support of the changing profession. 

To wrap up the episode, Ryan and Amy provide tips for architecture students integrating AI into their practice and share their individual aspirations for how AI can positively impact and shape their environments.  

Tune in next week for an episode about employee wellness and organizational culture in design firms.

Guests:

Amy Bunszel, EVP AEC Design at Autodesk manages product strategy and execution for Autodesk’s 3D design portfolio including the Autodesk Architecture, Engineering and Construction Collection, AutoCAD family, Autodesk Revit, and more.  

With more than 20 years’ of experience innovating software products across the architecture, engineering, and construction, manufacturing and media and entertainment industries, Amy inspires innovative strategy while driving large-scale agile software development around the globe. Amy combines her roots as a start-up co-founder with deep product management knowledge and large-scale product execution expertise to build high performing teams focused on delivering value to their customers.  

Ryan McNulty, Principal MBH Architects has an innate ability to unify project stakeholders to create successful projects with meaning and respect to local context. Ryan is known for his keen thirty-thousand-foot view of projects while closely managing every detail. This holistic design approach informs the decision-making process and allows effective communication at every stage, making him an asset to MBH’s broad array of project types — from workspace and labs, to multi-family and hospitality projects. 

Ryan brings deep experience with complex structures, managing client goals, community hearings, and stakeholder coordination. He is currently principal-in-charge of a a large commercial project in Los Angeles, as well as a confidential residential development in New York City.  

📍 Show Links:  

Learn more about Autodesk AI

Episode 052: Managing a Virtual Practice

What does it take to manage an architecture studio virtually?

The pandemic has revealed three options for managing an architecture studio: 

1. an entirely in-person operation; 

2. the new and improved hybrid practice;

3. the entirely virtual operation

We speak with two firm owners who have been managing their design studios in a 100% virtual capacity since before the pandemic hit. Leah Bayer returns to Practice Disrupted and is joined by Jennifer Kretschmer. 

Both firm owners are originally based out of Silicon Valley. In this discussion Leah and Jennifer outline the complexity and argument for virtual practice in a changing world. They are currently developing a curriculum for the Practice of Architecture to help business owners understand the operational constraints and considerations necessary to ensure the success of managing a virtual practice. This course will be available in the upcoming months.

Guests:

Jennifer Kretschmer founded J. Kretschmer Architect in 2003, specializing in single-family and multi-family residential projects under 10,000 square feet. Her firm has been a virtual office since 2008 which she has operated primarily from her home in the Silicon Valley area of California with workers located all over the United States. She was a speaker at the AIA’19 Conference on Architecture and 2019 CRAN Symposium bringing valued information, inspiration and training to architects on operating a virtual office with remote workers. Awarded AIA National Associate Member of the Year, 2002, she is also the the founding CRAN chairperson of the AIA Silicon Valley (2016-2019) and the 2021 AIASVC President.

Leah Alissa Bayer is an award-winning architect licensed in California, Hawaii, and Washington with an endless curiosity, forward-focus, and passion for improving quality of life. She is President at OJK Architecture + Planning, a 100% virtual, woman-owned and led firm. Overseeing Operations & Culture with the studio, her big-picture visioning and integrated approach to architecture stems from her multi-discipline background. She joined OJK with a background in creative business design and management focused on transparency and equity, most recently having founded EVIA Studio, a highly collaborative, women-led, and virtual architecture practice. 

Show Links:

📍 Check out J.Kretschmer Architect

📍 Check out OJK Architecture + Planning

🎧Revisit Practice Disrupted episode [018] - Remote Practice

📚 Continue Learning:

PoA curriculum: practiceofarchitecture.com/virtualpractice

💻 Learn about our podcast partner Monograph:

Monograph is the cloud-based practice operations solution built for architects by architects. It is easy to use, beautifully designed, and helped firms streamline operations by empowering them to see project and firm-wide financial health in a single tool.  Plan your projects with schedules, budgets, roles, and team members. Track a project’s financial health with their unique MoneyGantt which takes timesheet data and makes it simple to see whether you are on track or not.  Use firm-wide revenue forecasts to make strategic decisions. With...

Episode 003 - Technology & Change

In this episode of Practice Disrupted, we begin to explore technology as a disruptor to the industry of architectural practice.

Guest:

Nels Long, Co-Founding Director of RotoLab 

Nels Long (SCI-Arc ’14) is a designer, strategist and educator with a passion for projects that seek to improve the world through a relationship between technology and the built environment. As an Associate Principal at RoTo Architects, Nels has worked on projects at numerous scales from single family homes and commercial spaces, to large civic projects and masterplans. His approach to practice is the basis for founding RoTo Architects’ innovation studio, RotoLab. Through RotoLab Nels has cofounded companies that each focus on a different relationship between architecture, technology, and neuroscience, specifically focusing on learning through virtual experiences, virtual tooling, and social and competitive spaces for virtual experiences and games.

Show Links:    

RoTo Architects -- Our curated team of professionals have worked for corporations, government agencies, and individuals on a wide array of projects. We have learned the value of working collaboratively and the benefit of listening with open minds, heightened curiosity, and a sense of great purpose. https://www.rotoark.com/

RotoLab - An innovation studio for cross sector innovation in Architecture & Real Estate.

http://rotolab.la/

Second Studio is an open source collaboration software for architects and designers looking for an immersive VR solution for creating free form models using intuitive virtual tools.

https://github.com/SecondStudio/Second-Studio

Affinity Space is a grassroots organization in support of resilient futures through the sharing of information, cross-sector collaboration, and online mentoring. It is an online space where life’s challenges are to be presented in a spirit of compassion and domain experts present solutions in support of affected communities. It is a knowledge web in support of learning new skills, making new friends, and creating a better world. https://affinity-space.com/

RIOS (formerly Rios Clementi Hale Studio) https://www.rios.com/

Read more about RIOS product design: https://www.rios.com/news/#filter=.all-posts.all-brands.products

notNeutral was born out of the idea that architecture is more than just a building; it is everything in the designed environment. As the design-child of Rios Clementi Hale Studios, notNeutral was a way for our award-winning transdisciplinary design firm to expand its horizons. https://www.notneutral.com/ 

Replay: Voices of Mothers in Practice 

What can architecture firms do to support mothers who are working in practice?

Leaders of the profession share diverse perspectives on their identity between practice and motherhood. This discussion aims to explore the experiences of working mothers in diverse career stages who are raising children of different ages.

Practice Disrupted is committed to elevating conversations on justice, equity, diversity, and inclusion to teach, empower, and build greater awareness across the industry.

Guests:

Christina Cho Yoo, AIA, PE, LEED AP BD+C is co-founder of Atelier Cho Thompson. She received a BS & MS in civil & structural engineering and construction management at Stanford University and received a masters in architecture at the Harvard Graduate School of Design. She was a structural engineer at the international engineering company Arup, where she was the Structural Sustainability Champion for the Americas & worked on projects such as the LEED-Double Platinum California Academy of Sciences, Contemporary Jewish Museum, Kaiser hospitals, Schroder Overcrossing, and various other projects. She went onto work at architecture firms internationally including Kao Design Group on Richard Branson's Eco-Island, SHoP Architects on the Google HQ, Neri & Hu in Shanghai, Mass Studies in Seoul, and Bohlin Cywinski Jackson on Apple stores, the Apple iAd office, and the Square HQ. Christina is a licensed architect and engineer in California and has been LEED accredited since 2003.

