Architect Approved Gift Guide 2025

A gift guide is basically an edit. In a small way it’s similar to what we do for our clients. They come to us with near infinite possibilities and we design + curate the best options. Both require understanding the context, weighing the options and choosing the thing that will actually serve the person on the receiving end. The scale and stakes are different, but the idea is the same.

Here’s this year’s edit. Enjoy…

home + studio

  • FullSwing Wood Clothespins, Set of 2 ($35). These are absolutely a splurge, but I think that’s part of what makes a gift interesting + unique. Thirty-five dollars for two clips sounds absurd until you pick them up. They work anywhere: kitchen (coffee bag), dining table (napkins), studio (papers/sketchbook), books (page marker)… and they’re the kind of small, well-crafted everyday object that reminds you why well-designed things matter.

  • Woodrow Trash Can ($35) Only an architect would care this much about a basic necessity, but now that I have a fully empty nest this year, I’ve been making a lot of small interior upgrades. So, I finally trashed the old gray plastic Ikea waste pails in favor of these. They’re made of wood with clean lines, integrated handles and they’re available in five colors (I chose the gray) and each has a natural clear finished interior. Good design isn’t just about what you see, it’s about how you live. You might even use this as a packaging to hold another object from the list inside, nesting-doll-style.

  • Drehgriffel pencil ($34.50) - My personal pick is the Rising Sun color way. Solid aluminum barrel, twist mechanism, 0.7mm HB lead and an impossible name to pronounce. Needs more vowels or a nickname I think… the “Dre”? Whatever you call it, it’s super stylish and has a nice weight and balance in the hand.

  • Cast Iron Candle Stand ($161) I love the contrast between the small tea light this is designed to hold and the uber-heavyweight cast iron presence of the object. Heirloom quality, it’s made by the Suzuki family who have been casting iron for 16 generations! It’s a perfect cube: 3.2”x3.2”x3.2” and the minimalist design can fit nearly any decor.

  • Hawkins New York Oversized Throw ($198) A throw is an easy gift for designers because it adds texture and warmth and can introduce color (see the mustard option) in a controlled, reversible way. A simple object that improves any room without demanding attention.

  • Hay Wall Clock ($90) Jasper Morrison designed this clock taking inspiration from the institutional clocks found in schools and train stations, stripping them to their essentials. Simple, but not boring, with a neutral face and a single red seconds hand. Comes in four color-ways. MOMA Design Store has the table version if you prefer and if you have a hard time finding the wall mounted version in the US, the Braun Wall Clock ($66) is a close second (see what I did there?)

  • Folded Onion Ornament ($12) As a Gen-Xer, I grew up with paper honeycomb decorations for every holiday and my mother still has boxes full of them. The Lost Kitchen variant linked here is slightly elevated with the black leather cord. If you want multiples, Amazon has many options, search “neutral” to remove the glitter-fest that may ensue.

  • Skandinavisk Skog ($39 - $55) As designers, we appreciate all dimensions of space, we have five senses after all. I don't recommend tasting this, but the smell will remind you of fresh air and a pine forest. I like the room spray version best, Amazon has the scent diffuser.

  • BLANK Sketchbook or TRACE sketchbook (bonus pick, not pictured) - All designers keep a sketchbook. These are trusty favorites designed + manufactured by 30X40, which means you’ll be supporting an independent creator instead of a multi-national corporation, which I especially appreciate!

gadgets + tools

  • M.R. Tape Dispenser ($68) - The pressure is on when you gift something as a designer. This one delivers: a precision-machined stainless steel tape dispenser that works as well on a desk as it does mounted to a wall. Minimal, functional and quietly clever. A small upgrade to a tool everyone uses but rarely thinks about.

  • Plaud Note ($127) - Taking notes while trying to run a meeting or give a site visit your full attention is almost impossible. You either focus and miss details or write everything down and lose the meat of the conversation. This is a tiny AI voice recorder that attaches to your phone and captures the entire discussion in real-time. It then transcribes it and summarizes everything via the Plaud app. No more note taking! Use it in the field, in the studio or on calls… a pocket-sized assistant with perfect recall.

  • Trusco T-190 Toolbox ($20) I like the matte black, but there are other colors available too. You’ll appreciate this if you believe studio storage should be more than an afterthought. It’s a compact, pressed-steel box made in Japan, stackable, durable and beautiful yet made for everyday use. For storing and organizing: pens, pencils, tape measure, ink, lead, cleaning cloths, stationery, charging cables, etc.

  • Native Union 2-in-1 Charger ($64) Nicely designed, functional dual charger for your phone + AirPods at the same time. It also doubles as a stable stand for calls or reference on your table. Cleans up your desk and it’s super lightweight for travel. If you don’t need the charging and want to go even lighter, consider another personal favorite the Moft phone stand ($32), inspired by origami!

  • Double Admin Pouch ($159) I’ve been buying more leather goods lately because they wear in, not out. I especially like it as a personal item for plane travel, keeping your cables, pens, chargers, meds, cleaning cloth, gum, field notes, flashlight, lip balm and small tools in one place instead of scattered in my duffel. The layout is simple with four open stash pockets and elastic webbing to hold things, and the material only gets better with use. If you have a little more to spend and need more space, the 132 Essential Case Pro ($223) is an upgraded option.

  • Hoto 24-1 Multi Bit Mini Screwdriver ($14) Simple, well-designed minimalist EDC that fits neatly in my admin pouch above. Everything is magnetic and fits inside the barrel of the twisting mechanism. Surprisingly useful!

  • The Serpent Bottle Opener ($38) designed by Chen Chen & Kai Williams, a Brooklyn studio known for their simple forms and quirky but useful objects. Pair it with a local beer (see above) or a set of stone coasters (material samples FTW).

shop the courses

travel

  • Design Hotels ($ varies) For me, travel is more than seeking a respite and a break from routine. I’m always looking for ways to refill the creative well. If you travel this way too, this is one of my favorite sites to browse for stays. Design Hotels curates 300+ independent properties built around strong architectural ideas rather than generic luxury. A stay becomes a chance to study materials, detailing and spatial decisions in context, which is useful fuel for any design professional. See my post on a recent stay in Edinburgh for more details. If you travel to gather new references and sharpen your eye, gifting a stay here gives someone time inside a well–considered environment. You might pair it with this beautiful book, Remote Places to Stay.

  • Orbitkey Hybrid Laptop Sleeve ($80) This pulls double duty as a portable desk mat and protective cover and works well with the average size laptop (like my 14” MacBook Pro ). It has a strong magnetic closure and a built-in mouse pad. Slim, stylish, and made from recycled materials, it turns any desk into a workspace while traveling or working remotely.

  • Yeti LoadOut GoBox 1 ($65) - Every time Yeti releases new gear, I end up wanting it. This is the latest in the GoBox collection (see past years’ gift guide for others). Unlike the Trusco linked above, this case is built for the field. It keeps the small essentials (phone, pen, SD cards, wallet, battery pack, cables, tape measure, keys, signal flares, cigars, just checking if anyone reads this…) protected and organized, clips securely to whatever you’re working from and survives conditions your regular bag will not. A solid gift for anyone who spends time on a job site or working in the field.

  • Lo & Sons Catalina Deluxe Weekender ($108) My wife swears by this travel duffel made from recycled materials, with a dedicated lower compartment for shoes or dirty clothes, quick-access pockets and a sleeve that slides over a roller bag handle. Soft, durable and easy to pack, it works for short trips, site visits or weekend get-aways. My pick is below…

  • Travel Souvenirs. One of my favorite ways to remember a place is to bring home a piece of art rather than a generic souvenir. Earlier this year I traveled to the west coast of Ireland and I found this minimalist print in a coffee shop in Dingle by a local architect with a QR code link to his Etsy shop. Framed in a simple aluminum frame in my living room, it’s a keepsake that’s tied to an enduring memory of a landscape that’s near impossible to capture on film.

  • National Park Pass ($80). Our boys get a local park pass to Acadia ($20) every year in their stocking. I think a national park pass is one of the simplest, most useful gifts you can give.

  • My weekend travel bag of choice is the Grams28 303 Adventure Duffle ($430) - A little pricier, has a wide top opening, large separate front compartment and multiple grab points that make it easy to load into an overhead or seat in front of you and move through airports, on ferries and even works on job sites.

SHOP LOCAL

  • Maine Beer Company - Lunch ($7.50) I’m fortunate to have plenty of local options for beer in Maine. This is one of my favorites. Brewed in Freeport and named for a fin whale first photographed off the Maine coast in 1982, identified by a distinctive ‘bite’ in her dorsal fin. It also works as a perfectly acceptable lunch on its own (I have a great boss)! A tasty 7% IPA, Maine Beer Company crafts everything around a simple directive: do what is right. Pretty easy to support this local business and there’s a fun story attached to each of their beers.

  • Milk & Honey Gift Boxes ($8 - $80) Milk and Honey Kitchen is nearby me in Northeast Harbor, Maine and builds holiday boxes filled with: granola, marmalade, candied citrus, smoky cheddar coins (yes please!) and other small-batch things made in their kitchen. They do ship, but even better seek out something in your town/city. You can always find a small producer making something good: a bakery, a farm stand, a coffee roaster, an artist. Look for the thing that could only come from your place and build a gift around that. It’s more meaningful than something shipped from a national retailer.

  • Handshake Bitters ($5.99 for a 50ml single) This is an easy gift for anyone who cooks or mixes drinks. A few drops in seltzer, a cocktail or even a vinaigrette add depth + complexity. The flavor comes from founder Shahin’s blend of influences, from Persian tea he grew up with to ingredients drawn from the diverse Portland community that he now calls home. Pair it with a favorite cocktail recipe card, a local seltzer, or a simple bar spoon so they can use it immediately.

  • Heifer International ($20 -> $500) Shopping local is one way to support the place you live. Giving local is another. Heifer sends your gift into a specific community, providing training, livestock (cows, goats, bees, etc.) or clean water so families can build stability on their own terms. It is not a physical object, but it sends much needed resources to those who will truly benefit from them. I’ve never met someone who didn’t love receiving this as a gift, especially since most of us have more “stuff” than we actually need.

  • Smoked Maple Syrup ($15) At this point in the list, I’m slightly buzzed and now craving pancakes. This one speaks for itself, it’s infused with maple smoke from wood harvested at their farm. Use it on: seared scallops, baked apples, roasted brussels sprouts, or - here we go again - cocktails! I really should finish the gift guide first…

Books

A few favorites from 2025 (I like to read widely, not only about architecture, see my current + past reading list here):

  • The High Line ($65) - James Corner, Diller Scofidio + Renfro
    This was a stand out favorite book of mine this year (see my blog post). It documents how an abandoned freight rail line in New York was converted into a linear public park. You may be familar with Diller Scofidio + Renfro’s design, but the book details the entire process, from drawings, 3d visualizations, existing conditions, construction sequencing and ultimately the life that filled the park when it was completed. The detailed working drawings alone are worth the price; a detailed case study you’ll return to often.

  • Logo Modernism ($55) - Jens Muller, Julius Widemann, R. Roger Remington
    At its core, this is a graphic design book, but I think it’s a useful reference for any design professional. Architecture, interiors and engineering all rely on clear visual systems, and this book is a reminder of how much discipline and clarity go into effective mark-making. Studying these mid-century logos sharpens your understanding of proportion, geometry and reduction, all skills that translate directly into our daily work. As a gift, it encourages the kind of cross-pollination that can only strengthen a design practice.

  • Magnetic Bookmarks. I might be late to the party on this one, but I never seem to have enough of these lying around. Works well in a sketchbook too. And, if you’re gifting a book you’ve already read, use it to mark a favorite passage or two and always be sure to personalize the front matter! My dad taught me this and it makes me look forward to receiving books from him with a personalized message up front.

  • The Monocle Companion: 5. Fifty Ideas on Architecture, Design and Building Better ($24)
    Living and working on an island in Maine means I have to make an effort to read widely to keep my ideas fresh. Monocle’s books and their website are an excellent resource for that. They cover contemporary architecture, planning and culture in-depth. This one gathers fifty essays and interviews shaped by the Venice Architecture Biennale, from swimmable cities to lessons designers can take from artists. It is an easy way to stay connected to current design conversations and a useful gift for anyone who wants their practice informed by more than what is happening on their own personal island.

  • Explorers’ Sketchbooks ($25) Huw Lewis-Jones, Kari Herbert
    I grew up reading stories of explorers with my grandfather. From Amundsen and Shackleton, to his personal favorite Charles Lindbergh. They shaped how I think about observation and record-keeping and as designers we all keep our own form of field journals. Sketchbooks become the place where our unfiltered impressions inform our work.

    Explorers’ Sketchbooks collects the actual notebooks carried into deserts, ice caps and jungles. You see how these explorers documented extreme conditions with the same tools we use every day. As a gift, it connects adventure + design through the simple act of drawing what is in front of you.

More books

check out Past Year’s Guides for more inspiration:

MORE GIFT GUIDES

Some of the links above are affiliate links which cost you nothing extra but may provide a small commission to me if you choose to purchase using them. Many thanks for your support!

How to Build AI Specialists for Your Design Practice

I’ve been obsessed with cheese lately, so on my way home from Portland last week, I stopped in at the ​Cheese Iron​ (absolutely love this place!)

In front of me was a glass case full of options (see below), each with a hand-lettered name + description.

Now, I know - generally - what I like (washed rind, cow's milk, barnyard-y but not too funky). But standing there, it was a lot to take in.

The owner noticed and said, “How can I help?”

I told him what I was after, he pulled a few cheeses from the case for me to sample, explained a little about each, and... I walked out with 5 to try.

He didn't show me everything because he didn't need to. He was a specialist with deep knowledge on a narrow subject which made him 10X more useful than if he'd just said, "They're all really good, let me know if you want to try anything."

I've been waiting for AI to work like this!

My trip to the Cheese Iron

From Generalist to Specialist

The reality of AI + LLMs (large language models) is they only operate at the level of the context you provide. Without specific context, you get average results and miss out on their true potential to produce PhD-level output in highly technical fields like ours.

This week, Claude.ai released a capability called "Skills" that address this. You provide the expert context and "Skills" serve as specialized consultants that understand your workflows, your voice, and your specific problems. This ensures the output isn't just average, but world-class, executing complex tasks at the level of your most senior team member.

Why This Matters for Design Professionals

Running a design business means carrying dozens of threads at once:

  • keeping projects on schedule and budget,

  • tracking scope creep,

  • recalling decisions made months ago,

  • writing client updates,

  • finding time to market your work—all while trying to design.

Most of these aren’t creative problems. They’re administrative problems.

That’s where Skills can help.

There are three layers when working on any project:

  • Specific Context -> Project Level/Contextual Knowledge. This is dynamic, it changes with each project.

  • SOPs (correct process to get the intended result) -> Independent of context because it’s your PROCESS and you always do it this way.

  • Execution (how it gets done) -> Labor using skills and contextual knowledge to produce results.

In Claude…

  • Specific Context = Projects -> have contextual, dynamic knowledge with custom instructions for specific projects.

