Practice Disrupted by Practice of Architecture

How do architects leverage their skillset to become better at sales?

This week on Practice Disrupted, we follow the career path of an architect turned architechie who landed in the business development side of a tech company, Monograph. If you are interested in learning more about other roles that architects can have in tech, this one is for you! 

We take a deep dive with our guest, Tyler Suomala, on all things in architecture, the realities of burnout running your own practice, entrepreneurship, the search for an architecturally adjacent career, parenthood, and more. 

The conversation also goes into different roles in sales, identifying the difference between sales development and account executive roles, how sales differ from his new role in marketing, how important ongoing talent development support has been for his career, and Monograph’s famous 4-day work week.

We also talk about his growth as a content creator on LinkedIn and how he has grown an audience of over 15,000 followers.

Guest:

Tyler Suomala is an architechie and business development professional at Monograph. He helps architects better communicate their unique value through his fun and popular weekly newsletter, Tyler Tactics.

📍 Show Links:  

Join Tyler Tactics

Tyler on LinkedIn

Monograph

Other Episodes with individuals from Monograph:

075 - Growing an AEC Startup, The Evolution of a Company

034 - Investing in What’s Next, The Spatial Syndicate

013 - Architecture, And: Entrepreneurship

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How are designers centering equity and racial justice in architecture and design practices?

Open Architecture Collaborative is a global learning community mobilizing architects, designers, and a diverse range of professionals who shape the built environment with technical skills to build capacity with communities experiencing systemic racism and marginalization.

Pathways to Equity is a design leadership experience for social equity. The program aims to create transformative learning experiences, shifting the field towards anti-racism and equitable outcomes. P2E introduces designers to methods for equity in practice, historical and systemic racism within the buit environment, self-reflective and community building practices, and strategies for community engagement.

Consider enrolling in Pathways to Equity for 2023! P2E Virtual is a 10-week online introductory course happening April 11th-June 13th, 2023. Community members, firm principals, and individual volunteers are encouraged to apply.

Guests:

Shalini Agrawal is trained in architecture and is founder of Public Design for Equity. She is director for Pathways to Equity, a leadership program of Open Architecture Collaborative that trains architects and designers in racial justice workshops. She works with interdisciplinary practitioners, firms and organizations to address equity in the workplace and community engagement. She is Associate Professor in Critical Ethnic Studies at California College of the Arts, teaching curricula that aims to decolonize design and architecture practices.

📍 Show Links:  

Apply to Pathways to Equity

📚 Continue Learning:

Learn more about the Open Architecture Collaborative

Public Design for Equity

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How can technology elevate the business of design?

AIA Los Angeles invited Practice Disrupted Co-Hosts Evelyn Lee and Je’Nen Chastain to present the opening keynote at their annual technology conference in February.

More about the conference: 

Digital transformation is revolutionizing the AECO industry, offering new ways to develop and construct the built environment. The use of cloud, data, and artificial intelligence is maximizing the creative potential of architects and engineers by augmenting their ability to rapidly create, analyze, and optimize designs while streamlining processes and revealing actionable project insights. However, this rapid advancement of technological trends sometimes creates more questions than answers.

How can we better engage with clients using technology? How can we best manage practices? How can we build better and more efficiently? This conference gathers the AECO community to discuss how technology is reshaping the industry and provides a platform for designers, architects, and built environment professionals to embrace the new possibilities of digital and explore innovative solutions for their clients.

A special thank you to: Brian Skowvron, Assoc. AIA, Nicole Buhles, Assoc. AIA, Lauren Coles, AIA, Will Wright, Hon. AIA|LA, & Carlo Caccavale, Hon. AIA|LA

Co-Hosts:

Evelyn Lee is the Global Head of Workplace Strategy and Innovation at Slack Technologies, and Founder of the Practice of Architecture. She integrates her business and architecture background with a qualitative and quantitative focus to build better experiences for the organization’s employees, clients, and guests. She is widely published, wrote a monthly column for Contract magazine for over three years, and is now a frequent contributor to Architect Magazine. Evelyn has received numerous industry awards, including 2016 40 Under 40 award for Building Design + Construction and the 2014 AIA National Young Architects Award. She recently served as the first-ever female Treasurer to the AIA National Board in 2020-2021.

