What stories do architects tell themselves—and how do those stories shape the work they create?This week on Mixed Signals, the MXD crew is joined by Kristen Mimms Scavnicky and Adrienne Economos-Miller, educators, artists, and designers whose work explores the powerful relationship between narrative, identity, and representation in architecture.

We begin with a round of Cold Crits featuring student work from Texas A&M and the University of Pennsylvania before turning our attention to a curious trend in contemporary culture: the increasing tendency to flatten complexity into aesthetics. From the MET Gala's relationship to art and spectacle to the extraordinary mosaic-clad churches and sacred spaces built by German immigrant communities across the Midwest, we explore how meaning, authorship, and cultural memory become embedded in the things we make.

The heart of the episode centers on Kristen and Adrienne's research initiative, Narrative Terrains, a symposium and growing conversation dedicated to the role of storytelling in design. Together we unpack how architects construct identities through drawings, images, texts, and projects, and why narrative may be one of the most important—and overlooked—tools in architectural practice.

What is a drawing actually doing? How do personal histories shape design decisions? And can architecture ever be separated from the stories we tell about ourselves?A wide-ranging conversation about architecture, representation, memory, authorship, and the drawings we make for ourselves.

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The MXD crew welcomes Dr. Rebecca McConnell to the podcast! We discuss the evolving role of the rendering in Architecture in light of new Artificial Intelligence image generation techniques.We then move into a special edition of Cold Crits, featuring speculative Architectural projects from Artist Ismail Seleit. We then discuss some of the differences between education and Academia in the United States and the United Kingdom. We also discuss Crit Bay, the platform that Rebecca and Cathal founded to provide easy access to Architectural portfolio or even project feedback. Make sure to follow us on our socials!Instagram - https://www.instagram.com/mxd_signalTiktok - https://www.tiktok.com/@mxd_signal

The MXD crew talks with Gary Polk (BIG, Penn, Pratt) to break down the boundaries of Architectural representation and drawing.We start by diving into previous year's Archisource' Drawing of the Year Competition finalists—debating the line between a "drawing of architecture" vs. an "architectural drawing"—and discuss why standard diagrams might be ruining the discipline. Plus, Gary shares how he balances high-level corporate architecture at Bjarke Ingels Group (BIG) with his hyper-detailed, whimsical personal drawings born out of the COVID-19 lockdowns.If you're an architecture student surviving finals or a designer looking for creative inspiration, this conversation on lines, hatches, and non-human agency is for you!Make sure to follow us on our socials!Instagram - https://www.instagram.com/mxd_signalTiktok - https://www.tiktok.com/@mxd_signalYoutube - @MXDSignal