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TRXL

TRXL

Evan Troxel 243 Episodes Oct 13, 2026

TRXL is a long-running podcast focused on technology in architecture and engineering professions. Hosted by licensed architect Evan Troxel, it features unscripted conversations with industry leaders, researchers, and practitioners. Topics include AI in architecture, BIM, digital practice, firm culture, and sustainability. Each episode explores how technology is shaping the future of the AEC industry.

Episodes

245: 'System of Record, Systems of Action', with German Aparicio Jr.
245: 'System of Record, Systems of Action', with German Aparicio Jr. Oct 13, 2026 01:05:47 German Aparicio, Jr. of Trimble joins Speckle's Virginia Senf, Neuron Factory's Salil Pandit, and Pelles.ai's Yael Meretyk Hanan to talk about Trimble's equity-free 0-60 Challenge and what it takes for startups to build real integrations inside a large AEC platform company. We explore founder time versus accelerator upside, Trimble as a system of record looking for systems of action and intelligen
244: Who Signs When the AI Is Wrong?
244: Who Signs When the AI Is Wrong? Oct 8, 2026 02:32:56 This is the last episode of Arc 2. The first two asked what these tools can do. This one asks what happens when they get it wrong, who is still on the hook when they do, and what that means for the people coming up in this profession.Mike Soldan at Egnyte says the bigger risk now is reference content that's five years old, not a hallucination. Randall Stevens at AVAIL points out that running autom
243: Your Firm Is an Institution
243: Your Firm Is an Institution Oct 1, 2026 01:17:27 Espy Harper, David Spehar, and Anthony Hauck join the podcast to talk about data-driven design for healthcare, where a missed clearance or a misplaced outlet stays built into a hospital for decades. We explore why firms treat every project like their first, how as much as 90% of room requirements can be templated and reused, and how a live link between a room-data database and a 3D planning tool l
242: Designing for 100 Years… in 100 Seconds?
242: Designing for 100 Years… in 100 Seconds? Sep 24, 2026 02:26:39 I asked the same partners you heard last episode two questions back to back. When a vendor says AI, do they mean autocomplete, a copilot, or something that acts on its own, and does the distinction matter to you? And further out, can you describe a building in plain English and get something real back?Oliver Goldman at Autodesk isn't sure the three terms mean much beyond branding, and explains why
241: From Autocomplete to Agent: Where AEC Actually Is
241: From Autocomplete to Agent: Where AEC Actually Is Sep 17, 2026 02:20:32 Every company in this arc has AI in their marketing. So I asked all of them the same question: in a real firm today, what can it actually do, and what can't it?Michael Jansen and Prasanta Bose at TwinMaster open with why firms resist adopting new tools at all, and Roderick Bates at Chaos separates real capability from social-media hype using a story about his son and a magnet-fishing YouTube video
240: I've Got to Get My Project Out on Friday
240: I've Got to Get My Project Out on Friday Sep 3, 2026 01:59:06 Two questions close out the BIM 2.0 arc. When a tool generates a design for you, where does its output stop and your judgment start? And what does interoperability actually deliver once you strip away the vendor promises?Roderick Bates at Chaos draws the clearest line anybody in this series draws about what a generative tool should not be allowed to do — his team won’t let AI touch geometry or mat
239: You're Not Going Home Early
239: You're Not Going Home Early Aug 27, 2026 03:07:37 Episode one ended with the pitch: new tools give architects their day back. Episode two asks the harder question. If a firm stops running one platform and starts running ten, what happens to twenty years of muscle memory while that shakes out?I put some version of that question to nine voices building and using the BIM 2.0 stack. Gavin Nicholls calls the sunk cost a serious blocker and describes h
238: Half Your Day Isn't Design
238: Half Your Day Isn't Design Aug 20, 2026 01:38:07 The first episode of The Next AEC Tech Stack opens on the number nobody wants to say out loud. Randall Stevens of AVAIL puts the mundane overhead of an architect's day at somewhere near fifty percent, and he admits it's hard to measure because it disappears in seconds and minutes at a time. Looking for a file. Marking up the same PDF three people already marked up. Waiting on a license.Across this
237: 'The Interns Will Have Interns', with Phil Read
237: 'The Interns Will Have Interns', with Phil Read Aug 14, 2026 01:27:10 Phil Read joins the podcast to talk about where human judgment belongs in an AI-assisted design process. We explore his case for the infamous sawtooth diagram (the thing BIM was supposed to eliminate) as the place where experience gets injected. We get into AI as an intern rather than an oracle, why firms are using it to study materials and lighting instead of generating building form, and why aut
236: 'No One Can Own the Law', with Garrett Reynolds
236: 'No One Can Own the Law', with Garrett Reynolds Aug 11, 2026 01:22:19 Garrett Reynolds joins the podcast to talk about UpCodes' decade-long fight to keep building codes free and public. We explore the string of lawsuits UpCodes has faced from the International Code Council, ASTM, and other code publishers since 2017, the Supreme Court and circuit court rulings that established no one can own the law, and the Pro Codes Act, the industry-backed legislation now trying
235: 'How Olson Kundig Scaled AI Adoption Across a 300-Person Firm', with Marlene Chen and Blair Payson
235: 'How Olson Kundig Scaled AI Adoption Across a 300-Person Firm', with Marlene Chen and Blair Payson Jul 28, 2026 01:19:13 Marlene Chen and Blair Payson join the podcast to talk about how a firm known for design, not technology, actually puts new tools to work. We explore the office-wide crit they ran to surface friction points across every role and experience level, the shift that took their visualization team from three people to effectively 150, and the messy reality of adoption: rogue folders on personal desktops,
234: 'Here's to the Crazy Ones, AEC Edition', with Håvard Vasshaug
234: 'Here's to the Crazy Ones, AEC Edition', with Håvard Vasshaug Jul 14, 2026 01:38:58 Håvard Vasshaug joins the podcast to talk about what happens to building data after the architect hits save, and why so much of it dies inside the authoring tool. We explore why it makes no sense to force construction, cost, and scheduling data into Revit, how live model changes can flow straight to contractors and owners without a BIM license, and why six-week-old information is the reason projec

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