Life of an Architect

Life of an 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. A small firm owner, architect, and college design instructor, co-host Andrew Hawkins brings his insight from his 20 years in various roles within the profession. It responds to the public 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. To learn more about Bob, Andrew, and what life is like as an architect, please visit Lifeofanarchitect.com

Episodes

EP 174: Dear Future Architects …

April 21, 2025 • 71 mins
There are bits of advice that one collects over a 30 year career and when given the chance, some are worth passing on to those who care to listen. While this could have been a lessons from my father sort of episode, we decided to keep things focused on those of us who either are, or want to be, architects, and we are going to pass along a handful of things that we wish we had known at the start of our careers. Welcome to Episode 17...
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Ep 173: Mentorship Matters

April 6, 2025 • 58 mins
Mentorship turns confusion into clarity, builds confidence, and connects you with people who help you grow faster than you ever could alone.
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EP 172: A Week in the Life of an Architect

March 23, 2025 • 66 mins
Most people have no idea what I do for a living, and to be honest, most of how I spend my time doesn’t look like the things I did when I was in college. Have things gone terribly wrong for me? What about Andrew? I’m pretty confident that his role as an architect is different than how he imagined it to be … and I think that this is all okay. It should be an interesting conversation, and possibly a mandatory exercise, to find out how...
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Ep 171: The IQ of an Architect

March 9, 2025 • 53 mins
Being an Architect is difficult and there is plenty of evidence that this is not a vocation that is suitable for everyone. The coursework you will take in college is all over the place – from the drawing and design classes to physics and upper level math requirements, you seem to have to be both an artist and a scientist to go down this path. This begs the question, Just how smart do you need to be in order to become an architect? ...
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Ep 170: Architecture School versus the Real World

February 23, 2025 • 68 mins
There is a moment of realization that occurs when you get your first real job in an architectural office that maybe architecture school and what is now going to be expected from you are a little out of phase with one another. Are you prepared, do the differences matter, and what happens when you come to the conclusion that your job and almost everything you have experienced so far based on your time in college, seem so different. H...
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Ep 169: Architecture Studio

February 9, 2025 • 64 mins
The act of creating architecture is a fairly unique process and the manner in which you learn how to think both creatively and technically is a skill that requires certain training and nurturing to develop. When young and eager architects in training head off to college, this development will take place in the architecture studio. This is a topic that – shockingly - we haven’t pointedly discussed on the podcast before and today, th...
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Ep 168: Architectural Career – Is It Worth It

January 26, 2025 • 65 mins
Building upon our last episode when we discussed the path we have taken to get where we are, how unpredictable and in some cases, how circuitous that path can take, what we didn’t really talk about was if the journey was what we wanted. It’s all fine and dandy to look back and make lemonade from lemons, but now that we are decades into our careers as architect, there is another question we want to ask … Episode 168: Architectural C...
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Ep 167: How Did We Get Here?

January 12, 2025 • 70 mins
It is the start of a New Year, everything still smells fresh and most things looking forward are theoretically in place for an amazing year … at least I think so. Since it is first podcast episode of 2025, today’s conversation is more of an introspective look into a career and just how bad or good things have gone over the last 30+ years. While this is not a look into my own personal diary, it should provide you with a framework wh...
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Ep 166: 2024 Yearapalooza

December 15, 2024 • 59 mins
December 2024, and Andrew and I find ourselves in front of the microphone for the final time until 2025 – from my perspective a mere 28 days away. It is the annual state of the state address where we look back at all the interesting bits and pieces covered over the last 12 months while providing a sneak peak at the adventures to come in 2025. . …  Welcome to EP 166: 2024 Yearapalooza. [Note: If you are reading this via email, clic...
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Ep 165: 10 Myths about Architects

December 1, 2024 • 56 mins
We’re going to explore some of the most common myths about architects and peel back the layers to reveal what this profession is really about.
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Ep 164: Holiday Gift Guide for Architects

November 17, 2024 • 75 mins
It’s almost that gift-giving time of the year and if you have an architect in your life, you know that getting them a gift is possibly among the most agonizing experiences possible – but that’s why we’re here. Now in its 15th consecutive year, Life of an Architect is putting out the increasingly difficult yet still definitive gift guide for architects so that you don’t have to figure these things out completely by yourself. Welcome...
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Ep 163: Architectural Wanderlust

November 3, 2024 • 67 mins
One of the most enjoyable activities is traveling on vacation – at least for most people, but it takes a special sort of individual who actually loves to plan the activities when it comes to traveling. I know I don’t love it, but I am also willing to admit that I have opinions on where to go and what to see. Today we are going to have a conversation where wanted interest and unwanted responsibility intersect. …  Welcome to EP 163: ...
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EP 162: Objects of Design

October 20, 2024 • 62 mins
Some things are cool – even if you don’t know it yet. Andrew and I have prepared some stories today about some things you are probably familiar with but probably don’t actually know the whole story. We have each selected two things and we are going to share with you what we believe are some amazing stories …  Welcome to EP 162: Objects of Design [Note: If you are reading this via email, click here to access the on-site audio playe...
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Ep 161: Wow Moments

October 6, 2024 • 60 mins
It happens on every project – sometimes you know exactly what it is because you had a hand in bring it into existence. Other times, you might be visiting the work of another architect, or really, you could just be going to a nice restaurant … but if you look around, you can always find that something special that seemed to get just a little more attention than the rest of the project. Andrew and I are going to dive into this idea a...
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Ep 160: Determining Value

September 22, 2024 • 68 mins
When I say the word “value”, the meaning that typically comes to mind is generated by that persons position or context. Andrew and I were having a chat about how employees think of value versus how employers think of value and is there a disconnect between these two groups that should be concerning? Welcome to EP 160: Determining Value [Note: If you are reading this via email, click here to access the on-site audio player] [hoops ...
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Ep 159: Ask the Show Fall 2024

September 8, 2024 • 67 mins
It is time for the second and last installment of the Life of an Architect “Ask the Show” episode for 2024. Once again, as is our practice we solicited questions to be submitted through our Instagram channels and selected as many as we thought we could reasonably get through in the time allocated for the show. If there were duplications, that simply made that question more likely to get answered. All this and more on today’s episod...
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Ep 158: Architects and iPads

August 25, 2024 • 68 mins
For architects, todays post is a analysis of why you want to use an iPad and what applications are worth your consideration and money.
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Ep 157: Project Constraints

August 11, 2024 • 68 mins
You sit down at your desk, you turn your computer on, maybe you sharpen your pencils, you lay out your rolls of trace and your sharpie pens – whatever your creative process - and you are about to start work solving the problems at hand … But where do you start? Sitting before you are all the normal tools and a big fat blank piece of paper. This is a moment where you have to make a make a decision on what happens next. Where do you ...
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Ep 156: Build a Better House

July 28, 2024 • 74 mins
We are discussing residential projects that focus on incorporating high value building science techniques with guest Steven Baczek.
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Ep 155: Optimism

July 14, 2024 • 55 mins
The vast majority of practicing architects view the time spent practicing their craft as a calling, but what happens when you don’t want to get out of bed? Today we discuss the role of "optimism" in architecture.
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