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.

From all his background you can tell this is going to be a very interesting interview! We talked about his experience in school, about the fact that he actually started school as a graphic designer, and later merged into architecture. How working at incredible firms at BIG and OMA made him a better designer, what he learned through this, and WHY he left the office world. We then talk about how architecture is a very multidisciplinary career and why exactly he chose to view architecture, not as a construct of buildings, but more as a way to help others through Dimensions Guide and also his own practice for speculative design, Fantastic Offense. But I really don't want to spoil it for you, because you have to listen on your own to our conversation. I'm sure this will help many of you that currently feel stuck at your jobs and want to diversify into different mediums of creativity. Without any further ado, let the talk begin!

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?
2. How was your experience in architecture school? What were some of your interests back then
3a. What did you do in the interim after getting your Masters from Univ. Of Cincinnati?
3b. I saw you have a Masters of Pedagogy from SCI-Arc, tell me about that. I’ve seen it on their website for some time and have found it extremely interesting. What has this second Masters allowed you to do?
4. Were you always into teaching?
5. What are three things that you love the most about teaching, and the three things you dislike the most.
6. How did the idea of journalism/content creation sound to you during your studies? Were you always interested on this or was this something that came unexpectedly?
7. How did you become known as a “meme curator/maker?”
8. Where do you see the profession of architecture going? (What do you believe the future of the career will be like?)
9. Do you believe architecture is a very open profession? In the sense that it does not only entail design, but other forms of communication? (Such as journalism, writing, etc...)
10. How has the internet changed architecture? Or better yet, the world in general?
11. Tell me a little about Extra Office, what is its purpose and how has it given you the ability to do what you love
12. Where will we see you in 5 years?

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.

Julia Koerner is an award-winning Austrian designer working at the convergence of architecture, product and fashion design. She is internationally recognised for design innovation in 3D-Printing, Her designs have been featured in the National Geographic Magazine, VICE, WIRED and the New York Times among other publications. Julia is founder of JK Design GmbH, specialising in digital design for 3D-Printing. In 2015, Julia launched an entirely 3D-Printed ready-to-wear collection entitled ‘Sporophyte’. Her collaborations involved 3D-Printed fashion pieces developed with Haute Couture Houses for Paris Fashion week and 3D printed costumes for Hollywood entertainment productions such as Marvel’s Black Panther which recently won an Oscar for Best Costume Design. She also collaborated with Swarovski on a showpiece which displays Swarovski’s continued strive for innovation and the early developments of 3D-printing technology with glass.

Born in Salzburg, Austria, Julia received master degrees in Architecture from the University of Applied Arts in Vienna and the Architectural Association in London. She is currently based between Los Angeles and Salzburg and has previously practiced in London and New York. Since 2012 Julia has been a faculty member in the Architecture and Urban Design Department at the University of California in Los Angeles (UCLA).

In this episode, we talk about what inspires her to create beautiful designs and where she first got the inspiration to become a designer from. We talk about her years in school, and her experience working in many different countries as well as meeting some of her mentors. She goes deep into her creative process and what software she currently uses. We talk about how she gets the amazing collaborations that she has and how she landed the Marvel collaboration to design a costume for Black Panther. We then talk about her opinion on the future of technology and architecture, and finally why she loves being a professor at UCLA. She also gives some great insight into the not so pretty side of collaborations and talks about some of her struggles.

Michael Young is an architect and an educator practicing in New York City where he is a founding partner of the architecture and urban design practice Young & Ayata. Michael is an Assistant Professor at The Irwin S. Chanin School of Architecture at the Cooper Union. He is the recipient of the 2019-20 Rome Prize from the American Academy of Rome. Formerly, he was a Visiting Assistant Professor at Princeton University and Visiting Lecturer at SCI-Arc.In the Fall of 2016 he was the Louis I. Kahn Visiting Assistant Professor at Yale University. Michael received his Masters of Architecture from Princeton University and his Bachelor of Architecture from Cal Poly San Luis Obispo. Michael is a Registered Architect in the State of New York.

Young & Ayata formed a partnership in New York in 2008 to explore the conceptual and aesthetic possibilities of architecture and urbanism. The practice is dedicated to both built commissions and experimental research. The practice views the reality of contemporary building as a provocation for architectural form, material and technology. In following these trajectories it is necessary to understand architecture in its historical processes. Both principals teach and view the educational experience as crucial to the continual development of architectural ideas.

