Business of Architecture Podcast

Today we speak with architects Peter Exley FAIA and Jane Frederick FAIA. Peter Exley has established an internationally recognized practice of architecture for children, families, and communities, elevating the standards of design for learning and play environments. He is the co-founder of Architecture Is Fun, a Chicago-based architecture, design, and consulting firm. Robert Venturi, FAIA, and Denise Scott Brown, Hon. FAIA, once noted that the projects of Architecture Is Fun are ìworks of significance and relevance, joy and seriousness, range and depth.î Dedicated to helping the next generation of architects, Peter has also been an adjunct professor at the School of the Art Institute of Chicago (SAIC) for more than 20 years. Peter has served the AIA in a number of roles, including as President of AIA Chicago, Illinois regional representative to the Strategic Council, chair of the Public Awareness Campaign Subcommittee of the Public Outreach Committee, as well as a liaison to the Young Architects Forum. Jane Frederick is a partner at Frederick + Frederick Architects based in Beaufort, South Carolina. She is a Fellow in the Aspen Global Leadership Network and currently serves on the American Institute of Architects Board as one of three At-Large Directors. Jane is also the recipient of the Architect Marketing Institute's Business Achievement Award. Today we speak with Jane and Peter about a resource developed by the AIA to help us as architects and designers do a better job of communicating the value we bring to our clients, our cities and our environments. In design school, we're taught to communicate with pictures. Today we speak about communicating with words.

Listen carefully to today's episode and you'll discover the strategies and framework that architect Ricardo Álvarez‐Díaz has used to build a successful practice. You'll also discover: Why the clients you don't work for is as important (perhaps more important) than the clients you do work for How to recognize the "right" clients who will help you grow your practice Why being decisive is an essential attribute of a good leader Why he says that the traditional business model of architecture is dying (or even already dead)

In today's episode we speak with a remarkable entrepreneur, educator and architect. Ricardo Álvarez‐Díaz is the founding principal of Álvarez‐Díaz & Villalón, an award-winning architecture and interior design practice with offices in San Juan Puerto Rico and Miami Florida. Álvarez‐Díaz is President of the Puerto Rico Builders Association. He serves as the founding Co-Chair of the local Urban Land Institute (ULI) district council and is on the Board of Directors of Invest Puerto Rico, a non-profit organization established in 2017 to promote the island's economic development. He teaches a course on entrepreneurship at the School of Architecture, Polytechnic University of Puerto Rico and frequently writes on the topics of leadership, sustainability, and business. With his wife and business partner, Cristina Villalón, he co-sponsors the Álvarez-Díaz & Villalón Fund at the University of Notre Dame, of which he is a graduate. If you're looking for inspiration on running an impactful practice, you're going to love today's interview with Ricardo Álvarez‐Díaz - he holds nothing back as he shares the triumphs and challenges of growing his successful design firm in Puerto Rico. In today's episode, you'll discover how he transitioned from being an employee to running his own firm. You'll discover his formula for getting the right projects and clients, even in an economic downturn. You'll learn about the 3 "i's" that chart the path for growing your business, and around the 16 minute mark of this episode Álvarez‐Díaz sums up 4 years of business insights and growth in 30 seconds. Now if you enjoy today's episode, I've love it if you leave a review on iTunes. If you don't have an iPhone you can visit iTunes.com on your computer. When you leave a review, I'll recognize you on the air here to the thousands of Business of Architecture faithful.

Today we speak with Keith Houchin of SB Architects about his top business tips including: How to "wow" your clients with architectural visualization (it isn't just about the image) Tips for picking the right rendering company that matches your budget The project 'kickstart' process that gets everyone on the team aligned and reduces future problems

Discover the 3-step client attraction process to win better projects, more consistently. In this episode of the Business of Architecture podcast, you'll hear the 2nd part of my presentation on how to become an in-demand architecture firm in 12 months, not 12 years. The Summit is the Architect Marketing Institute's yearly event where our coaching clients get on stage and share the exact strategies and tactics they've used to grow their business over the past year. For more information about the Summit, visit http://archmarketing.org/summit.

Discover how to apply client-attracting, inbound marketing strategies for your architecture firm so that you can pick and choose the projects you work on. In this episode of the Business of Architecture podcast, you'll discover how to become an in-demand architecture firm in 12 months, not 12 years. Discover how to increase the caliber and quality of architecture projects you win. Discover how to reach potential architecture clients BEFORE they start looking for an architect. This episode is the audio from the presentation I gave at this year's Architect Business Summit that I put on in New York City. The Summit is the Architect Marketing Institute's yearly event where our coaching clients get on stage and share the exact strategies and tactics they've used to grow their business over the past year. For more information about the Summit, visit http://archmarketing.org/summit .

Discover how this architect built a business that allows her to help more people, and gives her the impact, freedom and flexibility that matches her family lifestyle. In 2013, architect Amelia Lee had a big year, personally and professionally. It started with a personal tragedy and culminated with a trip to Uganda to meet people courageously (and against all odds) ending their own hunger and poverty. She saw in person what happens when you educate and empower someone to believe things can be different -- that they can make a difference and reach a different destination. She came back home to her husband and 3 small children. She looked at the dreams they had been delaying because they weren't 'ready': financial goals, career goals, and personal goals. She thought about all the reasons why she wasn't living the life she really wanted … and realized those reasons were excuses. She wanted a family-centered, flexible life, where she was really making a difference in how people live in – and beyond – their homes. She wanted to impact how Australians create and occupy their homes, while also being the wife and mother she wants to be. She decided to move her family to a beautiful, rural area on the northern Australian coast. Determined that there was another way to leverage her skills as an architect that didn't involve living in a large city and doing traditional client work, she founded Undercover Architect - a consulting platform that helps homeowners get the home of their dreams and helps her build her ideal life.

Today is a UK edition of the Business of Architecture. In this episode, my co-host Rion Willard speaks with Jason Bruges, an experience designer and the director of Jason Bruges Studio. After being educated and trained as an architect, Jason moved over into experience design. Today Jason Bruges reveals how he leveraged his training in architecture to found and direct one of the world's leading experience design firms. You may ask, what is experience design? Basically, experience design is the design of the environment with a special focus on the experience that a person has as they move through that environment. Jason Bruges Studio creates interactive spaces that combine architecture, art installation and interaction design, which basically means these spaces and installations respond to the people who inhabit them. Every now and then I like to bring on a guest that has used his or her architecture degree outside of the traditional realm of architecture - today's interview is an example of that.

Today is a UK edition of the Business of Architecture show. In this episode my co-host Rion Willard speaks with Kyle Buchanan, one of the Directors of Archio, an architecture firm with offices in London and Cheltenham. The firm specializes in housing and public buildings. Kyle Buchanan talks about how he inherited his firm from his father, and how he rebranded it to give it a new identity that includes his partner Mellis and the company team members. Among the valuable nuggets you'll get from today's episode, Kyle talks about how hiring a business coach opened up a new, empowered way of approaching his business. He talks about business systems, culture and what he calls the 3 strands of marketing. Near the end of today's show, Kyle reveals how he empowers his team members to contribute to the marketing efforts.

Today is a UK edition of the Business of Architecture podcast. On this episode, co-host Rion Willard interviews Simon Hallion, the owner of Shared Architecture based in London. Discover Simon Hallion's top 3 pieces of advice for future (and current) firm leaders. You'll also discover: Simon's strategy for winning against larger, better-funded firms How to build a team as a sole practitioner (so things still get done while you're on holiday) The 1 investment he recommends firm owners make (it isn't software or employees) Why you should NOT accept every person who wants to work with you