  • SOPs = Skills which package your expertise (knowledge, workflows, SOPs and tools). This describes “how you do things” independent of the project context. Skills allow you to call this expertise as needed. The next level is the ability to call external tools to get even more done (this post won’t go into that, but definitely worth exploring as a next step).

  • Execution -> Agents… these could be you, your team, consultants, or even AI Agents (coming soon!)

Having used it quite a bit this week, I came up with a framework you can use to identify "Skills" that might be worth building for YOUR practice.

Framework

Filter 1: The Time Audit.

Track one week. What takes the most time? What causes the most friction? What do you avoid because it’s annoying?

Build skills for tasks you do 10+ times a month, ones you avoid because they’re tedious, or where the delay costs you money.

Filter 2: The Arbitrage Play.

Find where your hourly rate doesn’t match the task.

If you bill out at $200/hour but spend 3 hours doing $30/hour work (data entry, email summarization, spreadsheet analysis), that’s a $510 arbitrage opportunity.

Build skills that handle the $30/hour work so you can do more $200/hour work.

Filter 3: Wish List.

What sentences do you say that start with, “I wish someone would just…”?

  • "I wish someone would just review [insert current fire you're fighting] against my specs and schedules to make sure I haven’t missed anything..."

  • "I wish someone would just help me recall [budget, lighting, plumbing, hvac, material] decisions that were made months ago..."

  • “I wish someone would just turn my [coord. meeting notes, punchlist, RFIs, ASIs, ideas + images] into [narrative, spreadsheet/log, checklist, table + client summary...]”

Those statements are all "skill" opportunities.

Filter 4: Compounding Returns

What gets better every time you add data to it?

  • Project Debrief Skill - Before each client meeting, reviews all communications, decisions, and outstanding items since last meeting. Creates a running brief with critical path items, what’s changed, what needs decisions. Leverage it to create social posts for current progress updates. Gets better at flagging what really matters as it learns your project(s).

  • Estimate / Fee Skill - Catalogue all past project estimates and fee trackers. Use these to compare against current projects. What's high, what's left out, what are the red flags...? Use it to create custom reports and an 'honesty check'... this can actually help win projects for you.

  • FAQ Skill - Every time you answer a client, contractor, or staff member question (“What’s realistic per square foot?” “How long does permitting take in this city?”), it builds your knowledge base. Over time, you get a smart library of answers tailored to your market and experience.

  • Office Standards Skill - Document your SOPs, spec formats, and drawing conventions. Each project can inform and refine the standards. I can't tell you how many times I've forgotten to update my office standard specifications based on new learnings. This could become an office-wide learning repository. And, new team members get instant access to “how we do things here.”

  • Brand Voice Skill - Analyzes your project descriptions, client communications, social posts. Learns your voice and style. Generates new content that sounds like you, maintains consistency across all marketing.

The more you use them, the more valuable they become.

Try it this week:

I think a Time Audit is the easiest thing to test out this new capability in Claude. If you haven’t done one yet, track your time for a week or two, writing down (roughly) what you spend your time doing. You can copy my template if you don’t have one.

Use My Time Audit Template (FREE)

When I did this and pasted the results into Claude to analyze, it pointed out several things I found interesting:

Insights from my audit

Next, you have two options to actually create the Skill, we’ll start with:

The Simple Way

Prompt Claude to create one for you.

  1. Prompt: "I've completed a time audit of my work, create a custom skill that helps me work more efficiently in my biggest time drain areas. Here's my time breakdown: [paste your time tracking data, link to the Sheet file, add a screenshot or your own summary]”
    Claude will now do all the work for you! It will write the skill according to current specs, and provide you with a Skill.md file for you to download. Make sure you name it with the term you want to use to invoke it (for example: name-skill.md)

  2. Download the name-skill.md file that Claude creates to your desktop.

  3. In Claude go to Settings -> Capabilities -> Skills (scroll down) -> Upload Skill -> then, upload the name-skill.md file that you downloaded.

  4. Enable the skill by clicking the radio button.

  5. Test it out!

NOTE: You’ll need a Claude Pro Plan to enable the Skill’s capability, which as of late 2025 is $20/month. I’ve found it to be one of my most cost-effective and efficient employees! Also, because things change so quickly with AI, (they’ve already updated it a few times in the past week), you can always find the most current steps to create your Skills here.

The second way is be much more specific with your prompting. Better prompts = better results. For that method, you can follow this template:

the better way

Copy the text below replacing the brackets with your own details. Then paste it into a new chat Claude.

Prompt to Claude: Help me create a Skill called "[Skill Name]" that [describe the specific task or outcome you want this Skill to handle].

Skill Purpose: [Describe what this Skill should accomplish in a few sentences.]

  • [Goal 1]

  • [Goal 2]

  • [Goal 3]

When to Use This Skill: Use this Skill when I need to:

  • [Situation 1]

  • [Situation 2]

  • [Situation 3]

Required Inputs: Ask me for:

  1. [Input 1 — e.g., meeting notes, client brief, time logs]

  2. [Input 2 — e.g., project documents, spreadsheets, emails]

  3. [Input 3 — if needed, describe any contextual info Claude needs each time]

Analysis or Action Process: For each session, follow these steps:

  1. [Step 1 — e.g., summarize, analyze, extract key points]

  2. [Step 2 — e.g., identify issues, compare against baseline, flag trends]

  3. [Step 3 — e.g., organize insights or recommend next actions]

(Add or remove steps as needed.)

Output Format: Provide results in this structure: [Choose an output format that fits the way you actually use the results—whether that’s reviewing them in Notion, sharing them with a client, or pasting them into a project report. You can also upload documents to use as templates like a spec, RFI response template, meeting notes document, or a spreadsheet.]

Tip: When you’re creating your Skill in Claude, you can specify the output structure in plain language. Try prompts like:

“Format this as a three-column table with decision, status, and next action.”
”Write the output as a short narrative summary followed by a checklist of tasks.”

Some of the output format options in Claude (if you’re unsure of what you want, upload a file and ask it to define the structure)

Guidelines:

  • Focus on [accuracy / clarity / speed / relevance].

  • Always use my terminology as used in the inputs.

  • If data is missing or unclear, note it instead of guessing.

  • Keep outputs concise and formatted for quick review.

Create this Skill so I can [desired outcome—e.g., make faster project decisions, manage scope proactively, maintain clearer documentation].

Supercharge It With Connectors

Once you’ve mastered the basics, you can extend the connectivity with other tools you use in your daily practice. If you work in Notion, Google Drive, or Sheets, Claude’s Connectors let your Skills pull files directly from those sources:

  • Fetch meeting transcripts from Drive.

  • Grab project details from Notion pages.

  • Analyze timesheet data or financials from Google Sheets.

  • Create new specs from a template in Drive.

Once you begin using these, you’ll see opportunities everywhere and each Skill becomes a living extension of your studio ecosystem without wasting time copying and pasting documents.

More Ideas

I’ll close with two more ideas I’ve been working on: a business coach + a life coach skill. Here's how it might work:

Core function: Acts as your accountability partner and strategic advisor by asking the questions a good coach would ask, applying frameworks I've found useful, and tracking progress over time.

What makes it different from just chatting with Claude:

  • Stores my specific goals, values, and decision-making criteria in references

  • Knows my patterns from past sessions (what I commit to vs. what I actually do)

  • Applies coaching methodologies I respond to (not generic advice)

  • Maintains continuity across sessions without me re-explaining context

Potential components:

Scripts:

  • Progress tracker that compares what I said I’d do vs. what happened

  • Pattern analyzer that identifies recurring obstacles or excuses

  • Goal alignment checker that tests decisions against my stated priorities

References:

  • My core values and how I’ve defined them

  • Past coaching sessions with insights that emerged

  • Specific frameworks I use (how I evaluate opportunities, my decision criteria, my definition of success)

  • Questions that have been most valuable for me in the past

Assets:

  • Templates for quarterly reviews, weekly planning, decision logs

  • Reflection prompts tailored to my growth areas

How it would operate: You start a chat, the skill loads your context (current goals, recent commitments, known patterns), then facilitates a coaching conversation. Instead of Claude responding generically, it asks questions based on what has worked for you historically and holds you accountable to what you've said matters.

Example interaction: "Last week you committed to prospecting for 5 hours. Your time audit shows 1.5 hours on marketing. This is the third week you've undershot this goal. What's actually preventing this - capacity, motivation, or is the goal misaligned with your real priorities?"

The skill would know to ask that because it tracked your commitment, has access to your time data, and knows your pattern of setting goals you don't hit.

Would this replace a human coach? No. But it would give you on-demand access to structured reflection using your own frameworks whenever you need it.

Details? Who cares?

I pulled this book on the High Line project in NYC off my shelf this week for some inspiration.

It doesn’t glorify the finished park; it documents how it came to be. The surveys, the early studies, the process + revisions, and (importantly) the construction details.

Those are the pages I keep returning to.

The details show what collaboration looks like when it’s fully realized.

The High Line’s concrete plank system seems simple: modular slabs tapering into planting beds, benches rising seamlessly from the paving, combed joints that provide space for revegetation and allow water through. But that simplicity masks the work of dozens of disciplines reasoning together.

Engineers dealt with the limits of an eighty-year-old steel viaduct, too shallow for deep soil, too fragile for heavy loads.

Landscape architects pushed for a living system that could support weeds as well as native perennials, preserving the self-seeded character of the abandoned rail bed.

Architects pushed for formal continuity with the rail bed, not a generic plaza surface, but something that read as part of the infrastructure.

Preservationists fought to retain traces of the rail line’s history.

Lighting designers had to meet life-safety codes and dark-sky restrictions, embedding custom fixtures in railings and benches because the existing railings weren’t tall enough.

Each problem reshaped the design. Each solution came from negotiation.

The result is more than a walkway. It’s a field where structure, drainage, ecology, and safety coexist—what the designers called agri-tecture. The details turn those abstract ambitions into physical agreements:

  • a joint wide enough to drain water, allow a 4-inch steel track to slip between + enough soil for native grasses + perennials to take root;

  • seating and viewing platforms that double as guardrails and light fixtures;

  • a precast concrete + soil mix tuned to the load the existing 1930's steel could bear.

That’s what I didn’t understand early in my career. I thought the construction details were simply a record of what had already been designed.

But the details are the design.

They show how every discipline, constraint, and regulation was reconciled into a coherent system. No single author could have drawn them alone; they're the project’s collective intelligence, made visible.

That's where the real work of design happens.

Not in renderings or diagrams, but where competing realities meet: budget, safety, fabrication, weather, time... and something that feels inevitable takes shape.

If you study the High Line’s details closely, you can read the entire process of collaboration encoded there.

Most people can't. They see the result, not the process.

Sketch Like an Architect: From Side Hustle to Six Figures

When David Drazil finished his master’s in architecture, he thought he was prepared. Instead, he landed in Copenhagen and entered the job market at a difficult time. He sent out more than 100 applications and received more than 100 rejections.

I remember that same sense of futility after school. You pour years into a degree, imagining you’ll spend your days designing, building models and being creative. The reality looks more like endless detailing, chasing jobs, or being told you don’t have “enough experience.” I’ve heard this story from so many design professionals, talented people frustrated by the reality of practice.

“Every time my mom called to ask if I got a job, it was heartbreaking to say, no, not yet.”
— David Drazil

David did what few of us have the courage to do in those moments. Instead of continuing to knock on doors. He built one of his own.

Discovering a Different Path

While studying in Denmark, he noticed that his many of his peers hadn’t ever been formally taught to sketch. The difference was obvious in crits and team meetings. Where some of his classmates’ presentations came alive, others stumbled to explain their ideas. He realized a skill he presumed to be a prerequisite for professional training — sketching with confidence — was lacking in most.

That gap became the seed of his business, Sketch Like an Architect.

I can relate. When I began creating standards, SOPs and templates for my own practice, I was just solving my own problems. Sharing these online publicly, I received the same requests David did, “Where can I download this?” Over time, I realized just how few of those things which I took for granted as basic essential of practice were available to my peers.

The “MVP” (Minimum viable product)

Instead of being intimated by the thought of building a full-fleshed out business from the start, David began with a small experiment. He shared a mock up for a short course he was developing on architectural sketching on Instagram. He immediately started hearing from his followers asking: “Where can I buy it?”

That question was the turning point for him.

His plan was to include the eBook with the course, but the question made him reconsider launching the eBook as a stand alone MVP (minimum viable product). For the first three days, he set the price to, “pay what you want”. In the first 24-hours, he had hundreds of followers download it. Most chose to pay $0, but some paid $5 or $10 and two even paid $100 (!) for the same exact eBook. He ended that first day with $500 in revenue.

 
“The first day the ebook did about five hundred dollars. Two people paid a $100 for the same PDF most got for free.”
— MVP sales, David Drazil

That moment is familiar. I remember the first time someone bought one of my products, it felt surreal that something I’d made late at night at my desk could be worth something to someone else. Those tiny proofs can help to shift your entire outlook on what’s possible.

Designing His Career

From 2017 to 2019 David balanced a dream job at a 60-person firm with his side project. The leap to full-time came when he and his wife were expecting their first child. They wanted to raise their family in Prague.

That’s a decision many of us face at some point: do we keep following the profession as handed down to us, or do we design a practice that actually fits the life we want?

Since 2019, Sketch Like an Architect has grown into a multi–six figure business with 70–80% profit margins. It runs lean: a VA, a video editor for events, and David. No ads. No big team. Just continued, small, focused experiments, built around his email list rather than social media algorithms.

He’s published numerous books + courses all centered around teaching others how to sketch. Building a product ladder from low-ticket offers to high-ticket coaching he promotes on Instagram and moves new followers over to his email list where 80-90% of his revenue is generated.

Beyond Products

He’s now started hosting two online teaching events: the iPad for Architects & Designers summit that teaches how to use the iPad for sketching, 3D modeling, and project management. He also hosts an annual Sketching Retreat, which last year drew more than 25,000 attendees to learn from 50 expert instructors.

I’ve watched this pattern across many design professionals — frustration with practice becomes fuel to build something more aligned with their vision and what they enjoy doing. For some it’s products. For others it’s teaching. Sometimes it’s simply a studio that chooses to take on fewer clients to build more freedom into their lives.

The details differ, but the impulse is the same: stop waiting for the profession to deliver the career you imagined and start designing it for yourself.

Lessons you can take away:

1. Validate before you build.
In the video, you’ll hear about David’s first course launch and how it fell flat because he created it in isolation. No pre-launch, no waiting list, no warm-up. By contrast, his eBook began as a question from his audience: “Where can I buy this?” The comments on his IG post reassured him there was demand. And creating an MVP was a low-stakes way to test the idea with limited time investment.

I’ve made the same mistake: building things I thought people needed without checking first. And I’ve seen the opposite too: the most successful products I’ve released started as simple solutions to problems my audience asked me about repeatedly.

How you can use this? Don’t vanish for six months to build the “perfect” thing. Share a rough outline, mockup, or even just a question with your audience. If you presell it before it exists, you’ve validated the idea and will be paid to make it. If not, you’ve saved yourself months of wasted work and time.

