Architecture, And: Bridging Design and Industry with Nima Balasubramanian

A Welcome to Practice Disrupted, a podcast where we find ways to create new solutions to current challenges while elevating the value of architects. I'm your host, Evelyn Li, an architect who spans tech as an angel investor, startup advisor, and founder of Practice of Architecture. Whether you're a seasoned architect or just starting in the field, this podcast podcast is your gateway to think differently about the role architects play within our global community. Hello, disruptors. Welcome to this week's episode of Practice Disrupted. When we talk about disruption in architecture, we often look at new business models, new technologies, alternative career pathways, or rethinking the way we work. But what about the materials we build with and the systems behind them? Joining me today is Neema Balasub Maranian, director of architecture at the American Institute of Steel Construction or AISC. Nima leads the AISC Architecture Center, where she's on a mission to bring architects into deeper dialogue with the steel industry, reimagining how we use this material in more sustainable, informed, and creative ways.

A Before stepping into this unique role, Neema's career spanned continents from founding her own practice in The Netherlands to navigating the grind of traditional firms in The US. Experiences that shaped her perspective and ultimately drove her to ask, is there a better way to practice? In today's episode, we'll talk about the culture shift she hopes to influence from Insight, a nonprofit technical institute, how hands on experiences like welding workshops are changing architects relationships with materials, and why she believes collaboration, not burnout should be the hallmark of our industry's future. Hi, Neema. Welcome to the show. I'm so happy for you to join us here. I know AISC has been wonderful supporters of practice disrupted and practice of architecture for a while, and I know that they actually had a really hard time filling your position. But I am I am confident that they filled it with the right individual. So we're here to talk about your career path in practice and your current role as the director of architecture for AISC.

A So welcome to the show.

B Yeah. Thank you. Thanks for having me. And, yes. I'm glad AISC found me and I found them. So it's a great, great question.

A Before we jump in it, can you tell us what your your current role is? Like, what is what is the director of architecture at AISC? And for those of you who are like, AISC seems familiar, but I don't know what it is. It's the American Institute of Steel Construction. I remember actually, I still have, I think, oddly enough, sitting on my bookshelf as, you know, the big steel the big steel book. I feel like that's how all architects are actually connected to the AISC.

B Exactly. Yes. Yeah. As I speak with more and more architects, I don't get the feeling that they know who AISC is. Structural engineers do very well know who American Institute of Steering Instruction is and what it does. So they primarily write steam manual that we all took for our structures class, and structural engineers carry it along with them throughout their career. I think as architects, we drop it off after school. Like, this is enough.

B And, also, they write the codes. They set the standards with structural steel. So IBC refers to chapter in chapter 22, it refers to AIC's standard code for structural steel. So that's primarily their role in establishing standards for structural steel in The United States. And the architecture center was an initiative created by architects for architects as part of AISC because AISC is predominantly serving structural engineers, and they realized they were leaving out big group of designers, that's architects, who are also making the decisions on structural material choice and the need for educating them, informing them with the right resources. There's there's so much on Google, and sometimes you don't know what's right, what's wrong. So the initiative or the architecture center was created for that purpose, to support the architectural community and providing right resources to save them time, money, risk, and achieve their project goals, overall goals, again, being the credible source of that information. So these resources would include forms like design guides, design considerations, or, like, vibration, acoustics, name it, anything anything related to structural steel.

B So when I was practicing architecture or when I was back in school, I I used to hunt for this information and couldn't really find right place to look for or be unsure of what information I found online. And the big structural steel books are like the structures book was daunting. So this is this initiative is primarily to make lives easier for our colleagues, providers just to need the form they needed, and not so technical, more visual, more appealing to them.

A Yeah, we are very visual people.

B Yes. That and then truly what excites me is another opportunity, that AIC provides for architects is hands on experiences, like steel mill tours, job site tours, building workshops, really gets them behind the scenes and a look at how things are made. Because, again, at school, we get to play with a lot of other materials, like wood, concrete. We play with it. We explore it in our own hands for studio projects, but steel, not so much. We don't really touch it in school or it's not tangible. So getting architects to these workshops really creates a spark in their eyes, and that really fulfills my role. It makes me feel happy for doing what I'm doing.

