What’s it really like to work in architecture? The hosts of Archispeak know, and they’re here to share real-life experiences. Since 2012 architects Evan Troxel and Cormac Phalen have been podcasting their brand of real talk on everything from design, tools, and work/life balance to generational differences, mentoring, job hunting, and more. Probing questions, revelatory interviews, and unique insights have grown their audience and become a weekly ritual for students and seasoned professionals alike.
A follow-up conversation (with the occasional digression) to a recent presentation at the AIAS FORUM | CONVERGE 2022 conference for architecture students.
Enscape is a real-time rendering and VR tool for the AEC market. It empowers design workflows by plugging into building modeling software and turning the models into immersive 3D experiences. Visit https://enscape3d.com/archispeak to sign up for a free 14-day trial.
It’s 2022 and we didn’t even notice, Cormac doesn’t like “resolutions”, work ethics and work habits, attracting and retaining talent, the profession’s struggle with profit and devalued labor to create it, scheduling quality productive time, and setting boundaries with Focus modes.
Enscape is a real-time rendering and VR tool for the AEC market. It empowers design workflows by plugging into building modeling software and turning the models into immersive 3D experiences. Visit enscape3d.com/archispeak to sign up for a free 14-day trial.
Infratech outdoor comfort heating systems combine eco-friendly, ambient warmth with
unparalleled design versatility, to add year-round comfort to the world’s most prestigious
commercial and residential spaces. To learn more visit Infratech-USA.com/podcast.
In this conversation we talk about the fluff and non-fluff in architectural drawings, the Disney-esque nature of Cormac's project, the architect's avoidance of "means and methods", the benefits of bringing other parties in to collaborate early on projects, and finally, Dale Carnegie's quote: "Remember, today is the tomorrow you worried about yesterday."
Enscape is a real-time rendering and VR tool for the AEC market. It empowers design workflows by plugging into building modeling software and turning the models into immersive 3D experiences. Visit enscape3d.com/archispeak to sign up for a free 14-day trial.
Infratech outdoor comfort heating systems combine eco-friendly, ambient warmth with unparalleled design versatility, to add year-round comfort to the world’s most prestigious commercial and residential spaces. To learn more visit Infratech-USA.com/podcast.
Burnout is real. We discuss a recent report on the subject within the architectural profession over the past year with some shocking results, our observations and experiences on the matter, and more.
The State of Burnout in Architecture (2021) (Monograph's blog)
How To Build A Car by A. Newey (Amazon)
Enscape is a real-time rendering and VR tool for the AEC market. It empowers design workflows by plugging into building modeling software and turning the models into immersive 3D experiences. Visit enscape3d.com/archispeak to sign up for a free 14-day trial.
Infratech outdoor comfort heating systems combine eco-friendly, ambient warmth with unparalleled design versatility, to add year-round comfort to the world’s most prestigious commercial and residential spaces. To learn more visit Infratech-USA.com/podcast.
We discuss impostor syndrome, NCARB's IPAL Programs and different paths to becoming an architect, ego and ability, a call to action for the profession, doing theory vs grunt work, and window shopping at auto auctions.
TRXL 062: ‘Complexity and Opportunity‘ aka the call to action for the profession
Enscape is a real-time rendering and VR tool for the AEC market. It empowers design workflows by plugging into building modeling software and turning the models into immersive 3D experiences. Visit enscape3d.com/archispeak to sign up for a free 14-day trial.
Infratech outdoor comfort heating systems combine eco-friendly, ambient warmth with unparalleled design versatility, to add year-round comfort to the world’s most prestigious commercial and residential spaces. To learn more visit Infratech-USA.com/podcast.
A visit to Disneyland, exploring various layers of an example of the ultimate architectural experience at Galaxy's Edge, and more.
*Star Wars*: Galaxy's Edge (Wikipedia)
Walt Disney Imagineering (Wikipedia)
Enscape is a real-time rendering and VR tool for the AEC market. It empowers design workflows by plugging into building modeling software and turning the models into immersive 3D experiences. Visit enscape3d.com/archispeak to sign up for a free 14-day trial.
Infratech outdoor comfort heating systems combine eco-friendly, ambient warmth with unparalleled design versatility, to add year-round comfort to the world’s most prestigious commercial and residential spaces. To learn more visit Infratech-USA.com/podcast.
The downsides of hyperrealism during design presentations, when it's time to stop designing, emotional experiences in architecture, and a mini-review of the masterpiece that is Dune.
Denis Villeneuve (Wikipedia)
'Dune' Director Denis Villeneuve Breaks Down the Gom Jabbar Scene (YouTube)
Architect John Lautner (Wikipedia)
Architect Carlo Scarpa (Wikipedia)
Enscape is a real-time rendering and VR tool for the AEC market. It empowers design workflows by plugging into building modeling software and turning the models into immersive 3D experiences. Visit enscape3d.com/archispeak to sign up for a free 14-day trial.
Coming to you from remote locations on opposite sides the world (no, it's not flat—but it does have "sides" 🤣), we have a discussion about the true value of in-person meetings after a year and a half of virtual calls.
Enscape is a real-time rendering and VR tool for the AEC market. It empowers design workflows by plugging into building modeling software and turning the models into immersive 3D experiences. Visit enscape3d.com/archispeak to sign up for a free 14-day trial.
