🏢 Architects: why is our investment in people still so far behind our investment in tools?
On Episode 232 of Practice Disrupted, Evelyn Lee sits with Laura Weiss: architect, leadership coach, former IDEO Practice Director, ICF-certified mediator, and Yale faculty. Laura's framework of "five conversations" maps how growth actually happens inside creative firms.
→ Why feedback systems break in creative organizations
→ Conflict avoidance as the most expensive leadership strategy there is
→ The "spider web" model, where every person in the firm has more agency than the worker bee mindset allows
→ What it would take for the profession to invest in human capital the way it invests in technology
Supported this season by the University of Michigan Taubman College of Architecture and Urban Planning.
🎧 Link in bio to listen.
🏢 Architects: Is your firm's data actually ready for AI?
Most firms try to adopt AI before the foundation is there. Governance, consolidation, and visibility across existing tools have to come first.
Evelyn Lee of Practice of Architecture sits down with Aaron Vorwerk of Egnyte and Justin Hiles, CIO at VLK Architects, to talk about what data chaos looks like inside real firms and what it takes to get AI-ready.
You'll walk away with:
→ What data fragmentation actually looks like in practice
→ Why governance has to come before AI adoption
→ How VLK moved from siloed tools to a unified environment
→ Practical first steps to assess where your firm stands
📅 Tuesday, May 5 | 12:00–1:00 PM PDT | Zoom
Presented with Egnyte. Link in bio to register.
🏢 Architects: Is Gen Z a problem to manage, or a prototype worth following?
In EP 231 of Practice Disrupted, Evelyn Lee sits down with Amanda Schneider, founder of ThinkLab and author of Work for What's Next, to dig into what the data is telling us about the future of workplace culture in architecture.
➡ Gen Z as the prototype, not the problem
➡ The trust gap between leadership and staff and how space can close it
➡ Moving beyond efficiency ROI to psychological safety as a measurable outcome
➡ Navigating analog vs. digital native friction inside your firm
➡ Building a people-first culture without losing focus on projects
What's one thing your firm is doing differently for the next generation of talent?
🏢 Architects: What if community engagement was billable, and built into your firm's DNA?
The team at Architects FORA did it. Leah Alissa Bayer, Kate Conley, Sarah Vaccaro, and Nicole Little break down how they built Engage Fora, a structured, billable community engagement practice inside a remote-first, women-led firm.
"Our role as young professionals is to bring in that fresh new perspective, be disruptive, and change the field for the better." Nicole Little
➤ Community engagement transformed into a real, billable service
➤ 20% passion-and-research time built into firm operations
➤ Slow-burn hiring for deep value alignment
➤ Lived experience as the catalyst for a whole practice area
➤ A model for making your values show up in how you actually work
The context is changing. Are you? This episode is supported by Innovation in the Built Environment, a 6-week online course from the University of Michigan Taubman College for practitioners who are done waiting for someone else to figure it out.
Registration closes May 13. Learn more at beradicallybetter.com.
Link in bio to listen.
🏢 Architects: What if making yourself unnecessary was the whole point?
William H Dodge scaled a firm from 2 to 49 people in four years — then walked away, because the systems he built worked without him. He calls it amortizing your value.
➡️ Hired for potential and culture, never credentials or portfolio
➡️ Built leadership through redundancy — on purpose
➡️ Left Hanbury at the height of its success to found p-u-b-l-i-c, his own mission-driven studio
➡️ "You can teach software. You can't teach someone to care."
EP 229 of Practice Disrupted is a masterclass in building a practice that outlasts your presence.
Link in bio to listen.
🏢 Architects: Are you going to figure out startups first, or will startups figure out architecture first?