A Well, before we go deep into the architecture center, which we'll get to a little bit more further into this episode, I wanna talk about you and your career path. Start from the beginning. What actually inspired you to wanna pursue architecture in the first

B place? Yeah. Like everybody's I mean, most most people have the same story. Like, oh, in eighth grade, I really wanted to be an architect. And that's where I started to. In eighth grade, I really wanted to become an architect because I saw these beautiful houses designed and asked my dad, I wanna do the same thing. What should I study? Like, I I didn't even know architecture was a word back then or profession. He's like, yeah, that that's probably what architects do. Maybe you should take it up.

B And since then, I've been hooked to architecture. I did my bachelor's in architecture in India. I got licensed there, and I practiced for a couple of years before moving to The United States. And once I got here in Boston, I pursued my master's in architecture at Boston Architectural College. It's a very interesting program. It's a work study program, so you work full time during the day. I worked as a professional, like, an architectural designer in a regular architecture firm. During the day from, like, seven to 3PM, and then from 4PM to 10PM, I would take classes at school.

B And they were on alternate days. It's not it was not five days a week. It's probably three days a week I had school and one day studio. So it taught me a lot about setting priorities, time management, and life skills. Because I was married, I had a husband who I needed to spend time with, not ignore him and just do school and work. So managing all three juggling between them, and achieving accommodation for my thesis project felt like a very, very proud moment for me at the end of the four years. So that really shaped my career earlier, the school and the experiences and connections, professors, everything. From there, I've worked at small firm, big firm as a project manager, worked on all types of scales of projects from single family residential to hospitality, high rise buildings.

B Taught me a lot about architecture. Still was interested in architecture and more to stay and what I do what I was doing. I also saw some things that I wasn't really happy about, but didn't know there were any other way out, so I just kept going. One of the firms that I worked with, I don't wanna name it, would award employees at the end of the year for the maximum number of hours worked. So who are worth the maximum number of hours that year was awarded.

A We are in incentivizing the wrong things, I feel.

B Yeah. And I that didn't sit well with me. And at that time, I would be working I was working like I I was a workaholic. I'm embarrassed to say that. Not anymore. But I would work till 3AM and then rush back home, come back to the office at six, make sure all the drawings are done, and the set was delivered on time. Because we were working for developers a lot, and we would get penalized if we missed the deadline. So it it was it was weighing heavily on the management and heavily on the team below.

B So, that was not something that sat well with me.

A Honestly, I don't think it'll sit well with I mean, I hope you don't ever feel alone in that because I feel like there's definitely others in our industry that are empathetic to what you're doing, which is why I was encouraging you to to share.

B Yes. And I I felt like it was glorified at that point. And nobody was ever speaking out, saying anything against it. People would just leave if they didn't like it. That's that's what happened. And then you never hear about what happened to them after they left. So I didn't know I didn't follow through at that point in time. I it was early in my career, and I was like, I don't know.

B Maybe it's just get this get through this and maybe it'll be better, but I didn't see a better future for me. It took a toll on my life that led to the transitions and where I am today. So I I had, a personal story to share, and I I I am more and more compelled to share the story more often, because I feel like a lot of people who listen connect with it and realize it's not like they're suffering in silence alone. So I had two pregnancy losses due to my work style lifestyle at that time. I didn't have a healthy lifestyle at that point. And that didn't go well with the family or with what I wanted for my future. And that's when I really had to take a look back and say this is not good. I should change the things with how I'm doing it, or look at a different carrier path.

B This is not right. Because everybody who I went to school with was also going through the same thing. Like, I didn't see anyone doing anything differently. So I didn't have any options back then. Or at that time, I didn't know different options. Yeah. So from there, luckily, one thing I'm not hesitant to is change. I love change.

B I've been I've lived in three different continents and moved like million cities. So I love doing that. And my husband's job took us to The Netherlands for about two and a half years. So it was a great change and a beautiful opportunity presented itself. I set up my own firm there. I've worked with clients from previous acquaintances in The US while also pursuing projects in The Netherlands. So it gave me a full global perspective. The Netherlands work like that was like amazing.

