Episodes

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.

#269 - Architecture is Hard

What lies beneath the surface of a seemingly simple project, that once built, doesn’t perform as required? We also get into the common request for projects to be “future proofed” by clients because why not? These are just some of the things that are part of the day-to-day of an architect.

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#268 - Hollow Words

A conversation about architects, school design, funding, symptoms versus sources of problems, and gun policy in America.

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#267 - Global Repository of Nonexistent Information

Topics: SpaceX’s Starlink roaming internet service for the ability to truly work from anywhere and we dig into a listener email about mentoring in the adjacent industry of environmental design in game development.

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#266 - Places for Making

We discuss Cormac’s big news 🎉 and the various type of places we as architects have for making including sketchbooks, apps, coding, and physical workshops. What are your favorite places for making? Let us know on Twitter (@archispk) or in the comments for this episode at https://archispeakpodcast.com

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#265 - The Pontiac Aztek of Architecture

What do concept cars, skateboarding, and architecture have in common? It’s all about ‘the process’, finding new ways to suffer, expertise vs generalization, all the pieces of the puzzle, and thinking about how we evolve the built environment.

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#264 - Gamer Mentality

Topic

Music producer & YouTuber Rick Beato had some observations about Gen Z in a recent video on his channel. In this episode, we compare his theory to our experiences raising kids, and then draw parallels to architecture. We also throw down about the ‘data versus wisdom’ tug-of-war that’s occurring in the industry.

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Start implementing powerful systems for the profitability you need and the freedom you want. Join Douglas Tieger, FAIA for the next Designing Your Business Masterclass, brought to you by BQE CORE. Every live masterclass session is free and includes AIA continuing education credit. Register now at bqe.com/masterclass.

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Comment Rules: Be cool like the Fonz. Critical is fine, but if you’re rude, we’ll delete your stuff. Please do not put your URL in the comment text and please use your PERSONAL name or initials and not your business name, as the latter comes off like spam. Have fun and thanks for adding to the conversation!
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#263 - Park All Hope at the Front Door

Topic

We get a house-hunting update from Cormac, share some of our experiences designing science buildings, and also touch on project delivery methods, quality contractors, and change orders.

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Sponsor

Start implementing powerful systems for the profitability you need and the freedom you want. Join Douglas Tieger, FAIA for the next Designing Your Business Masterclass, brought to you by BQE CORE. Every live masterclass session is free and includes AIA continuing education credit. Register now at bqe.com/masterclass.

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Comment Rules: Be cool like the Fonz. Critical is fine, but if you’re rude, we’ll delete your stuff. Please do not put your URL in the comment text and please use your PERSONAL name or initials and not your business name, as the latter comes off like spam. Have fun and thanks for adding to the conversation!
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#262 - Silence is Acceptance

Topic

We get an update on Cormac’s house hunting saga and follow up on our recent conversation regarding the SCI-Arc Basecamp panel discussion and the apparent lack of conversation within the architectural community about the cultural factors that were surfaced which should be widely addressed.

Links

Sponsor

Start implementing powerful systems for the profitability you need and the freedom you want. Join Douglas Tieger, FAIA for the next Designing Your Business Masterclass, brought to you by BQE CORE. Every live masterclass session is free and includes AIA continuing education credit. Register now at bqe.com/masterclass.

Listen and Subscribe to Archispeak

Comment Rules: Be cool like the Fonz. Critical is fine, but if you’re rude, we’ll delete your stuff. Please do not put your URL in the comment text and please use your PERSONAL name or initials and not your business name, as the latter comes off like spam. Have fun and thanks for adding to the conversation!
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#261 - The Adventure Continues

Topic

Heavy sigh; deep breath. Cormac’s house hunting adventure continues. We also observe the architectural profession’s identity crisis in which the problem of it lacking a communicable, easily understandable value proposition to the market is ever apparent.

Sponsor

Start implementing powerful systems for the profitability you need and the freedom you want. Join Douglas Tieger, FAIA for the next Designing Your Business Masterclass, brought to you by BQE CORE. Every live masterclass session is free and includes AIA continuing education credit. Register now at bqe.com/masterclass.

