Archinect Sessions

On our year-end show Donna, Ken and I are joined by Frances Anderton. For those listeners that are in LA, Frances's voice is probably very familiar to you. Frances is the host of DnA, the radio show the focuses on architecture and design on KCRW, the local favorite station among architects in the Southern California region.

A few weeks ago Frances broke the news that she would be leaving the beloved radio show at the end of the year, after an 18-year run. Today she joins us to tell us about work with DnA, the backstory behind her transition from architecture student to journalist to radio personality, and gives us a hint at what she'll be doing next.

Later in the episode, the four of us discuss some of the bigger news stories that helped define what 2020 meant for architects. We also share what we're each looking forward to as we enter into a new year.

Direct download: Archinect-Sessions-160.mp3
Category:architecture -- posted at: 10:45am PDT

On today’s episode of Archinect Sessions Donna and I are joined by Karen Compton, a Los Angeles-based business consultant, business owner and podcast host. 

As the Principal at A3K Consulting, Karen oversees a team of professionals to help clients in the AEC industry grow and improve their businesses applying strategy, business planning, education, training and recruitment. Her vodcast, Breaking the Silence of Design, started just 2 months ago, with co-host Gabrielle Bullock, Director of Global Diversity at Perkins & Will Architects, as a platform to address the uncomfortable conversations around race and inequality in the AEC industry.  

Direct download: Archinect-Sessions-159.mp3
Category:architecture -- posted at: 12:03pm PDT

On today’s show Donna and I are joined by Cruz Garcia and Nathalie Frankowski of WAI Architecture Think Tank.

The last time we had Cruz and Nathalie on the podcast was for our Next Up series at the inaugural Chicago Architecture Biennial. We’ve since also had Cruz on the podcast to discuss the unfortunate changes at Taliesin’s School of Architecture, where Cruz and Nathalie were both visiting teaching fellows. On each of these instances we had a limited time with them to discuss highly specific aspects of their work, so we wanted to have them back on to learn more about their backgrounds, how they met, and what drives their work.

If you’ve been following them, you’ll know that they recently published a book on their work entitled Narrative Architecture. They’ve also published a powerful anti-racist manifesto on un-making architecture, as the fight for equality pushes forward, propelled by the Black Lives Matter movement.

Direct download: Archinect-Sessions-158.mp3
Category:architecture -- posted at: 5:30am PDT

This is the final installment of Archinect Sessions' six-part series of conversations we've had with architects, designers, and others in the industry. The discussions address the challenges experienced navigating these uncertain times, from the stay-at-home orders due to the coronavirus, to the toll it's taken on jobs and the economy.

Today we share our conversations with Ilya Bourim, an architectural designer working for a developer in the Coachella Valley; Lauren Harris, a BIM Manager in Philadelphia; Dawn Zuber, an architect and small practice owner just outside of Detroit; and Carl Emberger, a Technical Director at a mid-size firm in Philadelphia. 

Direct download: Archinect-Sessions-157.mp3
Category:architecture -- posted at: 12:13pm PDT

This is the fifth installment of Archinect Sessions six-part series of conversations we've had with architects, designers, and others in the industry. The discussions address the challenges experienced navigating these uncertain times, from the stay-at-home orders due to the coronavirus, to the toll it's taken on jobs and the economy.

Conversations in this episode include Will Galloway, an architect/firm-owner and educator who has been stuck in Canada, his country of citizenship, while unable to return to Tokyo, his home of residence. We also speak with Sobia Sayeda, an architect in Santa Fe, New Mexico, and Dillon Jones, a Portland-based architect who has been sheltering-in-place in California since getting furloughed. 

Direct download: Archinect-Sessions-156.mp3
Category:architecture -- posted at: 8:06am PDT

This is the fourth part of Archinect Sessions six-part series of conversations we've had with architects, designers, and others in the industry. The discussions address the challenges experienced navigating these uncertain times, from the stay-at-home orders due to the coronavirus, to the toll it's taken on jobs and the economy.

Conversations in this episode include four architects and designers based in New York - Brandt Knapp & Jerome Haferd​ of Brandt : HaferdAri​elle Lapp​​​, and Emma Greenberg​.

Direct download: Archinect-Sessions-155.mp3
Category:architecture -- posted at: 9:11pm PDT

Today we share the third part of Archinect Sessions six-part series of conversations​ we've had with architects, designers, and others in the industry. The discussions address the challenges experienced navigating these uncertain times, from the stay-at-home orders due to the coronavirus, to the toll it's taken on jobs​ and the economy​.

Conversations in this episode include Nicolai Kruger​, an architect and illustrator in Portland, Oregon; Charles Pifer​, a practicing architect and teacher of architectural ethics, in Tucson, Arizona; and Michele Grace Hottel​, an architect/sole-proprietor in La Mesa, California​.