B Oh my god. My husband will be back home, like, at 05:30. I'm like, this is too early. Don't come back home soon. It's not not all we were used to. Like everybody's gone, the stores close at six. What are you doing out after 05:30? Nobody's doing anything, like other than going out the loop. So that that put a full perspective change.

B We were so much more happier, so much more at peace. And we were still doing things we were supposed to do. We were accomplishing things, we were being successful. So it's not like we were left behind having a work life balance. I really loved that. And when COVID hit, and then the world went for a toss. But we moved back to The US in 2022, and we landed in Atlanta. And I took with all these diverse experience, I was able to get different opportunities when I was back.

B And I started as operations lead for a larger firm in Atlanta. Again, although I was able to, at this point, so coming, going up the ladder a little bit, being in management, I was able to set some boundaries for myself and not overbook and not change my lifestyle. So that was good. But still, I didn't feel it was good for my team. Like, the staff weren't doing great. They were still being overbooked because you had more number of projects, less number of people. We were not compensated enough, so you couldn't get enough people to work on a project. So all those issues that architecture firms and practice traditionally have was still there.

B I was like, oh, this is not great. And at that point is when AIC reached out to me. And it was a beautiful challenge. And I was like, Oh, my God, this is so exciting. I know when you think like this existed outside of this architectural traditional realm. And I just jumped straight in. And I'm sure I'll see how this state where this takes me.

A So I wanna I wanna talk about that a little bit. Obviously, you were at a point where you were frustrated by your career. I'm glad you kind of got over the notion that maybe this will get better if I hang in there. I think so many people have that feeling. I'm very much a proponent of you need to kind of control what you can control, to whatever extent you can. And if that means going to a different firm who did things better, then then that is something that you can control. So you said AISC came to you. I mean, were you ever actively, at any point, seeking out a different role and talk to us a little bit more about, like, how that actually came to fruition?

B I I was open to opportunity. I had my LinkedIn shop open to recruiters, and I was submitting applications to recruiters. And so when I said AIC, a recruiter from AIC reached out to me. And I was like, oh, sure. This is this really a position? Why wouldn't why would they need an architect? It's a steel institute. I was just baffled as much as any architect that I speak to now explaining what I do. And as much as they are, I was the same exact reactions ahead. But when I met them, and I was actively interviewing, I interviewed for so many positions, and I turned down so many because it was exactly the same.

B I could see where they were, where I would be. And I would still be continuing the same cycles. I didn't want to I didn't want that. So I turned down. I was just waiting for the right opportunity. I was looking. So I think unknowingly, I was looking for opportunities in parallel streams to architecture because somehow those were the ones that had the right job description in terms of expressing their work culture. Architecture firms have job descriptions, they express work culture, but you can see it unsaid that it's gonna be a hectic lifestyle.

B I'm like, no, I don't want that again.

A Enjoying the show? Join a community of fellow disruptors at practiceofarchitecture.com/community. Your membership helps support the production of this podcast, Practice Disrupted, and funds the creation of more resources for all of you. Looking forward to growing together. Join us today at practiceofarchitecture.com/community. Or you were seeing it in the the job description. Were there certain things that you were also looking out for or just hearing? Because I think I mean, that's very intuitive of you to be able to identify that. And I'm just helping I'm just wondering if you can call those things out for other people that to you or is just not necessarily a red flag, but definitely raise your eyebrow in terms of I am hearing what you are not telling me about the culture of what it means to work in your office.

B Yes. Recently, what I've been seeing is mandating people to come into the office five days a week or four days a week, mandating that feels like a regimen, it feels forced. So there right there, I feel like there's no flexibility, you're not gonna get any empathy. So we all have families, either kids or pets or elderly to care for, or or just yourself to care for.

A Our house?

