We have a conversation with Jake Rudin, co-author of the recently published book titled "Out of Architecture" to discuss the need for architects to appropriately value themselves and their skills to create a more positive and sustainable profession, or to leave it altogether for something else. We talk about the lack of leadership training, the importance of designing our businesses, and the value of architects as problem solvers in architecture firms and adjacent industries.

About Jake

Jake is a strategic thinker and designer with a decade of experience in building things from the ground up. He currently leads teams at Adidas in Computational Design, Digital Technologies, and Pattern Engineering. He also runs Out of Architecture, a career consulting firm helping designers apply their incredible talents in untraditional ways.

Episode Links

• Out of Architecture website
• Out of Architecture: The Value of Architects Beyond Traditional Practice (Amazon)
• Out of Architecture on LinkedIn
• Out of Architecture on Instagram
• Jake on LinkedIn
• Tangents podcast

Topic

We discuss the power of negotiation that an in-demand candidate has during a job search, the lack of training in architectural education about money and business, the ongoing talent drought, the mythical bonus, AIA dues, waning architectural publications as an analogy to the profession, provide our take on a provocative LinkedIn post by Evelyn Lee, and we take a stab at figuring out how long it actually takes to train an architect.

Episode links

• Employees Who Stay In Companies Longer Than Two Years Get Paid 50% Less (Forbes)
• Evelyn Lee’s LinkedIn post
• Architect Magazine
• Architectural Record (Wikipedia)

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Thank you for listening to Archispeak. For more episodes please visit https://archispeakpodcast.com

Topic

We discuss the value of doing home renovations and learning construction skills as an architect, talk about the importance of compromise, collaboration, and learning from hands-on experiences. We also touch on the differences between architects of the past and present, and the evolving role of technology in the industry.

Episode Links

• Steve Baczek’s Instagram
• Risinger Build’s Instagram
• Awesome Framers Instagram

Topic

We have a conversation about the process of becoming a licensed architect in the United States and discuss the challenges of taking multiple Architect Registration Exams (ARE), NCARB’s rolling clock policy changes, and the need for change in the profession.

We also touch on the potential impact of technology on the licensing process with some personal anecdotes and opinions. We also talk about sticky notes, sketching, Cormac’s recent field trip to the University of Michigan Law School with his daughter, how architects can walk into buildings like they own the place, how students can prototype their possible career paths, and some tips on designing one’s life.

Episode Links

• Cormac’s instagram
• Cormac’s old blog post on his love for pens
• University of Michigan Law School architecture (click through the slides to see the buildings)
• Designing Your Life: How to Build a Well-Lived, Joyful Life by Bill Burnett and Dave Evans (Amazon)
• Stanford: Designing Your Life course
• Alexander Calder (Wikipedia)
• Jackson Pollock (Wikipedia)
• National Gallery by I.M. Pei
• NCARB Eliminates the ARE Rolling Clock Policy press release
• Commentary on NCARB data about length of time to get licensed (Archinect)
• 2017 data on NCARB revenue and the CEO’s salary (Archinect)

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Thank you for listening to Archispeak. For more episodes please visit https://archispeakpodcast.com

Topic

We discuss Evan’s tireless experience of the “sufferfest” that is moving one’s family into a new home, Cormac’s recent experiences with the ACE Mentor program, and we ask the question more people in the profession should be: Would people become architects if the we were honest about what it’s really like to be one?

Episode links

• Ronnie Lott (Wikipedia)
• ACE Mentor Program of America website

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Thank you for listening to Archispeak. For more episodes please visit https://archispeakpodcast.com

Saying goodbye to a house, spaces that evoke memories and emotion, personal experiences of working (and living) remotely, mentoring emerging professionals, and how the architectural profession has been the model for Elon’s recent email to Twitter employees (except for the severance option).

Links

Elon Musk demands Twitter staff commit to ‘long hours’ or leave: Read the email (CNBC)

We discuss the different types of architectural degrees offered and why one might pick one type over another (To B.Arch or not to B.Arch? That is the question.) based on an #askarchispeak question from a listener, and Cormac toured the Exchange Tower that’s currently under construction in Detroit. It’s being built… differently.

Links

With Exchange, LIFTbuild Delivering First Top-Down Project in the US Since the '70s

In this episode, we discuss Deborah Berke FAIA’s presentation and James Wines’ interview from the 2022 Monterey Design Conference which recently happened at the Asilomar Conference Grounds in California. We get into the adaptive reuse typology as well as environmental art and architecture.

Links

Monterey Design Conference (MDC) 2022 website

Asilomar Conference Grounds by Julia Morgan (Wikipedia)

Deborah Berke Partners website

NXTHVN project

Adaptive Reuse projects and white paper

James Wines SITE website

BEST Products Company Buildings

Ghost Parking Lot

When Art, Architecture and Commerce Collided: The BEST Products Showrooms by SITE (ArchDaily)

Listen and Subscribe to Archispeak

Cormac talks about his recent attendance of a lecture about architectural ornamentation from yesteryear in Detroit while Evan is speaking at the inaugural EntreArchitect Annual Meeting in Austin.

Links

Wirt C. Rowland (Wikipedia)

Corrado Parducci (Wikipedia)

Albert Kahn

The Life of Albert Kahn

Albert Kahn (History of Detroit)

Guardian Building (History of Detroit)

Guardians of Detroit: Architectural Sculpture in the Motor City • By Jeff Morrison

Guardians of Detroit on Instagram

Millard Sheets (Wikipedia)

In this episode, we discuss various mental, psychological, and physical injuries sustained from architectural (or construction) projects.

Links

Archispeak 31 - Architecture Will Kill You