The Archiologist

Today we are going to be listening to the story of Anastasia Elrouss, where she comes from, her childhood, all the steps that she took in life to be the successful architect and designer that she is today, but always keeping her humanity. And we are going to be talking about the struggles, the challenges, and the not so beautiful side of being a woman in a profession that is sometimes referred to as "a man's career," but she will also be explaining how she fights for equity in the profession, and also all the amazing things she does to share this mentality to students.

A little bit about Anastasia, she has been actively working in the architecture field for nearly 15 years. She holds a degree in architecture from the American University of Beirut, which she attended from 2000 to 2005, and where she currently teaches design courses. She first worked in Beirut at Samir Khairallah & Partners (2005-2006) and at Jean Nouvel in Paris (2007). In 2008, she became the head of YTAA and soon after became a founding partner and general manager of the architecture firm (2011-2017).

In November 2017, upon exiting YTAA, she founded her own architectural practice ANA-Anastasia Elrouss Architects. At her new firm, Anastasia continues to uphold her main design philosophy: that architectural and urban thinking can never be stagnant. For her, architecture is about exploring options and about opening a dialogue, while encouraging an ongoing conversation.

Hey, guyssss! Welcome to another episode of The Archiologist Podcast. Today in the podcast we have Jorge Rodriguez, he is a very good friend of mine who in fact, went to the same university as I did, Florida International University here in Miami. He is an incredible designer and painter, one that is extremely creative in every way. The work he produces aims to be powerful, unforgiving, and bold. Each of his paintings is an experiment of styles and techniques. Whether it’s in the behavior of colors, light, or layering of elements to destabilize the composition. He continues to work as an architectural designer, citing his education and experience in design as a major influence in his style as an artist and illustrator while doing all these amazing artworks in his own business, Miami Urban Garage. The mission behind MUG is to create beautiful and thought-provoking work, evolving as a collection as well as individual pieces.

In the episode, we talk about how his architectural education changed him to better understand how design works and to really value the multi-faceted world of architecture. We talk about the educational system. About why universities don't just teach practical stuff, but they teach you to be a design critic. We also talk about how he sees the murals he does in their connection to architecture. How people, in general, should be okay with the concept of temporary architecture. He says that his murals are temporary, perhaps they won't be there in the next 1, 5, 10 years, but why exactly the concept of an architecture piece lasting a long time, is something we designers should re-evaluate. All in all, this was such an interesting conversation and I cannot wait for you all to listen in! Let the talk begin.

Hello guys! Thank you for checking out another episode from The Archiologist Podcast. Today we have a very lively interview with Bryan Maddock, this episode was recorded before the lockdown started happening. It was the first episode in person and I have to say, we laughed SO much and it was amazing just to see the interaction we were having face to face. I can't wait to meet with Bryan in the future again. So, a little bit about Bryan, he is an architect, Director of Fantastic Offense, and a part Instructor of Architecture at The Design School at Arizona State University. Maddock’s ongoing research and design work emphasize utopia as a strategic tool for proactive rebellion and a call for a renewed professional agency. Prior to Fantastic Offense, Bryan Maddock was a project designer at Bjarke Ingels Group (BIG) in New York and a designer at the Office for Metropolitan Architecture (OMA) in Hong Kong. Asides from all professional success he has had in his career, he has had immense success in his new business opportunity called Dimensions.Guide. Dimensions.Guide is a comprehensive reference database of dimensioned drawings documenting the standard measurements and sizes of the everyday objects and spaces that make up our world. He offers resources to professional designers, students, and the public alike as a way to enhance our global collective awareness of the parameters and dimensions of the things around us.

Hey guys! Welcome to the second part of our conversation with Antonio Olombrada. If you clicked on this one and would like to listen in, don't worry it is not tied to the other episode at all, but it was all recorded in one single conversation. Here, you will find more information on branding yourself as a designer, but now on the job field. What are the main techniques to get a job and how do you go about it? Antonio Olombrada has a design studio online called blash design, offering design services and teaching other designers and students. In this studio, he develops cool projects managing an online team of designers, commercials, engineers and marketers. At the moment his studio is focused in startups, creating physical MVP's from the market analysis, ideation, modeling, rendering, prototyping and larger production working with factories worldwide. They also create the branding, marketing, and sales strategies so the client is able to go to the market and sell the project.

In this episode we're going to be talking about... Yes! You guessed it how to land either your first design job OR how to get that job you have always wanted. Antonio breaks the conversation up into a step-by-step guide, the first one being the very first step before you apply to the job or even before the portfolio, get in contact with the firm or individual! You can do so either through social media, through Linkedin, or even their website, but remember to be personal and not just copy and paste your cover letter to a thousand other firms. If you really want it, you must spend time crafting what you will say and how you want them to perceive you. Follow me and take out your notebook for this episode, you won't regret it! Let the talk begin.