B Yes. I needed to

A get a plumber earlier this week because the

B main line got backed up. And and penalizing people for that is not right. I think teams and projects have to build in that cushion to accommodate for all that. Instead, not not like plan so tightly that even if someone falls sick, heaven forbid, oh, my god, it's gonna be your apology. No. That's not how you plan for it. Plan with contingencies. Right? We plan when we ask for the fee, we have a contingency fee.

B But why not within our team and resource planning? So I felt like that's just not being empathetic to ourselves. Even the planners, like, I was as their operations leader, I would do the resource planning for the office. And I would always beef up the time. Or if they couldn't give us the time, I would beef up the fee. So we could add more people to it when other people cannot do it work. But that always didn't sit well, or even when the project needed that. So it's like, it's a top down problem.

A I mean, for me, that's why it ultimately comes back to the to the business plan. Because until we can figure out a way to value or deliver our services in a way that allows for this flexibility, The time of our team and the time our team spend is gonna be such a limited resource scarcity relative to the fee that we're getting paid until we fix that dynamic. It's just gonna be really hard to fix a lot of this overwork culture in the industry.

B I I totally hear you. And sometimes there's not enough training or there's not not enough time to provide that training.

A Right. Because that's that's overhead. I mean

B Yes. Exactly. Right? That's something the management doesn't want you to do. They don't want to work. Everything needs to be billable.

A Yes, everything needs to be billable.

B So one of the things is definitely mandating the days that people come in was a red flag for me, because I live farther South Of Atlanta and driving into all the offices are in Atlanta or North Of Atlanta. And driving in means it's a one hour or twelve commute to me. And that takes a toll again on my body. I'm always nervous coming back in time to pick up my daughter from daycare. So I'm like, oh, can I make it? Can I not make it? I don't know. So that was one of like, and the other thing was how they talked about their younger staff. Sometimes they talk about younger staff. Oh, we don't trust them.

B We mandate our younger staff to come five days a week because, you know, they don't work. They are not. I get that. They are younger people. They don't know what they're doing. They are right out of school, but they provide the training. Don't treat them like that. That's not fair to put it on them rather it's on the phone to train them because you you are hiring fresh talent.

B They're not experienced professionals. So when they speak like that, I I hear that they're not supportive for growth. They want you to figure out things on your own time. Like, no. Yeah. I can do that, but I have so many things to do on my own time. This is my job.

A I appreciate that. I think that you've definitely given some tidbits for others, even in middle management and above to be aware of when they are considering a move. So tell us a little bit about what it means to be the director of architecture at the architecture center. Because I I feel like your day to day is so much different now. Right? That than the project grind.

B Yes. Yeah. So one good thing is I'm not chasing any deadlines. So that's or at least clients set deadlines.

A Does that also mean that in in this role, have you eliminated time sheets?

B Oh, yes. Oh, my god. There are no time sheets.

A That was the most amazing I mean, honestly, that was one of my one of the most amazing things when I went in house to the technology firm. I was like, I would never have to fill out a timesheet again, ever in my life.

B For the first whole month, I used to be like, like with this hour, like with this hour, this hour doesn't go anywhere. Today, day to day differs. Some days, we are at conferences or events, engaging architects, sharing ideas, or simply engaging in meaningful conversations. I love how many people I get to meet in this role. And some days, I I have a team of three, and we are brainstorming what kind of events we can go to or what kind of events we can host. Are there something out of the norm? It's just not a regular networking event, but something different, something more engaging or inspiring. And that's how we came up with these job site tours. The welding workshops, especially, is so exciting for architects when they try to weld for real at a fabricator shop, and they're like, oh my god.

B This is so difficult. So the next time when they're asking for like, architecturally exposed steel to be like this smooth, that clean.

A They understand the value of what they are asking for and the craftsmanship that goes into actually, yes, the steel

B level was just amazing. So those are the events we're planning on a day to day basis. And we are always planning a year ahead. So already, we started thinking about 2026 a little bit. 2025 is almost planned out. And we are either submitting proposals for speaking engagements or thinking of building tours that we can do as part of conferences. So we host tours as part of AI conferences or local regional conferences. So So we're always engaging with local architectural firms in those cities, trying to see if we can get access to a building, can we go behind the scenes and, like, see the structural portions of it.

