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Life of an Architect

Architecture & Design

A gifted storyteller communicating the role and value of architecture to a new audience, host Bob Borson uses the experiences acquired over a 25-year career to inform his podcast. It responds to the public’s curiosity and common misunderstanding about what architects do and how it is relevant to people’s lives, engaging a wide demographic of people in a meaningful way without requiring an understanding of the jargon or knowledge of the history of the profession. With a creative mix of humor and practicality, Borson’s stories are informative, engaging, and approachable, using first-person narratives and anecdotes that have introduced transparency into what it really means to be a practicing architect.

A gifted storyteller communicating the role and value of architecture to a new audience, host Bob Borson uses the experiences acquired over a 25-year career to inform his podcast. It responds to the public’s curiosity and common misunderstanding about what architects do and how it is relevant to people’s lives, engaging a wide demographic of people in a meaningful way without requiring an understanding of the jargon or knowledge of the history of the profession. With a creative mix of humor and practicality, Borson’s stories are informative, engaging, and approachable, using first-person narratives and anecdotes that have introduced transparency into what it really means to be a practicing architect.

Location:

United States

Description:

A gifted storyteller communicating the role and value of architecture to a new audience, host Bob Borson uses the experiences acquired over a 25-year career to inform his podcast. It responds to the public’s curiosity and common misunderstanding about what architects do and how it is relevant to people’s lives, engaging a wide demographic of people in a meaningful way without requiring an understanding of the jargon or knowledge of the history of the profession. With a creative mix of humor and practicality, Borson’s stories are informative, engaging, and approachable, using first-person narratives and anecdotes that have introduced transparency into what it really means to be a practicing architect.

Twitter:

@bobborson

Language:

English

Contact:

2143943090

Episodes

060: The Perfect Portfolio

10/11/2020
At one point or another, every architecture student or graduate has a portfolio of their work that they have agonized over creating. Portfolios are important, they demonstrate your range of skills and will most likely play a significant role in whether or not you land your dream job … so why do so many of them so ineffective? Today we are talking about the “Perfect Portfolio” and what that actually means. [Note: If you are reading this via email, click here to access the on-site audio...

Duration:01:15:59

059 Architectural Visualization with Alex Hogrefe

9/27/2020
Do you have architectural visualization skills? Maybe you’re asking yourself “what does even mean?” Well, you are in luck because today on the Life of an Architect Podcast we are dedicated to discussing all things related to architectural visualization and graphics and we have the perfect guest, Alex Hogrefe.

Duration:01:15:06

058: Talking Shop with Building Science Fight Club

9/13/2020
Understanding the physical behavior of the building as a system and how it impacts the energy efficiency, durability, comfort, and indoor air quality is pivotal in the creation of high-performance buildings. This means we are talking Building Science Fight Club with Christine Williamson.

Duration:01:29:14

057: Renovating your House

8/30/2020
Leaving your mark on the place where you live is built into the DNA of most architects and designers. This can manifest itself in many different ways but for many of us, working on the place where we live is the most obvious choice. Today we are talking about Renovating your House – the good, the bad, and (hopefully not) the ugly.

Duration:05:14:08

056: Starting A Design Firm

8/16/2020
If you’ve ever dreamed of starting your own design firm, maybe you’ve just graduated from school, perhaps you’ve worked for another firm and seen first-hand what not to do and decided it’s time to go out on your own, today is the show for you because today’s topic is “Starting a Design Firm”.

Duration:05:03:11

055: Scale This!

8/2/2020
How does scale factor into the practice of architecture? For any architect, scale and proportion are two skills that appear to be the most challenging to master.

Duration:05:57:45

054: Leadership

7/19/2020
What exactly is leadership and what does it mean to be a leader? Leadership is thrust upon those who, through the strength of conviction and moral character, lead through personal example.

Duration:04:17:05

053: Culture of Design

7/5/2020
Do you have a design culture in your office? Why is it that some firms have it and others don’t? A culture of design isn’t something that just happens, there has to be a plan, it needs to be cultivated, and even then, without the right sort of people in place, you might be fighting an uphill battle.

