Practice of Architecture: Evelyn Lee on designing for attention, not productivity
June 21, 2026
2026
Hello,
There are small moments with my kids I would give a lot to keep, the offhand thing said on an ordinary Tuesday that you only realize later you wanted to hold onto. Most of us try to save those by typing out what we remember, which means we mostly save what was already top of mind. A real conversation does more: it asks the next question and pulls out what you didn't know you knew.
I saw a version of this last year, a demo at a Conference of Mayors meeting where AI gathered community input by actually talking with residents instead of handing them a survey. So for our season finale, I tried it on myself.
I handed the interview to Sage, my AI chief of staff, and let her ask the questions, no guest across the table and no script to hide behind. We get into the four-tier agent stack that lets a sole proprietor carry what used to take three people, why I built it to protect my attention rather than chase productivity, and why I've traded the word innovation for transformation. We also go where it gets less comfortable:
private equity buying up AEC firms, and what it takes to lead as an introvert while building something meant to one day run without me.
This is our last episode of the season. We're taking a short summer pause, with a few bonus episodes from our partners along the way, and Season 13 launches Thursday, July 30.
What is the one workflow in your practice you have never stopped to question, simply because it is the way you have always run it?
Keep learning and growing,
Evelyn M Lee, FAIA | NOMA
Founder, Practice of Architecture
Host, Practice Disrupted & Fractional COO
/// PoA Podcast - Practice Disrupted ///
From Innovation to Transformation: Building an AI-Native Practice with Evelyn Lee
In this Season 12 Finale of Practice Disrupted, the tables are turned as host Evelyn Lee steps into the hot seat. Instead of interviewing an industry guest, Evelyn is interviewed by Sage, her own AI chief of staff, in a dynamic conversation that pushes past traditional scripts to explore the cutting edge of architectural practice.