Hey guys! Welcome to another episode of The Archiologist Talks. Before continuing I'd like you to know that this is a two-part episode. Yes, it is intense, and yes it is long (that's why we split it into small, interesting, and juicy episodes). Antonio used to work at an engineering firm, as a mechanical engineer, working on solving the gap between design and manufacturing, until he realized that he wanted to focus on something more creative and free. Skip forward to two years ago, when he started a design studio online called blash design, offering design services and teaching other designers and students. In this studio, he develops cool projects managing an online team of designers, commercials, engineers and marketers. At the moment his studio is focused in startups, creating physical MVP's from the market analysis, ideation, modeling, rendering, prototyping and larger production working with factories worldwide. They also create the branding, marketing, and sales strategies so the client is able to go to the market and sell the project.

If you're like me, and perhaps like every other designer out there, you're wondering how you can get more exposure, and maybe dream about starting your own studio and create a brand for yourself. Well, you're in the right place, because in this first part of our series with Antonio, him and I talk about how any designer can start their own personal brand from scratch. We also talk about how to become a better designer, be more knowledgeable, study more, and take advantage of the ever-growing internet world, that has thousands of possibilities for you to learn through courses, books, and even YouTube videos. You just have to know where to find them and where to focus your time on! We also talk about how important it is for any designer to develop their expertise.

Ryan Scavnicky is the founder of Extra Office. His work is published in ArchDaily, Architect's Newspaper, SCI-Arc Offramp, UCLA POOL, Archinect, and Hyperallergic. In addition, he has over 6 years of experience in international offices in Beijing, San Francisco, and Vienna. He received his Masters in Design Theory and Pedagogy with distinction from SCI-Arc in Los Angeles. He studied at DAAP in Cincinnati for his Masters of Architecture. Ryan currently serves as the Visiting Teaching Fellow at the School of Architecture at Taliesin, an experimental graduate school located in the Arizona desert. He has previously held appointments at the University of Cincinnati, Kent State University, and SCI-Arc.

In this episode, we talk about teaching and how he unexpectedly got his first teaching job after graduation. We talk about his time at Cincinnati University and at SCI-Arc, where he got a Masters in Design Theory and Pedagogy and how that degree helped him understand how to be a better design professor. We have a conversation about PhDs vs Masters, and how the role of the professor has been changing with time. He talks about his interests that are not architecture-per se, but more related to culture and how people get information and take a position through the Internet. That position being how to communicate architecture in a better way through social media. Instead of putting out pretty pictures, we should be teaching and bringing value to the community. He believes that social media is a public forum, where people can communicate about ideas. He believes it is time to broaden the discourse on social platforms. Finally, he gives great advice to students, saying that they should bring something from outside of architecture into the career, to make it more interesting.

1. To start off the conversation, tell me a little about yourself. Was architecture something you always wanted to do?

Sameep Padora is the principal architect and founder of sP+a, a Mumbai based architecture studio engaged in projects of multiple scales, all framed within a larger interest in history and typological research. Sameep completed his undergraduate studies in Mumbai in 1996 followed by post-graduate studies at Cambridge, where he received a Master’s Degree from the Graduate School of Design at Harvard University in 2005. Sameep lectures at various forums and was one of 6 international design firms invited to speak at the Royal Institute of British Architects (RIBA) in 2011. He also is a member of the Academic Council at the School of Environment and Architecture (SEA). In the recent past, his practice was selected to receive The World Architecture News, WAN 21 for 21 Award for 21 Emerging International Practices for the 21st century and has been a Nominee for the BSI Swiss Architecture Award 2014.

The Lattice House project was a winner of Wallpaper Magazine’s house of the year in 2016. In 2015 the studio’s projects were a basis for a travelling solo exhibition entitled Projective Histories shown at the Somaiya Center for Lifelong Learning in the historic Fort precinct in Mumbai. He also heads sPare a research arm of his practice that currently has a traveling exhibition entitled ‘In the Name of Housing’ featuring a documentation and analysis of historic housing types within the city of Mumbai. This exhibition has culminated in an eponymous book which is published by UDRI.

In this episode, we talk about his school years, among them, his experience going to SciArc and Harvard GSD. We then talk about what he did after graduation, working in small projects and trying to stay active within India’s community. We also talk a little bit about his most favorite project he has ever done up to date, and how he started his own studio. He tells me about what his office is mainly about, context, research, and looking at proposals for affordable housing. We talk a lot about housing in general, how getting to the root of the problem, to governmental policies, is his main focus and how he aims to bring better understanding and knowledge to this topic in his home country, India. Finally, he opens up about some of his struggles and disappointments throughout the career, letting everyone know that struggles or failures are merely just notices that you’re going in the right direction.