Duration:06:51:59

052: Architectural Tools

6/21/2020
When an architect goes to work … what happens? Do they pull out a pen and sketch paper? Maybe they power up some hardware – quite possibly a bit of both. Ask and architect what they need to do their job and they’ll all give you different answers but we’ll give you the real scope on today’s episode … Architectural Tools

Duration:06:07:46

051: Style over Substance

6/7/2020
We are all familiar with the phrase “style over substance” but those words might mean something else to architects. If I were to look at a project and describe it with this particular phrase, there is no question that this would reflect a negative opinion ... but is it unnecessarily harsh or does it have a place in any conversation where architecture is discussed?

Duration:01:03:42

050: Talking Shop with Marlon Blackwell

5/25/2020
We have special guest Marlon Blackwell, FAIA on the podcast today and if you are not intimately familiar with his work, I am excited to be in a position to share it with you. Marlon and I go back a long way and it seemed only fitting that we should finally ask him to be on the podcast.

Duration:01:09:34

049: Objects of Design

5/10/2020
For every architect and designer, there are objects out there that resonate for them in a profound manner and can even shape their design philosophies. These can be buildings, products – even materials – but no matter what you call them, they are "Objects of Design".

Duration:02:33:20

048: Big Design / Small Details

4/26/2020
Today we are talking about the design process and how different that process is between residential projects and commercial projects. While you might think that this is a conversation about scale, budgets, and complexities, it's really about something quite different.

Duration:01:58:14

047: Apps for Architects

4/12/2020
Architects are using technology more and more and with each passing day, more of this technology is available from the comforts of your cellphone or smart tablet. This list has been curated and categorized to provide the best mobile apps for architects.

Duration:01:32:24

046: Working From Home

3/29/2020
A lot can happen in just a few weeks. Due to COVID-19 pandemic, business as usual is anything but … and Andrew and I felt like we should interrupt our regularly scheduled podcast to take some time and talk about working from home – something that we all are going to have to deal with for the foreseeable future. Since so many of the people we listen to this podcast are single or small office practitioners, we thought that instead of running our scheduled (and completed - DOH!) podcast episode...

Duration:01:13:34

045: Documenting Architecture

3/15/2020
The process of preparing construction drawings has evolved from “What do we need to do to “What can’t we do?” Today we are going talking about construction drawing best practices in what is essentially creating the graphic instruction manual of constructing a building.

Duration:01:26:03

044: Architectural Technology

3/1/2020
Architectural Technology is changing how architects work and what’s in today might be irrelevant and out of date by next week, but ignore these developments at your own peril. For even your average run-of-the-mill architect, technology is a way of life … but despite knowing this information, I am frequently amazed by just how amazing technology actually is and the role it plays daily in my work and my office.

Duration:00:35:10

043: Inside the Firm

2/16/2020
So you’ve graduated from architecture school and received a university degree in architecture - so what happens next? What exactly does an architect do? What if you don’t want to be a designer, maybe you have interests in how buildings are detailed and built, the selection of materials and finishes, firm management … so many directions you could go and today we are going to talk about a bunch of them and take you Inside the Firm! [Note: If you are reading this via email, click here to access...

Duration:00:38:36

042: Mentorship

2/2/2020
Finding the right sort of person who can help guide you through the various stages of your career can be incredibly valuable and beneficial. Today, Andrew and I are talking about mentorship and what that means, what can make it great, why it doesn’t necessarily work, what you can do so that you might actually benefit from the experience, and what sort of relationship can make a mentor a great fit for you. That's a fairly tall order of things to accomplish but we are going to give it a go....

Duration:00:39:14

041: Talking Shop with Omar Gandhi

1/19/2020
Today is a special episode because we are sitting down with my very close and personal friend, even though we have never actually met, Canadian architectural rock star Omar Gandhi. This is the first in a series of posts we are rolling out for the 2020 podcast season titled “Talking Shop with __________.” We anticipate doing around four of these specialty episodes this year and we decided to come out the gate strong with our first guest - Canadian Architect and Emerging Voice in the...

Duration:00:50:20

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