The Second Studio (formerly The Midnight Charette) is an explicit podcast about design, architecture, and the everyday. Hosted by Architects David Lee and Marina Bourderonnet, it features different creative professionals in unscripted conversations that allow for thoughtful takes and personal discussions.
A variety of subjects are covered with honesty and humor: some episodes are interviews, while others are tips for fellow designers, reviews of buildings and other projects, or casual explorations of everyday life and design. The Second Studio is also available on iTunes, Spotify, and YouTube.
This week Cavin Costello, Principal Architect of The Ranch Mine, joins David and Marina of FAME Architecture and Design to discuss his background; architecture school; starting an architecture practice with his wife, Claire Costello, and their working relationship; their approach to finding clients; and more!
Highlights and Timestamps
Background (00:00)
Architecture School (07:20)
[The beginning of architecture school] was brutal. I definitely thought about quitting the first week or two in. […] I think a lot of people are in the same mindset, especially those who come from communities that give you the opportunity to try [architecture before undergraduate school]. It’s such a new thing and you're going to it's going to be terrible at first, but it's a process. I think the biggest thing that you have to learn in architecture is that it continues forever. It’s a marathon. It’s a very long profession. You’re constantly learning you’re constantly doing things you don’t know how to do. It’s kind of the job, here’s a problem and you’ve got to figure it out. And I think that abrupt start to architecture is very similar. […] The biggest skill you can learn is to be confident in your ability to solve the unknown. Which is a very difficult thing to do, because it is the unknown. (07:20)
Moving to Phoenix after graduating (19:35)
Starting their practice (23:45)
It definitely was organic. Life is essentially like a series of experiments and what you learn from them. I was doing a ton of small jobs very quickly and from that we really learned how to run a business and how to design for clients at a very rapid pace because within a year or two, we had 20 completed projects. (32:30)
About the practice (42:30)
One of the top challenges that we have in our industry is that what every client wants is like something that you did before with like 5% difference. They want to ‘kind of’ make it their own, but it's very slow and because it takes years, it's very slow to change the trajectory of your business. (50:26)
Finding the right clients (01:11:29)
Almost being on an HGTV show (01:29:16)
Architects are right in the middle of a lot of things but our roles have been segmented out in a variety of ways as the world has become more specialized. I do think it is a marketing PR issue…It seems like it’s being left up to each individual firm to educate their market.” (01:30:23)
What’s next? (01:41:06)
