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Archispeak

Archispeak

Evan Troxel & Cormac Phalen 390 episodes Latest Jun 5, 2026

Archispeak is one of architecture's longest-running podcasts, with over 383 episodes of honest, unfiltered conversation about working in the profession. Since 2012, architects Evan Troxel and Cormac Phalen explore design, career, firm culture, tools, work/life balance, mentoring, generational differences, and job hunting. The podcast is built for architecture students, emerging architects, and seasoned professionals seeking candid perspective on the profession. Topics include architecture career and job searching, design process and critique, firm culture, and candid interviews with architects and industry leaders.

Episodes

#391 - A Builder’s Life Done Well with David Prutting Jun 5, 2026 01:24:03 David Prutting joins Evan and Cormac to talk about what 50 years of building high-end contemporary homes has taught him about the relationship between architects, owners, and builders. They explore the trust triangle that makes or breaks a custom project, why David actively steers clients away from design-build, and the floor plan theory he's developed over decades: the stranger the plan, the bett
#390 - From Idea to Execution: Heliomorphism May 26, 2026 01:12:21 Sven Shockey, FAIA joins Evan and Cormac to talk about Virginia Tech Academic Building One — a 300,000-square-foot computer science and computer engineering building on a new campus in Alexandria, Virginia whose faceted, photovoltaic-integrated form was derived through 1,400 computational iterations. They explore what it means to design a building's exterior before the interior program is finalize
#389 - I Want To See Tears May 1, 2026 35:46 A van conversion project that was supposed to take three days is now four months in and an eighth of the way done. Evan and Cormac dig into what actually happened and why an architect's brain might be the single biggest obstacle to finishing a personal fabrication project on time. They cover the scope creep hiding in "wouldn't you do it differently?", why one wrong cut forces every subsequent piec
#388 - Frank Lloyd Wright Lemonade Apr 24, 2026 38:30 Cormac spent last week driving from Detroit to Baltimore for a punch review, then north to a factory two hours outside Toronto to inspect replacement vestibule glass — only to reject it for the second time because the print scale was still wrong. Along the way, he squeezed in an unplanned tour of Frank Lloyd Wright's Darwin Martin House in Buffalo, ended up teaching the docents, and toured AGNORA'
#387 - The Walmart Greeter of Architecture Apr 18, 2026 56:20 Five years into one project. Ten into another. Three principals retired before the second one wrapped. Evan and Cormac dig into what long-duration architecture projects reveal about career identity, why the profession has always romanticized the architect who works until death, and what retirement actually looks like when architecture is all you've ever done. They also get into the slow erosion of
#386 - If not me, then who? Apr 3, 2026 33:08 Ten years into a $600M research laboratory project, Cormac reflects on what it actually means to see a complex build through to the end — the COVID-era redesign, the permit battles across three code cycles, and the people who've been on site since day one. He and Evan unpack the case for continuity: why the architects who know every decision that was ever made are essentially irreplaceable, and wh
#385 - Why Architects Can't Say No Mar 27, 2026 37:44 Cormac spent twelve hours trying to send one email. Evan has seventeen apps open at all times. This week they trace the architecture of modern distraction — from "you're on mute" killing the flow of real-time thinking, to AI making it easier to do more of the wrong things faster, to the structural reason architects keep saying yes when they should say no. The profession runs on availability, respo
#384 - The AI and Expertise Paradox, with Chris Parsons Mar 20, 2026 01:19:00 Architecture firms are adopting AI faster than they're building the expertise to judge it.In this episode, we explore the AI and expertise paradox with Christopher Parsons, Founder and CEO of Knowledge Architecture, the firm behind Synthesis — a knowledge and learning platform built for AEC firms — digging into what happens when the tools your firm is counting on require more institutional knowled
#383 - Why We Still Love This Profession Mar 13, 2026 54:04 In this episode of Archispeak, we catch up after Evan’s trip to New York City and the AECtech conference, where he moderated a panel with design technology leaders who’ve climbed all the way into firm leadership. We also talk about the continuing education grind it takes just to keep our licenses alive, why there’s really no such thing as “architecture without technology” anymore, and how technolo
#382 - AI, Meetings, and the Architecture Grind Dec 1, 2025 53:28 In this episode of Archispeak, we pull back the curtain on what modern practice actually feels like when AI, meetings, and the architecture grind all collide. We talk about coming back from travel feeling not three weeks behind but three months, calendars that look like Tetris played on hard mode, and what happens when you join a call and realize you’re the only human in a grid full of AI note-tak
#381 - Anthony Laney on Craft, Clarity, and the Definition of Home Nov 25, 2025 53:50 In this episode of Archispeak, we sit down with architect Anthony Laney to explore the ideas behind his new book, Poetics of Home. We talk about what it really takes to design spaces that feel deeply human and how his team at Laney LA has built a practice around clarity, rigor, and emotional resonance.We dig into the invisible forces that shape a great project: the trust between architects and bui
#380 - The Vibe Nov 17, 2025 51:30 In this episode of Archispeak, we talk about that elusive quality that aligns people with great art (and spaces)—but this time through the lens of a real-world architectural field trip. Evan shares his recent trip to Iowa, where he spent time touring projects and hanging out with the folks at OPN Architects. We dive into why the atmosphere of a place, both in architecture and in practice, matters

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