2. Choose one channel and go deep.
For years, David concentrated on Instagram. It wasn’t flashy, but it built momentum and, more importantly, he directed his followers to sign up for his email list. Only later did he expand to YouTube, blogging and SEO.

I followed a similar path with YouTube. I wasn’t everywhere, and I didn’t need to be. That single channel brought clients, product sales, and speaking invitations. When people tell me they feel frustrated by the “need to be everywhere,” I reply by telling them that depth beats diluted effort to be on all the socials. I personally recommend YouTube because it’s the second largest search engine in the world and unlike IG your content has a long shelf life.

How to use this: Pick one platform where your people actually hang out. Post consistently for a year. Ignore the noise to “be everywhere.”

3. Profit is more important than revenue.
Sketch Like an Architect runs lean, with 70–80% margins. That’s why David can keep it simple and on his terms.

I’ve learned the same lesson. It’s tempting to chase “big” numbers, but a business that looks impressive on the outside can be hollow if margins are thin. Staying lean gives me the most freedom.

How to use this: Run your numbers. Would you rather have a $1M revenue business at 10% margin, or a $300k one at 70%? One makes you look good at dinner parties; the other gives you real options.

4. Honor the season you’re in.
David has two small kids. He doesn’t pretend to balance it all, he calls it an everyday battle. He works from home, gets distracted, but also sees his children grow day to day. The trade-offs are real, but they also change over time.

My season is different. My kids are grown and although I work from home, today my house is much quieter. I’d gladly trade some of this focus for the chaos of having them underfoot again. I told David as much in our conversation: don’t miss time shared with your family, you can never get it back! Today, work-life integration is what I seek but that’s not always possible, especially when you have a young family.

How to use this: Stop searching for “balance.” Set boundaries, accept trade-offs, and remind yourself that every season has its own rewards.

5. Design your career the way you approach your work.
David’s story isn’t unique. I’ve seen it again and again: design pros frustrated by the reality of practice who chose to design a new path for themselves. For me, it started with templates and guides I built for my own practice. For others, it’s coaching, writing, or focusing on a niche project type.

The through-line is the same: you don’t have to accept the profession as it is. You can design one that works for you.

How to use this: Treat your career like a design problem. What constraints do you want? What “program” fits your life? Start sketching out alternative options. It won’t be perfect, but over time you’ll iterate and find the right solution for you.

Interested in replicating David’s success? Here’s your shortcut.

Architect + Entrepreneur Startup toolkit

When I started 30X40 Design Workshop in 2013 I was focused on building a non-traditional studio. I wanted to design homes, but as a creative person with many interests, I wanted a business that would allow me to explore them all. I made a very simple shift in the way I practice and this toolkit explains how you can make that transition too. You’ll learn how to make the same creative white space David did so you can do more of the things you want to do.

It doesn't matter if you live in a city, a suburb or a remote island - like I do - when you apply the principles of entrepreneurship to reinvent a conventional practice model you'll earn more and have more time for the things you enjoy.

Whether you’re just getting started or you’ve been at this a while and you’re not where you’d thought you’d be, you’ll find valuable lessons here. I share what saves me time and makes my business more money each month. The curriculum provides a framework and a set of actionable steps that will help you put in place the systems required to design a business that works for you. You’ll have the freedom to choose what you work on each day, a purpose driving you forward and the time to spend on the things in life that really matter: your personal relationships.

Learn more

Without the freedom to chose what I work on each day, a purpose driving me forward and strong personal relationships I don't consider myself successful. How you judge success may be different. Maybe your metrics are financial, maybe you want to run an international team, or win the Pritzker or travel full-time. There are no right answers, only ones that are right for you. This toolkit give the foundation so you can work with intention, toward goals that matter.

Project Postmortem (Behind the Scenes)

This post is part of an ongoing experiment using AI to help surface patterns hiding in plain sight. I’ve been exploring how to reflect on potential client inquiries and communication habits by reviewing emails sent and received over time.

The audit process revealed some blind spots that helped me improve systems so I thought why not apply the same technique to a difficult project from the past to see if I could learn anything.

I headed into the email archive and selected all email correspondence from a particularly stressful architectural project with hundreds of messages. I’ve anonymized the project details here (I’m calling it "X House") out of respect for the people involved. I printed them as a single PDF and then asked ChatGPT to serve as my ‘business communications consultant’ and help me look for “communication breakdowns, hidden stressors, and decision bottlenecks.”

The goal wasn’t to assign blame; only to learn from the patterns and fix my own blind spots.

Here’s what I learned:

The stress was a result of ambiguity.

The client was hesitant, often unsure, and slow to make decisions. Questions would pile up about cabinet layouts, siding types, energy systems, and trim details. The more they did so, the more the overwhelm set in and clear decisions lagged. When they did come, they often reopened earlier ones (questioning led to re-questioning).

In short:

  • Weeks of silence followed by last-minute asks.

  • Requests for redraws that reopen earlier decisions.

  • Client worry about making the “wrong” choice—without a framework to guide them.

  • Important decisions farmed out to consultants or mystery trusted ‘expert friends’... who didn’t attend meetings but weighed in behind-the-scenes.

There were long stretches of indecision followed by sudden urgency (usually on the weekend when the client had time to focus on the project). It was hard to plan around and taxing as I agreed to ride the same emotional roller coaster as my client.

To be fair, I allowed it. At the time there wasn’t a system in place to say: “this isn’t mine to fix.”

Actual chat excerpt

But there was something else. Reviewing this thread also surfaced how I communicate when under pressure. AI flagged moments where my tone became overly accommodating or vague, where I delayed saying “no,” or softened a boundary that should’ve been firm. Here were some of the communication patterns that created downstream issues (quotes are actual things I wrote, cringe!):

  • Delaying direct replies in hopes the client would self-resolve.
    “No rush on this.”

  • Burying key points inside overly long or overly polite responses.
    “I hope this makes sense, but happy to clarify further or walk through it together.”

  • Offering solutions too quickly, before clarifying whether the issue was mine to solve.
    “I can look into that and get some preliminary numbers if that helps.”

  • Avoiding reminders that a decision was overdue or already made.
    ”Just checking in on this again—totally understand if it’s still in process.”

There were dozens of improvements suggested, here are a few I’ve incorporated:

  • Write shorter emails with bolded action items.

  • Restate decisions when a client circles back. “Just to recap where we landed: we decided on [X] during our last review—let me know if something’s changed on your end.”

  • Respond to scope creep with a simple phrase: “Happy to explore this. Let me check how it impacts scope.”

how to run your own project postmortem audit:

  1. Pick the project. For this example, it’s the one that drained you most. You can also do the same for a great project and use that to refine your acquisition process + client avatar. You want more of those!

  2. Export all communications. Select all → Print → PDF. If you have subfolders: SD, DD, CD, CO, etc. export each separately to give ChatGPT more context. Perhaps everything goes smoothly during SD + DD but falls apart in CD and CO. You can extract those insights with this technique.

  3. Open ChatGPT (or another AI assistant). Use this prompt:

    “Act as a business communication strategist with special expertise in architectural design, construction and documentation. I’ll share all emails from a past project in a single PDF. Help me identify patterns of stress, confusion, or poor decision-making. Be specific and actionable.”

  4. Prompt for deeper insights. Use follow-up prompts like:

    • “Where do you notice tension or confusion building?”

    • “Which replies signal scope creep or boundary slippage?”

    • “What could I have said earlier or more clearly?”

    • “Which of these issues created the most downstream effects? Prioritize them.”

    • “How many times was this decision revisited?”

    • “Was the client ever given a clear, bounded choice?”

    • “Where did I continue designing without key decisions locked?”

  5. Improve your Process. Ask:

    • “What systems would’ve helped here?”

    • “What template or script might I reuse in the future?”

    • “Where did I unintentionally signal I was responsible for something I wasn’t?”

    • “Which messages created more work down the line, even if they seemed fine in the moment?”

    • “What else haven’t I asked that would be important to know?”

  6. Build better Systems. After gathering insights, prompt ChatGPT to help you design new tools:

    “Based on this thread, suggest specific tools, templates, or boundary-setting phrases I should develop. Focus on making communication clearer, reducing decision fatigue, and protecting my time.”

    Then ask: “Which of these patterns are likely to show up in future projects—and how can I systematize my response?”

    Use the feedback to draft:

    • A boundary-setting phrase bank

    • A “pending decisions” tracker shared with clients

    • A visual timeline that flags who decides what—and when

Taking it further

This kind of audit works for any aspect of your life that flows through your inbox. One of the most useful ways I’ve applied it lately is reviewing the last 30 days of sent emails. Export them as a PDF, then ask ChatGPT to look for patterns: Do I delay responses until a problem escalates? Do I soften direct feedback? Overuse certain phrases? Come across as vague—or domineering? Am I unintentionally assuming more risk than I should?

That last one can be particularly costly.

I hope this helps you spot habits you weren’t aware of, and once you do, you can begin re-wiring some of your defaults.

Architect’s Guide to Project Photography

Two days before the shoot, I checked the weather.

Fog. Rain. Maybe some sun… maybe.

After months of planning, a ferry schedule to work around, and two days carved out of my photographer’s calendar, I was frustrated. For a site this remote, there are no do-overs. I assumed the weather would undermine the whole thing.

I couldn’t have been more wrong.

The Setup

The Outpost is a project on Isle au Haut—a small, rugged island six miles off the coast of Maine. There’s no bridge, no easy access. Every-one and every-thing arrives by mailboat.

We planned two shoot days: one for afternoon light and evening shots, and one for early morning. The forecast held true: grey and fog on day one, broken clouds and a bit of sun on day two.

In any other context, that might have been a compromise. But for this site—a place where weather moves fast and unpredictably—it ended up telling a more honest story. Why should I have expected anything BUT changeable weather? These were the conditions that we fought for the years it took to finish the project.

How fitting indeed!

Letting the Photographer Lead

Trent Bell and I have worked together on multiple projects. He trained and practiced as an architect before turning to photography, and he brings a designer’s intuition to every shoot. More than that, he shows up with his own creative process.

When we arrived, he walked the site—alone. No notes. No direction from me. Just him and his camera.

In that first hour, he moves fast, testing vignettes and collecting ideas. Once he’s gathered enough, we sit and review them together. That’s when the real shoot begins.

I carry months of site visits, revisions, punch lists. He brings a fresh perspective. That distance allows him to see things I can’t.

An unexpected Result

One shot from the Outpost has become the anchor of the entire narrative: the dining room, facing the open Atlantic.

The image of the dining room, facing the open Atlantic has become my favorite for the whole project narrative. And what I love about it is: I wouldn’t have taken that shot. Trent found that frame, in that moment, and it came from his lens, not mine.

As designers, we bring too much baggage into the space: we see every flaw, every compromise. We know the story we meant to tell. But that context can get in the way of actually telling it.

Hiring a professional means handing off that story. It’s what we ask of clients: trust the process, invest in the result, let someone else do what they do best.

Most design professionals Document too late

Some skip it entirely. Others approach it too casually snapping a few photos after move-in, rushing through it solo, or outsource it to someone who doesn’t understand the project.

When you’re running a lean business, photography can feel like a luxury you can’t afford. And, when you're juggling multiple projects, clients, contractors and trying to keep the business side operational, documentation rarely feels urgent.

Here are some real facts to help change your mind.

What It Really costs

  • Project: The Outpost, Isle au Haut, Maine

  • Photographer: Trent Bell

  • Shoot Duration: 2 days

  • Weather: Day 1 – fog, Day 2 – sun (this combination turned out to be ideal)

  • Deliverables: 30 edited + licensed images

  • Total Cost: ~$10,000

That’s not a small number. But here’s what that investment returned:

ROI Breakdown:

  • Awards: 2025 Maine AIA Merit Award for Design Excellence + the 2025 People’s Choice Award

  • Press: Multiple features in progress (print + digital). When you enter a competition you’re opening your business up to free press (+ backlinks)

  • Client Leads: Inquiries from aligned, serious clients

  • Ongoing Use: Portfolio, pitch decks, media kits, specs, YouTube, social posts, and course content

All of that made possible by just a few well-composed, well-edited images.

Best practices I follow:

These are the practices I now follow every time I shoot a project:

1. Plan early

Don’t wait until after the client has moved in. Schedule the shoot as part of your project timeline. Better yet—negotiate it into your design agreement. This gives you control over how your work will be seen.

2. Budget realistically

A full shoot—including travel, shoot days, editing, and licensing—typically costs between $5,000 and $15,000+. It’s not a throwaway line item—it’s marketing, recruitment, sales, and brand building rolled into one. Done well, it pays dividends.

NOTE: Keep reading if this isn’t in your budget (yet). There are other DIY solutions you can leverage.

3. Be on site

I attend every shoot: to move furniture, adjust styling, point out frames I’m interested in capturing. I’m not directing, this is a collaboration like everything else in the design process.

I recall a time during a shoot where I suggested he recover the highlights in the sky behind the building we were shooting and he replied, “That’s going to look very unnatural. We’re looking in the direction of the sun, the sky SHOULD feel washed out, that’s how you actually experience it.” He obliged as a test and we compared the two versions. You can probably guess who was right!

4. Hire an Interpreter, Not a Recorder

A good architectural photographer doesn’t just “capture” a space. They interpret what’s there. They know how to edit (we spend most of our time composing a shot by removing things). They understand composition. And they know the audience. Trent trained as an architect before picking up a camera and it shows (case-in-point his love for one-point perspectives!)

5. Put the work to work.

One shoot can drive your marketing for years: awards, press, website updates, social content, email, course material, client proposals. These images do quite a bit of heavy lifting in your business.

6. Fix it in post

Despite your best prep, not everything will align with the story you want to tell. We removed several pieces of artwork in post for this shoot, we removed outlet covers, smoke detectors, and minor details that felt cluttered. Sure, they’re a reality of the built world, but they can be distracting in an image. Landscaping’s another common one. Trent’s editor, Tim, cleaned up more than a few rough patches. You’d never know. Just get the composition correct in camera and clean the rest later in post. Tim, hates that expression BTW, but he’s really good at it.

7. Lifestyle vs. Architectural

Architectural shots capture form and structure—the kind juries and outlets like Dezeen or GA Houses prefer. Lifestyle shots, on the other hand, create mood. They’re what Dwell, AD, or The Modern House look for… sun on the floor, pets (some really love pets), a mug on the counter, the space being lived in. For The Outpost, we planned for both just for coverage.

DIY Camera Gear

Just Starting Out?

Not every project warrants—or can support—a $10K+ photo shoot. But that doesn’t mean you have to rely on phone photos or skip documentation altogether.

There’s a spectrum between DIY and full-service. I’ve worked every part of it.

When I completed my studio in 2016, I hired Trent for my first paid shoot. At the time, I couldn’t afford a full day, so I negotiated a half-day rate. I also purchased a limited number of final images. Most photographers charge a per-image retouching fee, so I was selective—choosing only the compositions that told the core project story. To round it out, I filled in with some of my own detail and interior shots for coverage.

