Artificial intelligence is changing more than the tools architects use. It is beginning to change what designers can do, how quickly they can do it, and where they spend their time.

In this episode of No Exceptions Taken, Dr. Sabri Gökmen, Ryan Johnson, and Nicholas Ault join Je'Nen Chastain to explore how AI is reshaping architectural education and practice. Drawing from their backgrounds in computational design and emerging technology, they discuss how these tools are already being used to experiment, automate routine work, improve accuracy, and tackle ideas that previously would have been difficult or impractical to execute.

The conversation moves beyond using AI simply to work faster. As technical barriers begin to fall, new questions emerge about where architects create value, how firms might reinvest newly available time, and why human judgment becomes even more important when our tools can produce more than ever before.

In this episode, you’ll hear reflections on:

• How AI is lowering technical barriers and expanding what designers can create
• Where firms are already applying AI to design, documentation, analysis, and quality control
• Why greater efficiency could create more time for design, sustainability, and better project outcomes
• How critical thinking and professional judgment become more important as technology advances
• The risks, ethical considerations, and responsibilities that come with AI adoption
• What needs to change beyond architecture for the industry to fully benefit from new technology

This conversation offers a glimpse into a profession in the early stages of significant change and considers what might happen when architects are limited less by technical capability and more by the ideas they can imagine.

About Our Guests

Dr. Sabri Gökmen is a computational artist, architectural designer, and researcher whose work spans generative systems, artificial intelligence, architectural morphology, and digital fabrication. His research explores the relationship between computation, craft, authorship, and creative expression.

Ryan Johnson, AIA, LEED AP, is an Associate Principal and computational designer at Clark Nexsen. He founded the firm’s TechStudio and leads its Computation and AI Hubs within the CNCPT Collaborative, where his work focuses on using emerging technologies to augment architectural design and practice.

Nicholas Ault is a Partner and Studio Principal at Little Diversified Architectural Consulting, where he leads the Charlotte Mixed Use practice. He serves on Little’s Technology and AI Governance Board and explores how emerging technologies can improve project delivery while creating more space for human judgment, creativity, and authorship.

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Learn more about AI//FORWARD >

Explore Sabri Gökmen’s Parametric channel >

Learn more about Clark Nexsen >

Learn more about Little >

Learn more about UNC Charlotte’s College of Arts + Architecture >

Subscribe to the podcast and join us for future episodes as we explore how transformation takes shape—one firm at a time.

No Exceptions Taken is produced by Apostrophe Consulting. We help AEC firms lead with clarity, strengthen their culture, and navigate transformation with intention.

In this episode of No Exceptions Taken, we explore one of architecture’s most enduring traditions: studio culture, and what its evolution can teach us about the future of professional practice.

Thomas Fisher joins us to explore the history and evolution of studio culture and what it can teach us about how architects learn, think, and ultimately practice in a rapidly changing profession.

In this episode, you’ll hear reflections on:

• How the studio culture conversation emerged from architectural education
• What decades of discourse on this topic reveal about the continued evolution of learning and teaching environments
• How foundational learning in studio later informs professional practice
• How architectural thinking can create value beyond the design of a building
• The relationship between studio culture, professional responsibility, and ethics
• What Jane Jacobs can teach us about the role architects can play during periods of significant change

This conversation is especially relevant for educators, students, firm leaders, architects, and designers interested in understanding how the traditions we inherit shape the way we practice, and how we might intentionally reshape them for the future.

About Thomas Fisher

Thomas Fisher is a Professor in the School of Architecture, the Faculty Director of GeoCommunities, and Director of the Minnesota Design Center at the University of Minnesota. He is also the Chancellor of the ACSA’s College of Distinguished Professors and the 2025 winner of the Topaz Medallion for Excellence in Architectural Education. His research and teaching focus on asset-based community development and on the use of design thinking as a way of empowering communities at the local, regional, and global scales.

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Learn more about Tom: https://design.umn.edu/directory/thomas-fisher

Learn about the AIA/ACSA Topaz Medallion for Architectural Education:

https://www.aia.org/design-excellence/award-winners/aiaacsa-topaz-medallion-architectural-education-2025-thomas-fisher

Subscribe to the podcast and join us for future episodes as we explore how transformation takes shape—one firm at a time.

No Exceptions Taken is produced by Apostrophe Consulting. We help AEC firms lead with clarity, strengthen their culture, and navigate transformation with intention.

In this episode of No Exceptions Taken, we explore what happens when a firm begins to see its practice as something that can be designed just as intentionally as the buildings it creates.

Architects FORA has spent the last six years challenging traditional assumptions about architectural practice. As a 100% women-owned, fully virtual firm, they have continually tested new ways of working, expanded beyond traditional design services, and built a practice centered on research, community engagement, and resident experience.

Rather than treating architecture as a fixed scope of services, FORA views practice as an evolving system—one that adapts alongside the needs of clients, communities, and the profession itself. Their journey demonstrates that innovation isn't only about new technology or new projects; it's also about redesigning how a firm operates, how decisions are made, and how people are served.

In this episode, you’ll hear reflections on:

• How Architects FORA has evolved through six years of experimentation
• Why community engagement has become a core professional service
• How post-occupancy evaluation and research improve future projects
• The growing role of trauma-informed and resident-centered design in affordable housing
• Why firms don't need to conform to traditional business models to build successful, sustainable practices

This conversation offers an honest look at building a practice that continually learns, adapts, and evolves. It is especially relevant for firm owners, emerging leaders, architects, and designers interested in innovation, organizational development, and designing businesses that serve both people and communities well.

About Architects FORA

Architects FORA is a 100% women-owned architecture, community engagement, and research practice based in California. The firm's work focuses on affordable housing, resident-centered design, trauma-informed design, post-occupancy evaluation, and community engagement. Through an intentionally collaborative and fully virtual practice model, FORA continues to explore new ways architecture can create meaningful impact for clients, residents, and communities.

Featured in this Episode

• Leah Alissa Bayer, AIA — President, Architects FORA
• Kate Conley, AIA, NOMA, LEED AP — Principal, Architects FORA
• Sarah Vaccaro, AIA, LEED AP BD+C — Principal, Architects FORA

Explore More

Visit the firm: https://architectsfora.com/

Subscribe to the podcast and join us for future episodes as we explore how transformation takes shape—one firm at a time.

No Exceptions Taken is produced by Apostrophe Consulting. We help AEC firms lead with clarity, strengthen their culture, and navigate transformation with intention.