Exploring AIA25: Architecture and Personal Insights

We're live at AI25 in Boston. Let's get into it. Welcome to what they are fine. am Matt Brennan. And this is the podcast all about CA today I'm with Dory and Nadia. Welcome. Tell about yourselves. Well, you have been a repeat guest on This is my comfort zone. This is my second formal chat with you, but millionth just casual chat. I'm a licensed architect in Ontario, Canada, and I'm here with R.I.B. Specklink as well as I'm here on a, I maybe explained this to you yesterday, but on behalf of the AIA to help promote the conference as well from a content perspective. So yes. And then they said, hey, you know what, as part of the package, you can bring a guest. And you got a date. And I brought a date. Yeah. I've never been a date to a conference before. I've attended many, but never as the date. uh whole new like thing that people can do like being like conference dating. my god. This is the last day I'll be poor. Yes, exactly. High hopes. So, before we get into the conference itself, fun stuff. You guys went on a tour, you checked out Boston. I've never been, so... we we came together, she got to spend the day out and about yesterday. I was with you on the floor. My first time in Boston, so we're staying a couple extra days. So I'm looking forward to checking out some some Cool. OK, so you've got more. yeah, so you're going to hear it. So I'm Yeah, we packed in some vacation time, some twisty time. So like a couple things I did, because I came on Tuesday night, didn't do a whole lot. And then Wednesday was the free day before the expo and the conference and everything. And I booked well in advance. And I think you could have done earlier, but like probably pick up tickets for you guys. But I went to the Fenway Park, know, the ball stadium and everything. I, there's a number of tours. And one of them was the 8 a.m. start. So it's an early riser one, but you walk the field. So you don't walk the grass. And I saw the second tour coming afterwards and like that doesn't look exciting because it is it's like 80 bucks. So it is a little bit more $70. But it's totally worth it. The guy George, he knew everything like he must have been 70 years old. He knew the history he told it because this the stadium was built in 1912. Labor rates were like 12 cents. If you're a masonry, was like 20 cents. They're pretty darn close. But he took you through the whole history and everything and the stories and everything and how some parts were burned because fans were ticked off because Boston like was on a dynasty and then they shut down because they traded, Babe Ruth wanted 20 grand in his contract and they just said no. And then he went to New York and you know how the history plays out, right? it was pretty cool. And then we went back later and saw the game and they won and it was my real first baseball game because again, living in Vancouver, is no Blue Jays or your... Tigers, go to like Tigers are right next to us. So yeah. Exactly. So in that case, went to the game. It was the most epic game. was neck and neck. Jack's like, this is not normal. You're going to be spoiled for the rest of the games. No game's going to be like it. And it was epic. Caught a little video at the end. I'll post it on the channel. Oh, yeah. I'd to see that. That's awesome. It was awesome. But one recommendation, but there's so much to see. So what do you guys want to see? Well, what did you do yesterday? So yesterday, so this is my second time in Boston. ah But so yesterday I did a walking tour of the Freedom Trail. Okay, I did that too, but I wanna hear your version. Yeah. So I started at the Boston Common and it was a guided tour. So I had a woman who was dressed in like 17th or 18th century clothing. She brought us through the first like from the Boston Common up to Paul Revere's house. So about half not cool. A little more than half of the trail. But you know, telling us the different stories along the way. And I can't remember what the name of the the I think it's the Granary Burying Ground. But that's where Paul Revere, John Hancock. Yes. I can't remember the third one now. uh Another of the signatories of the Declaration of Independence is in there. And so she was telling us. One fun thing I learned about though is Sam Adams, you the beer. And it's got the figure of like, you know, the the person on it. That's not apparently actually Sam Adams. It's Paul Revere. So that was a fun thing, but it was really neat. saw the different buildings and the really old, where the Boston massacre happened. And I'm a fan of the series Outlander. Being able to see the different landmarks of things that wove through that story was really neat. I'm looking for it. There's a Frank Gehry building at MIT. I think it's called a Strata Center or something like that. I'm really excited to go check out if we got time. yeah, so we got a couple of days. It's it's poorly planned, our couple of days. We're it all. But that's okay. It's a backpack and a pair of shoes and a coffee and we'll