You can build a strategy like that too:

If You’re on a Tight Budget:

  • Negotiate a half-day shoot. Focus on a few hero shots.

  • Buy fewer images. Select only those that best represent the design.

  • Supplement with your own photos. Wide shots, details, context… these can complement the pro work.

  • Style it yourself. Bring props, clean thoroughly, prep every space.

DIY - Architectural Photography Gear List

If You’re Doing It Yourself:

  • Buy, or borrow a good camera (see my recommendations here.)

  • Partner with a peer, two will make this job much easier.

  • Scout the natural daylight + spaces ahead of time. Use Sunseeker to plan the shoot to see where and when the sun angles will be best.

  • Create a shot list beforehand - think wide, medium, and close. Lifestyle + architectural.

    • Tip: Capture photos of the space before moving the client’s personal effects, this way you can put them back exactly as before.

  • Bring styling props (see the checklist below for a few ideas)

  • Capture as much as you can in a full day. Go early, leave late to get both morning and evening light. I typically shoot exteriors at either end of the day, and focus efforts on the interiors during flat mid-day light.

  • Edit your work in Lightroom. Even just a light editing (fixing keystoning, white balance, contrast) can elevate your work above those who just took shots on their phone.

These projects often take years from idea to completion and this will form part of your permanent body of work, your portfolio. The quality of your documentation shapes how people perceive your work.

And, most people will never be able to visit your project. They'll only ever see the image. That single frame might be the reason you get the next job—or the reason you don’t.

So treat it with the same care you brought to the design. Budget for it, make a plan for it, and participate in the final part of the design process: documenting it.

If your work is worth doing, it's worth showing well.

Defender vs. Cedar

30X40’s Photo Shoot checklist:

I create these checklists in Notion, feel free to cut and paste into yours!

General

Cleaning + Maintenance

  • Coordinate with client a cleaning a day or two before (we typically cover the cost)

  • Windex + paper towels (windows always need touching up)

  • lint roller (furniture, bedding, clothing)

  • duster

  • trash bag (helpful for moving clutter)

  • Gaffer’s/painter’s tape, safety pins (for holding things)

  • removable wall hooks (3M Command) for hanging temporary artwork, etc.

Styling:

  • Neutral throw pillows

  • Baskets (as needed, great for hiding cords)

  • slippers / boots (verify w/ client)

  • Black stones in dish

  • wooden broom

  • fruit

  • flowers (unusual are best, avoid: sunflowers, orchids, roses)

  • coffee table books + magazines

  • Binoculars (other relevant gear to set the scene)

  • furniture (pre-survey site to determine what’s needed)

  • pillar candles

  • Oil lamp (choose unique effects, vintage pieces are perfect)

  • wool blanket (Swan’s Island Co.)

  • deer antlers

  • Aalto vase(s)

  • kindling bundle

  • water (glass bottles)

  • artwork (survey what’s available)

  • Consider Room Specific Styling:

    • Study / Office

    • Mudroom + Entry

      • jacket

      • tote bag

      • river rocks for styling

    • Kitchen (see my kitchen makeover for links)

      • butcher’s twine / string

      • black grid cutting board

      • Ferm salt + pepper shaker

      • Orskov glasses

      • mugs

      • herbs

      • hand towel

      • linen napkins

      • Ferm bottle opener

      • Wine

      • Beer (Maine Beer Co. on-brand local styling)

    • Bath

      • white towels

      • hand soap

      • bar soap + dish

      • wooden toothbrush

      • Aesop shampoo

    • Beds

      • Nightstand effects

      • throw

      • books

      • slippers

    • Garage/Barn/Utility

      • Garrett Wade tools

      • leather pouch

      • canvas tote or toolbag

Client Prep:

  • Photo release

  • Communicate arrival + departure times

  • Clean house (see above)

  • Woodstove prep (glass clean, firewood on-site?)

  • Follow-up: handwritten thank you note

  • Review list above to minimize what we need to bring:

    • Indoor scouting shots (verify furniture, shades, etc.)

    • Linens/towels? What’s available?

    • Outdoor furniture?

  • Prep them for what’s to come that day

    • Best results come from letting the photographer do their work independently, so not on-site if possible

    • We will be moving a lot of your stuff, but we’ll put it back (document via staging shots)

Design Moves I’m Stealing from a Stay in Edinburgh

For me, travel is more than seeking a respite and a break from routine. I’m looking for ways to refill the creative well too which is exactly what I found at the Market Street Hotel on a recent visit to Edinburgh.

Unlike the city’s more iconic luxury hotels (The Balmoral, Gleneagles), the Market Street hotel doesn’t try to impress you with a grand entry space. Instead, you’re sent straight to the seventh floor to check in, where you’re handed a glass of champagne and treated to a framed view of Edinburgh’s sandstone skyline via a glazed reception room.

It breaks the frame of travel and removes you from the busy street below which was welcome after a long day on the train to get there. Arriving, you can’t help but notice this modern building’s place in the historical context at the edge of the old and new city (see the second photo below).

Here’s what I learned:

1. Context Is a Design Material

The hotel doesn’t just sit in Edinburgh, it reflects it. The local sandstone façade, narrow vertical windows, and asymmetrical roofline draw from the city’s historic forms without imitating them. This approach, building with history rather than against it, is a masterclass in contextual design. For those of us designing in heritage-rich environments, this strategy is worth studying: decode the language of place, learn from it, then remix it.

2. Restraint Is the New Luxury

There’s little ornament here and little superfluous detail. Materials do the real work inside: local stone, oak, plaster, wool. The full-height interior shutter slides on soft-close hardware across the windows eliminating the need for blackout curtains. This creates a womb-like refuge in the city center blocking out light and holding in the heat (surprisingly effective). It’s also a warm contrast to the cloudy, often dreary climate. Storage is integrated into often unused spaces below the TV, around duct chases and integrated into the mirror (with rounded corners to make cleaning easier).

Mirrors are used as wall coverings everywhere helping to extend views and make this small space feel generous. Slide the shutter closed and a mirror is revealed behind it, a functional detail that makes the closed room feel larger. The lighting is layered (accent, task + ambient) and everything is on dimmers (love this!) The fixtures are familiar, but feel bespoke.

The lesson: you can design with warmth and richness without defaulting to “more.”

3. Arrival Can Be a designed experience

Check-in isn’t in the entry lobby on the street level, it’s on the top floor. Granted that creates an extra step that the greeter who met us informed us of as we entered. However, that in itself was a chance for the hotel to personalize the experience, he asked where we were traveling from, called our elevator and tapped the seventh floor button sending us on our way. In a time when we’re so often face-down planted in our phones this human connection is noticeable (and welcome).

Upon arrival there, you’re greeted with a glass of champagne, a sweeping view of the city’s rooftops and directly behind the reception desk a look at the historical sandstone details of the building across the close (a Scots term for an alleyway). What a strong move to put the welcome sequence high above the chaos of the street in a controlled reframe of the context.

The lesson: re-think the default assumptions (lobby on first floor) in our own work. When we question our baseline assumptions and defaults it’s a chance to break the frame + introduce surprise.

4. Materials make Small Spaces

Our room was compact (see the plan below), but it never felt confined. Oak underfoot in the sleeping space, wool where you’d lean, stone where there’s water or on an exterior wall (Scottish castle references perhaps?) Each choice played a role: softening sound, grounding the space, reflecting light, resisting wear. These choices along with the decision to change the ceiling plane and volume made a modest footprint feel rich with experience. We felt like we were guests in a friend’s home rather than visitors in a hotel.

The lesson: in small spaces, materials can do more than “decorate.” They can carry the weight of the architecture. If you’re designing tight quarters, choose three materials and make each abide by a set of rules.

Level 3 Floor Plan (highlighting our room in yellow)

5. Public Spaces, Privately Felt

The design theme carried seamlessly into the shared spaces. Dining took place on the seventh floor, tucked into steeply pitched, mirror-clad dormers. This had the effect of reflecting both the historic city beyond, the diners within, and capturing views to vistas that would normally be obscured depending on where you were seated. We sat low in upholstered chairs, gathered around residential-scale tables beside an open kitchen. It didn’t feel like a restaurant, more like being invited into someone’s home, with the trust that you wouldn’t spill your haggis on their couch!

This was a space that invited you to linger and, equally, appreciate all the curated modern art on every available wall.

6. Every Detail Matters

What struck me most was how it felt to be in the room: cloistered and private when you needed it, open and connected when you wanted to feel a part of the city. You were in control of the light level, or how sounds were muted, and the materials rendered the space in rich tones. This restraint is what makes it feel luxe.

Even the spare toilet roll had its own leather sheath. I didn't search for a towel hook or a bottle opener, they were right where I expected them. Shelves were plentiful and captured oft-unused interstitial spaces. Mirrors were used to great effect to make small spaces feel larger. Touches like pivoting doors to separate the lav and changing area from the main room made everything feel more residential than hotel-like. Shower heads concealed in the ceiling, low-profile lights right where you needed them bedside, slippers, a fully stocked bar with local beverages, teas and coffee, a local (physical) guidebook, design magazines on the table.

It really felt as if the room was answering questions before I had a chance to ask.

I left with sketches, ideas, and a clearer head. But more than that, I left with a reminder to go out and study the built work of others. Stay in places that were designed with intention to experience and learn from them.

A good hotel will give you a place to sleep.

A great one will change how you see a place.

Resources:

→ Design Hotels - If you travel this way too, this is one of my favorite sites to browse for stays.

→ Market Street Hotel

→ Travel Like an Architect (video)

Recession-Proofing Your Design Business

The tariff shifts. The rising cost of hard goods. Clients hitting pause on discretionary projects.

Even those of us with decades of experience are feeling it. And I’ve been through enough downturns to know: every one of them feels different—and the uncertainty always arrives before the data does.

But panic isn't strategy (not that I haven't tried). What works is staying useful, staying visible, and making it easier for clients to keep moving—even when they aren’t sure what comes next.

I’ve been talking with friends and advisors—many of them in other industries—about what helps in moments like this. One thing came up again and again:

Slowdowns give you the one thing you never seem to have enough of: time.

  • Time to fix your systems.

  • Time to deepen relationships (with past clients, collaborators, colleagues)

  • Time to clarify what you actually offer and why it matters.

Here are 9 small moves that help you do exactly that—so you're not just surviving this season, you're using it.

1. Create a “Decision Roadmap”

Every project, no matter the type, revolves around a handful of core decisions:

Scope. Budget. Timeline. Process. Resources.

You already help clients through these—just not always visibly. Instead of explaining from scratch each time, create a tool that shows them what’s coming: a worksheet, a diagram, or a visual checklist.

Why it matters: Clients want clarity. You want efficiency. This gives you both. It smooths your discovery calls, speeds up proposals, and builds trust—because it shows you’ve mapped this terrain before. Even better: it becomes content you can reuse, teach with, or build into your onboarding process.

2. Lead With Timing—Not Just Ideas

Most clients don’t understand how long things take. They wait too long to start, then expect things to move faster than they can.

Set expectations early:

“If you’re hoping to be under construction by spring, we’ll need to start design by early summer. That means having a scoping conversation in the next few weeks.”

Then use this as an opportunity to guide them (​ideally using a well-designed one like this​). When you explain things calmly + clearly you gain the upper hand as the trusted expert.

Why it matters: Spelling out the timeline now is how you turn loose interest into defined next steps. And in uncertain markets, any momentum is a strategic advantage.

3. Capture the Thing You Keep Repeating

This week, you’ll probably explain the same thing five times. In proposals. In emails. In meetings. Think of every repeated explanation as a tool you haven’t made yet. Turn it into an SOP, a blog post, an FAQ, or even a podcast (​more on how I do this in less than 5 minutes using AI here​.)

Why it matters: When things slow down, it's tempting chase any project that comes along. But the real advantage comes from reducing the effort it takes to do what you already know how to do. Make your current work more efficient and your existing clients more self-sufficient.

4: Watch cash, not just revenue

Revenue lags risk. You can be busy and still be bleeding cash. Start tracking what matters: cash flow, payment timelines, and how many months of expenses you have on hand.

Spend 30 minutes mapping your next 90 days:

  • What’s due, and when?

  • What’s coming in, and how certain is it?

  • What breaks first if nothing changes?

Do it now, while you still have time to fix it.

Why it matters: The more visibility you have into cash risk, the more control you have over what and when to adjust.

5. Stay Present—Even If Projects Pause

Last week, a friend told me his financial advisor emailed just as markets were tumbling:

“Just a quick note to remind you—our plan was built for exactly this. Let me know if you want to talk.”

His portfolio was down 6-figures, but he didn’t sell and what he remembered was the reassurance that the plan was designed to weather all storms.

Designers can do the same. You don’t have to say much. Just let them know you’re thinking ahead. Suggest a smaller step. Check in. Send something useful. Equally, take this time to post, publish, and share to remind them you’re still thinking ahead.

  • Share a short analysis of how your clients are being affected (and how you’re adapting).

  • Publish a case study or outcome, it doesn’t have to be a portfolio piece.

  • Use your expertise to help others make sense of the chaos (i.e. - what are you spec’ing now given the tariff situation?)

Why it matters: Silence isn’t neutral. Staying present shows you’re the one thinking ahead, it’s also what trust looks like.

6. Offer a Starting Point That’s Easy to Say Yes To

Some clients want to work with you, but they’re not ready to commit. If you only sell one thing—a big thing—they’ll wait. Or disappear.

Take the front third of your service—feasibility, concept, or schematic—and turn it into a standalone offer. Fixed price. Clear deliverables. Low friction.

“Before we commit to the whole project, let’s explore what’s possible.”

Why it matters: This keeps paused projects warm. It gives unsure clients a place to begin. And it gives you something to sell when full-scope work feels out of reach.

7. Skill up for Leverage

If you’ve been curious about AI (or something else) but haven’t had time to explore it, this is a prime window of opportunity.

Start small. Choose a task you repeat constantly—writing a project summary, formatting a proposal, generating concept images, summarizing dense code language—and delegate it to a tool that gets you 80% there. There are tons of examples and use cases in this blog post.

Why it matters: Time saved is only half the benefit. The real gain is what you can do with the energy you’re not spending on busywork. AI isn’t a replacement for independent thinking—but it can be a very powerful creative partner.

How I'm Using AI in 2025

8. Publish the Work That’s Sitting on Your Drive

You likely have finished work that no one has seen—projects that were photographed, drawn, or built but never shared.

Take the time now:

  • Add unpublished project photos to your website

  • Finalize presentation drawings and post to your socials or pitch them to media

  • Submit the work to your state’s AIA awards (fingers crossed)

  • Write the blog post you meant to publish six months ago

Why it matters: Marketing doesn’t always mean creating something new. Sometimes it’s just about hitting publish even when it’s not perfect.

9. Clean Up the Infrastructure You Usually Ignore

Most of us patch things together to keep moving—files scattered across drives, 15 versions of your logo (guilty), templates saved to desktops, old invoices buried in folders we haven’t opened in years. This is the time to fix it.