Her work has spanned typologies from single-family to multifamily residences, hospitals, labs, museums, innovative workplaces, hospitality and food service, to retail, exhibits, furniture, and graphics for various organizations. Before architecture school, she staged at Tartine Bakery while taking courses at the California Culinary Academy. She has lectured on Green R&D at Harvard and served as a critic at Parsons, Stanford, Harvard, & the California College of the Arts (CCA). She is an Adjunct Professor at the CCA, having taught advanced urban studio on the Post-Retail City and Integrated Building Systems. She served as Design & Innovation Chair of the Stanford Club of SF and currently is on the Board of Directors at Pacific Primary School.

Jennifer T. Matthews, Associate AIA, is a full-time remote Architectural Designer at SS&A Design Collective based in Montgomery, Alabama. With eight years of healthcare design experience, Jennifer has worked on architectural projects for multiple healthcare providers and...

Episode 105: Podcast Live: AIA|LA People, Processes, and Practice: Technology + The Business of Design

How can technology elevate the business of design?

AIA Los Angeles invited Practice Disrupted Co-Hosts Evelyn Lee and Je’Nen Chastain to present the opening keynote at their annual technology conference in February.

More about the conference: 

Digital transformation is revolutionizing the AECO industry, offering new ways to develop and construct the built environment. The use of cloud, data, and artificial intelligence is maximizing the creative potential of architects and engineers by augmenting their ability to rapidly create, analyze, and optimize designs while streamlining processes and revealing actionable project insights. However, this rapid advancement of technological trends sometimes creates more questions than answers.

How can we better engage with clients using technology? How can we best manage practices? How can we build better and more efficiently? This conference gathers the AECO community to discuss how technology is reshaping the industry and provides a platform for designers, architects, and built environment professionals to embrace the new possibilities of digital and explore innovative solutions for their clients.

A special thank you to: Brian Skowvron, Assoc. AIA, Nicole Buhles, Assoc. AIA, Lauren Coles, AIA, Will Wright, Hon. AIA|LA, & Carlo Caccavale, Hon. AIA|LA

Co-Hosts:

Evelyn Lee is the Global Head of Workplace Strategy and Innovation at Slack Technologies, and Founder of the Practice of Architecture. She integrates her business and architecture background with a qualitative and quantitative focus to build better experiences for the organization’s employees, clients, and guests. She is widely published, wrote a monthly column for Contract magazine for over three years, and is now a frequent contributor to Architect Magazine. Evelyn has received numerous industry awards, including 2016 40 Under 40 award for Building Design + Construction and the 2014 AIA National Young Architects Award. She recently served as the first-ever female Treasurer to the AIA National Board in 2020-2021.

Je’Nen Chastain is the founder of Apostrophe Consulting, a practice focused on helping architects and next-gen leaders strengthen their teams and businesses. In addition to consulting with firm leaders on practice management issues, she mentors architects on career development, leadership, and strategy. She specializes in facilitating conversations that engage multi-generational teams and has designed, developed, and presented dozens of training programs that inspire next-gen leaders. Je’Nen received the 2017 AIA National Associates Award, an Associates Award from AIA California in 2012, and an Emerging Professionals Award from AIA San Francisco in 2017. She served on the AIA National Board in 2010.

📍 Show Links: 

More about the conference

PD Technology Playlist

📚 Continue Learning:

Future Forum

AIA Los Angeles

📍 Follow Practice Disrupted on Social:

Facebook |

How can AI, automation, and technology democratize custom home design and improve the home building process for both buyers and architects?

On this episode of Practice Disrupted, we welcome Marc Minor and Michael Bergin, the co-founders of Higharc. With Marc's passion for combining design and technology and Michael's dedication to improving the built environment through design automation, they created Higharc. Higharc provides software tools to make custom home design more accessible, enabling users to design, estimate, sell, and build their ideal homes. Our discussion is focused on their vision for democratizing custom home design.

First, Marc and Michael discuss the origins of Higharc, their relationship as co-founders, and their goal to bring design automation to the industry. They highlight the ways tech can address housing shortages, improve affordability, and enhance the home-building process.

Then, we dive into efficient customization in home design and how Higharc empowers architects to engage with the industry on a larger scale. They share strategies for optimizing the home-buying experience for both buyers and architects, working with the industry's supply and demand, and managing the current housing market.

What really is going to make it so that houses are more affordable is addressing the supply problem. Higharc as a business is also very pointed at this soft cycle supply problem making it faster to build homes so that we have more homes for people to move into. There's an ecosystem here, and if we could take that knowledge and have systems that enable professionals to engage with this process, this industry at greater scale, we all stand to benefit. - Michael Bergin

To wrap up the conversation, Marc and Michael look to the future and share their vision for bridging the gap between architects and buyers, with the goal to create more diverse, automated, and connected communities.

Tune in next week for an episode with Tanooki Labs Product Manager, Liz Fibleuil. 

Guests:

Marc Minor:

Marc started Higharc with the goal of making good home design accessible to more people. He’s passionate about pairing design with technology and guiding teams to bring those technologies to market. Prior to starting Higharc, Marc launched two 3D printing companies — Desktop Metal and Carbon3D — out of stealth to become industry leaders, and held management roles for some of the world’s most beloved brands and creative consultancies.

Michael Bergin:

Michael is VP of Product and Co-Founder of Higharc. Throughout his career, he has been dedicated to improving the built environment through design automation. Early in his architecture training, he became dissatisfied with the slow pace and limited accessibility of custom home design. Frustrated, he returned to graduate school and explored the potential to improve these conditions through research into mass-customization of homes. He applied these concepts in practice as a Research Lead at Autodesk, creating a product enabling design automation for the automotive and aerospace industries. His work leading the product design effort culminated in the release of Autodesk Generative Design.

📍 Show Links:  

Connect with Marc on LinkedIn

Connect with Michael on LinkedIn

Follow Higharc on LinkedIn

📚Continue Learning:

Architechie 

Contact

Episode 160: Practice Disrupted and the Practice of Architecture

What’s next for Evelyn, Je’Nen & Practice Disrupted? 

On this episode of Practice Disrupted, we welcome Je'Nen M. Chastain back as we wrap up season 8 of the show! If you don’t already know her, Je’Nen is a business strategy consultant, entrepreneur, and podcaster who helps leaders transform their teams and companies. In our conversation, Je'Nen shares what she has been doing during her podcast hiatus while Evelyn opens up about her journey with her various projects, emphasizing the innovation and exploration that come with stepping into a new chapter of a career.

First, Evelyn talks about her journey into architecture, starting in business school, which informed her perspective on the architecture field. She explains why firms should embrace innovation and the necessity for a firm-wide cultural desire for evolution.