B So, yeah, that's that's primarily what we do on a day to day basis. A lot of meetings, brainstorming, and connecting with new people. That's, mostly what we do.

A So if I am an architect and I wanna take part in an upcoming welding opportunity, what's the best way to know what's coming up on the schedule and if I'm gonna be anywhere near where that's happening?

B That would be great. We've been asking for the schedule to be up on our website. So our website is undergoing a revamp. And it's like, it's a bigger organization's architecture center is a small part of this bigger organization, and they're revamping the whole website. So it's in the process, but I would I would it would be best if you could just reach out to our email address, architects@aic.org, and say, hey. I'm interested, and this is where I live. In the future, what we're planning for is for our schedule to be up on the website so you can just see what's up and coming, new tours are, and if it's near your city. And if not, you could just request one and try to plan one if there are enough architects interested.

B Yeah. We just need, like, 10 to 15 people be interested in a tour, and we can try to get a fabricator. There's there are fabricators all over The US. So we could try to arrange something.

A So it sounds like you're almost game to create the tour to happen if you can get enough interest. So

B Yes. Yeah, totally. We are all here for architects to be make them stay informed with the right information. Yeah.

A Why do you miss about being in architecture on the architecture side in a firm? Do you miss anything?

B I do miss, not being on-site to see a because it's it was a gratifying feeling to see your drawings get built, all the small details that you put together, and then see that built or see issues with those details and have it called out, and then you resolve it, you feel so much better or relieved. So I do miss that. But I think they compensate for it with more job site towards, I get to work awesome buildings that I wouldn't have had the opportunity to work on if I were an architect at a firm. This for two to three years, you just get to work on one single project or depending on the scale, but mostly the largest scale projects always average take two, three years. And by the time it's done, you're like, oh, half my life is gone. So but here I can I can see many more projects just that it was not designed by me? So that was the only thing I would miss. I think I wouldn't miss that anymore after a few years, I guess.

A I mean, it's a different, you know, architects are creators, right? And I think it is kind of different seeing somebody else's work come out of the ground, right, than seeing your own.

B Yeah. But I do feel content that I'm helping architects do a good job and then make their life easier by providing them the right information. So I'm I'm still a seed, so that's good.

A What do you think in either your architecture education or in the roles that you had following really helped set you up for success in your current role? Like what what skills really translate over to what you're doing now?

B I guess as architects, I always believe we have so many skills. We acquire so many skills through our schooling. Like, they put you through so much stress and tension and, like, especially the studio crits. It's like you put in front of so many people, your project is stone apart, and you still stand there, come back the next month or a few weeks later with a brand new idea or, like, better idea. And that perseverance and consistency teaches us as architects in general to handle anything that comes across at you. And for me personally, having moved around a lot, and I'm like I mentioned, I'm not resistant to change. I love change. I love doing new things.

B I love challenges. So that is one of the skills I feel is needed when you are jumping into a new role, a new territory, completely a new territory. Here, mostly, it's about communication and marketing and develop business development. So it's mostly those skills, which I didn't think I'll have. But being honest and genuine, I feel like you can be a good communicator.

A What advice do you have for others that find themselves in the same position that you found yourself just a year ago?

B I would say trust your gut and your instincts. You know yourself the best, And especially for women, I feel we undervalue ourselves sometimes. Once we start believing we can, then the others start believing that. So I think we are the first ones to take that step, to believe in ourselves and trust. I I truly trust my instincts now and just voice my opinions without hurting other's feelings. So and it's always being genuine and hardworking and sincere and being smart is very important. So do all that. And if if you're not in the right place, we feel like you're not in the right place, think about opportunities outside of the box.

B Because I I when I was there, I thought there's nothing outside of the box. That's that's how I was looking at it. There's nothing else. Nothing for me. Until I started opening my LinkedIn and keeping it open to various other tailored roles, and then come across some of them.

A Hi, disruptors. Thank you for joining us today on an episode of Practice Disrupted. If you like the content for today's show, you can find all of our past episodes over on practiceofarchitecture.com/podcast.

B Be a part of

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