Episodes

Archispeak is one of architecture's longest-running podcasts — 380+ episodes of honest, unfiltered conversation about what it's actually like to work in the profession. Since 2012, architects Evan Troxel and Cormac Phalen have been exploring design, career, firm culture, tools, work/life balance, mentoring, generational differences, and job hunting — everything that comes with building a life in architecture.

This isn't a highlight reel. It's the conversation architects actually have — about the hard parts of practice, the moments that define a career, and the things no one tells you in architecture school.

Built for architecture students, emerging architects, and seasoned professionals who want honest perspective on the profession.

Topics include architecture career and job searching, design process and critique, firm culture, work/life balance in architecture, architecture tools and software, mentoring and professional development, generational differences in architecture firms, and candid interviews with architects and industry leaders.

380+ episodes. Since 2012.

#391 - A Builder’s Life Done Well with David Prutting

The builder who's worked with Steven Holl, Toshiko Mori, and KieranTimberlake for 50 years has a theory: the weirder the floor plan, the better the architect was listening.

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Comment Rules: Be cool like the Fonz. Critical is fine, but if you’re rude, we’ll delete your stuff. Please do not put your URL in the comment text and please use your PERSONAL name or initials and not your business name, as the latter comes off like spam. Have fun and thanks for adding to the conversation!
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#390 - From Idea to Execution: Heliomorphism

Sven Shockey, FAIA ran 1,400 parametric iterations to find the right form for a faceted, photovoltaic-clad academic building in Alexandria. The algorithm found a non-intuitive answer. Then the real design work began.

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Comment Rules: Be cool like the Fonz. Critical is fine, but if you’re rude, we’ll delete your stuff. Please do not put your URL in the comment text and please use your PERSONAL name or initials and not your business name, as the latter comes off like spam. Have fun and thanks for adding to the conversation!
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#389 - I Want To See Tears

An architect starts a van conversion at Christmas. His daughter-in-law thought it would take three days. It is April. What happens when perfectionism, scope creep, and DIY fabrication collide.

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Comment Rules: Be cool like the Fonz. Critical is fine, but if you’re rude, we’ll delete your stuff. Please do not put your URL in the comment text and please use your PERSONAL name or initials and not your business name, as the latter comes off like spam. Have fun and thanks for adding to the conversation!
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#388 - Frank Lloyd Wright Lemonade

Cormac drove 11 hours to reject the same glass twice. Along the way: a FLW Darwin Martin House detour, a unicorn corner glazing unit, and an honest look at what "punch ready" actually means.

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Comment Rules: Be cool like the Fonz. Critical is fine, but if you’re rude, we’ll delete your stuff. Please do not put your URL in the comment text and please use your PERSONAL name or initials and not your business name, as the latter comes off like spam. Have fun and thanks for adding to the conversation!
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#387 - The Walmart Greeter of Architecture

Five years in. Ten years in. Three principals retired on one project. Evan and Cormac on what long-duration architecture and the Frank Gehry retirement plan reveal about identity, career, and the profession that won't let you go.

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Comment Rules: Be cool like the Fonz. Critical is fine, but if you’re rude, we’ll delete your stuff. Please do not put your URL in the comment text and please use your PERSONAL name or initials and not your business name, as the latter comes off like spam. Have fun and thanks for adding to the conversation!
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#386 - If not me, then who?

A $600M project. Ten years. The same team, the same building, every weird code edge case nobody else has ever faced. Cormac and Evan talk about what project continuity really costs — and what it's worth.

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Comment Rules: Be cool like the Fonz. Critical is fine, but if you’re rude, we’ll delete your stuff. Please do not put your URL in the comment text and please use your PERSONAL name or initials and not your business name, as the latter comes off like spam. Have fun and thanks for adding to the conversation!
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#385 - Why Architects Can't Say No

Cormac spent 12 hours trying to send one email. Evan has 17 apps open at all times. The real problem isn't the tools, it's that architects can't say no. And nobody taught them how.

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Comment Rules: Be cool like the Fonz. Critical is fine, but if you’re rude, we’ll delete your stuff. Please do not put your URL in the comment text and please use your PERSONAL name or initials and not your business name, as the latter comes off like spam. Have fun and thanks for adding to the conversation!
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#384 - The AI and Expertise Paradox, with Chris Parsons

Architecture firms are adopting AI faster than they are building the expertise to judge it. In this episode, Evan Troxel and Cormac Phalen talk with Christopher Parsons, Founder and CEO of Knowledge Architecture, about why AI-driven QA and code-checking still require senior oversight, and what happens as that expertise retires. They unpack the structural knowledge gap in AEC, the erosion of apprenticeship and mentorship, and why architecture’s long feedback loop makes organizational learning so difficult. You’ll leave with a clearer picture of what it takes to rebuild judgment and develop expertise in a rapidly evolving, tool-heavy profession.

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Comment Rules: Be cool like the Fonz. Critical is fine, but if you’re rude, we’ll delete your stuff. Please do not put your URL in the comment text and please use your PERSONAL name or initials and not your business name, as the latter comes off like spam. Have fun and thanks for adding to the conversation!
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#383 - Why We Still Love This Profession

In this episode, we explore how design technologists are stepping into leadership and shaping practice. Evan shares insights from the AECtech conference in NYC, covering continuing education challenges and community-building. We reflect on experiential design through projects like Heatherwick's Little Island, and consider how rediscovering joy in our work reconnects us with our passion for architecture.

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Comment Rules: Be cool like the Fonz. Critical is fine, but if you’re rude, we’ll delete your stuff. Please do not put your URL in the comment text and please use your PERSONAL name or initials and not your business name, as the latter comes off like spam. Have fun and thanks for adding to the conversation!
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