Practice Disrupted by Practice of Architecture 213: Rethinking the Workflow: How Radhika Parashar Narain Sees Architecture’s Digital Future
What happens when a tech leader with a background in democratizing design at companies like Figma turns their attention to architecture?
This week, we're joined by Radhika Parashar Narain, Head of Marketing at Arcol, a software company reimagining how architects design and collaborate.
Coming from the world of Software as a Service (SaaS), Radhika offers a fresh and insightful perspective on a profession she finds fascinatingly complex and creative, yet overdue for better tools. She shares her initial shock at the fragmented, inefficient, and often joyless workflows architects are forced to navigate. Radhika discusses the cultural and practical hurdles to tech adoption in an industry rooted in tradition, from the high "cost of change" after years spent learning legacy software to a scarcity mindset around collaboration. The conversation explores how Arcol, founded with a "Figma for BIM" ethos, aims to bring simplicity, accessibility, and collaboration to the earliest stages of design.
Ultimately, Radhika’s vision is not about disruption for its own sake, but about empowerment. She argues that by embracing intuitively designed, cloud-based tools, architects can reduce friction, foster collaboration, and rediscover the joy in their craft. Her hope is for architects to raise their standards for the software they use every day.
"My hope for the profession is for architects to have as high expectations as we have of the tools that we can foresee and we can kind of imagine can bring that joy back to the process." - Radhika Parashar Narain
This episode concludes with a call for the profession to see technology as a leverage point. Radhika encourages architects, especially students and smaller firms, to experiment early, build collaboration as a muscle, and use new tools to "punch above their weight." By democratizing access to powerful, well-designed software, the next generation can move beyond the limitations of legacy systems and focus on what they do best: creating the built world.
Guest:
Radhika Parashar Narain is the Head of Marketing at Arcol, a software company building a new generation of design and collaboration tools for architects. With a background in SaaS and design technology, including a tenure at Figma, she is passionate about empowering creators with better tools and making design more accessible to everyone.
Is This Episode for You?
This episode is for you if:
✅ You are an architect frustrated with your current software and workflows.
✅ You are curious about how the mindset of Silicon Valley (SaaS) applies to the AEC industry. ✅ You want to understand the challenges and opportunities of tech adoption in architecture.
✅ You believe in the power of technology to democratize design and empower smaller firms. ✅ You are a student or educator looking for the next wave of tools that will shape the future of practice.
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