I Would Prefer Not To

In the season five premiere, host Ana Miljački talks with Hashim Sarkis about the latent nature of optimism in practice, the difficulties of running an office across different continents, and how direct action leads to hope.

In this episode, host Ana Miljački speaks with Christian Benimana, Patricia Gruits, and Alan Ricks, co-executive directors of MASS Design Group, about philanthropy in the design process, the political economy of building, and what is possible across different global contexts. MASS was founded in 2008 as a 501(c)(3) not-for-profit organization. More than 15 years later, this global, multidisciplinary collective has over 200 members with offices in Boston; in Kigali, Rwanda; Poughkeepsie, New York; and Santa Fe, New Mexico.

In this episode, host Ana Miljački speaks with Nader Tehrani, founding partner of the Boston-based firm NADAAA, about the development of construction details; the political push and pull between architects, clients, and contractors ; and the importance of didacticism in designing architecture schools.

In this episode, architect Aziza Chaouni discusses working with NGOs on heritage projects, balancing small-scale volunteer work, and crowdsourcing materials and resources to build project archives.

In this episode, host Ana Miljački speaks with Ada Tolla and Giuseppe Lignano, founders of the New York City-based practice LOT-EK, about ascribing value to waste, the vestiges of global circular economies, and the importance of love.

In this episode, host Ana Miljački speaks with Lola Sheppard and Mason White of Lateral Office to discuss their work in the Canadian Arctic, architecture of expediency in rural areas, and the skill of deep listening.

Host Ana Miljački talks with Deborah Berke of New York City-based TenBerke about loving projects like children, striking a balance between reverence and irreverence, and measuring a project against a mission statement.

In this episode of I Would Prefer Not To, Ana speaks with Hilary Sample and Michael Meredith of NYC-based MOS Architects. Topics of discussion include the complex intertwining of work and life, playfulness and the publication of process, feedback between academic culture and the world of practice, and collaborative models.

In the premiere episode of season four, Ana Miljački talks with Germane Barnes about storytelling-as-design impetus, delivering on promises, and his skeptical relationship to emails, among other topics.

Ana Miljački speaks with Rodrigo Escandón Cesarman and Guillermo Gonzalez Ceballos of Mexico City-based practice APRDELESP about their case studies, the creation of architectural institutions, and designing appealing “spaces of encounter.”

In this episode of I Would Prefer Not To, Ana Miljački speaks with Adam Yarinsky, Stephen Cassell, and Kim Yao of Architecture Research Office about professional versus academic research, how adhering to pre-articulated values affects relationships with clients, and the benefits and drawbacks of being generalists.

Ana Miljački and Studio Gang founder Jeanne Gang discuss architects as the nexus of intersecting issues, advocating on behalf of animals as constituents, and growing one’s own building materials.

Ana Miljački speaks with members of the Mexico City-based group about the tumultuous nature of collective practice and a shifting paradigm in civic architecture.

Ana Miljački speaks with Ann Lui and Craig Reschke of Chicago-based studio Future Firm about expanding the role of the architect, absorbing risk, and how to respond when asked to do magic.

In the Season 3 premiere, Ana Miljački speaks with Annabelle Selldorf about how falling in love with projects can result in heartbreak, what it means to transcend style, and the limitations of typological experience.

Ana is joined by Nina Cooke John in this episode to discuss the impulses of feedback loops in the design process, slowness, the different ways in which institutions engage with communities and figuration as it relates to seeing oneself in a monument.

In this episode, Ana speaks with Claire Weisz, founding partner of WXY, on structural flexibility as an office, sharing ethical burdens with clients, advocating on behalf of built and material histories, and using work at large scales to catalyze work for other architectural practices.

Ana talks with Andres Jaque of Office for Political Innovation on what it means to be anarchitectural dissident, the status of formal decisions in his work, and how listening can be animportant tool for architects.

In this episode, Ana hosts Chandra Robinson of Lever Architecture. They discuss ways to support smaller-scale builders, the importance of proximity in sourcing materials, and balancing innovation with the immediate needs of community and client, among other topics.

In this episode, Ana Miljački speaks with Troy Schaum and Rosalyne Shieh of SCHAUM/SHIEH about matching a client’s ambition with economic feasibility, the privilege of being able to refuse work, the space that emerges out of energetic conflict, and the power of doing nothing.