Je’Nen Chastain is the founder of Apostrophe Consulting, a practice focused on helping architects and next-gen leaders strengthen their teams and businesses. In addition to consulting with firm leaders on practice management issues, she mentors architects on career development, leadership, and strategy. She specializes in facilitating conversations that engage multi-generational teams and has designed, developed, and presented dozens of training programs that inspire next-gen leaders. Je’Nen received the 2017 AIA National Associates Award, an Associates Award from AIA California in 2012, and an Emerging Professionals Award from AIA San Francisco in 2017. She served on the AIA National Board in 2010.

📍 Show Links: 

More about the conference

PD Technology Playlist

📚 Continue Learning:

Future Forum

AIA Los Angeles

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What is the AIAS, and how are they advancing leadership, design, and service among architecture students?

The American Institute of Architecture Students (AIAS) is an independent, nonprofit, student-run organization dedicated to providing unmatched progressive programs, information, and resources on issues critical to architecture and the experience of education. This week we speak with the 2022-2023 National President and Vice President of the AIAS to learn more about their work and what is top mind for their members.

Guests:

Cooper Moore, AIAS, Assoc. AIA, NOMA, GRP, is the 66th President of the American Institute of Architecture Students. A graduate of Kent State University, Cooper previously served as the AIAS Midwest Quadrant Director and is currently the Student Representative on the AIA Board of Directors. Raised on the Great Lakes and an avid naturalist, he is passionate about sustainable design, and is a certified Green Roof Professional. Cooper lives and works in Washington, DC.

Nicole Bass is the 2022-2023 National Vice President of the American Institute of Architecture Students. She holds a Bachelor's degree in architecture from City College of New York. Born and raised in New York City, Nicole had an interest in the built environment  inspired by traveling to different neighborhoods to visit family in her youth. In high school and college, she pursued internships and programming related to architecture, art, policy, and advocacy. At the Bernard and Ann Spitzer School of Architecture, Nicole held leadership positions in AIAS, NOMAS, FAME, and Student Government to better understand the world of academia, host impactful events, and advocate for the architecture student voice. She looks forward to continuing the good work of make the profession a better place.

📍 Show Links: 

https://www.aias.org/ 

📚 Continue Learning:

March 2023 Quad Conferences

Sponsor an AIAS Member

Chapter Takeover

In Studio Blog 

Chapter Leader of the Month 

Freedom By Design

Ask An Architect

Model Learning Teaching Culture Policy

Partner with the AIAS

For intrested or questions on career expos, please email [email protected] or [email protected] 

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How can artificial intelligence help architects improve their productivity?

AI has recently emerged as a powerful tool for creating written text that is both accurate and informative. From automated news reports to automated customer support chatbots and beyond, AI has enabled the production of content that was unthinkable only a few years ago. This document is a direct example of this trend, as it has been created entirely by AI-powered text generation software. It is our hope that today’s episode will demonstrate the potential of AI and inspire listeners to explore the possibilities this technology presents.

This week we’ve invited Jason Kuperberg on the show to discuss AI, ChatGPT, and a powerful AI writing tool his company created called HyperWrite. Hyperwrite uses a combination of AI-driven analysis and human editing to create content that is both efficient and accurate. Hyperwrite's algorithms are able to quickly analyze a user's writing style and suggest edits that improve the overall clarity of the text. 

Guest:

Jason Kuperberg is the co-founder of OthersideAI, an applied AI company that specializes in building writing and communication tools using advanced AI systems such as GPT-3. The company's flagship product, HyperWrite, is one of the first generative AI writing platforms and a leading Chrome extension known for its innovative use of AI technology and focus on user experience and interface.

📍 Show Links: 

Try HyperWrite for free

Get the HyperWrite Chrome Extension

Use the discount code TRYHYPERWRITE to get 50% off your first month.

Connect with Jason on LinkedIn

How are individuals using their training in architecture to explore diverse career paths?

Our ongoing series “Architecture, And:” follows the careers of professionals using their education and training in architecture to expand their current role in practice or apply their skills in an entirely new field. These interviews help us understand how an architectural education prepares people for diverse career opportunities.

Past interviews include:

[073] - Architecture, And: Civic Leadership

[067] - Architecture, And: The Future of Workplace

[066] - Architecture, And: Technology

[055] – Architecture, And: MBA

[054] – Architecture, And: EDI+J

[045] – Architecture, And: Publishing

[043] – Architecture, And: Nonprofit Design Education

[039] – Architecture, And: Customer Success

[036] – Architecture, And: Robotics

[025] – Architecture, And: Tech

[019] – Architecture, And: Film

[015] – Architecture, And: Social Impact

[013] – Architecture, And: Entrepreneurship

Special Guest:

Nick Caravella, AIA, NCARB, NOMA is a registered architect who has transitioned from traditional practice to a focus on working on and with industry technology solutions that help improve the way we work and deliver better outcomes. Nick started his career in technology as he started to wonder how he could make a bigger impact on the profession by helping firms rather than within one. Since starting this journey, Nick has worked in a variety of Sales, Marketing, and Product roles that enabled him to leverage his experience as an architect paired with his training as one to create value for the profession. Today Nick works at Avicado Construction Technology Services and helps Owners with the creative technology solutions they need to better manage their program. In his off hours, you’ll find him contributing to Method Group as an Operations Specialist contributing to rethinking the way we deliver projects using the processes he’s picked up on while working in tech.