just roam around and see where we end up. We'll do it. Absolutely. So then switching gears to the conference, you spoke. oh And what did you say? That's right. you were at, where the conference did you come from? That's right. You were at the last. spoke at the Ontario Association of Architects and I spoke at the um CSC, the Canadian Specifications, or Construction Specifications Canada. I spoke at those two. I applied to speak here. Yeah, take note. Just saying. I did not get awarded the opportunity to speak here, but I will try again next year. so yeah, I would love like this is, I love speaking, I think a lot like you like give me a microphone and a camera and I'm ready to go. Absolutely. So next year, hopefully, they reconsider. Maybe they realize once they've seen this episode, like we said no to these guys. Like the knowledge, the mentorship, everything. The t-shirts? The t-shirt? You know, the ideas. But no, it is like... That's why I like doing this. love mentorship. know, I've mentored, know, even in my young days when I shouldn't have been mentoring because I was like, what do I know? I'm so I'm younger than you and stuff. But just the knowledge, like always trying to be better and raise the bar with technology and that kind of stuff. And just even from a workflow standpoint, you know, the same thing, like I love all the Instagram stuff that you do. Like there's a shamrock and here's a thumbs up and here's an AI, let's make a house. And I was like, that's so cool because you're always challenging yourself in those difficult, you know, call that like, because there there is the hater comments, right? was like, when would you ever build a building like that? I'm like, it's like, I call it extreme space planning. Yeah, it's just like, I don't know, you back yourself into a corner and try to design your way out of it. And it's just kind of fun. It's like mental. It's like design cross training. It's like exercise for the brain and the creative soul. And exactly. So that's what it is. I will never likely never design a house shaped like a four leaf clover in real life. Unless you want one. you want one. the Rock hands either. Well, that's the I that's I love you inside. Right. Yeah. But yeah, so that's why I do those things. It's like telling a painter not to go in front of the landscape. You're like, why are you doing that? Because I love doing it and I want to exercise it. can just swipe one more time and not have to deal with this. That's right. My goodness. But what have you, what is the trends? you like, I've been talking to a lot of people about CA because that's all about it. And then the reality is in the construction world and the architectural world, it's still present today. It's very interesting how the GC has kind of taken the leap forward because they're running the show when it comes to construction. again, as architects, you've designed this amazing structure, you've specified everything, you want this. And then the GC gets involved and sometimes it starts to deviate. And the sad part of the architectural side is that they're letting. the GCs run the show and saying, you guys take care of all the ownership. You do the meeting minutes. Well, you just lost that control of the meeting. And they're so happy of letting them do that versus saying, no, we're going to run it. And at my last firm, that's what we did. We did the meeting minutes and the meeting notes. We did that because we wanted to make sure it was actually factual because we're playing the fair game. And two, we logged everything because constantly we would get blamed for holding the project because you're so slow in responding. We'd just look at our CA logs and say, no, these are our files. were answered in two days. is why did why do think the contractors have been able to assume that uh additional control over a project? I think it and I kudos to for Procore because they developed this amazing product. They started catching like wildfire. Every architect is working with a project in Procore. And I think that's just give that little kick and that's been that little kicker ramp to launch them into this this method and like, well, we're using Procore. So therefore you're going to use this system. And then all architects rather than. m you know saying okay but we're gonna do it our own they just kind of get i don't know if it's lazy's the right term or just kind of go with the the path of least resistance and say well i'm gonna go with them and it's like whoa liability guys yeah, yeah. But it's not the fun stuff, right? Like I think the argument, I think we'd love to do the fun stuff. And then like, wait, you want to do meeting minutes? Yeah, cool. Like, yeah. But not because, yeah, it's just there's a there's a responsibility or a potential liability there and not having control of your own documents, right? Relying on somebody else to document your project. So like if you were doing a hospital or for me, like any project and the GC and I was a GC and I'm like, all right, I'm going to run the show for