  • Move active projects to the cloud (I use Google Drive)

  • Create a shared folder structure for collaborators

  • Centralize templates + checklists

  • Back up and archive what you don’t need anymore

Why it matters: A clean system makes you faster, sharper, and more responsive—exactly what builds trust when everyone else is improvising.

Final note

In slow seasons, small advantages matter more. Every hour you don’t waste. Every decision you make easier. Every client you don’t lose to silence.

That’s one of the few reliable things I’ve learned from running a business through many periods of uncertainty. You act, the fog lifts a little, you act again. It’s rarely the right move at first. But the movement matters more than most people realize.

That’s how real businesses get built.

Not with certainty. With motion.

AI in my Architecture Practice - 2025 Update

Over the past few months I've been experimenting with AI and discovered something counter-intuitive: the most impactful AI tools I return to each day aren't design-related at all. It's the ones that eliminate the administrative burden stealing my creative time.

I tracked every hour of my work for a month and the results were sobering:

  • 35% administrative overhead

  • 25% meetings, site visits, coordination

  • 20% client management

  • 20% design and production

That doesn’t match how I see myself—or how most of us do. We imagine we’re in the business of designing. The reality is, we’re in the business of everything else!

While everyone's talking about AI for concept generation, I've found it's far more valuable as an administrative partner to help me reclaim some of that 80% (!!!) of non-design time.

Here are few quick use cases to inspire you:

1. Estimate Taxes + Optimize Paying Them

Tax time is closing in and this quarter, I used Claude 3.5 Sonnet to estimate my quarterly taxes for me, including the QBI deduction (that’s a bummer to calculate accurately, IYKYK!) I fed it my P&L and asked:

“Estimate my quarterly taxes, include QBI deduction, show your math, and document assumptions.”

It gave me a breakdown of AGI, deductions, and payments for Federal and State. Then I asked:

“What’s the best business credit card to use if I want to pay this tax bill and get the highest return, including signup bonuses? Factor in processing fees, annual fees, rewards and bonuses.”

It compared rewards, fees, and point value based on my actual spend. I picked one, applied and when I pay my taxes on April 15th I will have earned at least $1,100 in travel value plus some cash back. Now I have a 'tax project' in ChatGPT I can use moving forward.

See the Card I Chose

BONUS HACK: When your new credit card arrives, don’t toss the Guide to Benefits. It’s a dense, jargon-filled list of every perk the card offers—trip delay insurance, extended warranties, purchase protection, and more. I used to ignore it too. Now, I snap a photo or upload the PDF to a dedicated ChatGPT project (mine’s called Credit Cards). I ask it to extract a summary: annual fees, renewal dates, and key benefits. Then I drop that into a Notion page for quick reference.

Even better, I’ve trained ChatGPT to create context-based reminders. For example, when I’m preparing to book travel, I just prompt:

“Act like my travel concierge. Based on the benefits from my [Card Name] guide, what should I remember to use, activate, or avoid when booking a trip?”

It replies with a checklist—flight protections, unused travel credits, which card to use for coverage, and claim instructions if something goes wrong. It’s actually saved me real money. I once left a new iPad on a plane and got it replaced because ChatGPT reminded me the card I used covered theft and loss.

You can do the same with memberships. AIA, for example, comes with perks that are easy to miss—rental car status, product + insurance discounts, even legal resources. Catalog them once, and your future self will thank you.

Other uses + ideas:

→ A. Forecast project cash flow month-by-month
Feed your live Google Sheet of invoices, payment milestones, and planned expenses into Claude or Gemini and prompt:

“Map expected cash flow by month for the next 6 months. Flag risk periods and suggest payment timing strategies.”
It’ll show you where things might get tight—before it happens.

→ B. Identify underperforming projects
Upload project-level budget actuals and ask:

“Which projects are tracking below projected profitability and why? Sort by fee structure and project type.”
This is insight you can act on—whether to adjust scope, schedule, or staffing.

→ C. Optimize recurring business expenses
Dump your last 6 months of business expenses into Claude and ask:

“Identify subscriptions, tools, or services that I haven’t used in 90+ days. Suggest where I can cut or consolidate.”
This is the digital equivalent of spring cleaning—and it saves real money.

2. Meeting Notes That Write Themselves

Client calls, site visits, coordination meetings—they pile up.

I use Granola.ai (you can also use Whisper transcription) to record all my meetings, then I upload the transcript to GPT-4o and prompt:

“Summarize this by (1) decisions made, (2) action items by stakeholder, and (3) unresolved issues.”

If the result is messy, I iterate:

“Now rewrite this as an email to each stakeholder in the form of a follow-up email—clear, concise, bullet points for each decision.”

The real shift happens when you use these meeting summaries to build a dedicated project in ChatGPT or Notebook LM (powered by Google's Gemini). I've started prompting:

"Compare this meeting's decisions to our last three meetings on this project. Identify any reversals or inconsistencies in client requests."

This catches potential scope creep early and provides documentation when change orders are submitted.

In Granola you can chat with any meeting too. I can't count how many times I've left a meeting only to forget the final decision we agreed upon for a minor project detail just a few hours earlier.

Other uses + ideas:

→ A. Auto-generate discipline-specific punch lists
After a consultant meeting or site visit, upload audio or transcript and prompt:

“Generate three punch lists: one for the GC, one for the electrical engineer, one for my internal team. Include photos if referenced.”
Use tools like SuperWhisper, Granola, or Whisper transcription + ChatGPT to pull this off.

→ B. Track design decision history
Feed in weekly notes and transcripts and ask:

“Track all decisions made about the kitchen design since project start. Include client rationale and status.”
It’s building a searchable memory—one you’ll be grateful for when changes come up.

→ C. Polish Design Narratives for Awards or Clients
LLMs excel at improving clarity and tone over multiple passes. Feed in your initial project description, then iterate:

  • Pass 1: Tighten the language

  • Pass 2: Highlight innovation without jargon

  • Pass 3: Match a specific style guide (e.g., “write this like a Dwell piece”)

The more you guide it, the more precise the result.

→ D. Throw your project meeting notes into Notebook LM
Take your project meeting minutes, site visit notes, and any related PDFs or emails and upload them to Notebook LM. Once the material’s in, prompt:

“Summarize these notes into a 6-minute podcast I can listen to on my way to the site. Prioritize unresolved issues, decisions made, and any changes since the last visit.”

Notebook LM will generate a natural-language conversational summary and you’ve got a quick, customized pre-visit briefing—no more scrambling to remember what happened last time.

3. scaling your expertise

I've started documenting any specialized workflows—the things only I know how to do—to make them transferable. For example, I recorded myself on Loom as I completed a zoning analysis for a new residential project. I took the transcript that it auto-generates and dropped it into Claude and asked:

"Transform this into a detailed SOP that a junior designer could follow. Identify steps where additional context is needed. Flag opportunities for automation and suggest ways to simplify or speed it up."

Once I had that draft, I asked GPT-4o to review it:

“Improve clarity, remove redundancies, and make sure a junior staff member could follow this without needing context.”

Now I have a reusable, self-contained + more efficient process I can easily share with a remote team member.Other uses + ideas:

→ A. Document your social media workflow
Record yourself outlining how you take a finished video or project photo and schedule it for Instagram or YouTube. Then ask:

“Turn this into a repeatable checklist with tool recommendations and time estimates. Make it usable for a VA.”
Now you’re delegating marketing without starting from scratch.

→ B. Formalize your proposal writing approach
Document how you create fee + scoping proposals. Feed into Claude and ask:

“Write an SOP for proposal development that captures performance goals, cost review, and documentation.”
You’ll spot steps that can be templatized or automated.

→ C. Create onboarding for new collaborators
Walk through your project folder structure, naming conventions, and communications process. Then:

“Create a ‘welcome doc’ for new freelancers or consultants that explains how to work with me effectively.”
You only write this once. It pays off every time you onboard someone new.

The most powerful addition I've recently implemented is a weekly "meta-review" where I ask the LLM to analyze its own outputs: "Review all AI-assisted tasks from this week. Identify patterns in what I'm asking for and suggest workflows that would anticipate these needs." This recursive learning loop has identified several repetitive tasks I wasn't even aware I was doing regularly.

Start small this week: pick the administrative task you find most draining and apply one of these approaches and experiment from there.

None of this is theoretical. These are small, compounding wins. Over time, they’re forming the backbone of something bigger—until I can think of a better name, I’ve been calling it, Project Intelligence. It’s a system that evolves alongside each project, remembers everything, and handles more of the overhead with every iteration. If you’re unfamiliar with the current AI tools, now’s a great time to begin experimenting.

Model Selection MATTERs:

Not all AI models perform the same. Each one has strengths depending on what you're trying to do. Here's how I choose:

GPT-4o (ChatGPT Pro)

  • Best for: General writing, email drafts, meeting summaries, everyday prompts

  • Why: Fast, reliable, well-rounded. Good at tone and formatting.

  • Use when: You want clarity fast, or you’re iterating on written content.

Claude 3.5 Sonnet / Opus (Anthropic)

  • Best for: Complex reasoning, SOPs, long context (e.g. project docs, transcripts)

  • Why: Structured, cautious, and good at step-by-step logic.

  • Use when: You need it to “think” clearly across multiple steps or large chunks of info.

Gemini Advanced (Google)

  • Best for: Financial modeling, spreadsheet logic, parsing PDFs from Drive

  • Why: Great with structured data and math-heavy prompts.

  • Use when: You’re projecting cash flow, comparing options, or dealing with numbers.

Perplexity Pro

  • Best for: Research, source-backed summaries, trend scans

  • Why: Cites everything. Good for learning something fast.

  • Use when: You’re researching materials, methods, or unfamiliar territory.

Grok (xAI / Twitter)

  • Best for: Real-time sentiment, trends, social-adjacent ideas

  • Why: Built on social data. Can be surprisingly creative.

  • Use when: You want to know what people are saying right now—or just explore ideas.

Bottom Line:

  • Use Claude for structure + logic

  • Use GPT-4o for clarity + versatility

  • Use Gemini for numbers + documents

  • Use Perplexity for citations + research

  • Ignore Grok unless you're very online

Architect to Entrepreneur: How to Turn Your Designs Into Passive Income

Most architects don’t dream of designing warehouse layouts. But that’s exactly where Wojciech found himself—trapped in a corporate job that paid the bills but left his creativity untapped. No ownership, no control, just an endless grind drafting someone else’s ideas.

One small side project changed that.

A simple request

Four years after graduating architecture school, his parents asked him to design a sauna. It wasn’t a big job and it paid nothing. But it was something he could own from start to finish. He documented the process, shared it online, and to his surprise—people asked where they could buy the plans.

He answered putting up a simple payment link and a 17-page PDF for $50. It worked - three sales in the first month turned into six, then ten. A steady stream of income that proved something important: his architectural skills could have value beyond the constraints of traditional practice. He could package his expertise into a product that helped others and profit from it not once, but many times over.

With his idea validated, a business was born: Homemade Sauna.

Two years later, when his entire corporate division was eliminated without warning,  Wojciech had options. If he had bet everything on the "security" of a paycheck—he'd have been left scrambling, desperate, and forced to take the next job that came along.

Instead, his nascent business became his full-time work.

Today, he earns four times his corporate salary selling his designs—without the commute, the meetings, or mindless warehouse design.

How He Did It

In the full video, Wojciech shares:

  • The exact steps he took to replace (and 4X) his salary with digital products

  • His marketing strategy for selling plan sets

  • How he priced his products to maximize revenue

  • How new experiments have led to more business opportunities

  • What he’s doing now to scale his business

And if you want learn more from his path, check out the PDF download below for all the details—his marketing plan, pricing strategies, startup costs, and tools.

Download the Case Study PDF

Interested in replicating Wojciech’s success? Here’s your shortcut.

Architect + Entrepreneur Course

When I started 30X40 Design Workshop in 2013 I was focused on building a non-traditional studio. I wanted to design homes, but as a creative person with many interests, I wanted a business that would allow me to explore them all. I made a very simple shift in the way I practice and this course explains how you can make that transition too. You’ll learn how to make the same creative white space Wojciech did so you can do more of the things you want to do. And, I’ve been selling plan sets since 2014, so I know all the ups and downs that Wojciech speaks of in the video.

It doesn't matter if you live in a city, a suburb or a remote island - like I do - when you apply the principles of entrepreneurship to reinvent a conventional practice model you'll earn more and have more time for the things you enjoy.

Whether you’re just getting started or you’ve been at this a while and you’re not where you’d thought you’d be, you’ll find valuable lessons here. I share what saves me time and makes my business more money each month. The curriculum provides a framework and a set of actionable steps that will help you put in place the systems required to design a business that works for you. You’ll have the freedom to choose what you work on each day, a purpose driving you forward and the time to spend on the things in life that really matter: your personal relationships.

Yes, I want to learn more

Without the freedom to chose what I work on each day, a purpose driving me forward and strong personal relationships I don't consider myself successful. How you judge success may be different. Maybe your metrics are financial, maybe you want to run an international team, or win the Pritzker or travel full-time. There are no right answers, only ones that are right for you. This course teaches you to work with intention, toward goals that matter.

Architect Approved Gift Guide 2024

I ascribe to three rules of gifting (h/t: Van Neistat): thoughtful, nice, and made.

  1. Thoughtful: Shows you've considered the recipient’s specific needs or aspirations rather than grabbing something generic.

  2. Nice: Well-crafted from quality materials with attention to detail in its execution. Nice doesn’t always have to mean ‘expensive’ it’s choosing something beautifully designed + built to last.

  3. Made: Contains an element of personal effort or customization that transforms it from off-the-shelf to bespoke. This could be anything from a handmade item to thoughtful packaging, a personal note, or custom engraving.

Design professionals inherently understand this trinity - it mirrors how we approach our own work. Thoughtful consideration of context + user. Quality in materials + execution. The personal touches that transform generic solutions into specific, meaningful experiences.

If you can’t hit the trifecta, hitting two will still count as a really good gift. A handwritten letter accompanying a carefully selected book (thoughtful + made) can be more impactful than an expensive purchase without personal connection (i.e. - new piece of tech). A beautifully crafted tool with a considered purpose (nice + thoughtful) often becomes a daily favorite.

On to the gifts…please enjoy!

Ephemeral

  • DAOU Reserve "By the Glass" Collection ($45) Here's the perfect example of nice: three precisely portioned (100ml) tastes of wines that would cost hundreds to purchase by the bottle. The Seventeen Forty blend leads with Cab Franc, which I find more interesting than the usual Cab Sauv. In a luxury box, it's just enough to fully appreciate each wine without committing to full bottles. Add your tasting notes to make it personal (made) and you've hit all three principles of gifting.

  • Smoking Goose Duck Prosciutto ($28) Nice + Made: Made in small batches by an Indianapolis curer who's obsessed with process - you'll pay more per ounce than the Italian stuff, but that's what happens when you prioritize craft over scale. The silky texture and subtle smoke prove they know exactly what they're doing. Skip the note on this one and just invite them over for aperitivo. Good company makes everything taste better.

