Architectural Practice Disrupted with Evelyn Lee
Urban Technology at University of Michigan week 275
We’re putting the finishing touches on an interview with an awesome architecture firm based in the Netherlands about their internal innovation team, but that’s not quite done yet. In the meantime, I’m sharing a different interview with… me!
This summer I had the pleasure of joining Evelyn Lee’s Practice Disrupted podcast to talk about our degree and how it relates to shifts in architecture and the work of the built environment more broadly. I could not be more pleased to have urban technology at Michigan in the same feed as Jesse Devitte, Robert Yuen, and so many other smarties.
💬 Hello! This is the newsletter of the Urban Technology program at University of Michigan, in which we explore the ways that data, connectivity, computation, and automation are being harnessed to nurture and improve urban life. If you’re new here, try this 90 sec. explainer video.
🎙️ Practice Disrupted: Architecture, Technology, and the Future of Cities
Urban technology speaks to multiple different communities of practice that exist out in the world, and our goal is to bring them into dialogue through three commonalities: the blended digital/physical life that we live; the way tech often drives transformative change (for better and worse); and how tech outcomes are influenced by the quality of design—how it’s formulated, not just how it looks.
Some of us are interested in mobility, some in real estate, others in land use and planning issues, etc. I’m into all of it, but have a soft spot for “AEC tech” that includes the software that architects use to organize and facilitate their labor. Reader: there’s lots of room for improvement!
Because of this soft spot of mine, it was awesome to speak with Evelyn who not only has a great podcast, but also is president of the American Institute of Architects for 2025 (!!!), and clearly has 6 more hours in her day than you and me. We talked about the state of digital transformation in the built environment, the UT curriculum, how it relates to architectural education, chain drain, and more.
Click the image below or this link here to hear the interview:
These weeks: Preparing for a trip to Cornell Tech’s Urban Tech Summit with students and faculty, developing another excursion for the spring, going back to square one on project BCWYAF. 🏃