Direct download: Archinect-Sessions-154.mp3
Category:architecture -- posted at: 10:42am PDT

Today we share the second part of Archinect Sessions six-part series of conversations we've had with architects, designers, and others in the industry. The discussions address the challenges experienced navigating these uncertain times, from the stay-at-home orders due to the coronavirus, to the toll it's taken on jobs and the economy.

In this second part, we feature the perspectives of Autumn, a commercial interior designer in Chicago; Daniel, a project architect/project manager in Oakland; and Casey, an American architect working in Berlin.

Direct download: Archinect-Sessions-153.mp3
Category:architecture -- posted at: 7:30am PDT

Today's installment of Archinect Sessions introduces the first of six episodes sharing conversations we've had with architects, designers. and others in the industry. The discussions address the challenges experienced navigating these uncertain times, from the stay-at-home orders due to the coronavirus, to the toll it's taken on jobs and the economy.

In this first part, we feature the perspectives of Zachary, a recently laid-off unlicensed architectural designer in Oshkosh, Wisconsin; Nancy, an architect-turned-architectural-consultant in New York; and an architect in Glasgow, Scotland, who wishes to remain unnamed because of the potentially-illegal layoffs he's been the victim of in recent months.

Direct download: Archinect-Sessions-152.mp3
Category:architecture -- posted at: 11:59am PDT

This episode of Archinect Sessions was intended to be a brief introduction to a number of conversations we've been recording with members of the architecture community from around the world, checking in to see how people are coping through the current COVID-19 crisis and related effects to the economy. Since it's been so long that the three of us recorded our last episode, we ended up spending a full hour catching up amongst ourselves, sharing stories and perspectives on what we're experiencing ourselves, and observing around us. Our conversations with the architects we've been talking to will follow in subsequent episodes, beginning next week. If you have stories to share, please reach out to us and tell us about it. 

Direct download: Archinect-Sessions-151.mp3
Category:architecture -- posted at: 10:58am PDT

Today Donna, Ken and I are joined by Paulette Singley. Paulette is a respected architectural historian, educator and author. Her writing and editing expands beyond the world of architecture, looking at connections within the culinary arts and film. In today's conversation we’re focusing on her latest book "How to Read Architecture: An Introduction to Interpreting the Built Environment,” a must read for architecture students, architects, designers and admirers of the built world.

Direct download: Archinect-Sessions-150.mp3
Category:architecture -- posted at: 10:09am PDT

On this episode of Archinect Sessions we’re sharing a conversation I had with Alysa Nahmias, the director and producer of the documentary film “The New Bauhaus.” We recorded this conversation last month, poolside, a few hours before the film premiered to a packed house in the Annenberg Theater at the Palm Springs International Film Festival.

Alysa, a trained architect-turned-filmmaker, made her directorial debut in 2011 with Unfinished Spaces, a critically acclaimed documentary about the unfinished National Art School in Cuba. 

While she has a number of producing credits under her belt, The New Bauhaus is the second documentary film project that she directed. The film focuses on the life and legacy of László Moholy-Nagy, the Hungarian artist and teacher most famously known through his work at the Bauhaus. It’s a beautifully told story, presented in a unique, non-linear fashion, narrated by Hans Ulrich Obrist who represent Maholy in a surprisingly effective way. 

The film will be screened again at this year’s Modernism Week in Palm springs, tomorrow, February 14th, followed by screenings at Melbourne Design Week the Architecture & Design Film Festival in DC in March, and in Los Angeles, at SC-Arc, in April. Full details can be found at thenewbauhaus.com

Direct download: Archinect-Sessions-149.mp3
Category:architecture -- posted at: 10:36am PDT

On this special (and very spontaneous) episode of Archinect Sessions we are joined with three members of the Taliesin community to help shed some light on the mysterious and disturbing sudden announcement of the closure of The School of Architecture at Taliesin​​. With us are Benjamin Aranda, partner at Aranda\Lasch with Chris Lasch, the Dean at The School of Architecture at Taliesin​; Cruz Garcia co-director at WAI Architecture Think Tank and a previous visiting teaching fellow at The School of Architecture at Taliesin; and Ryan Scavnicky of Extra Office, and former visiting teaching fellow at The School of Architecture at Taliesin. 

Our conversation shares our guest's experiences at the school, with insight into the questionable relationship between the foundation and the school. We talk about what happened this week, how these events conflict with Frank Lloyd Wright's wishes, as outlined in his will, about the direction of the foundation as an institution for learning, and the troubling lack of transparency from the Frank Lloyd Wright Foundation​​ about the decisions that have been made. 

Direct download: taliesin-closure.mp3
Category:architecture -- posted at: 3:17pm PDT

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