  • Gubbeen Cheese ($22/half pound) My wife and I discovered this at a small shop in Cork, Ireland on a recent trip this fall and I think it hits all three… Nice: small-batch handcrafted Irish cheese. Made: supporting artisanal creators - the Ferguson family has been perfecting this process for generations. Each wheel develops differently based on the coastal weather. Thoughtful: Include a note that talks about how site + process shape what's in front of us, or something witty: "Tasted this and thought of you - it's complex, a bit stubborn, and gets better with age."

  • Concert Tickets ($45+) Nice + Thoughtful: Better than any physical gift - it's a future memory. My wife gifted me tickets to see one of my metal favorites: InFlames in 2025… to make it extra: meet + greet experiences are an option, signed merch, or include a playlist of essential tracks to build anticipation. Gift experiences outlast objects every time.

home + studio

  • DECKED Sixer 16 Case ($90) Nice + Thoughtful: I continue to be seduced by smart, stackable storage, these are perfect for organizing the chaos of practice and cost less than my other favorite: the Yeti GoBox series. Weather-sealed, a smart flip up handle for easy carrying, and the removable tray keeps everything in its place. I use one for site visits, one for a photo shoot styling kit, and one for hauling samples to client meetings. Gift it already organized with a few essential tools or material samples to get them started.

  • Kaweco Special AL 0.9mm Pencil ($38) Nice + Made: German engineering applied to sketching. I've moved to thicker leads lately - the 0.9mm feels more natural than standard drafting pencils without sacrificing precision. The octagonal aluminum barrel has just enough heft to make every line feel intentional. Add a few spare leads to complete the gift.

  • BLANK Sketchbook or TRACE sketchbook - trusty favorites designed + manufactured by 30X40

  • Roterfaden Recycled Paper Stars ($13) Nice + Made: This is what happens when German designers get hold of your recycling bin. They've transformed their signature planner pages into precisely cut stars. Use them on everything from gift wrap to your tree. Because even your holiday decorations should show you care about the details. Alternative made version: raid your own studio’s recycling bin + start cutting.

  • Picofire Pouch ($20, shown below) Just larger than a phone but somehow fits everything - cords, portable battery, pen, lip balm, cards, keys - without the bulk. The 500D nylon and YKK zippers mean it'll outlast whatever you put in it. Gift it loaded with their everyday essentials, arranged just so. Because good tools deserve better than floating loose in your bag. Click below to see all the fun things I load mine with.
    NOTE: if stock is low on this as it’s a small company - you could also opt for the Maxpedition Micro Pocket Organizer.

More EDC

cutting edge Tech

Nice + Thoughtful:

  • Nice → AI Assistant Subscriptions ($20/each per month) My secret weapons for research and writing aren't kept in a drawer. ChatGPT Plus (great for synthesis, summary + analysis) and Claude Pro (shines at nuanced writing + research) feel like having dedicated assistants at my side - they've transformed how I write project descriptions, research precedents, reply to email and even tackle building code questions. AI won’t replace creatives in the future, those who know how to use AI will.
    ”Made” tip: Keep a document of your best prompts and include a card with your favorites to get the recipient started. It's the kind of gift that makes you look like a genius for thinking of it, and the recipient will thank you every month.

  • Nice → Midjourney Subscription ($30/month) Nice + Thoughtful: Not a replacement for design thinking, but a surprisingly powerful tool for early exploration. Once you learn its quirks (Discord is a bit quirky if you’re not used to it), it becomes like having a rendering team that works at the speed of thought. Gift a few months and include a few of your hard-won prompt formulas - the ones that consistently generate useful architectural visualizations. Or, borrow a few of mine (blog link)!

  • + Thoughtful → Prompt Engineering Course. I highly recommend Dave Talas’s course to get them started with a good foundation.

  • Treat yourself to the Start Your Design Business Bundle (this is only offered during Black Friday/Cyber Monday). Also, everything in my digital shop is 20% off through December 3rd, check it out here.

Flat lay of business assets included with the Start Your Design Business Bundle

Get Organized with the Start Your Design Business Bundle

20% off everything

travel

Flighty Pro ($48/year) Nice + Thoughtful: Tracks your inbound aircraft 25 hours before departure and predicts delays using pilot data. Watch where you are in the runway queue in real-time. I appreciate the annual "travel passport" (see above) showing miles covered + which airlines/airports have delayed you most. The email import feature means you're never manually entering flights, and calendar sync keeps your schedule current across devices. At $4/month, it's cheaper than airport coffee and far more valuable.

Peak Design Wash Pouch ($47) Nice + Thoughtful. Leave it to Peak Design to solve problems I didn't know my dopp kit had. The whole thing unfolds to hang flat, every pocket is actually useful, and those magnetic closures make hotel bathroom routines feel intentional. Over-engineered? Absolutely. That's why it works as a gift. Fill it up with some of the Matador items below to make it even better…

Matador Travel Accessories ($10-36) Nice + Thoughtful: Finally, someone approached travel gear like industrial design. Each piece is ruthlessly engineered to pack flat and weigh nothing. The welded seams and technical materials feel like outdoor gear, but the minimal aesthetics work in luxury hotels. Personal favorites: soap case, the FlatPak bottles, refillable toothpaste tubes, + the travel canisters.

Nord Solid Fragrance ($55 - 1 case + 2 capsules) Nice + Made: Stay smelling good on the go with this Dutch-designed natural fragrance. The slim aluminum case (with a magnetic closure you won't stop playing with) comes in three finishes and makes TSA liquid limits irrelevant. All plant-based, refillable (€29 capsules), and they offer a 14-day trial to find your perfect scent.

Proof Merino shirts ($78, Stone black is my favorite) Nice + Thoughtful: The perfect travel shirt exists! Field-tested on countless site visits, long haul flights, unending meetings, and you’ll come through looking (+ smelling) clean. The merino-nylon blend means it doesn't wrinkle like pure wool, regulates temperature in both hot site walks and cold conference rooms, and somehow never feels like technical gear. Highly recommend!

Travel Mementos Worth Displaying. Nice, Made + Thoughtful: When I travel, I skip the gift shop + look for pieces that capture something essential about a place. Could be a vintage relief map like the 1933 Maine one shown above ($170 sold out), a postcard from a tiny print shop in Copenhagen, or a hand-printed textile from a Tokyo maker. The key is finding something that tells a story beyond typical tourist fare. I frame them simply when I get home - these collected moments become a personal atlas of places and projects. Include a note about where you found it and why it caught your eye.

Books

A few favorites from 2024 (I try to read widely, not only about design topics):

  • Unreasonable Hospitality - Will Guidara
    Thoughtful + Made: The former co-owner of Eleven Madison Park on elevating service to an art form. Reads like a masterclass in client experience and attention to detail. I've started giving this to all my business friends - it's changed how I think about presentations and client interactions.

  • World Travel: An Irreverent Guide - Anthony Bourdain with Laurie Woolever
    Nice + Thoughtful: Travel inherently makes you a better designer and we can all learn to travel more thoughtfully, this is Bourdain's unfiltered take on everything travel. The essays by friends and family add layers of insight you won't find in Wallpaper guides. Perfect for anyone who believes truly understanding a place means venturing far from the tourist trail. Include a note about your own unexpected discovery in one of the cities he covers, or bookmark a few pages that resonate (and don’t forget to personalize the first page).

  • Nuclear War. A Scenario - Annie Jacobsen
    This doesn’t fit nicely into nice, thoughtful or made if I’m being honest. However, this is easily the best book I’ve read in the past five years. A sobering look at the infrastructure and decision-making systems behind our nuclear response plans. Through interviews with the military and civilian experts who built these systems, Jacobsen examines the handful of minutes that could change everything. The audiobook is chilling.

  • Soft Minimal: Norm Architects: A Sensory Approach to Architecture and Design ($64) Nice + Made: A minimalist studio addressing the human side of reduction. Through projects across three regions, Norm demonstrates how to create warmth through restraint. The photography alone reshapes how you think about materiality and light. Add a note about your favorite space in the book - mine's their Japanese work.

More books
MORE GIFT GUIDES

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Architect's Favorite Pocket Door Details + Hardware

One of my favorite design devices for saving space in a floor plan are pocket doors. You either love or hate them depending on your personal experience. That's mostly due to hardware. And when it comes to pocket door hardware, there's a big difference between the set you can buy at the big box stores and specification-grade hardware that design professionals use.

In the design of my own home, I chose pocket door hardware based on what I could afford at the time (which wasn’t much). And now, every trip to my bedroom serves as a reminder of why I don’t choose things on price alone. As much as I like them for clean, modern spaces, pocket doors aren’t right for every situation.

When to use:

  • Small Spaces: Ideal for bathrooms, closets, and tight areas where swing space is limited.

  • Flexible Designs: transform a room from closed + private to open + connected.

  • Changing Privacy Needs: Useful in rooms where occasional privacy + limited sound control is needed, such as home offices or guest rooms.

When NOT to use:

  • Renovations: When retrofitting a space, pocket doors can be difficult to work into walls that contain plumbing, electrical wiring, or load-bearing elements that can’t be moved.

  • Heavy Doors: less suitable for very large openings because slab weight make them more difficult to operate.

  • Accessibility Limitations: traditional pocket doors are more difficult to operate for those with limited mobility.

  • Frequent Use Areas: Less ideal for high-traffic areas where doors are constantly opened and closed.

  • Acoustical separation: When a high degree of sound control is needed, pocket doors shouldn’t be considered as they’re impossible to seal.

They do require some extra planning and consideration, this is a checklist I work through when designing and specifying pocket doors:

Wall Framing:

  • Field-build the pocket. Many of the frustrations of pocket doors come from using a pre-assembled or pocket door kits fabricated with inexpensive materials. Site-building the pocket allows the best results. I prefer to frame it using LSL studs + plywood which eliminate shrinkage and warping you typically see with dimensional framing. To secure the plywood, you can either fasten it above the ceiling plane (per the detail shown) and below the finished floor or be sure to use pocket screws to ensure you have a completely flat surface to install your wall finish over.
    Pro Tip: Another quick option is to use 1 3/8” solid core doors for the pocket faces. This saves you the framing work and makes for an excellent flat attachment surface. Works great for standard size pockets but not as well for large or custom openings.

  • 2X6 Partitions. All interior partitions are drawn my plans as 2X6 (5 1/2” actual). This reduces the number of interior wall types, easily accommodates basic utility runs (including radon piping) and allows any wall to receive a pocket door now or in the future. Width-wise this fits: the door slab (1.75”), a layer of 3/4” plywood on each side to fasten your wall finish to, the LSL support framing and buffer space for the door to move freely in the pocket.

  • Pad down the header. In load-bearing walls I always want the header set as high as possible so the GC can build down the pocket with layers of plywood to set the subtrack (see below) at the desired height.

Door slab:

  • 7-ply architectural (1.75”), solid core, flush doors are my baseline standard. I generally spec paint grade (with a Poplar or Birch veneer) as I want the door to marry seamlessly with the room it’s dividing. When cost or weight are an issue, you may opt for a 5-ply architectural instead, but I find that the heavier 7-ply slab allows the hardware to function more smoothly and is a tactile indicator of quality. Heavier doors “feel” more luxe. Whatever you choose, just remember to check the weight (architectural solid core doors are VERY HEAVY) and choose hardware accordingly. Here’s a handy calculator.

  • When scheduling these doors, I always call for an additional 1” of slab width so when the door is closed there’s 1” that remains in the pocket. This helps to minimize sound and light leakage at the pocket side and leaves padding for adjustment and less-than-perfect construction tolerances. Don’t forget to add this to the pocket depth too when you’re drawing the plans!

  • The hardware you choose will depend on the door size, weight and thickness so I like to calculate that for the largest slab on the project in this step before moving on to specify the hardware. I think it’s easier to select and specify the hardware based on the largest door in the project and keep the details and framing heights the same everywhere.

  • One additional consideration: how will you finish the door slab if rooms have different color schemes inside vs. outside. My rule (generally): the exterior (hallway/entry side) wall color will dictate the exposed slab edge color for painted slabs and the interior slab face will match the interior room color.

Hardware:

  • Track Hardware. Hafele make the best pocket door hardware in my opinion. My starting point is usually the Hawa Junior 80/B series. Remember to check the weight of the door slab first! The 80 series is rated for doors weighing up to ~176 pounds. If you’re close to the maxing out the rating, always size up.

    • Trolley design: High-quality rollers and machined aluminum tracks ensure smooth, silent operation. The combination of the minimal clearance (1/8”) between track and door and, the pivoting trolley design allows the door to be installed and removed at any time.

    • Soft Close = Happy Home: Built-in soft-close mechanisms and track stops gently slow the door to a stop, eliminating slams and preserving the longevity of your door, the jamb, finishes and hardware.

    • Adjustable: the real genius of this is the subtrack system (this is the B part of the model number). The subtrack mounts to the framing and the trolley track “clips” into the subtrack after the fact. This means you can remove both the door and the track at any time without opening the wall. Need to adjust the pocket side stop, the soft-close mechanism or spring tension? No problem.

    • Bottom track + center guide. I don’t love the default Hafele floor guide, it looks cheap and it has too much friction (I find). So, I usually call for an aluminum pin painted black to be set in the floor away from the pocket edge (so you don’t see it) and then call for a 3/8” wide rabbet in the bottom of the door slab to center the slab on the pin.

    • Options: The Hawa Junior 80 comes in various weight capacities and configurations, including long throw carriers allowing you to find the perfect fit for your specific needs and ceiling or trim finish requirements.

  • Flush Pulls + Locks.

    • Accurate Lock + Hardware are my default option. They offer a good selection of rectangular, modern flush pull hardware with both passage and locking mortise sets in all the standard US finishes. I also like that I can choose between an exposed or concealed fastener look depending on the project’s aesthetic needs. The edge pull activates with a button push and auto-resets when the door is closed at the strike jamb. There are many others, of course: Emtek, Halliday and Ballie, FSB.

    • One tip: confirm with the manufacturer the finish on ALL the components (edge pulls, buttons, thumbturns, locks, etc.) Some of the moving parts on some hardware are only available in brass. The problem is: when you use black hardware - which is quite popular at present - you may be surprised to find to find that the edge hardware is bright brass and not the black you were expecting. Speaking from experience here!

  • Trim.

    • A simple trim elevation clearly references the details and helps you the designer to visualize how all the reveals will fit together.

    • Every project is different but the detail for this project uses reveals milled into a solid wood perimeter trim which is one of my favorites. Here I used a clear finished white oak for trim; if it were painted I’d likely specify poplar.

    • Remember I said above that I like to keep 1” in the pocket? Well, this means you’ll also need to make the strike jamb and one side of the trim is removable to allow this to happen. I like to use concealed rare earth magnets on the back side of the trim to do this, but you could also use Lamello Tenso clips if you prefer.

    • As you can tell, all of this requires careful opening preparation; a mock-up really helps to work out the kinks beforehand.

    • Pay special attention how the strike jamb and head detail interface with the track. With a removable stop on one side, it’s easy to leave an unfilled gap where it transitions from the strike jamb to the head detail, right at the center where the track stops. Mock this up!

