I Would Prefer Not To

Michael Maltzan discusses the architect’s role in negotiating complex scenarios and the potential of long-term client relationships to enable large-scale change.

Ana Miljački speaks with Bryan Lee about design justice and challenging the architectural status quo.

Sheila Kennedy and Frano Violich of Boston-based KVA MATx chat with Ana about being proactive, finding the right set of ingredients to create commissions, viewing plants as constituents, and balancing a rejection of architecture-as-service with a commitment to professional skills and rigor.

Liz Diller of New York–based Diller Scofidio + Renfro speaks with Ana Miljački about evaluating a commission’s ethics, translating projects for different audiences, and critiquing institutions from within.

Ana Miljački speaks with Walter Hood about artistic freedom, working with institutions, and succeeding through failure.

Ana chats with Tod and Billie of Tod Williams Billie Tsien Architects about the contrasts of institutional versus commercial projects, developing relationships with clients, and finding meaning in work.

Tatiana of CDMX-based Tatiana Bilbao Estudio converses with Ana on working with governmental bodies, social housing, changing office culture, and how to engage with leverage points within systems of power.

Sara Zewde and Ana Miljački talk about alternative ways of doing landscape architecture, racial tokenism, design cyphers, and the value of architects as synthesizers.

Florian Idenburg and Jing Liu of Brooklyn-based studio SO — IL chat with Ana Miljački on a wide range of topics, such as discerning a client’s political intentions, the power of an architectural brand, and the possibility for architecture to transcend its relationship with an institutional client.

Amale Andraos and Dan Wood of NY-based firm WORKac talk with Ana Miljački about different facets of sustainability, the lessons learned from saying yes to everything, and regrets among other topics.