In this episode, Michael and I talk about how important it is for design schools to primarily teach design, because all the projects talk about the real world, even if sometimes we believe that schools don’t teach us enough. We talk about his experience as a student, and how he believes that waiting 2-4 years before going to graduate school is the most beneficial decision. He talks about how his teaching experience has given him the ability to continue learning, year after year, from his students, and how he applies that knowledge into his firm Young & Ayata. We talk a little bit about exactly when he realized that he wanted to create his own studio and why it was so important for him to have a work partner, whom he could trust in order to build something together.

Alvin Huang, AIA is the Founder and Design Principal of Synthesis Design + Architecture and an Associate Professor at the USC School of Architecture. He is an award-winning architect, designer, and educator specializing in the integrated application of material performance, emergent design technologies and digital fabrication in contemporary architectural practice. His work spans all scales ranging from hi-rise towers and mixed-use developments to temporary pavilions and bespoke furnishings.

His work has been published and exhibited widely and has gained international recognition with over 30 distinctions at local, national, and international levels including being honored as the Presidential Emerging Practice of the Year by the American Institute of Architects Los Angeles Chapter in 2016, being selected as one of 50 global innovators under the age of 50 by Images Publishing in 2015, being featured as a "Next Progressive" by Architect Magazine in 2014, and being named one of Time Magazine's 20 Best Inventors of 2013. He has been an invited critic, guest lecturer, and keynote speaker at various institutions in the US, Canada, Mexico, Chile, UK, Germany, Italy, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland, Israel, Japan and China.

In this episode, we talk about technologggyyyy! Yeah, that’s right, we talk about a text Alvin wrote not too long ago, where he characterized the intersection between technology and intuition as “techne.” He believes that we should start seeing technology as a provocation (as a means) instead of as a solution (as an ends). He raises the question of what it means for architects and designers to be able to intuitively and knowledgeably using digital tools for fabrication and for designing. We also talk about the term “parametricism” and about how pattern, a focus of his studies for a long time, is actually an architectural device that can communicate a lot for people and its environment. We also talk about pattern for the sake of aesthetics is a waste of time. Don’t forget to listen to this episode!

Kovacs, is an academic professor and an architect, he is a faculty at UCLA and the creator and curator of Archive of Affinities, a website devoted to the collection and display of architectural b-sides. Kovacs’ work on architecture and urbanism has been published widely including Pidgin, Project, Perspecta, Manifest, Metropolis, Clog, Domus, and Fulcrum. His recent design work includes a proposal for a haute dog park in downtown Los Angeles and the renovation of an airstream trailer into a mobile retail store that travels the Pacific Coast Highway.

Archive of Affinities is the longest project he has ever worked on and all of the research and work he does emerges from it. It is a project with no deadline, no client, and no budget. Therefore it is a project that has no outside impositions and is free to be a project of pure passion. Archive of Affinities is both deeply personal and extremely public. Archive of Affinities is a constantly updated collection of architectural images that exploits the dual meaning of affinity and the likeness associated with the word as both personal predilection and the relationship between things.

In this episode, Andrew and I talk about his life-long project called Archive of Affinities, he tells all of us how and why he started the longest projects of his career yet. He describes the relationship he has found along useless images as he calls it, to the architectural field, and how this archive can be of great help for designers to understand architecture better. We talk about his process, how he finds an image and then proceeds to scan it and publish it. We also talk about what he has learned through the archive and how he brought that knowledge with him to do amazing projects for his studio, Studio Kovacs. He then talks about why architecture should be playful and communicative, instead of boring and dull and finally, how we must have fun doing what we love and pursue it.

 Nicolas Turchi is a designer currently working at Zaha Hadid Architects and a Digital Futures PhD scholar at Tongji University. Nicholas holds a Master in Architecture II from the Harvard Graduate School of Design and a Bachelor of Architecture from the University of Bologna and University of West of England. He has worked for several firms including Eisenman Architect, Xefirotarch, Mario Cucinella Architects and 5+1AA. Nicolas is particularly interested in emergent technologies and how they affect the theoretical aspect of the discipline. He has also been studying the relationship between architecture and philosophy and graduated with a thesis on Time and Space in architecture, influenced by the thought of Henri Bergson and Edmund Husserl.