Door details and hardware selections are one subset of the thousands of decisions you’ll make when designing a home. There’s only so much information we can layer on to our drawings. For the doors on this project I have: a full set of specifications, a door schedule and a hardware schedule that complement the drawings. This provide the trades all the details and information they need to build it to my standards and according to what my clients are expecting.

Imagine trying to call out all this information on a plan, a detail or simple set of door elevations? This is why I use outline specifications and schedules on all my projects, to cover all the things I can’t (+ don’t want to) draw. If you want access to my outline specification, and all my schedule templates, click below to download them.

They’ll help you simplify your spec creation, reduce the errors on-site, and help you to deliver high-quality projects. Be proactive and specify these details beforehand, rather than react to changes on-site in the heat of battle where changes are most costly.

download here

Drawing Resources

My love of technical drawing led me to choose architecture as my profession.

I’ve been fortunate to work with and learn from design professionals who share a similar love for the craft of delineation. They taught me the importance of line weight, hierarchy and composition and we shared the belief that our drawings should be as beautiful as they are functional.

In the vein of this year’s theme of Kaizen - continuous improvement - I wanted to share  a few of my favorite architectural drawing resources. Whether you’re a student or a pro, I think you’ll find them invaluable:

Detail in Contemporary Residential Architecture (book series)

Basically detail porn. I appreciate the high graphic standards + varied examples of complex details executed in contemporary buildings (homes, commercial, landscape, cultural, eductional) across a variety of materials: timber, concrete, glass, steel, masonry, etc.

A few of Sean Godsell’s Architectural Working Drawings

Houses by Sean Godsell

Features his construction (and presentation) drawings alongside photos of his - thoroughly modern - built work. The text is engaging and thoughtful and although the construction drawings in Houses by Sean Godsell might not always prioritize aesthetic perfection, they excel in demonstrating a profound technical understanding of detailing and jointing techniques. This functional emphasis makes them particularly valuable for anyone keen to deepen their grasp of how buildings are put together practically and durably.

Construction documents shown above can be viewed online here.

Templates

Sometimes the best way to learn is to actually download and forensically evaluate how other design professionals draw. I’ve made my templates available so you can get set up in less than one hour with a clean, clear graphic style (title blocks, text + dim styles, hatches, title blocks + lineweights). I’ve even made some of my architectural floor plan working drawings (and the lighting + electrical plans) from the Outpost project available for download.

I’ve also made a few instructional tutorials on drawing + my graphic style, here’s a recent one:

Life of An Architect Blog

Bob Borson an his epic blog resource is a fellow architectural graphics + drawing convention evangelist. We both graduated architecture school at a similar time as the profession was transitioning from analog to digital documentation. Our training focused on drawing by hand. This - in part - I think forced us to learn the craft of delineation and sheet composition in a different way. Laying a sheet out by hand for an ink on mylar set is an entirely painful process; one you only want to do once! Which forces you to be considered + efficient with everything you add to the drawing and how it’s depicting becomes very important.

His multi-part series on Architectural Drawing + Graphics is a must-read.

Life of an Architect Blog

HABS (Historical American Buildings Survey)

I’m a modernist through-and-through, but this is a resource even I can’t ignore. Complementing HABS, is HAER (for engineering), and HALS (for landscape) and each is a collection of building surveys from the American architectural, engineering, building and landscape culture maintained by the Library of Congress in Washington, DC.

This is a deep, diverse well of material to study + learn from.

Victoria and Albert Museum (London, UK)

Famous for its comprehensive collection of decorative arts and design. Its searchable archives (unlike many online museum sites) easily lead you to some wonderfully detailed and rich architectural drawings, sketches and even architectural models by some of the masters.

The Getty Research Portal

Access to an extensive collection of digitized art history texts, rare books, and related literature which can be a valuable resource for architectural research.

Detail Magazine

A German architectural journal (quite pricey, actually!) that focuses on the technical aspects of building design and construction. It features in-depth project analyses, detailed construction drawings, and innovative material applications. The link will take you to an issue list, clicking on an issue will allow you to preview approx. 20 pages of each issue.

Architectural Graphic Standards

This is the bible for design pros detailing building materials, construction techniques, and architectural elements through illustrations and technical drawings. I’m including it because - as a reference book - there’s nothing like it. But, for inspiration, I find it lacking. It’s like a dictionary, everyone needs one, but it’s not something you ever read cover to cover.

Vintage manuals

The image above is from the "Vintage Mechanics Vest Pocket Reference Book, Wolfe & Phelps, 1943." My grandfather, a machinist, left me this as part of a large collection of manuals. What's remarkable about these pocket guides is the necessity for clear, well-composed drawings due to their small size, 3”x6”. This constraint meant the information had to be concise, carefully considered, and often used keynotes for further details on subsequent pages. Notice the use of white space—it's important! Through minimal linework and strict graphic standards, these guides effectively delivered comprehensive information with exceptional clarity.

Online Plan Rooms

Google “your state” + “plan room”. You may or may not have to create an account depending on the jurisdiction but you’ll have access to all projects currently out to bid. These can be good for learning the depth of information we show on documents, but please note that some of the sets I’ve seen leave a lot to be desired in terms of graphic clarity. Larger cities will have higher throughput, like this one.

Kaizen in 2024

I don’t know about you, but I bristle at all the, “New Year, New You” post-holiday admonishments we hear every new year. As if we have to completely reinvent ourselves to make any kind of progress.

Typical new year resolutions set aggressive goals (tripling revenues, more projects, better clients, etc.), then force you to make equally major changes to achieve them.

It may feel like the ‘right thing to do’ as the CEO vision-casting the year ahead from your studio desk in early January. But in my experience, all too often it ends in burnout, frustration, and failure. By February you’re back to old habits, grinding it out, doing what you’ve always done.

I believe you can achieve more each year by focusing on small, continual improvements.

Improve what’s already working and gradually upgrade and phase out the things that aren’t.

The Japanese call this Kaizen, a practice of making continuous, incremental improvements in processes, products, and services. The goal is to enhance efficiency, quality, and overall performance gradually over time.

It’s similar to Apple releasing an update to iOS. They don’t throw out the entire code base and start over, they release patches and updates to fix bugs, add features and plug security vulnerabilities.

Instead of making major changes every January, I keep the word Kaizen at the top of my Notion dashboard and it’s become a guiding principle for the business. Think of all the small improvements you can make each week and implement a daily routine for checking them off your list. It’s easy and it’s attainable.

The Pareto principle can show you where to start.

The Pareto Principle, also known as the 80/20 rule, can help you prioritize your efforts for maximum impact. The principle suggests that roughly 80% of the effects come from 20% of the causes.

  • 80% of your revenues will come from 20% of your clients.

    • Implement a referral system to access their network to bring in new leads or ask about their next project (ready to start on that guest house?, brand new ADU incentives in '24, etc.) Keep it simple.

  • 80% of your new clients will come from 20% of your marketing.

    • What top-of-funnel activity can you do each day to find new (+ better clients)? One social post a day: maybe a sketch each morning posted to IG?

  • 80% of your challenges are coming from 20% of something in your career or business (i.e. - not enough work or revenue, client X is terrible to work with, collaborator Y takes all my time, boss Z is a micromanager)?

    • Focus your efforts on these critical issues first. Take small steps each day to make the change you’re seeking.

Small changes aren’t nearly as exciting as, “Triple my revenues this year.” But, they can be more impactful because they compound over time. If you invest in ‘average’ index funds, you know this to be true:

 
 

So to get more done in 2024 here’s an 80/20 challenge for you: what's something you're going to apply Kaizen to this year?

If you don’t know where to start, think about all the systems and processes you rely on each day but are repetitive and take time to execute. Formalizing your SOPs, creating branded templates and processes are table stakes for achieving bigger things with less overwhelm and higher profit margins.

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Here’s a few examples:

Create presentation templates for client meetings. Do you search through the countless project folders to find a presentation you can cannibalize? I used to do that. Now I use pre-formatted templates when I need to prepare for a presentation. I have one for hardware + fittings, lighting fixtures + devices, interior + exterior material palettes, plumbing fixtures and just last year a new one for interior design + furnishings. The fonts are preset and my branding is there, so I simply paste in images of the relevant products and compose the presentation. I can export it as a PDF and then send it to the client after the meeting for their review and comment. A consistent look across all my documents is a professional deliverable that commands a professional fee.

Do you spend a lot of time answering prospective clients’ questions? Create a simple document that answers the most common questions you know every new client has. Talk about your process, your fee structure, and how long a typical project takes to design. This positions you as the expert, builds trust and allows those who aren’t a good fit to self-identify. Net effect: it reduces hours of back-and-forth answering the same rote questions everyone asks.

Get Your Access

There are more of course and a few small improvements made each week will net massive results by the end of the year. If you’d like to shortcut the process, I’ve packaged up and included these documents in my Startup Toolkit, designed exclusively with the needs of design professionals in mind. Field-tested, beautifully designed and curated and on-sale through this Sunday (1/28/2024).

Architect Approved Gift Guide 2023

This year’s curated list of gift ideas is - in part - influenced by my shifting perspective having recently turned 50. Do you sense a theme? Please enjoy!

EDC

More EDC

Ephemeral

  • Wine. You don’t have to be an expert to appreciate how a nice bottle of wine shared amongst friends connects past + present. It’s impossible not to savor both in the moment. Really loving Cabernet Franc single varietals lately.

  • Pair it with this book, Wine Folly The Master Guide for an accessible deep-dive into tasting.

  • Experiences. Things wither and fade, the memory of shared experiences persist.

    • To celebrate our milestone birthdays, my wife and I along with some friends splurged on a trip to the French Laundry in Yountville, CA. Touring Snøhetta’s addition to the original structure alone was worth the price of admission.

    • Side trip to Paso Robles for a Cave tasting at Eberle Winery (lower left). With more than 250 wineries and tasting rooms to choose from you won’t leave thirsty.

    • My wife and I love combining shows + travel: Pantera, LoG, Megadeth, InFlames…these are just a few of the shows we took in this year. More in the queue for 2024 as we become empty nesters.

  • Die with Zero by Bill Perkins is a great read to accompany this category.

    “The utility of money changes over time, and it does so in a fairly predictable way: starting sometime in your twenties, your health very subtly starts to decline, causing a corresponding decline in your ability to enjoy money. The ability to enjoy experiences based on health is limited as everyone's health declines with age.”

Tech

  • DJI Mini 4 Pro Fly More Combo - Integrated screen on the controller is a massive upgrade from the Gen 1 model I started with.

  • Procreate - Intuitive, beautifully minimal UI, effortless and so close to the real thing you may throw out your old sketchbooks.

  • 11” iPad Pro (128GB) Sketching on glass was hard to get used to. Now, I use it every. single. day.

  • Procreate Custom Canvases - Blueprint canvas shown with my custom “Prismacolor pencil” brush

  • AOIKTYE Keyboard for Procreate - use with Procreate to speed up your workflow.

  • Black Stylus for iPad - Because…black, IYKYK

  • Sketchboard Pro - a larger surface for your hand to rest while you’re sketching and allows you to actually sketch to the edge of the iPad rather than zoom/pan. The angled surface improves ergonomics and saves your back, no more hunching over your desk.

  • Insta 360 Camera (One X2 shown, $299) Incredible time saver for site walk-throughs and documenting interior spaces at the rough-in stage. Makes it easy to reference later when you find yourself asking, “Where exactly did they run that plumbing line?”

Storage

Smart, beautifully designed storage is my guilty pleasure. I’m sure I don’t need any more boxes or trays to store or organize things in, I just can’t seem to help myself.

Books

A few favorites from 2023 (architecture + non-architecture):

More books

Art

Collecting and consuming art always fills the creative reserves and tops my list of things to do when traveling.

  • Tom Hegen - Exploring the relationship between man and nature from above. I’m lucky to own one of his framed prints.

  • Letterpress Anything - I try to support craftspeople practicing this dying craft.

  • I Know Joshua Smith - Miniatures: cool. Urban + industrial decay: cool. Miniatures depicting urban industrial decay = irresistible.

  • Drawing for Food Auction - Drawing for Food is an online auction that sells architect-made drawings to fund Toronto groups supporting people facing homelessness, food insecurity, and housing instability, with global submissions. Very short bidding period each year, usually ends the first week in December.

MORE GIFT GUIDES
Flat lay of business assets included with the Start Your Design Business Bundle

Get Organized for 2024 with the Start Your Design Business Bundle

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Architecture School in a Box

Before I enrolled in architecture school in the late summer of 1991 (has it been 32 years?), I received a long list of “required tools + supplies” from my university. As it turns out, I spent a lot of money on things I never used. As architecture schools greet new students this fall, I thought it would be fun to revisit that list of “must-haves” after having practiced architecture for 30 years. What’s stood the test of time in my practice? If I had go to architecture school again, this is what I’d bring.

Storage

I’ll admit, I’m a sucker for everything Yeti makes and their GoBox 30 is no exception. It’s just about perfect for studio storage with an included removable tray and a center divider to subdivide the 11”W x 18”L x 9” interior. Left undivided it can handle all the irregularly shaped tools and supplies we’re about to fill it with. It’s large enough to hold all your supplies, but it’s small enough that it’s still portable. Just under the lid there are three mesh pouches, Yeti calls this the ‘pack attic’ which adds another layer of organization to the box for storing a tablet, a laptop and sketching tools. The lid has eyelets so you can lock it to your studio desk.

I know this will last a lifetime, but there are certainly cheaper options and you might opt for a tool chest or tackle box as a lower cost alternative; they just won’t hold quite as much stuff.

download the free resource

(pre)Design

Before we can begin design we start with a period called predesign where we understand the design problem and conduct research. So, first on my list is a camera to document existing site conditions, for precedent studies, travelogues, and later for documenting construction progress. A wide angle zoom lens is versatile enough to capture both exterior and interior spaces as well as details. I find using a camera improves my visual acuity, it sees things in a way I’m not able.

Next, a 25’ tape measure is a tool I use in practice every day. As I’m drawing I use it to gauge how tall or wide an element should be, to measure existing spaces and structures, I use it in client meetings to show mounting heights, and on-site to verify dimensions. Understanding scale and proportion are key skills we rely on in this profession, a tape will help you learn to become spatially and dimensionally aware.

The essential reading and research in architecture school these days is all done digitally. But as you progress, you'll want to build a reference and an inspiration library. And I just like having physical books nearby as I'm designing, and I use them to reference details and standards during the design process.

Essential Architecture Book List

Design

“Sketching is thinking,” as they say and initial concept development (for me) always happens in my sketchbook. You want a sketchbook that fits easily in your hands, something that's portable so you’ll always have it with you. I like a wire-bound one because it lays flat on the desk and choosing one with a grid allows you to sketch to scale by assigning each grid a unit of measurement.

Your sketchbook is where you document all of your ideas and of course, you'll need pens and pencils to do that. For ink, I use three pens: for thick lines I like the Pentel Sign Pen, for medium lines it’s a Sharpie Ultra Fine, and for thin lines, I like the Pilot Precise V7 and V5.