Next, Evelyn explains how she managed the shift away from her job at Slack and why this transition gave her the freedom to nurture the Practice Disrupted Community + Lab. She shares her current projects and passions and explains the need for architects to pay attention to market changes and trends to promote evolution. Plus, Evelyn talks about creating her own chatbot and using AI to analyze business operations, marketing, and communication.

I've been on the consulting side of workplace strategy for a very long time…My vision is that in order for the architecture industry to survive, it needs to undergo some systemic change. And I can't do that helping or working one firm at a time. I would rather find like-minded people that are interested in similar things and give them the tools to do it themselves. I just also think that it scales so much better…we continue to scale, and we can continue to make an impact. That’s what I want to be able to do as an entrepreneur, and I don't feel like I could do that as a consultant. - Evelyn Lee

To wrap up the conversation, Je'Nen and Evelyn share the ups and downs of entrepreneurial journeys, touching on the isolation of building a business and the importance of consistent commitments like this podcast. Evelyn highlights why she moved away from consulting and discusses her goals for the future. 

You will also hear a sneak peek into what is to come next season! 

Guest:

Je’Nen M. Chastain

Je’Nen M. Chastain is a business strategy consultant, entrepreneur, and podcaster who helps leaders transform their teams and companies. Combining her architectural education and training with an MBA in entrepreneurship, Je’Nen built Apostrophe Consulting, a growing business management consulting practice.

📍 Show Links:  

Practice Community + Lab

Practice of Architecture 

Canoa

Gumption

Women Defining AI

Almost Technical

Shepley Bulfinch

AceLab

📚Past Related Episodes: 

PD #67: Architecture And: The Future of Workplace

Episode 035: Asian American Architects

Leaders of the profession share diverse perspectives on race, equity, and architecture.

Against the backdrop of recent acts of hate and violence towards the Asian American community, we are amplifying five stories of Asian American Architects who are actively leading the profession of architecture forward. Practice Disrupted is committed to elevating conversations on justice, equity, diversity, and inclusion to teach, empower, and build greater awareness across the industry. 

Guests:

Evelyn M. Lee, FAIA, MBA, MPA is a licensed architect in the state of California, with over 15 years of experience working with individuals and companies that are looking to reshape their future. She is the founder of Practice of Architecture, a co-host on this podcast, Practice Disrupted, the first-ever Senior Experience Designer at Slack Technologies, and the first female Treasurer to AIA National‘s Board of Directors.

📍Follow Evelyn: Facebook | Instagram | LinkedIn | Pinterest | Twitter

Susan Chin, FAIA, Hon. ASLA is a principal of DesignConnects and an accomplished architect, urbanist, and civic leader. She formed an independent consultancy on art, architecture, landscape, and urban design in 2020 and provides leadership and advises government, developers and non-profits on design, planning, and policy. Until 2019, she led the Design Trust for Public Space. 

📍Follow Susan: LinkedIn

Annie Chu, FAIA, IIDA is an architect, interior designer, and educator with over 30 years of experience at a dozen architectural and design schools across the country and abroad. As a founding principal of Chu+Gooding Architects, Annie has worked extensively with world-renowned museums, cultural facilities, and arts-related institutions.

📍Follow Annie: Instagram | LinkedIn | Twitter

Ming Thompson, AIA, NOMA is co-founder of Atelier Cho Thompson, a New Haven- and San Francisco-based multidisciplinary practice working between architecture, interiors, graphics, and strategy. Ming was a recipient of the AIA Young Architect Award in 2020. Her firm has been the recipient of numerous national and regional design honors, including the IIDA Foundation Visionary Award. 

📍Follow Ming: Instagram |

Episode 061: S4 Launch: Leading Change Through Entrepreneurship

How can architects lead change through a blended career of entrepreneurship and architecture?

Welcome to the fourth season of Practice Disrupted, a podcast where we explore the evolution of architecture practice from many different angles! 

Mark R. LePage, AIA, NCARB joins us to share his story of becoming an architect and entrepreneur through the creation of EntreArchitect and Gābl Media. EntreArchitect is a community of architects building profitable architecture firms to better serve the world. EntreArchitect Podcast has produced over 450 episodes and has been downloaded over 2 million times. Through his career as an entrepreneur, Mark has brought together a community of inspiring, passionate people who share their knowledge and expertise to help small firm entrepreneur architects succeed. Mark helped launch Gābl Media, the largest, most engaged AEC multimedia network on the planet.

Guest:

Mark R. LePage, AIA, NCARB is a residential architect/developer based in Charlotte, North Carolina and the founder of EntreArchitect, a global online platform launched in 2012 to provide resources, training and community for small firm entrepreneur architects. 

In January 2020 Mark partnered with architect and founder of SPACES Podcast, Dimitrius Lynch, Jr. to launch Gābl Media. As President and CEO of Gābl Media, Inc., Mark leads the multimedia network, empowering global leaders in the architecture, engineering, and construction industries. Gābl Media creates and distributes industry leading podcast series, including EntreArchitect Podcast, Archispeak Podcast, SPACES Podcast, Build Your Brand Podcast, Practice Disrupted, TRXL, Build Smart, She Builds Podcast, and more. The mission at Gābl Media is to create content that informs and entertains an audience dedicated to building a better world.

Co-Hosts:

Evelyn M. Lee, FAIA, MBA, MPA is a licensed architect in the state of California, with over 15 years of experience working with individuals and companies that are looking to reshape their future. She is the founder of Practice of Architecture, the first-ever Senior Experience Designer at Slack Technologies, and the first female Treasurer to AIA National‘s Board of Directors.

Je’Nen M. Chastain, MBA, Assoc. AIA is the founder of Apostrophe Consulting, a purpose-driven, woman-owned management consulting practice dedicated to helping architects transform their companies. With expertise in talent development, change management, and business strategy, Je’Nen helps her clients navigate growth in a changing world.

📍 Show Links: 

Check out EntreArchitect

Join the EntreArchitect Community

Gābl Tech Network for Architects

Episode 119: Architecture, And: YouTube, Entrepreneurship, & Architecture

What is the role of visual storytelling in architecture, and how can it help architects gain clients?

On this episode of Practice Disrupted, we interview Dami Lee, a multi-hyphenate architect that launched her firm off of the success of her self-titled YouTube Channel.

We talk about the next generation of architects, how they seek more meaning in their work, and finding different outlets of content creation to tell the stories they are most interested in. 

We also center on Dami’s journey from freelance photographer to YouTube sensation and have an honest conversation about how the channel enables her to do architecture and how her architecture practice creates content for the channel. The conversation looks at the lack of scalability within the traditional business model and the importance of scalability when it comes to growing a business and enjoying life while doing so.

Overall, the episode offers a fascinating look into the architecture industry's unique challenges and the innovative ways that young architects are creating new paths for themselves.

Guests:

Dami Lee is a successful YouTube entrepreneur with over 765,000 subscribers and the founder of Nolli Studio. A licensed Architect in Vancouver, BC, Dami has led various small projects and renovations, typically working with tight budgets, fast timelines, and complex existing conditions. Her desire to explore different typologies and work on larger projects led her to Faulknerbrowns Architects before starting her firm.

