A look back at the '90s, from Nirvana and Napster to car stereos worth more than the car, turns into a look forward at what AI leaves for architects to do. Evan, back from Autodesk University in Las Vegas, walks through the capability, alignment, and accountability framework from his workshop on building a firm's AI adoption plan. He and Cormac get into why drawings and models are the results of decisions rather than the decisions themselves, what happens to drafting, and how Cormac already uses AI as a tool on real projects.

This episode is especially relevant for practicing architects and firm leaders who can't decide whether AI is a crutch or a way to spend more time on the work that matters. It pushes back on waiting for permission and asks why you chose architecture in the first place.

Episode Links:

• Autodesk University — https://www.autodesk.com/autodesk-university/
• Carlo Scarpa — https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Carlo_Scarpa
• TRXL — https://trxl.co

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Evan and Cormac dig into how Lawrence Tech's architecture studio is evolving its comprehensive design curriculum in real time, and why buildability still beats a flashy final presentation. They explore a new semester experiment forcing quiet students into leadership roles, a real Habitat for Humanity adaptive-reuse project in Flint that gives students an actual client and a messy existing building, and a field trip to IIT that turned into a lesson about not confusing polished renderings with substance.

This episode is especially relevant for studio professors and emerging architects navigating group projects and comparison anxiety in school. It's a look at how one program is closing the gap between what school teaches and what firms actually need, and a reminder that the coordination nobody photographs is what makes architecture architecture.

Episode Links:

• Lawrence Technological University — College of Architecture + Design
• Lawrence Technological University — Department of Architecture
• Genesee County Habitat for Humanity (Flint, MI)
• IIT College of Architecture
• Deborah Berke Partners
• Foo Fighters official site

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Thank you for listening to Archispeak. For more episodes please visit https://archispeakpodcast.com.

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Some weeks the conversation just goes where it goes. Evan and Cormac spend this one reading Wikipedia and AI overviews at each other in real time — the AIA convention ping-ponging from Philadelphia to Los Angeles, SoFi Stadium sunk 100 feet into the ground for the LAX flight path, its cable-net roof that expands and contracts like a tennis racket until Cormac christens it a "thermal reactive umbrella." Along the way: stadiums built as war memorials, U2 tours, and Public Enemy's opening statement in Birmingham.

Underneath the tangents is a real question for the profession. The Architecture Billings Index (ABI) has sat below 50 for a year, job confidence is low, and the flagship AIA convention costs each attendee around $1,500 before tours and CEUs. This episode is especially relevant for architects deciding whether that show is still worth attending when the economy is soft — and anyone who's quietly started reading the convention as an expense instead of an investment. It's a loose, funny episode that lands somewhere honest.

Episode Links:

• AIA Conference on Architecture & Design 2027 — Philadelphia, May 19–22
• AIA/Deltek Architecture Billings Index
• ABI market research partnership — AIA
• Architecture billings downward trajectory continues — AIA press
• SoFi Stadium — HKS
• SoFi Stadium / HKS — ArchDaily
• SoFi Stadium — Architect Magazine
• Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum — Wikipedia
• Barnes Foundation — Philadelphia
• Salk Institute — La Jolla
• youtubetours.com — concert tour archive
• Bankrate — mortgage & loan rates

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Thank you for listening to Archispeak. For more episodes please visit https://archispeakpodcast.com.

Support Archispeak by making a donation.