I prefer to sketch in graphite, the Kuru Toga remains my all-time favorite. It has a geared mechanism at the tip that twists the lead as you write so you always have a sharp point. Don’t forget to throw in some extra leads and some erasers. A small click eraser is great for precisely erasing things on the page.

If you want to add a splash of color to your drawings, it's nice having some colored pencils (I like Derwents) and markers for shading and shadow. Copic markers are the premium choice because they’re alcohol-based they allow you to blend on page. When you're choosing colors for all of these, choose things that match with architectural materials (wood, metal, glass, stone) or site colors (vegetation, etc.) - browns, greens, yellows, and blues.

I keep everything orgranized in a pencil case, my current favorite is made by Bellroy. The seaming allows it to lay flat and propped open on your desk, and the loop allows you to hook it to your backpack easily, grab and go.

You also want to pick up a few rolls of tracing paper. This is just an inexpensive translucent paper we use to lay over an existing drawing and iterate and refine our designs. You'll use a lot of this in architecture school. I like the 12”x50yd format in white by Bienfang.

presentation + modeling

Manual drafting tools are relics of the past; we don’t use these in practice today as everything is drawn digitally. Your school will dictate the how much hand drafting you'll be doing. So, although I look at my old tools with some fondness, they're nothing that I've used in my 30 years of practice.

You will, however, need an architectural scale: an Imperial and a metric one (location dependent of course). Download the guide for my recommendations.

Physical model building is a part of many design professionals process and it will always have a place in mine. Check out the videos and posts linked below for more information on the model making tools I use in practice.

Digital Tools

I use my iPad every single day. I use it to sketch in Procreate, for client presentations, for accessing drawings and specs on site visits. Learning to incorporate an iPad or a tablet into your workflow is going to be a skill you'll need as you graduate into the profession.

It's not, however, a replacement for a laptop. Because technology is always changing, check my laptop buying guide which I regularly update. Every school is going to have different requirements and they’re informed by the level of task you require (drafting is very different to real-time rendering). It's probably not going to be Mac-based, even though that’s what I use as a sole practitioner. Most of the software that we use as architects run on a PC. Be sure to check with your school.

laptop buying guide

Links to all the suggested tools, tech and accessories are included in the FREE resource download. Click the button below to download it.

Download the free resource



Notion for Design Professionals

We all want to use our time efficiently and minimize effort spent on the administrative side of our design practice. Searching endless folders or open tabs for links to products you swore you found last week, trying to recall the milestones you agreed to or where the current Gantt chart lives and share it with the team isn’t a good use of anyone’s time.

I use Notion for all of this and more.

Notion has served as a second brain for me for a few years now; it’s the best “all-in-one-productivity and project management tool” I’ve found for both personal and professional documentation. It’s intuitive, capable and infinitely flexible; a blank canvas that can be almost anything you want. The open-ended structure is a strength when you know how to use it, but can be a little intimidating when you're just getting started and unsure of how to set up your workspace.

If you’re unfamiliar with it, watch the videos below to get set up; continue reading if you’re already using it see how I’ve set my workspace to run my design practice.

Getting Organized

Every Sunday I plan my Weekly schedule which is simply a favorited page that resides in the upper left corner of my workspace. I use the Maker’s Schedule + Manager’s Schedule as the structure for the week to keep me on-task. Also notice the annual objectives (set in the video above) are just a click away and serve as a reminder of the bigger goals and priorities I’m working toward each year.

I used to live in my inbox with the window open and collecting emails all day long. Every notification lured me back to the inbox, wasting my time and distracting me from the deep work that needed doing. The work that would push my business and projects forward. Maybe you can relate?

Using Notion has changed that. Now, I live in my “Week of” board which makes explicit the priorities I’ve set on Sunday rather than my inbox which is filled with the priorities of others.

Week Of Schedule Page (click the image to enlarge)

Below the schedule, I keep two to-do lists, one related to home the other for the business and a task table which is linked to my calendar. This is a great place to catalog recurring tasks you might otherwise neglect: like your annual architecture license renewal, LLC document filings, annual reports, etc. I also use it to schedule my regular monthly invoicing, which is something I’ve been getting better at over the years. I invoice every client, every 4 weeks, no matter what (setting a reminder in the task table is really helpful when you have multiple projects running).

Sharing Inspiration Images with Clients or Team

Embed images from site visits

Download My Notion Template

When entering the task on the table, you can use tags to assign it to a project, a person, or anything you choose. Then, on the project page, you can copy this table and filter the view to show only those tasks related to the project, or a team member, or any other tag you’ve set up. The tables are called ‘databases’ and are the key to unlocking the true power of Notion. If you’re running a team, each member can utilize a custom dashboard showing only their projects, tasks and deadlines.

This summer I’ve had an intern working in the studio and I build out the weekly task list each Sunday for the week ahead so it’s clearly laid out for them when they arrive on Monday. I can include links to SOPs and all the project files and information they need in one place. This saves both us time and limits questions (“Check your Notion dashboard”).

Task Table

Filtered Task Table for a Team Member

Any project specific commitments can be embedded directly in the weekly schedule by pasting a link to the project page or, even links to specific blocks from any page. In the schedule above you can see I made a site visit on Wednesday afternoon and the To-Do list for that project is hyperlinked right in the schedule. Clicking on it brings me to the project dashboard and the in-progress items for each stakeholder are immediately visible. Each toggle by the stakeholder can be clicked open revealing the outstanding items, documents and anything related right there.

Below that is a task table with a filtered view of the tasks related only to this project.

Project Dashboards

Dashboards are simply a collection of the various building blocks available to you in Notion: text, images, hyperlinks, images, videos, tables, quotes…the list is long. I create one for each project, and once you have a format you like you can turn it into a template to use for all projects (download my template to see the one I use).

When starting a new project this template brings over all your office standards in one click. My project template has an embedded a project brief, meeting notes templates, site visit templates, design and documentation checklists, code and site analysis information, client and contractor onboarding information, links to questionnaires, task tables, and more.

Don’t let this overwhelm you, all of this can be built out, customized and added to over time to suit your needs.

Creating custom dashboards for clients with all the project information you want to share - current drawings, checklists for next actions, contracts, permits, invoice due dates, and project wikis - empowers you and your clients/collaborators to seek out the information they need rather than picking up the phone, emailing, or worse - texting you - to ask! Simply share the project dashboard and teach them to check there for updates.

Project Specific Task Table

Checklist Example

As design professionals, our work involves handling an abundance of information. From site and field documentation, to client and contractor requests for changes, to design ideas and inspirations; all of the administrative tasks of project management can easily crowd out the exciting work that drew us to this profession, which for most of us is design.

I've found that Notion has provided a framework that's easy to keep updated with to-do checklists, preconfigured systems, a place to collaborate with clients, consultants and contractors, and a place for me to collect and organize all of the administrative minutiae in one place. No more stickies lining my monitor's perimeter, or bookmarked links in random folders; when it's project-related, I have a place to paste it and keep track of it.

Download my template and watch the videos above for more details on how it can help organize your professional practice.

Still not convinced?

A few more Reasons I use notion

In the past I’ve used Trello, Asana and Evernote to run and organize my business operations. While Evernote was searchable, it was messy. Trello and Asana were as customizable as I had wanted. And implementing templates and systems with each was hit or miss. These are some of the strengths of Notion and considerations when choosing a new tool:

  • Easy to use + implement

    • Onboarding with Notion is simple; a very low learning curve. Advanced features unlock more potential, but take longer to comprehend and integrate. It can grow with your needs.

  • Systems Oriented

    • Templated work will save you time managing your projects + administrative tasks. Notion allows you to create custom templates for almost anything you can imagine: projects, notes, files, tables, etc.

  • Collaborative

    • Sharing Projects + Pages with clients and collaborators is easy and allows everyone to see the most up-to-date files, checklists and information. You can assign tasks and comments to others by right-clicking on any object, assigning a due date and custom requests.

  • Searchable

    • Notion allows you to find the information you’re looking for quickly and reliably, listing every instance of your search phrase while typing. Evernote used to be amazing at search but the more I loaded it up, the less functional it became.

  • Customizable

    • Collating various media is important for our work as designers: images for reports + inspiration, video embeds, hyperlinks, product ideas + references, notes, checklists, tables…Notion has them all. Simply click the + to add. Dragging blocks around is intuitive so you can create the structure that suits your needs.

  • Graphically Pleasing

    • With a minimal interface, Notion can be what you want. Add images, banners, colors, etc. Out of the box, it just looks good and if I’m sharing this with clients I want it to be representative of my brand.

Using AI as Design Tool in My Architecture Practice

I’ve been practicing architecture for almost thirty years now and although my design process has evolved over that time, it’s one I’m wholly comfortable with. It’s efficient, it’s safe, and I know following it will yield good work. I’ve noticed too that it can produce similar-looking results as I return to familiar forms, plan layouts and details that have worked in the past. And this is a perfect use case for generative AI design tools - like Midjourney - to help break the frame and help me quickly explore options I may not have previously considered.

“Copying others is a good way to start a career. Copying yourself is a disappointing way to end one.” - Kevin Kelly

Using Midjourney, is strangely addictive. You enter a prompt and watch as four hyper-realistic images ‘hatch’ before you, resolving like an old Polaroid photo as the algorithm compiles the pixels. It feels a lot like gambling. Each prompt promises a new chance to get lucky. The results are captivating images of seemingly perfect buildings and it’s easy to mistake them for finished work which they’re not. Accepting these first results would deny the true power of Midjourney as a tool for ideation. Remixing, upscaling and blending images recaptures the autonomy of the designer to shape the outcome and preserves the capabilities of Midjourney to quickly deliver many iterations of the same idea.

Watch the video to see how I’ve been experimenting with it in my practice.

Heading to MidJourney without an idea or a concept guiding your efforts means you’ll likely spend a lot of time creating seductive images of buildings that have no place in a design process. Images without substance. For me, the design process starts with a sketch and an idea. I head to Midjourney to solve a problem I had before heading to Midjourney which is quite different than using it to cycle through an averaging of the imagery that the algorithm has ingested.

Midjourney is a text-to-image generative AI app that uses Discord as the prompt interface and creates a four panel image spread based on a text prompt. Entering something simple like: “iron lace by Tadao Ando ––ar 16:9” produces this image:

A short prompt like this allows Midjourney the freedom to be inventive. It recognizes Ando is an architect and produces a building with his characteristic elemental form language. Importantly, the algorithm has ingested many photographs of his work which tend to be dramatic, sweeping one or two point perspective views with water features and concrete and you’re receiving an average slice of the hybrid of those and the ‘iron lace’ images it’s been trained on. The ––ar 16:9 is an aspect ratio modifier that delivers a wide angle view.

To wrest more control from the AI, you may be inclined to create longer, more precise prompts which, in my experience, can produce mixed results. The recipe below balances precision with room for Midjourney to be creative.

Prompt Recipe:

Once you get beyond the clunky Discord interface used to create the images. The key to unlocking Midjourney as a creative assistant lies in controlling the output through specific prompt language. Words closer to the beginning of the prompt will have more weight in the final result and you’ll want a basic understanding of the parameters before getting too far, Midjourney keeps an updated parameter list here. Now, on to the prompt recipe:

Trying to recreate someone else’s visual style in Midjourney is less interesting to me than the process of experimenting with the tool to produce the kind of image that’s useful to my design process. For example, I’m more interested in creating building forms that don’t look anything like their antecedents. I often force Midjourney to produce buildings without common attributes, like windows or doors, by using the modifier “no” (––no windows ––no doors). I find the results more interesting and useful to me.

Aberrations

What I love about using generative AI for ideation is that it introduces error and randomness into an intentional, too-highly controlled process. It’s similar to analog processes like model-making or sketching, where an error presents an unexpected opportunity. New ideas often come from noticing flaws, where something is strange, misplaced, or missing altogether. Exploring these aberrations can push the design forward. The circled corner of the abstract barn image I created suggested I might consider eroding a heavier base and tucking the work program below the living program vertically separating it rather than the initial idea to separate it horizontally.

Finding a secret sauce of your own making will take some experimentation, just remember that AI is a mirror for your own creativity. Overly constrained thinking will yield similar results. Plying it with interesting prompts it’s become an indispensable office intern who has helped to reinvigorate my design process with fresh ideas and new perspectives.

This Architect Doubled His Income. Here's How.

Every Friday afternoon, I meet with students enrolled in my Architect + Entrepreneur Course to discuss their progress, professional challenges, and help guide their next actions. This is how I met Henry Gao. When he enrolled, his skills were being underutilized by his employer, and he was struggling to make ends meet in one of the most expensive cities in the US, San Francisco. Unsure if the risk of setting off on his own was the right thing to do, I reminded him it wasn't an all-or-nothing decision. He could keep his job AND start a side hustle as a low-risk next step.

Twelve months later he's more than doubled his monthly income.

Imagine, doubling your income in that short span?

Henry Gao, SF based Architectural Designer in his studio

Henry's story is part of a growing trend of young architects prioritizing work-life balance and earning more. Designing a creative life of your own making is an unattainable ideal, a dream never realized. In this latest installment of the modern practice series, Henry shares exactly how he did it.

By leveraging principles of entrepreneurship and finding ways to divorce time worked from fee earned, Henry was able to carve out time to sketch and learn architectural photography. He explored new digital tools and a method for using them in practice. And, importantly, he began sharing what he learned with others. The iPad workshop below is one of his ‘white space’ experiments. He discovered an unmet need in the profession and he’s using it to teach others, supporting his family with the proceeds and using that to buy even more creative ‘white space’.

DIGITAL WORKFLOW FOR DESIGNERS

This free, 3-Part Workshop is an intro to Henry's iPad for Designer’s Masterclass (which I'm enrolled in + highly recommend).

Interested in replicating Henry’s success? Here’s your shortcut.

Architect + Entrepreneur Course

When I started 30X40 Design Workshop in 2013 I was focused on building a non-traditional studio. I wanted to design homes, but as a creative person with many interests, I wanted a business that would allow me to explore them all. I made a very simple shift in the way I practice and this course explains how you can make that transition too. You’ll learn how to make the same creative white space Henry did so you can do more of the things you want to do. It's absolutely possible to design a business that serves your financial needs, supports your family and also feeds your creative intellect. And, it doesn't matter if you live in a city, a suburb or a remote island - like I do - when you apply the principles of entrepreneurship to reinvent a conventional practice model you'll earn more and have more time for the things you enjoy.

Whether you’re just getting started or you’ve been at this a while and you’re not where you’d thought you’d be, you’ll find valuable lessons here. I share what saves me time and makes my business more money each month. The curriculum provides a framework and a set of actionable steps that will help you put in place the systems required to design a business that works for you. You’ll have the freedom to choose what you work on each day, a purpose driving you forward and the time to spend on the things in life that really matter: your personal relationships.

Yes, I want to learn more

Without the freedom to chose what I work on each day, a purpose driving me forward and strong personal relationships I don't consider myself successful. How you judge success may be different. Maybe your metrics are financial, maybe you want to run an international team, or win the Pritzker or travel full-time. There are no right answers, only ones that are right for you. This course teaches you to work with intention, toward goals that matter.