📍 Show Links:

Connect with Nick on LinkedIn

Learn more about Avicado 

📚 Continue Learning:

The Lean Startup by Eric Ries

Business Model Generation by Alexander Osterwalder and Yves Pigneur

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Welcome back to season 6 of Practice Disrupted! 

Co-hosts Evelyn Lee and Je’Nen Chastain sit down with writer and fellow podcaster Sean Joyner of Getting Back Into Place to kick off the first episode of 2023. The discussion includes highlights on what’s ahead for season 6, how the market dip has impacted the tech sector, recommendations for how individuals and firms can prepare for a Recession, and more. Sean shares more about his career path from architecture into writing, and his latest project in podcasting. We discuss his article published on Archinect in 2022, “Debunking Architecture’s Mythological Work Culture.”

Special Guest:

Sean Joyner is a writer and essayist based in Los Angeles. He formerly worked as a full-time Editor and Staff Writer at Archinect. His essays and articles typically explore themes spanning history, pop culture, and philosophy and how they connect to architectural discourse and the experience of architecture.

📍 Show Links:  

Listen to Getting Back Into Place, Hosted by Sean Joyner

📚 Continue Learning:

“Debunking Architecture’s Mythological Work Culture” by Sean Joyner, Archinect

AIAU 2023 Economic Update 1

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Leaders of the profession share diverse perspectives on equity and architecture.

Expanding our diversity series, this week we learn about the lived experiences of individuals who immigrated to the United States.

Guests:

Originally from Colombia, Graciela Carrillo, AIA, LEED AP, immigrated to the United States in 2003. She recently joined Nassau BOCES Facilities Services as a Senior Manager where she is managing school operational and capital projects. Graciela has committed a decade of volunteer leadership service to the AIA. Currently she is serving as the President 2020-2021 as well as the Chapter’s Women In Architecture Co-Founder and Co-Chair. Graciela was the past 2017-2018 NY Regional Director (YARD) for the Young Architects Forum (YAF). She is also the Co-Founder of the Immigrant Architects Coalition, a group committed to helping and providing resources for immigrant architects to achieve a prosperous career in the US. In 2019, Graciela was the recipient of the AIA NYS Young Architect Award.

Gloria Kloter, AIA, NCARB, CODIA, is founder and CEO of Glow Architects. A practicing architect both in her home country of the Dominican Republic and in the US, she has dedicated her career to helping other young architects grow. She is the founder of the Foreign Architects, a private community in Facebook where she mentors young and aspiring immigrant architects on how to obtain their architect license in the United States. Gloria also serves as the Architect Licensing Advisor of the State of Florida through AIA Florida. She is a part of the Board of Directors of the AIA Tampa Bay where she is the chairperson of the Women in Architecture committee. She was also honored for the 2019 Sho-Ping Ching Women’s Leadership Summit Scholarship, a recognition to mid-career women architects who are advancing toward leadership roles and are making a positive impact within their communities. 

Shahad Sadeq, Assoc. AIA is an Iraqi immigrant architectural designer at Smithgroup. She is an active member of the AIA in her local chapter in Dallas, Texas. Shahad is passionate about amplifying diverse voices in the profession and developing sustainable workplace culture. She currently is co-leading the immigrant architect coalition and sits on the J.E.D.I. committee board of Smithgroup. She previously helped found an Equity in Architecture effort through the AIA Kansas City Chapter.

Yu-Ngok Lo, FAIA, CDT, LEED AP is the founding principal of YNL Architects, Inc. His work received numerous design awards such as the NAHB Best of American Living Awards, Gold Nugget Awards, Aurora Awards, American Residential Design Awards, and various AIA Design Awards. The projects of his firm have been published in ArchDaily, Hinge Magazine, CONDE, CommArch Magazine, and Hospitality-Interiors Magazine. Yu-Ngok is a past recipient of the AIBD Designer of the Year, AIA Presidential Citation, AIA National Young Architects Award, BD+C 40 Under 40, 2015 ENR 20 Under 40, and the AIACC Young Architect Award. He was elevated to the AIA College of Fellows in 2020.