Procore. How would you respond to me? And the owner, know, right here, she wants to make sure it's built to the way it is. The rock star, you know, I love you. uh So to be honest, I never worked on a building as big as a hospital or anything that got that big and elaborate. it was uh for me, the firms that I always worked for, was preferred the front half of projects. So I never, the CA world was never one that really like, um so are going to hate me for this? It was, it just never called to me. was, I was always so much more drawn to the front. meeting potential clients, winning them over, designing for them, solving the problem. And then once the idea was like locked in, I'd be more than happy to slide that to somebody else and be like, you like, yeah, you finish it. Yeah, I'm to go do another one of those, you know, do another design. So, yeah, that that's kind how I always approach a project. But CA was never a huge, huge passion of mine. Sorry. Yeah, that's okay. geez. No, it's a mixture thing. Like I said, I early days I was just doing residential and then it got on much bigger projects and stuff. And then I was doing one house for one of the owners of the Canucks, which was fun because that was like that was a multimillion dollar one. And it actually did have CA and all the stories that came from that and very you know, because it's personal now. Yeah, you're doing something commercial like a school or something. They aren't like, it's not my money. Like we want to protect the money for the public. But let's just get it in gun. Let's we got to schedule the fall. That's why I always focus on residential project. When I my own practice, it was always residential because I love that direct impact. The decision that that person makes across the table for me, they are living with that for the rest of their life. And um we've built several houses for ourselves. But it's, yeah, when you have to live with your decision, it's different. I've worked for firms that did schools and stuff like that, and they're just... sort of checking off, it's got to be this, it's got to be this is the way we do it. Yeah, bad. This is how it goes. That's right. But if they had to sit in that office or in that classroom, eight, six hours a day, right? Would they would they make a different decision? Probably. Maybe they want the windows a little bigger. Maybe they'd want the you something something done a little different. So yeah, I do. I always valued that skin in the game that yeah, the decisions I'm making I'm dealing with. Right, So now, what's it like living with an architect? I'm This is a great interview guys, yeah, I think it's time. Yeah What is it like yeah Is it like? Well, a lot of our trips center around which building, going to cities that have buildings that he wants to see. Nice. So, but that's, I mean, that's fine because I'm, I am not architecture adjacent in any way in my career, but it's still, but that makes it interesting actually, I think. So I learn a lot of new things. um Building houses. mean, no, have being able to, I don't know that I would have undertaken this kind of thing without. having someone in the know, know, definitely all the projects we've done, whether it's building our house or like, you know, renovating the backyard and all that kind of stuff. There's a knowledge there that I would, I would have to hire someone to navigate those projects. Instead, I just married him. Good plan. There's two options here. You could hire someone or just marry them. The labor becomes free. there you go. I'm almost probably about the same. know, wedding, hiring. Oh, I I'm to start a spreadsheet. I'll invite both you guys. three have something that we can use? probably could. Let's do it. Just rig something up for us. Is it cheaper to hire an architect or marry an architect? that next one. That's what we're gonna call this one. Are we talking about AR? No, no, this is the anyway. no, this is yeah, that's funny. I love that. I guess one thing I always find going into places you start critiquing everything especially code you're like this is not accessible if I was in a wheelchair I would be stuck in this hallway all day up right you were just yeah, right? So I know going there to the super old cities, right? You're like how do people with mobility issues get around or do they I don't You know We've been lucky enough to spend some time in Paris in our lives and I'm like, well, there's like a like a you know, 20 foot fall right over there There's no garbage. No, no Or if there is, it's like shin high and it's not going to protect anyone. Exactly. If you're going to you're going to fall farther from this wall. You know, right into the cow, So, yeah, I do the code, but the codes are they vary city to city. It's a word to you know, province to province state to state anyways. Right. So I'll do I'll post something online about what was the big one like some dimension room dimensions. I would get like I'm Canadian, we're Canadian. And I designed to my Ontario code. The Americans would just