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.

#45 - Critique and Criticism

It's time to critique the work, but don't take it personally. It's not about you. Episode 45 of Archispeak dives into the delicate process of the do's and don't when it comes to critiquing a project. We discuss the importance of arguing (spoiler: it's good for the project) and that the goal should be for a better project. People often have "good" ideas, and it takes others to make them "great" ideas.

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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!

#44 - Preservation Pants

For Episode #44, Archispeak does some followup on several listener calls and comments from prior episodes. We then spend the remainder of the show on another listener suggested topic (see, we do listen so keep calling in) and put on our "Preservation Pants" and tackle the Louis Cherry designed Oakwood Modern Home controversy.

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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!

#43 - Value Engineering

Value engineering is a part of the architectural process. Sometimes for the good, but more often to the detriment of our projects. In Episode 43, Archispeak discusses what happens to a "value engineered" project and what we can do to make it less painful. Along the way we ask if value engineering or cost estimating should be taught in architecture school? Join us as we explore a more efficient or cheaper solution to achieve the intent at a more cost effective solution. #archispeak 

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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!

#42 - Architects’ Websites

Architects and their websites. For episode 42, Archispeak crawls all over the web and examines the questions of whether or not you should have one, who your audience should be, what it should include and what it shouldn't. Join us for a lively discussion and be sure to share your opinions in the comments.

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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!

#41 - Collaboration & Consultants

A listen recently asked to hear our thoughts on working with engineers and other consultants. So, for Episode 41, Archispeak accepts the challenge and dispenses some wisdom on what it is like to try and herd cats in the world of Architecture.

Be sure to check our Facebook page to see Evan, Neal and Cormac taking the ALS Ice Bucket Challenge and read the show notes for the winner of Episode 40’s Contest.

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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!

#40 - Hobbies

What do architects do outside of architecture? In episode 40, Archispeak looks outside the office window and discusses our hobbies. Stick with the episode, through the comic geekery, for some solid advice on the advantages of taking a break from architecture.

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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!

#39 - Srsly Millennials?

In this episode Archispeak gets fired up and takes on the latest architectural meme, Millennials. We question the self proclaimed “millennial architect” and discuss how we can help them be the agent of change they so desperately want to be. Well, really we just riff on one millennial that does everything he can to make sure he will never work in the architectural profession.

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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!

#38 - Interviewing

After a five plus year drought the market for architects is once again picking up. For this episode, Archispeak sits down and takes on the dreaded interview process. We discuss what architectural graduates or licensed architects should present (i.e. drawings, photos), wear and ask in an interview.

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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!

#37 - #aiacon14 "Architecture is the Sh!t"

Archispeak attends the AIA Convention in Chicago! Well, not really, but we did gather around the dinner table (literally) and have a conversation with a number of friends of the show who were there. In this very special episode we are thrilled and appreciate everyone that paused, from eating and drinking long enough, to share their thoughts and experiences from AIA Chicago 2014.

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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!

#36 - A New Path to Licensure?

NCARB set off a firestorm recently by announcing, “their endorsement of the concept of an additional, structured path that leads to licensure.” For Episode 36 of the Archispeak Podcast we are joined by special guest host Lee Calisti to discuss what this means to the profession and architectural education.

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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!

#35 - Comments and Sh!t

For Episode 35, Archispeak discusses some recent feedback and then takes a detour to talk about everyone's favorite subject, the ARE or better known as the Architectural Registration Exam. During the discussion we suggest strategies and resources for studying, so you too can pass and call yourself an Architect.

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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!

#34 - Summer Vacation

Vacation. Do architects ever really take one? How important are vacations? Archispeak takes a hard look at the profession of architecture and discusses why we believe that you should take one. We also share what we will be doing this summer and we would like to know what you are planning. Let us know by posting a comment on the site.

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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!

#33 - Inspiration

Where and how do you find inspiration? Is it even necessary? Archispeak Episode 33 is proud to be joined by special guest host Marica McKeel as we crack open the books to discuss the means and methods to finding your inspiration.

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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!

#32 - Premature Renderation

Design. It is all around you and on every phase or part of a project including the layout of the sheets. Drop in on the conversion for Episode 32 of the Archispeak Podcast where we talk about BIM and Technology and how it is affecting the practice of architecture.

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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!

#31 - Architecture Will Kill You

"Nothing is certain but death and taxes." In Episode 31 of the Archispeak Podcast we explore half of that famous quotation by discussing some of the most interesting and infamous deaths of architects. The practice of architecture really can kill you.

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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!

#30 - Do it for Free

Clients: can’t live with them, can’t live without them. In Episode 30, the Archispeak Podcast takes on a particular scenario and discusses how a savvy client can take advantage of an architect. Along the way we suggest possible responses so that you don’t end up “doing it for free.”

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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!

#29 - Plans “Я” Us

Blueprints! Blueprints! Get your blueprints here! Three for a dollar! Yes, that’s right, in Episode 29 of the Archispeak Podcast we venture out to the third rail and discuss the online selling of plans, exposing the fact that your AIA membership fees are supporting an industry that is trying to cut architects out of residential architecture business. 

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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!

#28 - No Sympathy

There’s no sympathy in architecture and especially so for the hosts of the Archispeak Podcast. After an epic recording session that will never see the land of Podcastville, we return to the microphones to record Episode 28, where we discuss working “extra” overtime. We also dispense some wisdom on bonuses and using Revit properly.

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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!

#27 - Habits for Success

Episode 27 kicks off Season 2 with a very special guest cohost Mark R. LePage! Yes, The Entrepreneur Architect himself joins the cast as we discuss some helpful and not so helpful “Habits for Success.” They seem to be things that architects have a really hard time with including sleep, the ability to say no, and fees.

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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!

#26 - Architectural Determinism

Archispeak Podcast Episode 26, the Season 1 Finale, “raises the level” and brings extra value to our listeners by tackling Architectural Determinism. Can design solutions change behavior in a predictable and positive way? Tune in to find out.

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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!