Architectural representation and its roles in cinema, world-building, alternative realities, the Metaverse, the concept of "future-proofing" space, and more.
Metaverse (Wikipedia)
How does the architectural design process work? Is it linear—or is it something else entirely—and why?
Do you ever feel like you're being watched—or experimented on—when shopping online? A/B testing is a standard practice companies use not only for marketing purposes, but in user interface design and user experience as well. Adjustments are then made over time to suit the preferences of users making use of the data gleaned from the testing. Can/should/do architects do this? What kinds of modifications have you done in environments you have agency over to better suit your experience of space?
- The Urbanist podcast episode 521, chapter 3 (Architecture in the virtual world)
Post-justified puns, green roof details, not knowing what we don't know, continuing education and building product selection, educating (and selling!) design concepts and building products to clients with the right information for them to make informed decisions, bad alliances and throwing teammates under the bus, and more.
In this episode we’re talking about corporate-sponsored productivity-enhancing drugs. Cormac jumps back on the wagon after an 8-month hiatus so we discuss our favorite morning ritual.
Aeropress Go (Amazon)
Chemex Classic (Amazon)
Mr. Coffee 12-cup Coffee Maker (Amazon)
Thanks to our sponsor for helping make this episode possible:
Twinmotion is a real-time rendering solution used by architecture, engineering, and construction professionals to create high-quality imagery, client presentations, and interactive experiences that help communicate your BIM data and design ideas, fast. Visit twinmotion.link/archispeak
and try Twinmotion for free.
We discuss Cormac's recent trip to Saudi Arabia and the extraordinary humbling feeling he experienced during his adventure.
China Ranch Date Farm near Death Valley National Park in California
Thanks to our sponsor for helping make this episode possible:
Twinmotion is a real-time rendering solution used by architecture, engineering, and construction professionals to create high-quality imagery, client presentations, and interactive experiences that help communicate your BIM data and design ideas, fast. Visit twinmotion.link/archispeak and try Twinmotion for free.
This conversation is a continuation of our previous episode topic regarding documenting knowledge and includes some deeper theoretical discussion inspired by a recent article on Substack.
Subconscious Substack by Gordon Brander
Field Notes notebooks
Thanks to our sponsor for helping make this episode possible:
Twinmotion is a real-time rendering solution used by architecture, engineering, and construction professionals to create high-quality imagery, client presentations, and interactive experiences that help communicate your BIM data and design ideas, fast. Visit twinmotion.link/archispeak and try Twinmotion for free.
We discuss leadership acting as roadblocks and the need for capturing knowledge, teaching, and learning within our practices so we can all participate in leveling up the profession.
This sponsor is helping make this episode possible:
Twinmotion
Twinmotion is a real-time rendering solution used by architecture, engineering, and construction professionals to create high-quality imagery, client presentations, and interactive experiences that help communicate your BIM data and design ideas, fast. Visit twinmotion.link/archispeak and try Twinmotion for free.
A conversation about architects designing automobiles and some future-casting about the built environment where cars drive themselves. Will we be a part of it?
OK Computer Lecture Series: Autonomous Vehicles (Evan's lecture on YouTube)
Dymaxion #1 by Buckminster Fuller
This sponsor is helping make this episode possible:
Twinmotion
Twinmotion is a real-time rendering solution used by architecture, engineering, and construction professionals to create high-quality imagery, client presentations, and interactive experiences that help communicate your BIM data and design ideas, fast. Visit twinmotion.link/archispeak and try Twinmotion for free.
Letting 'good' get in the way of 'great': a story about a slow process of perfectionism versus the instant gratification of good enough.
This sponsor is helping make this episode possible:
Twinmotion
Twinmotion is a real-time rendering solution used by architecture, engineering, and construction professionals to create high-quality imagery, client presentations, and interactive experiences that help communicate your BIM data and design ideas, fast. Visit twinmotion.link/archispeak and try Twinmotion for free.
If a tree falls in a rainstorm and rips the electrical connection from your house and you don't see it, does it make a sound? Disaster strikes in Cormac's neighborhood, leading to another sidetrack conversation.
Disney's Carousel Of Progress (YouTube)
The wind tunnel effect
A near miss
A direct hit
Oh my poor tree
This sponsor is helping make this episode possible:
Twinmotion
Twinmotion is a real-time rendering solution used by architecture, engineering, and construction professionals to create high-quality imagery, client presentations, and interactive experiences that help communicate your BIM data and design ideas, fast. Visit twinmotion.link/archispeak and try Twinmotion for free.
Evan talks about his recent trip to Washington DC and Cormac foreshadows his retirement plan.
Archispeak 227 – Hugging Architecture (the Fallingwater episode)
IM Pei's east wing addition to the National Gallery of Art (1978)
These sponsors help make this episode possible:
Twinmotion
Twinmotion is a real-time rendering solution used by architecture, engineering, and construction professionals to create high-quality imagery, client presentations, and interactive experiences that help communicate your BIM data and design ideas, fast. Visit twinmotion.link/archispeak and try Twinmotion for free.
Monograph
On August 12, Monograph is hosting Section Cut, a virtual conference dedicated to firm owners and operation leaders. Hear from leaders at Lake|Flato, SOM, Workshop/APD, Colloqate, and more! Reserve a seat today by visiting sectioncut.com.
