Tracing Architecture

In the ever-evolving landscape of architecture, mentorship serves as a guiding light, to remind us to nurture creativity and foster a passion for design. In this episode, we dive into the world of architecture through the lens of an accomplished architect, Angela Watson, President and CEO of Shepley Bulfinch. We explore her inspiring career journey, from her early days as a student to her current role as a seasoned professional. Along the way, we uncover valuable insights into the challenges and triumphs of the architectural industry, as well as the importance of mentorship in shaping the next generation of architects.

The Business of Architecture: Designing your own firm. The dream of many ambitious designers and architects is to be their own boss. Have complete creative freedom, control the finances, and have a greater professional flexibility, work when they want where they want. But starting an architecture firm is very different from working in the profession. We sit down and talk with three local firm owners: Aaron Bass of Stance Architecture, Caroline Lobo of Suoll Architects, and Tommy Suchart and Patricia Chen of Chen+Suchart, about their journey to being firm owners.

Tracing Architecture was again awarded a grant in the fall of 2023 to share the stories of two individuals who’ve benefitted from the support of the Arizona Architecture Foundation – a group whose mission is to enhance the welfare of the Arizona community by promoting excellence in architecture and the built environment by supporting the education of future architects, supporting and promoting the profession of architecture, and preserving the legacy of Arizona architecture. In this special episode, we highlight the Foundation's support of our community in developing young professionals, through exposure to unique experiences in travel across the world. We are joined by Karl Eicher, AIA and Mia Austin, who both traveled to Japan as recipients of the 2020 Robert Saemisch Prize and the 2023 Sean Murphy Prize, respectively, and learn how their lives were impacted by the experience.

As desert dwellers, water is always on our minds. As architects, water is an important part of the conversation when talking about responsible design. The final portion of the episode Desert Talks: Water was recorded live on October 25th, 2023. Four of our guests, Grady Gammage Jr., Erika Lynne Hanson, Stefanie Smallhouse, and Enrique Vivoni engaged in a dialogue sharing ideas, opinions, and knowledge on the topic of water, and other related issues that impact our desert living.

Celebrating 40 years of the Arizona Architecture Foundation, this special episode features an interview moderated by James Trahan AIA and Caroline Lobo AIA with some of the founding members of the organization: Dave Scheatzle FAIA, James Abell FAIA, Ron Peters AIA, and Chip Shay AIA. As the Rio Salado Architecture Foundation merges with the Central Arizona Architecture Foundation to forge the new AAF, we'll hear how this group started, how it has supported the architecture community in Arizona throughout its history, and how the legacy of the foundation will carry on into the future.

As desert dwellers, water is always on our minds. As architects, water is an important part of the conversation when talking about responsible design. In this second part of the two-part episode, we discuss the current tools and strategies for managing this precious resource and how we can positively affect changes to help manage our water situation. Several perspectives are included: agricultural, hydrological, legal, and societal, discussing how the future might look.

As desert dwellers, water is always on our minds. As architects, water is an important part of the conversation when talking about responsible design. More recently, the topic of water (or the lack of) in the Southwest has been covered in the national and international media. In this first part of the two-part episode, we explore how this precious resource has shaped our society, economics, our cities, and the State of Arizona in general. With several perspectives including: agricultural, hydrological, legal, and societal, we take a look at the past and present, in an effort to understand how the future might look. In the second episode, we delve into strategies and solutions to address the future of water in Arizona.

This trailer is a sneak peek of an upcoming series about the future of water in Arizona. During the episode series, we will engage in conversations not only on how the future of water looks in our state but its history and present, from policies and regulations to design responses and cultural shifts. The sneak peek covers just part of that conversation, focusing on the news released on June 1st, 2023 by Arizona Governor Katie Hobbs about the moratorium on new housing developments that do not have an assured 100-year supply of groundwater. Enrique Vivoni PhD, PE, and land use Lawyer Grady Gammage, Jr. share their perspectives on the announcement and talk about its meaning and effects.