She is inspired by students and others in the field and believes the current environment is ripe for a happier, healthier, and more connected generation of architects. 

📍 Show Links:  

https://damilee.com/

https://www.youtube.com/@DamiLeeArch

https://nollimedia.com/

https://www.instagram.com/damileearch/

https://www.instagram.com/nollistudio/

📍 Follow Practice Disrupted on Social:

Facebook | Instagram | LinkedIn | Pinterest | Twitter

Episode 099: Critiquing Architecture School

What is the present-day student perspective of architecture school?

In his docuseries, Critiquing Architecture School, Alvin Zhu captures what it's like being in architecture school one semester at a time. Along the way, he is also collecting the voices and experiences of his classmates who are all attending the University of New South Wales. Ultimately the series is about creating greater transparency around the educational system and the resulting culture that architecture studio creates.

In this episode, we interview Alvin and one of his producers Sana Tabbsum. Sana joined us on a previous episode and is based in London. She completed her Master's at the University of Greenwich. In the conversation, all four of us found shared experiences of what was happening in studio culture globally, and we collectively reflected on - what we would change about architecture education and what we would keep the same.

Guests:

Alvin Zhu is an aspiring filmmaker pursuing a Master of Architecture at the University of New South Wales. Shortly after graduating from undergrad in 2018, he founded a social media network for architecture students & graduates called “ProjectsbyPeople,” connecting a global community without being bound by physical limitations.  

Alvin began volunteering for the Australian Institute of Architects, SONA student body, and created 2 video series catered towards helping the next generation of students. 

In 2021, he was awarded the “Student Prize for the Advancement of Architecture” by the Australian Institute of Architects in recognition of his dedication to serving the wider community. This year, he also undertook the role of SONA Vice-President.

Sana Tabassum is a social entrepreneur, content creator, and final year MArch student at the University of Greenwich. She founded :scale (to-scale) in 2019, an architecture blog and platform for students and young designers, to create an inclusive and collaborative archi-community that champions a balance between well-being and productivity.

Since beginning her content-creating journey, Sana has led a team to self-publish an architecture magazine, curated the world’s first virtual architecture convention, and developed a cohort-based course to help architecture students build their skills during the summer.

📍 Show Links:  

Critiquing Architecture School

Episode 1 - Getting Started | Critiquing Architecture School

Episode 2 - Transparency from the University? | Critiquing Architecture School

Critiquing Architecture School on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/critiquingarchischool

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Episode 059: Building the Pipeline Through K-12 Education

How are architects increasing representation in architecture through early educational outreach?

Project Pipeline was born at the 2002 NOMA conference. Then-president Paul Taylor asked Drake Dillard and David Kirk to research and establish a plan for the camp that would introduce minority students with a focus on black students to architecture with the ultimate goal of creating more licensed black architects. The first camp was held in 2006 in Cincinnati. Since then dozens of camps have been held in more than twenty cities. 

This week we interview Prescott Reavis, one of the co-founders of the SFNOMA Project Pipeline Architecture Summer Camp. Designed for students in grades 6th-8th, the camp teaches minority youth about environmental and community based design while developing STEAM skills through the discipline of architecture. As one of the few national initiatives in the nation connecting youth and architecture, the program helps K-12 students gain an understanding of the essential elements of architecture. Working alongside mentors, students work both individually and collaboratively to address community-focused issues through creativity and design innovation with a real project site. 

Project Pipeline Summer Camp is only possible through the continued support of members and friends. Please consider donating towards their annual summer camp through SFNOMA.

To learn about other local camps across the country visit: Project Pipeline – National Organization of Minority Architects – NOMA.

Guest:

Prescott Reavis, NOMA, NCARB, LEED AP, SEED is an Oakland-based Spatial Activist, architect, planner, and award-winning educator who has merged over 20+ years of experiences in architecture, planning, and education to develop and construct inclusive communities internationally with a focus on equitable design and planning justice. He is the Founder and Director of Kulima, a community design, planning, and teaching practice, empowering everyday citizens of all ages to use their collective knowledge and voices to shape the physical environment to their visions by engaging them in their spaces for nonprofits, small business, community based and governmental organizations. Prescott is also an experienced youth educator with 15 years of practice from elementary school through university students on architecture, planning, culture, and sustainability. 

Read more about Prescott and his work at Kulima.

Show Links:

📍 KULIMA

📍 SFNOMA Project Pipeline

💻 Learn about our podcast partner Monograph:

Monograph is the cloud-based practice operations solution built for architects by architects. It is easy to use, beautifully designed, and helped firms streamline operations by empowering them to see project and firm-wide financial health in a single tool.  Plan your projects with schedules, budgets, roles, and team members. Track a project’s...

Episode 108: Attracting and Retaining Midcareer Women

Why are leadership-track women in architecture leaving their firms?

Throughout 100+ episodes of Practice Disrupted, we’ve touched on the missing middle, burnt-out architects, and the challenges in navigating career growth in practice. We wanted to dedicate an entire episode to exploring and understanding why midcareer and even senior-level women are considering leaving their firms. We'll look also discuss the core issues driving retention in the field.

We invited career and executive coach Maya Sharfi on the show to discuss her new whitepaper titled, 'Attracting and Retaining Leadership-Track Women in Architecture & Planning.' Maya has been working extensively with women across practice on training and career development. In this episode, she shares her insight and provides recommendations.

Guest:

Maya Sharfi is a career and executive coach and the founder of Build Yourself. She helps women in design, tech, and innovation advance their careers on their own terms and helps companies grow and promote their rising women leaders through coaching, training, and consulting.

Companies Maya has worked with have seen a 3x increase in the rate of women promoted, and 18% of women are more likely to recommend their companies to other women. They’ve seen more women owning and leading initiatives and setting boundaries that make projects more effective and grow junior staff. Maya's individual clients achieve results like moving into senior director roles, launching new, innovative programs, and achieving $25,000 raises.

Maya has trained national industry groups, like Women in Innovation and the American Institute of Architects, and works with leadership and staff at global design and innovation companies such as Stantec, Gensler, and HOK, and she helps women become principals and partners at their firms.

📍 Show Links: 

Learn more about Build Yourself

📚 Continue Learning:

Attracting and Retaining Leadership-Track Women in Architecture & Planning

Apply for Partner & Principal One-on-One Coaching

📍 Follow Practice Disrupted on Social:

Facebook | Instagram | LinkedIn | Pinterest | Twitter

Episode 043: Architecture, And: Nonprofit Design Education

How are individuals using their training in architecture to explore diverse career paths?

This week, we revisit the world of social impact design and the work of a rising, mission-driven entrepreneur. Maya Bird-Murphy joins us to share her story of designing and growing her nonprofit, Chicago Mobile Makers. The organization is on a mission to make design education accessible to everybody through youth design-thinking and problem-solving workshops across the greater Chicago community.

According to the 2020 NCARB by the Numbers report, 83% of newly licensed architects were white, and 65% were male. Those who are currently not represented need support and guidance for a clearer path to careers in design. Chicago Mobile Makers seek to expand the variety of people entering the field of architecture to create more diverse workplaces, leading to more equitable decision-making and design.

