Monograph is hosting two days of fireside chats at AIA26, live at booth #2945 on the expo floor, right next to the AIA booth. More than a dozen firm leaders will sit down for roughly 20-minute conversations about the business of running a practice, and you can drop into whichever ones fit your schedule.
The lineup includes newly elevated and longtime Fellows of the AIA, current and incoming AIA national leadership, the sitting president of NOMA, principals from Olson Kundig, Ennead, and HKS, a Whitney M. Young Jr. Award winner, a Cooper Hewitt National Design Award recipient, the author of the field's standard book on running a small firm, and founders who built their studios from a single desk.
These are the conversations Monograph runs on its A&E Business Strategies podcast, which has featured Snøhetta, Lake|Flato, Bjarke Ingels Group, and NADAAA.
We're asking every guest things like:
- What do most architects get wrong about running a firm?
- What's a way of working you'd never go back to?
- What's an old-school practice you still swear by?
Schedule
Watch any conversation that fits your schedule, and you'll leave with a dozen honest answers about running a firm.
Thursday, June 11
Todd Smith + Steven Booher
2:00pm PT · Syndicate Smith · Leavenworth, WA
Grew a solo practice into a ten-person architecture and interiors studio in a Bavarian-themed mountain town. Their work there includes the Icicle Brewing Company and the Split Cabin, an AIA Seattle Home of Distinction.
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Taylor Masek
2:30pm PT · PALO · San Diego, CA
Associate Director at PALO, the San Diego architecture and landscape studio founded by David and Mikaela Pearson. PALO builds small-scale infill housing through strategic reuse, pairing architecture with landscape to add density while keeping sites livable and low-carbon.
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Kevin Kudo-King, FAIA
5:00pm PT · Olson Kundig · Seattle, WA
Kevin Kudo-King, FAIA, LEED AP, is a principal and owner at Olson Kundig. Since joining the firm in 1996, he has led award-winning projects worldwide. Influenced by his education in the Arizona-Sonoran Desert and extensive travel, Kevin designs immersive, sensory-rich spaces that honor site, culture, and craft. His collaborative approach engages builders and craftspeople to create architecture that quietly frames the landscape and fosters deep connections to place. Whether designing private homes or hospitality destinations, his work prioritizes material authenticity, tactile experiences, and the unfolding discovery of space.
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Friday, June 12
Will Teass + Charles Warren
10:30am PT · Teass Warren Architects · Washington, DC
Partners at a DC firm with a national reputation for modern residential and adaptive reuse. Both are active AIA DC leaders and published voices on small-practice design.
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Rena Klein, FAIA
11:00am PT · AVEC
Author of The Architect's Guide to Small Firm Management, the most-cited book in the field on running a small practice, now coaching principals full-time.
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William + Jana Itzen
11:30am PT · Itzen Architects · Santa Ana, CA
Co-principals of a studio with unusual range for its size: fire stations, the LA Master Chorale's performance space, restaurants, and custom homes.
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Timothy Hawk, FAIA
12:00pm PT · WSA Studio · Columbus, OH
FAIA principal and former AIA officer. WSA is the 2005 AIA Ohio Gold Medal firm, working across institutional, civic, and higher-ed.
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Andrew Crane
12:30pm PT · AERO Collective · Inglewood, CA
Co-founder of a practice building affordable housing, mixed-use, civic, and cultural projects across LA, with deep roots in the Inglewood community it grew out of.
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Latoya Nelson Kamdang, AIA
2:00pm PT · Ennead Architects · New York, NY
Director of Operations at Ennead and a current AIA national At-Large Director, now running for 2027 AIA Secretary. She was on the design team for the Smithsonian National Museum of African American History and Culture. A returning fireside guest.
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Bryan Lee Jr, FAIA
2:30pm PT · Colloqate Design · New Orleans, LA
President of NOMA and founder of Colloqate Design, the New Orleans nonprofit built around design justice. Winner of the 2025 AIA Whitney M. Young Jr. Award and a Cooper Hewitt National Design Award.
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Sarah Woynicz, AIA
3:00pm PT · HKS · Dallas, TX
Project Manager at HKS, co-editor of Out in Architecture and founder of Pride by Design, currently running for AIA 2027 At-Large Director. A national advocacy voice from inside one of the country's largest firms.
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David Duncan Morris
3:30pm PT · Woodhull · Portland, ME
Partner and principal architect at a Maine design-build firm known for craft-driven modern New England houses, working in one of the most demanding climates in the country.
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Find us on the floor
Each chat runs about 20 minutes at booth #2945, on the AIA26 expo floor at the San Diego Convention Center, next to the AIA booth. Pull up a chair for any conversation that fits your schedule. The full schedule is posted at the booth.
Looking to make the most your of your trip to San Diego for AIA26? Use our guide A Working Architect's Guide to AIA 2026 in San Diego for tours, events, places to eat, and more!