In the spring of 2022, Tracing Architecture was awarded an Emerging Professionals Component Grant by the AIA College of Fellows. This grant has allowed us to partner with groups in our community that would otherwise not have access to a media platform, such as our podcast, and allow those groups to have critical conversations that can engage our profession and local community more broadly. For this special episode, we collaborated with the three local chapters of the American Institute of Architecture Students (AIAS). For this live event, the three current AIAS presidents at Arizona State University, the University of Arizona, and The School of Architecture discuss their diverse experiences in the past three years and how that has shaped their education and early careers. Recent graduate Ana Astiazaran moderated the conversation with Lucy Yang of Arizona State University, Carter Roth of the University of Arizona, and Mariah Hoffman of the School of Architecture.

This episode is the third in our ongoing Great Recession Generation series. It has been over a decade since the Great Recession, the most severe economic and financial meltdown since the Great Depression, but the impact of that period still affects us today. An entire generation of architecture and construction professionals felt the impact, and several professionals left the profession altogether. Considering another global, earth-shattering event, we want to take a moment to reflect on those times and tribulations. In this episode, we interview two people who briefly left the profession to become educators but ultimately returned to the profession - though one came back to work on the “other side” as a contractor. James Wesala interviews two of his previous coworkers and continued friends: Douglas Strom of Layton Construction (at Concord General Contracting when recorded) and Patrick McGee, an architect at EMC2.

In the spring of 2022, Tracing Architecture was awarded an Emerging Professionals Component Grant by the AIA College of Fellows. This grant has allowed us to partner with groups in our community that would otherwise not have access to a media platform, such as our podcast, and allow those groups to have critical conversations that can engage our profession and local community more broadly. For this special episode, we collaborated with the Women's Leadership Group of AIA Phoenix Metro to host a live podcast recording. The AIA Phoenix Metro Women's Leadership Group strives to raise the profile of women principals and leaders in the profession, to share and promote the design work of women, to explore new paths to leadership, and to learn from each other. For this live event, a panel will discuss a range of topics around the value of leadership and why it matters.

Tracing Architecture was awarded a grant in the fall of 2022 to share the stories of two individuals who’ve benefitted from the support of the Arizona Architecture Foundation – a group whose mission is to enhance the welfare of the Arizona community by promoting excellence in architecture and the built environment by supporting the education of future architects, supporting and promoting the profession of architecture, and preserving the legacy of Arizona architecture. In this special episode, we highlight the Foundation's support of our community in developing young professionals, through exposure to unique experiences in travel across the world. We are joined by Andrew Marriott, who traveled to Morocco as the 2021 Recipient of the Robert Saemisch Prize, and by Paola Perdomo, who traveled to Barcelona and Colombia as the 2022 Recipient of the Sean Murphy Prize, and learn from them how their lives were impacted by the experience.

Twenty years ago, Architecture magazine released a special issue titled "The Arizona School," featuring some of the most prominent architects that redefined architecture in the desert southwest. This was remarkable not only for bringing national notoriety to this group but also for acknowledging the impact of the extraordinary work coming from this state that continues today. In this new interview series, we'll speak with a few of the architects making Arizona special. For this episode, we sit down with Rick Joy, founder of his eponymous Studio Rick Joy, to learn how he's crafted a collaborative design in his studio for almost 30 years.

This episode is the second in our ongoing Great Recession Generation series. It's been more than a decade since the Great Recession, the most severe economic and financial meltdown since the Great Depression, but the impact of that period in time can still be felt today. An entire generation in the architecture and construction industries was affected, some leaving the profession altogether. In light of another global, earth-shattering event, we want to take a moment to reflect on the last. This episode, we interview two people who found themselves on paths that led them away from architecture. Shawn Swisher interviews two of his fellow graduates from the University of Southern California School of Architecture: Taylor Donsker of Taylor Donsker Design (taylordonsker.com), and Margaret Tides, an attorney in the counsel's office for Placer County, California.