After converting a former USPS van into a mobile classroom, the Mobile Makerspace allows Maya’s team to bring the design studio directly into diverse communities, inspiring and lifting the next generation of design talent.

Guest:

Maya Bird-Murphy is an architectural designer, educator, and maker from Oak Park, Illinois. She is also the founder and Executive Director of Chicago Mobile Makers, an award-winning nonprofit organization bringing design-focused skill-building workshops to underrepresented communities. Maya believes that architecture should not be a privilege and must expand to accommodate more people through teaching and community engagement. She loves Chicago and hopes to make her mark by making it a more equitable place to live. In her free time, she can be found outside in nature with her two dogs.

Show Links:

Check out Chicago Mobile Makers

Support their work!

Featured on Dwell ‘A Delivery Van-Turned-Mobile Classroom for Kids Hits the Streets of Chicago’ by Duncan Nielsen / Photos by Tom Harris

💻 Learn about our podcast partner Monograph:

Monograph is the cloud-based practice operations solution built for architects by architects. It is easy to use, beautifully designed, and helped firms streamline operations by empowering them to see project and firm-wide financial health in a single tool.  Plan your projects with schedules, budgets, roles, and team members. Track a project’s financial health with their unique MoneyGantt which takes timesheet data and makes it simple to see whether you are on track or not.  Use firm-wide revenue forecasts to make strategic decisions. With Monograph, you never have to make a decision in the dark again. 👉 Visit Monograph now.

Section Cut by Monograph

On August 12, Monograph is hosting Section Cut, a virtual conference dedicated to firm owners and operation leaders. Hear from leaders at...

Episode 045: Architecture, And: Publishing

How are individuals using their training in architecture to explore diverse career paths?

This week we speak with Architect Lora Teagarden, the author of #AREsketches and The Little Architect’s Alphabet. Lora shares her story on what inspired her to create these educational books, as well as tips she’s learned from self publishing. Learn more about her process, including tips and tricks she recommends for new authors. We’ll also learn what publication she’s working on next.

Lora’s career is centered on architecture and her pursuit of lifelong learning. Through writing and sketching, Lora has been able to expand her knowledge of the practice of architecture. Her publications are a way for her to share her passion for architecture and inspire the next generation of architects.

Guest:

Lora Teagarden is an Architect at RATIO, headquartered in Indianapolis, and the founder of L² Design, LLC. A published author and creator of #AREsketches and The Little Architect’s Alphabet, her passion for the profession drives her to mentor young professionals and volunteer in her community. She is a 2017 Young Architect Award winner, a past Chair of the Young Architects Forum, Past President of AIA Indianapolis, and was recently elected as an At-Large Representative on the AIA National Strategic Council. Her website and blog offer unique insights into professional practice, together with inspiration and tips for young architects.

Show Links:

RATIO

L² Design, LLC

The Little Architect’s Alphabet

AREsketches Volume 1 & Volume 2

Lora’s Twitter & IG

Paper by WeTransfer

CreateSpace

💻 Learn about our podcast...

Replay: Immigrant Architects

Leaders of the profession share diverse perspectives on equity and architecture.

Expanding our diversity series, this week we learn about the lived experiences of individuals who immigrated to the United States.

Guests:

Originally from Colombia, Graciela Carrillo, AIA, LEED AP, immigrated to the United States in 2003. She recently joined Nassau BOCES Facilities Services as a Senior Manager where she is managing school operational and capital projects. Graciela has committed a decade of volunteer leadership service to the AIA. Currently she is serving as the President 2020-2021 as well as the Chapter’s Women In Architecture Co-Founder and Co-Chair. Graciela was the past 2017-2018 NY Regional Director (YARD) for the Young Architects Forum (YAF). She is also the Co-Founder of the Immigrant Architects Coalition, a group committed to helping and providing resources for immigrant architects to achieve a prosperous career in the US. In 2019, Graciela was the recipient of the AIA NYS Young Architect Award.

Gloria Kloter, AIA, NCARB, CODIA, is founder and CEO of Glow Architects. A practicing architect both in her home country of the Dominican Republic and in the US, she has dedicated her career to helping other young architects grow. She is the founder of the Foreign Architects, a private community in Facebook where she mentors young and aspiring immigrant architects on how to obtain their architect license in the United States. Gloria also serves as the Architect Licensing Advisor of the State of Florida through AIA Florida. She is a part of the Board of Directors of the AIA Tampa Bay where she is the chairperson of the Women in Architecture committee. She was also honored for the 2019 Sho-Ping Ching Women’s Leadership Summit Scholarship, a recognition to mid-career women architects who are advancing toward leadership roles and are making a positive impact within their communities. 

Shahad Sadeq, Assoc. AIA is an Iraqi immigrant architectural designer at Smithgroup. She is an active member of the AIA in her local chapter in Dallas, Texas. Shahad is passionate about amplifying diverse voices in the profession and developing sustainable workplace culture. She currently is co-leading the immigrant architect coalition and sits on the J.E.D.I. committee board of Smithgroup. She previously helped found an Equity in Architecture effort through the AIA Kansas City Chapter.

Yu-Ngok Lo, FAIA, CDT, LEED AP is the founding principal of YNL Architects, Inc. His work received numerous design awards such as the NAHB Best of American Living Awards, Gold Nugget Awards, Aurora Awards, American Residential Design Awards, and various AIA Design Awards. The projects of his firm have been published in ArchDaily, Hinge Magazine, CONDE, CommArch Magazine, and Hospitality-Interiors Magazine. Yu-Ngok is a past recipient of the AIBD Designer of the Year, AIA Presidential Citation, AIA National Young Architects Award, BD+C 40 Under 40, 2015 ENR 20 Under 40, and the AIACC Young Architect Award. He was elevated to the AIA College of Fellows in 2020.

Show Links:

📍 Immigrant Architects Coalition

📍

Episode 057: Southeast Asian American Architects

Leaders of the profession share diverse perspectives on race, equity, and architecture.

Practice Disrupted is committed to elevating conversations on justice, equity, diversity, and inclusion to teach, empower, and build greater awareness across the industry. Building from prior diversity conversations, this week we learn about Southeast Asian Architects. 

Guests:

Meghana Joshi, AIA, NOMA is a strong proponent of Equity, Diversity, Inclusion and Justice in the architecture profession. At SoCal NOMA, she is a Director of Outreach and Recruitment for Project Pipeline and works towards increasing minority representation in architecture through summer camps for middle and high school students. She founded AIA Orange County’s Women in Architecture Committee in 2015 to give a platform for Orange County firms to meaningfully contribute towards the improvement of professional conditions for women in architecture. She joined AIA Orange County’s Board of Directors in 2019 and founded EDI+J Committee to increase minority representation through mentorship in leadership. She founded “Project Amplify” to amplify voices and works of minority architects in the AEC industry. She is an active member of ULI-OC/IE’s Office and Commercial Product Council. She is currently engaged in bringing ULI’s Urban Plan program to educate underrepresented demographics and communities. She is also an active member and advocate for “Belong at Little” – Little’s Justice, Equity, Diversity, and Inclusion Task Force.