Listen and Subscribe to Archispeak

Comment Rules: Be cool like the Fonz. Critical is fine, but if you’re rude, we’ll delete your stuff. Please do not put your URL in the comment text and please use your PERSONAL name or initials and not your business name, as the latter comes off like spam. Have fun and thanks for adding to the conversation!
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#260 - How (not) to be in an Office

Topic

Evan and Cormac discuss the recent controversies surrounding and following a live event (and corresponding live stream on YouTube) in SCI-Arc’s Basecamp lecture series entitled “How to be in an Office” on March 25, 2022 featuring panelists Tom Oyler (Oyler Wu), Marikka Trotter (Tom Wiscombe Architecture), and Margaret Griffin (Griffin Enright Architects). Topics in this discussion include education, internships, firm culture, studio culture, scholarships, business models, toxic culture, exploitative environments, suffering for the art, work/life balance, disconnected “leadership”, and more.

Links

Sponsor

Start implementing powerful systems for the profitability you need and the freedom you want. Join Douglas Tieger, FAIA for the next Designing Your Business Masterclass, brought to you by BQE CORE. Every live masterclass session is free and includes AIA continuing education credit. Register now at bqe.com/masterclass.

Comment Rules: Be cool like the Fonz. Critical is fine, but if you’re rude, we’ll delete your stuff. Please do not put your URL in the comment text and please use your PERSONAL name or initials and not your business name, as the latter comes off like spam. Have fun and thanks for adding to the conversation!
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#259 - Marshmallow Sectional

Topic

Cormac is very busy house shopping and therefore taking multiple road trips to the new location, so naturally, he has some stories about the current housing market landscape. We also discuss the state of truthiness (or lack thereof) in online real estate listings, both written and photographically.

Sponsor

Start implementing powerful systems for the profitability you need and the freedom you want. Join Douglas Tieger, FAIA for the next Designing Your Business Masterclass, brought to you by BQE CORE. Every live masterclass session is free and includes AIA continuing education credit. Register now at bqe.com/masterclass.

Listen and Subscribe to Archispeak

Comment Rules: Be cool like the Fonz. Critical is fine, but if you’re rude, we’ll delete your stuff. Please do not put your URL in the comment text and please use your PERSONAL name or initials and not your business name, as the latter comes off like spam. Have fun and thanks for adding to the conversation!
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#258 - Timeless Design

Topic

We discuss the recent death of Christopher Alexander, his infamous book A Pattern Language, the newly released The Adam Project movie and architecture as a character, Cormac’s big news, and more.

Links

Sponsor

Start implementing powerful systems for the profitability you need and the freedom you want. Join Douglas Tieger, FAIA for the next Designing Your Business Masterclass, brought to you by BQE CORE. Every live masterclass session is free and includes AIA continuing education credit. Register now at bqe.com/masterclass.

Listen and Subscribe to Archispeak

Comment Rules: Be cool like the Fonz. Critical is fine, but if you’re rude, we’ll delete your stuff. Please do not put your URL in the comment text and please use your PERSONAL name or initials and not your business name, as the latter comes off like spam. Have fun and thanks for adding to the conversation!
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#257 - Ripping Off the Bandaids

Topic

Evan stages an intervention because of Cormac’s fountain pen hoarding and then the hosts open the storybook on past projects where teammates took too much liberty in the decision-making process.

Links

Shape the Future of Architecture. You have the power to influence future updates to how architects are educated, trained, and licensed. Visit ncarb.org/AOP to take NCARB’s profession-wide Analysis of Practice survey and ensure your voice is heard.

Listen and Subscribe to Archispeak

Comment Rules: Be cool like the Fonz. Critical is fine, but if you’re rude, we’ll delete your stuff. Please do not put your URL in the comment text and please use your PERSONAL name or initials and not your business name, as the latter comes off like spam. Have fun and thanks for adding to the conversation!
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#256 - Stop the Work

Topic

Topics: Stopping the work; firing bad clients; abusive clients, the promise of future projects, and their effect on morale in the studio; rationalizing crappy project work; digging holes of risk; communicating design; and more.

