Life of an Architect

Ep. 054 dives into what makes a great architectural leader, exploring communication, responsibility, and the impact of leadership styles.

Do you have a design culture in your office? Why is it that some firms have it and others don’t? A culture of design isn’t something that just happens, there has to be a plan, it needs to be cultivated, and even then, without the right sort of people in place, you might be fighting an uphill battle.

When an architect goes to work … what happens? Do they pull out a pen and sketch paper? Maybe they power up some hardware – quite possibly a bit of both. Ask and architect what they need to do their job and they’ll all give you different answers but we’ll give you the real scope on today’s episode … Architectural Tools

We are all familiar with the phrase “style over substance” but those words might mean something else to architects. Is this considered a negative concept in every circumstance? We discuss those notions in this episode.

We have special guest Marlon Blackwell, FAIA on the podcast today and if you are not intimately familiar with his work, I am excited to be in a position to share it with you. Marlon and I go back a long way and it seemed only fitting that we should finally ask him to be on the podcast.

For every architect and designer, there are objects out there that resonate for them in a profound manner and can even shape their design philosophies. These can be buildings, products – even materials – but no matter what you call them, they are "Objects of Design".

Today we are talking about the design process and how different that process is between residential projects and commercial projects. While you might think that this is a conversation about scale, budgets, and complexities, it's really about something quite different.

Architects are using technology more and more and with each passing day, more of this technology is available from the comforts of your cellphone or smart tablet. This list has been curated and categorized to provide the best mobile apps for architects.

A lot can happen in just a few weeks. Due to COVID-19 pandemic, business as usual is anything but … and Andrew and I felt like we should interrupt our regularly scheduled podcast to take some time and talk about working from home – something that we all are going to have to deal with for the foreseeable future. Since so many of the people we listen to this podcast are single or small office practi...

The process of preparing construction drawings has evolved from “What do we need to do to “What can’t we do?” Today we are going talking about construction drawing best practices in what is essentially creating the graphic instruction manual of constructing a building.

Architectural Technology is changing how architects work and what’s in today might be irrelevant and out of date by next week, but ignore these developments at your own peril. For even your average run-of-the-mill architect, technology is a way of life … but despite knowing this information, I am frequently amazed by just how amazing technology actually is and the role it plays daily in my work an...

So you’ve graduated from architecture school and received a university degree in architecture - so what happens next? What exactly does an architect do? What if you don’t want to be a designer, maybe you have interests in how buildings are detailed and built, the selection of materials and finishes, firm management … so many directions you could go and today we are going to talk about a bunch of t...

Finding the right sort of person who can help guide you through various stages of your career can be incredibly valuable and beneficial. Today we are talking about mentorship and what that means, what can make it great, why it doesn’t necessarily work, what you can do so that you might actually benefit from the experience, and what sort of relationship can make a mentor a great fit for you.

Today we are introducing a new series we are rolling out for the 2020 season of episodes titled “Talking Shop with __________” and we will do around four of these sorts of episodes this year and we decided to come out the gate strong with our first guest - Canadian Architect and Emerging Voice in the architectural community - as well as my friend - Omar Gandhi.

Changing jobs is exciting and terrifying at the same time – particularly if you are making a drastic change wither in the type of work or the size of the firm. Today we are talking about “Changing Jobs” a topic that seems somewhat fitting given that it is the first podcast episode of 2020 and both Andrew and me have changed jobs.

Andrew and I really enjoy answering hypothetical questions as part of each Life of an Architect podcast episode. In our final recording of the year, we are happy to present to you the "Director's Cut" on three of our most favorite Hypothetical questions from 2019, as well as two new questions as our way of saying Thanks for listening to the show this year.

Buying gifts for Architects can be tough for some people because architects are very specific about the sorts of things they want. This is the 10th consecutive year of "What to Get an Architect for Christmas" and there is something here for every sort of architect.

What music do you listen to? What’s your design process? What is your favorite building and why? What do you eat for breakfast? All this and more today as Andrew and I answer your burning questions where almost nothing is off-limits.

Architecture and skilled craft go hand in hand, but you may not be aware that the number of skilled individuals that are required to bring an architect’s ideas to reality and in today's episode, Andrew and I are talking about the state of skilled labor in the construction industry. 

If you ever thought about being an architect but thought you couldn’t handle the math, you aren’t alone. At parties across the land, as soon as someone finds out there is an architect in the crowd, there is a story being told about how they wanted to be an architect but since they couldn’t draw or weren’t very good at math, they decided to do something else.

Architectural models are clearly within the architect's domain but are you within the "physical models are better" or "digital models are better" camp? Physical models have a bigger impact on the space when people can interact with them, but digital models are a more powerful tool for the act of creating architecture.

Taking the architectural registration exam is a crucial step in the process of becoming an architect. The test is long, difficult, and stressful, but it is an absolute necessity if you want to be an architect. Graduating from school is not our finish line, becoming licensed is. IF you find yourself in a position where you need to take the registration exam and you are nervous ... don't be. You can...

Your college architecture projects will be silly because they are designed to make you think outside what you already know. They are also supposed to force you to evaluate your own belief system, your own understanding of how spaces work, and the things that shape your ideas.

Do Architects have obsessive personalities? I tend to think so, and only partially based on my own behavior. I should throw out the caveat that I don’t think you should have to explain why you obsess over something. Isn’t that the nature of any obsession – that there is some level of irrationality associated behind it? Of course, people seem to typically feel that their logic is flawless and that...

Is It the dream of every architect to start their own architecture firm? Most architects think about it at one point or another and Austin Architect Michael Hsu sits down to talk about how he started his own firm.