📍Follow Meghana on Instagram or on Twitter

Suyama Bodhinayake, Assoc. AIA diverse experience in architecture spans three continents, shaping his commitment to design excellence, sustainability and service. He currently resides and works in Southern California. 

Throughout his career, Suyama appreciates the opportunities to contribute to international and national award-winning projects, as well as the opportunities to serve the profession through a variety of leadership roles within the AIA. Since 2018, he has been a member of the AIA Orange County (AIA OC) Committee on the Environment (COTE) and a founding member of the COTE Southern California Coalition in 2019. In 2020, he joined the AIA OC’s Board of Directors and has since served as the chapter’s Director of Sustainability and the Chair of COTE, leading a multi-faceted approach to promoting sustainability. As a member of the AIA California COTE Advocacy Task Force, he advocates for building decarbonization policies at a local and state level. Suyama is committed to sustainability as part of design excellence. As a member of AIA OC’s Design Awards committee, he guided the process of how every AIA OC design awards submission must now comply with the AIA’s Framework for Design Excellence. Additionally, Suyama advocates for architects to be recognized as stewards of the built environment. He was nominated, and currently serves as AIA Orange County’s first Director of Advocacy. He has advanced AIA’s role as a leader in sustainability within communities around Orange County, California. He has been supporting education in architecture since 2016, serving on the Advisory Board for the Architectural Technology Program at Orange Coast College.

As a champion of causes that impact our future, Suyama firmly believe in the Native American saying, “we do not inherit the Earth from our ancestors, we borrow it from our children.” 

Farah Naz Ahmad is an Architect and LEED Accredited Professional based in New York City, specializing in building sustainability and green building standards. Her public sector experience in city government agencies includes...

Episode 124: Architecture, And: Mental Health in the Profession

How can we better support the mental health of architects and designers?

Co-hosts Evelyn Lee and Je’Nen Chastain sit down with the moderator of Practice Disrupted’s Season 7 kickoff, Joann Lui, licensed architect turned-marketer and founder of the Women Architects Collective, to discuss how she transitioned from architecture into marketing for tech startups, and why this decision was in support of her passions and her mental health.

Joann shares her newest project, the Mental Health Summit, which she created in response to a statistic stating that 97% of architects experience burnout. Joann curated the entire run of show to help attendees find and apply real, actionable strategies to managing their mental health and burnout. Session topics include people-pleasing, journaling, and building a practice that promotes mental health.

“I was so unhealthy. I was constantly getting sick and not taking care of my own health. And I just want a profession where while we're building great buildings, and designing for other people, that we take care of ourselves, and we can be happier and just healthier individuals in general.”  

Joann further discusses her work as an entrepreneur and illustrates how she has helped architects build their personal digital brands during the pandemic and, in turn, was inspired to create multiple businesses as a way to support the community — ranging from coaching to an online matcha shop. 

Tune in next week to hear a conversation with Evelyn and Je’Nen with Architects FORA discussing the Feminist Practice Model.

Guest:

Joann Lui, AIA is an architect, speaker, and the Founder of Women Architects Collective, a digital space where she provides community, conferences and coaching for 4,700+ members. To spread the voice of the community, she hosts annual events such as the Women Architects Festival and the Mental Health in Architecture Summit. Joann developed her professional experience at Gensler NY and transitioned into a Content Marketer role at AEC tech startups such as Monograph and TestFit. You can find her on her website, watch her YouTube channel, and follow her on Instagram or LinkedIn.

📍 Show Links:  

https://www.joannlui.com

Women Architects Collective

Sign up for the MentalHealthSummit.co

📚 Past Episodes Referenced:

PD #96 Addressing Mental Health in Architecture

Leah Bayer:

PD #52 Managing

Episode 140: Season 7 Finale, Behind the Scenes of Practice Disrupted

How has Practice Disrupted grown and evolved since launching in 2020?

On the Season 7 Finale of Practice Disrupted, Evelyn and Je’Nen reflect on the podcast’s evolution over the last four years, and share a behind the scenes conversation on the creation of the show. They discuss lessons about the complexities of change within the industry, and some of their favorite conversations along the way. Stay until the end of the episode for a special announcement!

First, Je’Nen shares the intentions behind launching Practice Disrupted and her desire to lean into the narrative-building storytelling element of audio. We hear about changes during the podcast’s four years and how it felt to recognize its growing impact and reach. 

From there, Je’Nen and Evelyn reflect on the challenges, successes, and lessons from producing 140 podcast episodes. Je’Nen shares some of her favorite moments as a co-host and interviewer, and they both illustrate how they’ve grown through the podcast and solidified their place within the industry. 

“This podcast has been a great exploration of our shared desire to move the profession in a new direction. I hope through the process of having all these conversations, people have discovered new ideas or figured out new solutions that they can integrate into the way they're running their businesses.” - Je’Nen Chastain

To wrap up the episode, Je’Nen shares three takeaways she hopes listeners will gain from the show, and Evelyn drops a few teasers for exciting upcoming conversations. 

Tune in early 2024 for Practice Disrupted’s Season 8 kickoff. Happy New Year!

Guests:

Je’Nen Chastain, MBA, Assoc. AIA, is the founder and owner of Apostrophe Consulting, a business management consulting practice dedicated to helping architects and next-gen leaders strengthen their teams and businesses. After studying and practicing architecture and later earning her MBA, Je’Nen launched her business to help AEC leaders across the US. She partners with growth-minded teams who share her desire to transform the practice of architecture and advance industry change. Je’Nen has received several industry leadership awards, including the 2017 AIA Associates Award and Presidential Citations from AIA California & North Carolina. She has 15+ years of leadership experience with the AIA, including writing the business plan for the AIA Leadership Institute. Je’Nen served on the AIA national board of directors in 2010 and is a Upjohn Fellow of the Institute.

📍 Show Links:  

Connect with Je’Nen on LinkedIn

Learn more about Apostrophe Consulting

Follow Apostrophe Consulting on Instagram

📚Continue Learning:

Architects FORA’s Scholarship + Internship Program

📚Past Related Episodes:

PD #1: Practice Shifts 

PD #9: Voices from the Future of the Profession

Episode 147: The Power of Copywriting for Architects

How can architects use copywriting techniques to communicate their value, connect with their ideal clients, and improve their marketing?

On this episode of Practice Disrupted, I'm excited to share my very special conversation with Nikita Morell, an expert copywriter who specializes in working with architects. She is also the founder of Architects WordShop: an online shop dedicated to helping architects with their words. In this episode, Nikita discusses the importance of effectively communicating our ideas and embracing our humanity as architects and shares advice for crafting copy to help you market your value as an architect. 

First, Nikita explains the science and art behind copywriting and emphasizes the need for intentional, research-based writing tailored to your ideal client. She also shares tips on making architecture copy more accessible to a broader audience by replacing heavy jargon with conversational words and phrases. 

Then, Nikita highlights her approach to copywriting, focusing on tone of voice and audience connection. She also encourages architects to work collaboratively with the copywriting community and learn exactly how to prompt AI tools and use them as a starting point for specific copy. 