Show Links:

📍 Immigrant Architects Coalition

📍 Foreign Architects

📍 Glow Architects

📍 Smithgroup

📍 YNL Architects, Inc. 

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How are architects exploring identity and culture through practice?

An architect at Vines Architecture, Vershaé has dedicated her career to the exploration of culture in the built environment. A rising design leader in the southeast, Vershaé has contributed to major cultural projects including the National Museum of African American History and Culture, the Motown Museum Renovation and Addition in Detroit, the Martin Luther King Jr. Central Branch Public Library in Washington, DC, the Gregg Museum of Art and Design Expansion at North Carolina State University, and leads both the Emily Krzyzewski Center Expansion in Durham, NC and Henrietta Lacks Building in Baltimore, MD. 

Vershaé helps her clients navigate and design in response to cultural narrative. Through research, storytelling, service, and advocacy she is raising the visibility and representation of historically underrepresented voices. In addition to her project leadership, she contributes to advancing the profession through volunteer service with AIA and NOMA.

Guest:

Vershaé Hite, AIA, NOMA is a licensed architect and Associate at Vines Architecture. Since 2004, Vershaé’s academic and professional career have exposed her to a range of unique experiences throughout the United States, China, Israel and Palestine that have carefully constructed her crafted, compassionate perspectives on the relationship between design and the human condition. Her role as an architect and project leader is founded on her theoretical interests regarding the interconnectedness of culture, community, and art to architecture. For Vershaé, this emerges from a unique framework that she developed while obtaining her master's degree in London. The deeply rooted meanings in her work are extensions of well-crafted, honest stories - are a direct result of both her sensitivity to diverse social and cultural landscapes and an investigative process that looks to film, literature, and experimental art.

As such, her professional portfolio is characterized by complex cultural projects, historic renovations, libraries and higher education projects. As an Architect with award-winning firms like The Freelon Group, Perkins+Will, Andre Johnson Architect, and Vines Architecture, she is well versed in working with complex cultural matters through architectural design and execution. 

Show Links:

Vines Architecture

National Museum of African American History & Culture

SAY IT LOUD - North Carolina

Beyond Black

Emily K Center

NCNOMA

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Leaders of the profession share diverse perspectives on race, equity, and architecture.

Against the backdrop of recent acts of hate and violence towards the Asian American community, we are amplifying five stories of Asian American Architects who are actively leading the profession of architecture forward. Practice Disrupted is committed to elevating conversations on justice, equity, diversity, and inclusion to teach, empower, and build greater awareness across the industry. 

Guests:

Evelyn M. Lee, FAIA, MBA, MPA is a licensed architect in the state of California, with over 15 years of experience working with individuals and companies that are looking to reshape their future. She is the founder of Practice of Architecture, a co-host on this podcast, Practice Disrupted, the first-ever Senior Experience Designer at Slack Technologies, and the first female Treasurer to AIA National‘s Board of Directors.

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Susan Chin, FAIA, Hon. ASLA is a principal of DesignConnects and an accomplished architect, urbanist, and civic leader. She formed an independent consultancy on art, architecture, landscape, and urban design in 2020 and provides leadership and advises government, developers and non-profits on design, planning, and policy. Until 2019, she led the Design Trust for Public Space. 

📍Follow Susan: LinkedIn

Annie Chu, FAIA, IIDA is an architect, interior designer, and educator with over 30 years of experience at a dozen architectural and design schools across the country and abroad. As a founding principal of Chu+Gooding Architects, Annie has worked extensively with world-renowned museums, cultural facilities, and arts-related institutions.

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Ming Thompson, AIA, NOMA is co-founder of Atelier Cho Thompson, a New Haven- and San Francisco-based multidisciplinary practice working between architecture, interiors, graphics, and strategy. Ming was a recipient of the AIA Young Architect Award in 2020. Her firm has been the recipient of numerous national and regional design honors, including the IIDA Foundation Visionary Award. 

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Alvin Huang, AIA, NOMA is an award-winning architect, designer, and educator who explores the intersections between technology and culture to produce innovative design work that challenges convention and expresses universal values. He is the founder and principal of Synthesis Design + Architecture and an Associate Professor at the University of Southern California, where he is also the Director of Graduate and Post-professional Architecture.

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Show Links:

Anti-Asian Violence Resources

Asian American Artists, Now Activists, Push Back Against Hate

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