flood in with correcting. my video like that's wrong the railings got to be this tall according to this code and like that and they're less. Yeah, typically I wish I could do I think it's coming to Canada but the horizontal cable railings We finally got that last code. Yeah. We for residential ever like this that we're seeing outside. You can't do it. But, you know, would like people would like want them like we can't do that and show me photos like no here like it is possible like that's in like Florida. They can do it. can't do it. Yeah. But yeah, so that's always a funny thing of different areas and then the Europe. the Europe a lot of the European comments I get on my videos laugh at our garage sizes. They're like, they just what is it with North Americans being obsessed with their garages? Right, well, because they're all cars out there. There's no truck. literally. small kind. Yeah. So it's, yeah, that's another really interesting and I love that stuff, right? I know what I'm doing, what I'm talking about is not wrong where I am, but I like hearing the other perspectives. I'm like, oh, that's like, I'm going to get this wrong, but some it might be Finland. Sorry, if I'm wrong. Bathroom doors need to swing out of the bathroom. They can't swing into the bathroom in case somebody slips, falls, injures themselves. That's what I was told in one of my comments. Interesting. But I'm like, even residential. And I was like, okay, that's, I see the logic. It's interesting. We don't have to do that. But thank you for sharing that. Yeah, like we did that for inclusive washrooms in a school because we didn't want to swing out so you're getting now you get pegged by these doors because it's all coming in this common area right and so we did actually a double swing which is cool because it swing naturally inside but if in that case where someone did a student did barricade we could you know come in unlock it push the stop and then swing it back. And you know, it was all good and stuff. It took a lot of planning. Want to patent it, but hey, here we are. we should. Yeah, we got, you know, one minute to wrap up. So key takeaways for AI 25. sleep well before showing up because it's so it's so big. There's so much ground to cover. um Just bring your energy because if you want to talk to people if you want to engage, I mean, if you want to just grab a coffee and roam around, that's one thing but if you want to talk to the vendors, people at the booths, attend some sessions, it's a lot of energy so rest. Get your rest. I think it's been good. I've been seeing the social feeds and everything we went out. You guys went out last night. The vibes been, you know, there. It seems like it's been an awesome success. I have no idea where it's going to be next year. We are going surfing everything. This is awesome. Let's start planning it tomorrow. usually have to beg her to come with me to conferences. you're coming to Diego. She's like San Diego. She's like, you're going to San Diego. uh And we're doing another podcast too. On the beach. yeah, we can do it. The sand, the waves. That's my whole... That is in no way detrimental to your equipment. It'll be fine. It's hardly. bring a table, just folding table like this. Zinc on our noses. Yeah, we'll do the whole thing. And maybe we'll change the name of like what the RFI for one episode to like something or Beach Edition or something. Figure it out. We got to hear the brainstorm. We got it. Yeah. That's awesome. Awesome. Well, thank you. Quick plug. Where can we find you again? So personally, Dory.Azar.Architect on socials. I also rep R.I.B. spec link. We've got a booth here as well for your spec writing needs. But yeah, just Google my name and pretty easy to find. No, any crazy social feeds, any little side things. So yes, I do have Instagram. It's dr. Nadia Azar and I the work I do I'm a professor of kinesiology at the University of Windsor and I do research on rock stars specifically drummers. Yeah, she's got maybe maybe one of the coolest hustles going. Yeah, we should have just talked about that today. Yeah, we got to expand this. you're if you're in the music industry and want to expand the drummer related injury thing. Sports science and ergonomics for drummers. Yeah. So drummers are athletes, man. our athletes. That's so cool. Part two. right. Absolutely. Awesome. We got to wrap this uh up. Likewise. Thank you so much for doing this. This was such a pleasure. but I don't think has. for having me on even though like nothing to do. is the beauty dynamic that we did. I love it. This is so. Something really cool is going to come out of this. Maybe it's like a conference dating app or maybe it's cheaper to marry an architect. don't know. Something's coming. Once the dust settles here, something good's coming. I'll schedule that one really soon because I think that one would be just good in general. Absolutely. Let's do it. So architects keep designing and contractors, if you're here, keep making those blueprints reality. We'll see you on the next one.