For today’s episode we will be talking to Nicolas Turchi about why it is so important for him to expose himself to new circumstances, new cultures, new places, new ideologies, new everything in order to stay ahead. We talk about his different backgrounds, from Italy, to London, to the United States, and to London again… We talk about why he loves working at Zaha Hadid Architects, and he gives us some insights into his thesis project and life long obsession, time and architecture and specifically why he believes that architects must bring something from outside of the discipline, to have a more well-rounded profession. We also talk at great lengths about how parametricism is becoming a new norm, but how we as designers should always stay above that term, and not let the computer design for us nor have parametric designs for the sake of being innovative, but using parametric workflows to be more efficient and have better performance. Really interesting conversation, I am really excited about it, hope you all enjoy! Let the talk begin...

In this episode we talk about her experience attending the top two universities in the United States, Columbia and Harvard. We talk about the most important thing to her "rethinking what design is" and asking the right questions in design. She tells me about how her and her partner Dwayne Oyler started Oyler Wu Collaborative together by basically making ends meet financially only to pay rent and to survive while they felt amazingly motivated to continue working on projects even if they didn’t even a client and she explains how the dedication and hard work has paid off over the years. She talks a little bit about what it is like to have the same partner in life and in work. She also tells the story of how she started LACE, her 3D printed jewelry lane that has grown amazingly over the years. Finally, she gives her best piece of advice to you guys, studying architecture right now or even recent graduates, to learn that school should be the place to study different ideas, you do not need to know exactly who you are now. I loved this conversation, I loved Jenny’s positivism and openness to tell her story with all of you. I cannot wait to hear what you all think!

Jenny Wu received her Bachelor of Arts from Columbia University and Master of Architecture from Harvard Graduate School of Design.  Currently, Jenny is a member of the design faculty at the Southern California Institute of Architecture (SCI_Arc) and Columbia GSAPP.  She has previously taught at institutions such as Syracuse University and Renssellaer Polytechnic Institute. In addition to her architectural practice, she also founded LACE by Jenny Wu, a line of 3D printed jewelry, in 2014.  The pieces have been widely featured in publications such as Forbes, People, and Elle Magazine.  Most recently, Jenny was named one of four design visionaries by Porsche and Dwell Magazine in their "Powered by Design" documentaries, showcasing her pioneering work in 3D printing.

Jenny Wu is a partner at the Los Angeles based architecture firm, Oyler Wu Collaborative, which she founded in 2004 with Dwayne Oyler. The firm is recognized for its experimentation in design, material research, and fabrication, and was the winner of 2013 Design Vanguard Award from Architectural Record. She was recently named one of the four design visionaries by Porsche and Dwell Magazine in their Powered by Design documentaries, showcasing her pioneering work in 3D printing. The office has won numerous design awards, including the 2013 Emerging Talent Award from AIA California Council, 2012 Presidential Honor Award for Emerging Practice from AIA LA, Taiwan’s ADA Award for Emerging Architect, and 2011 Emerging Voices Award from the Architectural League in New York. They published Pendulum Plane in 2009, and most recently Trilogy: SCI Arc Pavilions (SCI-Arc Press) in 2014.

 Arturo Tedeschi is an architect, independent researcher and computational designer, since 2004 complemented professional practice in Italy with a personal research on parametric design, focusing on relationships between architecture and new design tools. In 2010 he published “Architettura Parametrica”, a bestseller book on parametric design, translated into english as “Parametric Architecture with Grasshopper” in 2011. In the same year he worked at Zaha Hadid Architects in London. In 2011 he founded A > T a cloud based office which provides computational design services and training for architects, designers and companies. 

He’s currently director and teacher of a series of workshops on parametric design and he has been an invited lecturer at universities and conferences worldwide. From 2012 to 2014 he is co-director of the AA Rome Visiting School for the Architectural Association School (London). His projects have been exhibited in Rome (MACRO museum), Milan, London, Paris (Carrousel du Louvre, Centre Pompidou), Cologne and Venice (Off event at Biennale 2014). In 2014 he published AAD_Algorithms-Aided Design the worldwide reference book on algorithmic modeling, based on the Grasshopper platform. In 2019 he has been appointed Italian Ambassador for Design at IDD19 by Italian Ministry of Foreign Affairs.