A good way just to start is to really take a step back and just make your copy a little bit more conversational. Try and remove some of that jargon. A lot of architects, when they don't really know what they're trying to say, sometimes hide behind a little bit of jargon that makes them sound smart.  - Nikita Morell 

To wrap up the episode, Nikita offers you an opportunity to work with her in person and gives a sneak peek at her proven framework for gathering, utilizing, and optimizing a client testimonial. 

Tune in next week for an episode about the future of technology within the architecture, engineering, and construction industry. 

Guest:

Nikita Morell

Nikita Morell is a copywriter for only architects. She is also the founder of Architects WordShop: an online shop dedicated to helping architects with their words.

Nikita specializes in making architecture websites sound more human, less robot—so architects can get a steady stream of ridiculously good projects. Nikita analyzed 663 architecture websites, you can see the results on her website.

📍 Show Links:  

Connect with Nikita on LinkedIn

Learn more about Nikita

Check out Nikita’s Architects WordShop

Check out Nikita’s resources 

📚Continue Learning:

Learn more about the 2024 AIA Conference on Architecture and Design in Washington D.C.

📍 Follow Practice Disrupted on Social:

Facebook | Instagram | LinkedIn | Pinterest | Twitter

Welcome to the launch of Practice Disrupted! Meet hosts Evelyn Lee and Je’Nen Chastain who will begin to discuss the changing nature of architectural practice.

Hosts:

Evelyn Lee, Founder of Practice of Architecture & Senior Experience Designer for Slack Technologies

Je’Nen Chastain, Founder of Apostrophe Consulting

Evelyn M. Lee, AIA, MBA, MPA is a licensed architect in the state of California, with over 15 years of experience working with individuals and companies that are looking to reshape their future. She has been a featured keynote speaker, panelist, and moderator at national conferences and symposiums. Her topics focus on developing knowledge leadership, organizational change management, capacity building, stakeholder engagement, and strategic approaches to put design thinking to work in life and in practice. She also serves on the advisory council to ZeroSixty, an accelerator for the AEC Industry and is the first female Treasurer to AIA National‘s Board of Directors. When not working on the Practice of Architecture, Evelyn works as the first-ever Senior Experience Designer at Slack Technologies.

Je’Nen M. Chastain, MBA, Assoc. AIA is a business strategy consultant trained in architecture and business management with expertise in marketing, communications, and leadership development. She founded Apostrophe Consulting with the goal of helping architecture firms win more work, build a culture of leadership and trust within the design studio, and create a pipeline for emerging leaders to grow in our industry. A recipient of the 2017 AIA Associates Award, Je'Nen holds both a B.Arch. and an MBA. She previously spent nearly a decade in the San Francisco Bay Area, collaborating with award-winning architecture firms on design, marketing, and business development efforts. She has spoken across the country on leadership development, career advancement, emerging professionals, mentorship, and women in architecture.

Show Links:  

practicedisrupted.com

http://practiceofarchitecture.com/ 

https://apostrophe.consulting/  

Follow us on social media: @practiceofarch

Episode 106: Open Architecture Collaborative Pathways to Equity

How are designers centering equity and racial justice in architecture and design practices?

Open Architecture Collaborative is a global learning community mobilizing architects, designers, and a diverse range of professionals who shape the built environment with technical skills to build capacity with communities experiencing systemic racism and marginalization.

Pathways to Equity is a design leadership experience for social equity. The program aims to create transformative learning experiences, shifting the field towards anti-racism and equitable outcomes. P2E introduces designers to methods for equity in practice, historical and systemic racism within the buit environment, self-reflective and community building practices, and strategies for community engagement.

Consider enrolling in Pathways to Equity for 2023! P2E Virtual is a 10-week online introductory course happening April 11th-June 13th, 2023. Community members, firm principals, and individual volunteers are encouraged to apply.

Guests:

Shalini Agrawal is trained in architecture and is founder of Public Design for Equity. She is director for Pathways to Equity, a leadership program of Open Architecture Collaborative that trains architects and designers in racial justice workshops. She works with interdisciplinary practitioners, firms and organizations to address equity in the workplace and community engagement. She is Associate Professor in Critical Ethnic Studies at California College of the Arts, teaching curricula that aims to decolonize design and architecture practices.

📍 Show Links:  

Apply to Pathways to Equity

📚 Continue Learning:

Learn more about the Open Architecture Collaborative

Public Design for Equity

📍 Follow Practice Disrupted on Social:

Facebook | Instagram | LinkedIn | Pinterest | Twitter

Episode 034: Investing in What’s Next, the Spatial Syndicate

Is angel investing and venture capital finding its way into AEC?

The Spatial Syndicate is a growing and engaged community of architects, engineers, founders, and builders. They believe the future of technology is spatial and see an opportunity in investing in great teams that are flattening inefficiencies, building new infrastructures, or creating new tools. Their unique background unlocks expertise in sectors such as AEC, manufacturing, film and beyond. Their network falls both within and beyond Silicon Valley; resulting in new, undiscovered and unique investment opportunities.

In this episode we’ll interview George Valdes, one of the partners of the Spatial Syndicate. He’ll explain what a Syndicate is, what types of creative teams they’re looking to invest in, and how they hope to transform the practice of architecture. We’ll also learn about George’s career path beyond traditional practice.

Guest:

George Valdes leads the marketing team at Monograph and co-leads the Spatial Syndicate along with Kat Dov, Leona Hudelson, and Federico Negro. Before joining Monograph, George was part of the Global Growth Strategy team at WeWork. He holds an M.Arch from Columbia University - Graduate School of Architecture, Planning and Preservation and a B.LArch from Florida International University.

Show Links:

Invest with Spatial Syndicate

💻 Learn about our podcast partner Monograph:

Monograph is the cloud-based practice operations solution built for architects by architects. It is easy to use, beautifully designed, and helped firms streamline operations by empowering them to see project and firm-wide financial health in a single tool.  Plan your projects with schedules, budgets, roles, and team members. Track a project’s financial health with their unique MoneyGantt which takes timesheet data and makes it simple to see whether you are on track or not.  Use firm-wide revenue forecasts to make strategic decisions. With Monograph, you never have to make a decision in the dark again. 👉 Visit Monograph now.

📍 Follow Practice Disrupted on Social:

Facebook | Instagram | LinkedIn | Pinterest | Twitter

How can we leverage a background in architecture with soft skills to successfully transition from architecture to product management?

On this episode of Practice Disrupted, we chat with Liz Fibleuil, who made an inspiring transition from architecture to product management. With a Master's in Architecture and Sustainable Design and over 10 years of experience, Liz leverages her architectural background with her soft skills to deliver digital solutions at Tanooki Labs. In our conversation, we explore Liz's transition from architecture to tech and her perspective on changing career paths. 

First, Liz opens up about her architectural background, why she drifted away from the field, and how she ended up in her current role as a project manager. She offers advice on recognizing when it's time to step away from a career, overcoming fear to make that transition, and positioning yourself in a new industry even without prior experience.  