Tracing Architecture again is teaming up with the AIA Arizona State Conference to create a special set of episodes around the conference theme: Inspire. During the conference, local leaders of the design community will be leading conversations with each of the conference speakers, and Tracing Architecture is sitting down with a few of them to learn more about who they are and catch a glimpse at what they'll be thinking about at this year's conference. In this episode, the second of two special episodes for the conference, we'll be speaking with Stephanie Lin, dean of The School of Architecture and principal of Present Forms, and Ronald Rael, principal of Rael San Fratello and professor of architecture and art practice at UC Berkeley.

Tracing Architecture again is teaming up with the AIA Arizona State Conference to create a special set of episodes around the conference theme: Inspire. During the conference, local leaders of the design community will be leading conversations with each of the conference speakers, and Tracing Architecture is sitting down with a few of them to learn more about who they are and catch a glimpse at what they'll be thinking about at this year's conference. In this episode, the first of two special episodes for the conference, we'll be speaking with Maurita Harris, current President of NOMA Arizona and architect at PHX Architecture, and Ryan Smith, the new director at the School of Architecture at the College of Architecture, Planning, and Landscape Architecture at the University of Arizona.

In the spring of 2022, Tracing Architecture was awarded an Emerging Professionals Component Grant by the AIA College of Fellows. This grant has allowed us to partner with groups in our community that would otherwise not have access to a media platform such as our podcast, and allow those groups to have critical conversations that can engage our profession and local community more broadly. For this special episode, we collaborated with the Arizona chapter of the National Organization of Minority Architects (NOMA) to host a live podcast recording event at their monthly chapter meeting. NOMA Arizona organized and curated a conversation to better understand the concept of decolonizing architecture, inviting panelists of various backgrounds and expertise on the subject from the local community and around the country to explore this topic in depth. The panel included Wanda Dalla Costa, AIA, of Arizona State University, Nicholl Hubbell, Assoc. IIDA, of Shepley Bulfinch, and Luis Cruz-Martinez, AIA, also from Shepley Bulfinch. NOMA Arizona also invited Rubin Quarcoopome and Christopher Locke of Designing in Color, and Shundana Yusaf, Associate Professor at the School of Architecture at the University of Utah, to join the panel through video recordings to introduce and elucidate key principles of decolonization. Please visit NOMA Arizona's website for more information on the panelists and their organization here: https://nomaarizona.org/event/chapter-meeting-august-2022/

It's been more than a decade since the Great Recession, the most severe economic and financial meltdown since the Great Depression, but the impact of that period in time can still be felt today. An entire generation in the architecture and construction industries was affected, some leaving the profession altogether. In the light of another global, earth-shattering event, we want to take a moment to reflect on the last. This episode is the first in a new, ongoing series, where we interview people to hear their stories of how their lives and careers were forever changed. We start by interviewing the hosts of the show: Shawn Swisher, Matthew Tehan, and James Wesala.

Does an architect have a responsibility to advocate for their community? In this episode we hear more from community leaders Gary Nelson, Katherine Dudzik Smith, and Arizona State Representative Christian Solorio on their inspirations and aspirations for advocacy in their communities, whether that responsibility is shared by the profession, and how others can get involved. Links discussed during this episode: AIA Arizona PAC: https://www.aia.org/articles/194151-arizona-archipac , https://aia-arizona-archipac.square.site/ AIA National ArchiPAC: https://www.aia.org/pages/3541-archipac Representative Christian Solorio: https://christiansolorio.com/ NOMA Arizona: https://www.nomaarizona.org/ This episode sponsored in part by Pella Windows & Doors

The architect as the master builder, that myth best scene historically in Frank Lloyd Wright, has seemingly gone away from today’s mainstream practice. Today, architecture is as much about communicating and collaborating as it is about designing or building. However, some architects continue this tradition, albeit in a different way: these practices are focused primarily as general contractors, who also happen to build their own designs. In this episode we sat down at the AIA office and spoke with three individuals keeping this tradition alive; Benjamin Hall (of Benjamin Hall Design), Zach Burns (of Local Studio), and James Trahan (of 180 Degrees).