The Archiologist

Today we are going to be listening to the story of Anastasia Elrouss, where she comes from, her childhood, all the steps that she took in life to be the successful architect and designer that she is today, but always keeping her humanity. And we are going to be talking about the struggles, the challenges, and the not so beautiful side of being a woman in a profession that is sometimes referred to as "a man's career," but she will also be explaining how she fights for equity in the profession, and also all the amazing things she does to share this mentality to students. A little bit about Anastasia, she has been actively working in the architecture field for nearly 15 years. She holds a degree in architecture from the American University of Beirut, which she attended from 2000 to 2005, and where she currently teaches design courses. She first worked in Beirut at Samir Khairallah & Partners (2005-2006) and at Jean Nouvel in Paris (2007). In 2008, she became the head of YTAA and soon after became a founding partner and general manager of the architecture firm (2011-2017). In November 2017, upon exiting YTAA, she founded her own architectural practice ANA-Anastasia Elrouss Architects. At her new firm, Anastasia continues to uphold her main design philosophy: that architectural and urban thinking can never be stagnant. For her, architecture is about exploring options and about opening a dialogue, while encouraging an ongoing conversation.

Barnes’ research and design practice investigates the connection between architecture and identity, examining architecture’s social and political agency through historical research and design speculation. Learning from historical data and perspectives from within architecture as well as cultural and ethnic studies, he examines how the built environment influences the social and cultural experience. Born in Chicago, IL Germane Barnes received a Bachelor's of Science in Architecture from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign and a Master of Architecture from Woodbury University where he was awarded the Thesis Prize for his project Symbiotic Territories: Architectural Investigations of Race, Identity, and Community. He believes strongly in design as a process, and approaches each condition imposed on a project as an opportunity rather than a constraint. Architecture presents opportunities for transformation – materially, conceptually and sociologically. Currently he  is an Assistant Professor and the Director of The Community Housing & Identity Lab (CHIL) at the University of Miami School of Architecture, a testing ground for the physical and theoretical investigations of architecture’s social and political resiliency. In the episode we talk about his background, where he comes from and what experiences he had that made him think architecture was the best career to pursue for him. He tells me about the time he got arrested in his very own front porch, because he "fit a description of a black guy that had stolen some shoes," and he also tells me about the constant discrimination that he was faced with by his veryy own professors at his undergraduate school. We then talk about his trip to Cape Town, South Africa, where he did pro-bono work for low income families, which changed his whole understanding of architecture completely. We then talk about where he is at now, fighting against racial discrimination in the most violent neighborhoods of Miami, Florida.  

Today we have a really interesting guest which I'm sure most of you may have definitely heard of in the past. I will give out a few guesses - she is a designer, creative technologist, and critical maker working at the intersection of fashion, architecture, and interactive design. And I quote her in one of her past interviews; "I think the discourse of architecture is already going through a change, we are no longer just designing buildings with column and ceiling, we are designing way more, we are designing experiences, designing products, designing fashion items, so I think architecture as a discipline is already changing." And if you haven't guessed yet, she is Behnaz Farahi! She is trained as an architect and explores how to foster an empathetic relationship between the human body and the space around it, through the implementation of emerging technologies. She follows morphological and behavioral principles which in turn is inspired by natural systems. Her work addresses critical issues such as emotion, bodily perception, and social interaction. In the episode, we talk about everything! And I mean, everything. She runs us through a short description of her childhood. Where she grew up, and why she came to the United States in order to acquire her architecture education. We talk about her degrees, which by the way, she has a Bachelor, two Masters, and most recently a Ph.D.! Amazing, right? Well, we talk about what those degrees mean to her and why she decided to stay in the world of academia. We talk about how she started developing wearables, and what experience pushed her closer to technology. We talk about how she got to work with amazing companies such as Adidas, Autodesk, Fuksas Studio, and Will-i-am, even NASA! And finally, she goes in-depth into her vision for the future of architecture and technology; BUT, more importantly, how to be intentional with technology, and how to use it for the benefit of solving a social problem, instead of for the sake of it. This episode is charged with a lot of positivity, with a lot of motivation and especially a ton of advice for anyone that is looking into the world of technology and architecture. Without saying another word, I would like to introduce you guys to Behnaz Farahi! Let the talk begin.

Hey, guyssss! Welcome to another episode of The Archiologist Podcast. Today in the podcast we have Jorge Rodriguez, he is a very good friend of mine who in fact, went to the same university as I did, Florida International University here in Miami. He is an incredible designer and painter, one that is extremely creative in every way. The work he produces aims to be powerful, unforgiving, and bold. Each of his paintings is an experiment of styles and techniques. Whether it’s in the behavior of colors, light, or layering of elements to destabilize the composition. He continues to work as an architectural designer, citing his education and experience in design as a major influence in his style as an artist and illustrator while doing all these amazing artworks in his own business, Miami Urban Garage. The mission behind MUG is to create beautiful and thought-provoking work, evolving as a collection as well as individual pieces. In the episode, we talk about how his architectural education changed him to better understand how design works and to really value the multi-faceted world of architecture. We talk about the educational system. About why universities don't just teach practical stuff, but they teach you to be a design critic. We also talk about how he sees the murals he does in their connection to architecture. How people, in general, should be okay with the concept of temporary architecture. He says that his murals are temporary, perhaps they won't be there in the next 1, 5, 10 years, but why exactly the concept of an architecture piece lasting a long time, is something we designers should re-evaluate. All in all, this was such an interesting conversation and I cannot wait for you all to listen in! Let the talk begin.

Hello guys! Thank you for checking out another episode from The Archiologist Podcast. Today we have a very lively interview with Bryan Maddock, this episode was recorded before the lockdown started happening. It was the first episode in person and I have to say, we laughed SO much and it was amazing just to see the interaction we were having face to face. I can't wait to meet with Bryan in the future again. So, a little bit about Bryan, he is an architect, Director of Fantastic Offense, and a part Instructor of Architecture at The Design School at Arizona State University. Maddock’s ongoing research and design work emphasize utopia as a strategic tool for proactive rebellion and a call for a renewed professional agency. Prior to Fantastic Offense, Bryan Maddock was a project designer at Bjarke Ingels Group (BIG) in New York and a designer at the Office for Metropolitan Architecture (OMA) in Hong Kong. Asides from all professional success he has had in his career, he has had immense success in his new business opportunity called Dimensions.Guide. Dimensions.Guide is a comprehensive reference database of dimensioned drawings documenting the standard measurements and sizes of the everyday objects and spaces that make up our world. He offers resources to professional designers, students, and the public alike as a way to enhance our global collective awareness of the parameters and dimensions of the things around us. From all his background you can tell this is going to be a very interesting interview! We talked about his experience in school, about the fact that he actually started school as a graphic designer, and later merged into architecture. How working at incredible firms at BIG and OMA made him a better designer, what he learned through this, and WHY he left the office world. We then talk about how architecture is a very multidisciplinary career and why exactly he chose to view architecture, not as a construct of buildings, but more as a way to help others through Dimensions Guide and also his own practice for speculative design, Fantastic Offense. But I really don't want to spoil it for you, because you have to listen on your own to our conversation. I'm sure this will help many of you that currently feel stuck at your jobs and want to diversify into different mediums of creativity. Without any further ado, let the talk begin!