Then, Liz offers strategies for self-teaching tech skills and dives into the details of her role as a product manager at Tanooki Labs. We discuss her current responsibilities, challenges during the transition, and how she learned from each setback.

The moment that you're starting to question if this is the right path for you, whether you are 5 years in or 35, don't ignore that…Why don't I love it? Is it a fundamental reason why I don't love it? Is it a financial reason? Is it because I don't love my boss? What are the real reasons that you are discontent at any stage in your career? Once you define that, then start to analyze if you can find it somewhere else, and really go through that personal exploration. - Liz Fibleuil 

To wrap up the conversation, Liz reflects on what she misses most about architecture while emphasizing the importance of empathy in both fields. She expresses her optimism about the future of the tech industry and shares her long-term goals.

Tune in next week for an episode with Rolf Provan, CEO of Luckett & Farley, on how his diverse experiences have shaped his leadership style and where he sees the biggest opportunities for our industry to drive meaningful change. 

Guests:

Liz Fibleuil

Liz Fibleuil, a Panama-born architect with over 10 years of experience, has successfully transitioned into a Product Manager role, leveraging her soft skills to excel. With a Masters in Architecture and Sustainable Design, Liz's passion lies in creating user-centric experiences. As a Product Manager, she manages various web and mobile application projects, empathizing with users and stakeholders. Alongside her professional endeavors, Liz finds inspiration in literature as a habit reader and expresses her creativity through painting. With over three years of experience in product management, Liz combines her architectural expertise with her empathetic nature to deliver exceptional digital solutions.

📍 Show Links:  

Connect with Liz on LinkedIn

📚Continue Learning:

Tanooki Labs

📍 Follow Practice Disrupted on Social:

Facebook | Instagram | LinkedIn | Pinterest | Twitter

Episode 104: Empowering Student Voices, Ideas, & Actions

What is the AIAS, and how are they advancing leadership, design, and service among architecture students?

The American Institute of Architecture Students (AIAS) is an independent, nonprofit, student-run organization dedicated to providing unmatched progressive programs, information, and resources on issues critical to architecture and the experience of education. This week we speak with the 2022-2023 National President and Vice President of the AIAS to learn more about their work and what is top mind for their members.

Guests:

Cooper Moore, AIAS, Assoc. AIA, NOMA, GRP, is the 66th President of the American Institute of Architecture Students. A graduate of Kent State University, Cooper previously served as the AIAS Midwest Quadrant Director and is currently the Student Representative on the AIA Board of Directors. Raised on the Great Lakes and an avid naturalist, he is passionate about sustainable design, and is a certified Green Roof Professional. Cooper lives and works in Washington, DC.

Nicole Bass is the 2022-2023 National Vice President of the American Institute of Architecture Students. She holds a Bachelor's degree in architecture from City College of New York. Born and raised in New York City, Nicole had an interest in the built environment  inspired by traveling to different neighborhoods to visit family in her youth. In high school and college, she pursued internships and programming related to architecture, art, policy, and advocacy. At the Bernard and Ann Spitzer School of Architecture, Nicole held leadership positions in AIAS, NOMAS, FAME, and Student Government to better understand the world of academia, host impactful events, and advocate for the architecture student voice. She looks forward to continuing the good work of make the profession a better place.

📍 Show Links: 

https://www.aias.org/ 

📚 Continue Learning:

March 2023 Quad Conferences

Sponsor an AIAS Member

Chapter Takeover

In Studio Blog 

Chapter Leader of the Month 

Freedom By Design

Ask An Architect

Model Learning Teaching Culture Policy

Partner with the AIAS

For intrested or questions on career expos, please email president@aias.org or vicepresident@aias.org 

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Episode 086: A Large Firm Perspective on Innovation & Transformation: CannonDesign

How do large firms think about innovation and transformation within the industry, and where are they investing next?

 Within the last four years, CannonDesign:

• grew their consulting practice through the strategic acquisition of Blue Cottage Consulting
• brought new software tools to market, and 
• launched a pre-fab design and fabrication facility in the middle of a pandemic

In turn, growing their market share and the value they continue to deliver to their clients.

 In this episode, we sit down with CEO Bradley A Lukanic, AIA, to talk about the evolution of architecture practice, where he believes architects need to be focused, and the opportunities that technology and innovation are playing in decisions that Cannon is making about the growth of their operations and business.

 Guest:

With a never-ending drive and passion for design and built experiences, Bradley A. Lukanic, AIA, LEED AP embraces situational change disrupters that transform the industry’s future – and he’s leading CannonDesign’s charge to get there. As CEO, Brad seeks partners that are curious to accelerate, command and propel design’s influences on environments with goals resolving cross-disciplinary thinking and engagement. He leads CannonDesign with a sincere approach of listening to employee and client challenges to guide a discovery of “what if” opportunities, instead of progressing in a silo. Parallel to his practical design experience, Brad’s thought leadership is shared within and beyond architecture audiences.

📍 Show Links: 

CannonDesign

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Episode 134: Architecture, And: Growing a Tech Start-up out of an Architecture Firm

How does architecture support a CEO stepping out and into a specialized tech start-up space? 

On this episode of Practice Disrupted, we sit down with Zach Soflin, AIA, the Founder and CEO of Layer, the first and only flexible and mobile-friendly building management software. First, we learn how the company was created in response to the Nebraska State Capitol Building where Zach and his previous firm, BVH, were looking to connect field data to their designs. Zach built his own solution, which would become the prototype for Layer. Zach shares what he’s learned about being a CEO and how an architecture background (and mindset) shows up in day-to-day operations. 

“Critical thinking and skills I learned in architecture have helped immensely in building this business, particularly around designing product and user experience. Those skills have definitely translated and given us an opportunity to provide a different software experience than what architects might be used to working with.” - Zach Soflin

Then, we dive into Layer: its focus on design as an entry point toward its target market, and Zach shares how customers utilize the software to link different parts of their projects together. We also ask Zach about hiring prioritization in a highly technical field and his process for navigating the talent pool outside of Silicon Valley. 

To wrap up the episode, Zach shares the biggest obstacle for architecture to overcome, and the role technology plays in shaping the future of the practice. With potential entrepreneurs in mind, he illustrates a step system to understand if creating a product is, in fact, the best solution for a problem at hand. 

Tune in next week for another episode in our Architecture, And series with Melodie Yashar, Space Architect.

Guests:

Zach Soflin, AIA, is the Founder and CEO of Layer, where he leads company operations and product development. With a decade of experience practicing and leading computational design and innovation initiatives, Zach’s passion for improving the building lifecycle drives the vision and energy behind Layer — a multi-platform app and Revit add-in that makes it easy for architects and engineers to connect rich building data to BIM. Zach speaks regularly about BIM and complex building data, including at the APT International Conferences, AEC Tech Symposium, AIA National Conference on Architecture and BILT Digital Week. 

📍 Show Links:  

Learn more about Layer

See what Layer is up to on LinkedIn

Read The Next Normal in Construction McKinsey Report

📚 Past Episodes Referenced:

PD #25: Architecture, And: Tech

PD #29: Taking the Leap from Architecture into Tech