#424 - DREW LANG, Founding Principal of Lang Studio and Founder of Brick & Wonder
SUMMARY
This week David and Marina of FAME Architecture & Design are joined by Drew Lang, founding principal of Lang Studio and Founder of Brick & Wonder. The three discussed Drew’s early childhood and education; architects losing passion; alignment and communicating with clients; the architecture community & exchanging with peers; Brick & Wonder philosophy and operations; networking; and more. Enjoy!
ABOUT DREW
Drew Lang is the founding principal of Lang Studio where he works closely with design teams, clients, and collaborators to create architecture with enduring presence and purpose in cities, and across natural landscapes.
Drew was born in New Orleans where he developed an early passion for both nature and architecture. After completing his architectural training at Yale University, Drew settled in New York City, where his practice is now based.
Drew is an active advocate for positive collaboration and founded a community called Brick & Wonder dedicated to supporting and connecting real estate and design professionals.
TIMESTAMPS
(00:00) Drew's early childhood & education.
(11:32) Architects losing passion & alignment with clients.
“One of the things that I found to be extremely helpful is to make it clear to clients how they need to be accountable to us and to hold them to that. It's very, very hard to do, especially early on in one's career. But if I don’t do that, things go awry without fail. It's easy to lose track of what everyone's roles are and what people are responsible for doing. I think it is part of our job to guide the client and tell them what they need to do.” (19:42)
(21:57) Communicating with clients.
“No matter what it is, it comes back to communication. Whether it's an issue of payment, design decision, programmatic clarity, budget clarity, or schedule clarity. It's our job to ask the right questions and to explain to the client why it's important to have conversations about these things. How often have clients come back to us and say, “I told you our budget. Why did you keep asking me for more and more as you watched the budget go up and not saying anything until now?” It's our job to be proactive and stay many, many steps ahead.” (22:41)
(29:58) Community in Architecture & exchanging with peers.
“If we can gather a thoughtful and talented group of professionals who work across the built environment, then everybody is very well served, and everyone's problems start to dissipate. Because you have ready solutions that’s a phone call away, or a warm introduction away as we're part of the same community in Brick & Wonder. It's networking, but networking of a different sort. We all have negative associations with networking and Brick & Wonder is trying to amend that. People come into the community, and they feel good. They feel welcome and there's an understanding that people are there to help you. Ultimately, it is about helping people grow their businesses where they want to grow them and do project collaborations with the kind of people that they want to collaborate with.” (32:23)
(37:59) About Brick and Wonder.
(52:35) Short term vs long term networking.
(57:03) Location of Brick & Wonder operations.
“That term leapfrog is one we use all the time because we think of Brick & Wonder as a vehicle for everybody to leapfrog where they want to go, no matter where they're coming from. As they participate in the Brick & Wonder community, they skip some steps that they would otherwise have to take. We all know what it's like to reinvent the wheel and slog through figuring out how to go where we want to go. Wouldn't it be better to be able to tap people who have the know-how, the resources, and the energy and enthusiasm that can help take you there because they know how to do it? You don’t have to figure it out yourself.” (01:01:23)
(01:03:23) Brick & Wonder Members vetting process.
(01:11:12) How Brick & Wonder was founded.
“Brick & Wonder is set up to solve this collaboration problem. Who are you going to work with and not going to work with? I get a lot of satisfaction from introducing good people to each other and seeing them succeed. So, I thought, “How can I create a formal framework that makes it easier to do that?” In the Brick & Wonder framework, it's much easier because there's a built-in system of accountability and trust. When you introduce colleagues to each other or refer a colleague to a client, you are putting your reputation at stake. We all do that, and we know what that's like. One of the reasons why people are so fearful and have a scarcity mindset is because the downside is too great. So, we're mitigating that and solving that problem too. That's why I started Brick & Wonder.” (01:14:27)
(01:18:21) Drew's favorite building.