​In this episode, we talk about his random encounter with a parametric sculpture at a museum and how it changed his whole life. We talk about what architects he has always admired and where to start learning parametric design. We go deep into the topic of computational design as a new way to assist the designer in a project and how he sees the future of architecture changing due to all this. He gives some insights into what his design process is and how he goes through idea, concept, to final product and what are the obstacles he has faced through the fabrication method. He talks about his beliefs about how architecture is not merely building or real estate, but that to him, architecture is about solving complexities in our everyday objects and making our quality of life better. Finally, he gives advice to all architecture students and designers out there, talking about how competition can destroy our lives and how to take advantage of social media.

Zoe Russian is an experimental architect that is currently focusing on Graphics & Visualizations, visual effects, animations, previs, and post-production. She aspires to improve herself as a designer and continues to learn about the CGI world as much as she can in every way possible. From CG conferences to online classes. She constantly experiments with software, and therefore her style is defined by what she is currently 'ticking' with. However; detail and story-telling with each project is her ultimate goal. 

In this episode, we talk about how her venture into the CGI and VFX world started from a very early age, with her parent’s cinematographic influence. You’re going to learn that she actually studied Architecture but found out about this amazing passion for virtual effects and cinema late in her school years. We speak about how architecture is an evolving career, always challenging the norm of the profession and how you can mix your hobbies and passions into the area of design. We talk about her transition from architecture into animation path and how she was able to mix them together. We also talk about how it feels like to be a female in a predominantly male career. And finally we talk about how does storytelling influence architecture. And the steps that must be taken in order to tell a story that captures the viewers. 

Today we have a very special guest, someone that we have seen grow in their professional career and personal life through our constant contact in social media, Dinorah Martinez Schulte. She is a Mexican architect that graduated from la Universidad Iberoamericana in Mexico City with a specialization in Creative Design Code from CENTRO. 

She has worked with amazing firms like arquitectura 911, Sordo Madaleno, MAD Architects in China, Rojkind Arquitectos, and 3ARCH. We contacted her because she has done many conferences which she titles “The Utopian Architect” and we wanted to know what it was all about. In her talk, she refers to the many struggles she had finding herself within the profession. Realizing that architecture is NOT only design and construction work, but also entails other things such as marketing, editorial publishing, photography, and many more. She talks about how trying to push herself to be the best left her broken and how she realized that she could not compete with others, and she needed to slow down and take in her circumstances. She gave herself a break from work and studying for a bit, and has found herself again by doing inner work and sharing her personal experience in the design field with students.

 David Drazil is a young architect and artist from the Czech Republic, based in Prague. He has a  passion for visual presentation of architecture; he shares tips & tricks on architectural sketching and creates freebies and educational resources on how to #SketchLikeAnArchitect. He is an online teacher, author, external lecturer AND the founder of SketchLikeAnArchitect.com. He has an engaging community of over 90,000 only on Instagram currently, and has thousands of students taking his sketching courses.

During the conversation, we talk about how and why he started Sketch Like An Architect: how through consistency and passion, he developed an extremely compelling platform for students to understand and feel comfortable sketching. David gives amazing pieces of advice on how to become better at sketching and designing, on how to stop being afraid of failure and how to be more productive and develop faster ideas through sketching. We talk about how design should be more about people and the relationship they have with one another, and not so much on the building. This is an extremely interesting conversation, one you definitely do NOT want to miss! Let the talk begin. 

Davis Richardson is a Masters Fellow at University of Texas at Austin. He also holds a Bachelor on Interior Design from Harding University. He has been featured in podcasts, lectures and conferences, and has even appeared on the TED Talks stage, with his talk: Beyond Sustainable Architecture. He has a book out, called Going Tiny and is known in the architecture community for his innovative Tiny House on Wheels. This is a very interesting conversation, we talk about his background on interior design and how this has enabled him to expand his knowledge as a designer. We touch upon form, and how it can challenge the status quo in our society.Davis also gives his personal insights and advice for architecture students. Let the talk BEGIN!