Links

Sponsor

Shape the Future of Architecture. You have the power to influence future updates to how architects are educated, trained, and licensed. Visit ncarb.org/AOP to take NCARB’s
profession-wide Analysis of Practice survey and ensure your voice is heard.

Listen and Subscribe to Archispeak

Comment Rules: Be cool like the Fonz. Critical is fine, but if you’re rude, we’ll delete your stuff. Please do not put your URL in the comment text and please use your PERSONAL name or initials and not your business name, as the latter comes off like spam. Have fun and thanks for adding to the conversation!
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#255 - I Still Have a Scar

Topic

Books. Libraries. Personal architectural book libraries... We did some organizing of the bookshelves and it gave us a reason to slow down & crack open some old friends, which led to talking about some first-year arch school projects.

Links

Sponsor

Shape the Future of Architecture. You have the power to influence future updates to how architects are educated, trained, and licensed. Visit ncarb.org/AOP to take NCARB’s
profession-wide Analysis of Practice survey and ensure your voice is heard.

Listen and Subscribe to Archispeak


Comment Rules: Be cool like the Fonz. Critical is fine, but if you’re rude, we’ll delete your stuff. Please do not put your URL in the comment text and please use your PERSONAL name or initials and not your business name, as the latter comes off like spam. Have fun and thanks for adding to the conversation!
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#254 - Two Turntables and a Microphone

Topic

We compare and contrast our recent getaways to New York City and Death Valley National Park, and archi-nerd-out on performing arts theater design.

Links

Sponsor

Shape the Future of Architecture. You have the power to influence future updates to how architects are educated, trained, and licensed. Visit ncarb.org/AOP to take NCARB’s
profession-wide Analysis of Practice survey and ensure your voice is heard.

Listen and Subscribe to Archispeak

Comment Rules: Be cool like the Fonz. Critical is fine, but if you’re rude, we’ll delete your stuff. Please do not put your URL in the comment text and please use your PERSONAL name or initials and not your business name, as the latter comes off like spam. Have fun and thanks for adding to the conversation!
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#253 - Darker Than Dark

Topic

It’s time to plan another road trip to a National Park, dark skies, astrophotography, and Evan speaks at a Professional Practice class at a local architecture school.

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Comment Rules: Be cool like the Fonz. Critical is fine, but if you’re rude, we’ll delete your stuff. Please do not put your URL in the comment text and please use your PERSONAL name or initials and not your business name, as the latter comes off like spam. Have fun and thanks for adding to the conversation!
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#252 - Wandering Down a Path

Topic

We’re celebrating a couple of birthdays, iPhone photo memories that lead to a conversation about amazing architectural chapels, and more.

Links

Sponsor

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.

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Comment Rules: Be cool like the Fonz. Critical is fine, but if you’re rude, we’ll delete your stuff. Please do not put your URL in the comment text and please use your PERSONAL name or initials and not your business name, as the latter comes off like spam. Have fun and thanks for adding to the conversation!
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#251 - Revisiting Rural Studio

Topic

A conversation about a recent lecture by Andrew Freear and Rusty Smith of Rural Studio at The Architectural League.

Links

Sponsor

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.

Listen and Subscribe to Archispeak

Comment Rules: Be cool like the Fonz. Critical is fine, but if you’re rude, we’ll delete your stuff. Please do not put your URL in the comment text and please use your PERSONAL name or initials and not your business name, as the latter comes off like spam. Have fun and thanks for adding to the conversation!
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#250 - Outside the Vacuum

Topic

We discuss how the grass is always greener wherever someone looks like they are loving their career, ping pong ball shooters and old-timey drum brakes, formative TV shows and books on making things, problem-solving including the interpretation of the building code, and more.

Links

Sponsor

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.

Listen and Subscribe to Archispeak

Comment Rules: Be cool like the Fonz. Critical is fine, but if you’re rude, we’ll delete your stuff. Please do not put your URL in the comment text and please use your PERSONAL name or initials and not your business name, as the latter comes off like spam. Have fun and thanks for adding to the conversation!
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