Bryan Boyer, founding director of the Urban Technology program at the University of Michigan, and Larry Fabbroni, architect, strategist, and CIO for the Practice of Architecture, join Practice Disrupted to talk about the innovation gap in the built environment. With 165+ companies competing to sell tech into the AECO supply chain and housing considered 10x under-innovated, they argue that architects need entrepreneurial vocabulary and venture design skills to lead rather than follow. They also share what's coming with UMCI, a $250M innovation hub launching in Detroit.
This episode is brought to you by the University of Michigan Taubman School of Architecture and Planning.
Link in bio to listen.
🏢 Architects: Why do so many digital transformation efforts fail the moment the consultants leave?
Melvin Williams III is the Digital Practice Leader at HKS, and his path there started at the Port Authority of NY & NJ, ran through founding his own consulting firm, and included years watching firms struggle not with software, but with the leadership and culture needed to make technology stick. On Practice Disrupted, he and Evelyn Lee dig into why the real barrier to innovation has almost nothing to do with tools, how technologists can move from the help desk to the boardroom, and what it actually takes to build a digital practice that lasts.
This episode is brought to you by our sponsor, Gelt.
Link in bio to listen.
🏢 Architects: How should we be training the next generation if the traditional practice model is no longer enough?
Larry Sass is a Professor of Architecture at MIT who has spent 30 years bridging high-tech research and the reality of practice. On Practice Disrupted, he talks with Evelyn Lee about why architecture education needs a fundamental rethink, how MIT's DesignX program trains students to think like entrepreneurs, and what the "third practice" beyond traditional service or academia could look like for the next generation. It's a conversation about the future of the profession, starting from the classroom.
This episode is brought to you by our sponsor, Gelt.
Link in bio to listen.
🏢 Architects: What does it actually look like when a small firm builds a real pathway for the next generation?
Leah Alissa Bayer, founding principal of fully remote, women-owned Architects Fora, created the FORAship, a year-long scholarship and internship program for underrepresented students. Gabriella Vaz de Freitas moved from São Paulo to California as a FORAship recipient and is now the firm's Technology Lead, driving AI-enabled design and generative tools. On Practice Disrupted, they share how the program works, why integrating interns into business conversations from day one matters, and Leah's vision for a rotating internship cohort across small firms.
This episode is brought to you by our sponsor, @geltaxes
Link in bio to listen.
🏢 Architects: What if your firm could run without you in the room?
Darguin Fortuna moved to the US from the Dominican Republic in 2010, learned English while working night shifts, passed all six AREs in just over a year, and earned his license the day his daughter was born.
Now as founding principal of @flowdesignarchitects and chair of the AIA Small Firm Exchange, he's built a practice with rigorous systems designed to protect profitability and eliminate scope creep.
On Practice Disrupted, he shares how tiered service offerings, paid consultations, internal training libraries, and smart processes let his firm run without his constant oversight.
This episode is brought to you by our sponsor, @geltaxes
Link in bio to listen.
Very excited for our AI Symposium in San Francisco next week! 🎉
Join us on March 5 if you’re:
🔹 Curious how leading firms are using AI in design, decision-making, and practice management
🔹 Thinking through the ethics, legal, and human impact of AI in practice
🔹 Looking to improve productivity, coordination, and project delivery with practical AI applications
You can register here 👉 aiasf.org/events
Looking forward to seeing you there!
@practiceofarch@gensler_design@stantec@monahmii , @nbbjdesign@hok_sf@stephtabb@geopogo_official@ali_nasiri@fladarchitects@ktgygroup@fosterandpartners
🏢 Architects: Who says your architecture degree has to lead to running a firm?
@joannlui went from Gensler to marketing for AEC tech startups to co-founding OIKA, now the largest matcha refinery in the US. On Practice Disrupted, she talks with Evelyn Lee about building a portfolio career, applying her architectural mindset to designing cafes and building a consumer brand, and why burnout comes from misalignment with your values, not from working too much. She also leads the Women Architects Collective, a community of over 5,000 members.
This episode is brought to you by our sponsor, @geltaxes .
Link in bio to listen.
