Cathy Heng
7 Transferable Skills from Architecture to Product Design
A confidence boost if you are mulling over a career switch.
Our world is changing more from software than skyscrapers, and as keepers of culture, architects need to be involved.
Principles
Manifesto
We're an intrepid band of architects now working in the tech industry and helping others do the same. We host events, workshops, and throw a killer happy hour.
1. Architechie is first and foremost people.
2. Our unconventional backgrounds are our best asset.
3. Everyone has a different path, and that's a good thing.
4. Together we make up a living wiki: ask us anything.
5. Networking is paramount. So come to our next event.
People
San Francisco
Architechie
Leona Hu
Hudelson
Leona comes from a multidisciplinary background varying in architecture, digital product development and design. After working at tech giants like SAP labs, Apple, and Autodesk, she founded startup, Airgora, an open community marketplace for designers and design companies
Leona currently leads and builds a team of design leaders working on innovations for multi-billion dollar creative content investment and catalog programming at Netflix's Studio XD team
Architechie
Blake
Hudelson
Blake Hudelson is an entrepreneur and design leader. His career spans 15+ years across architecture, interaction design, industrial design, and entrepreneurship. Blake has worked at some of the world’s most venerated design firms including SOM, Method, and Google ATAP.
Blake currently works at Atomic, a venture studio and startup incubator where he works launching new products and companies. Blake studied Architecture and Urban Planning at CCA and Cal Poly, SLO.
Architechie
Gavin
Johns
Gavin is a tried and true licensed architect & urban designer with 10 years of industry experience building homes across the U.S, schools in San Francisco, and cities in China. After hanging up his mayline, he started designing web experiences & special projects at Autodesk where he focused on growth.
He is now a product designer at Opendoor, rethinking how people buy and sell homes. Gavin holds three degrees from Georgia Tech (B.S in Architecture, Master of City & Regional Planning, and Master of Architecture).
Architechie
Alex
Dixon
Hailing from MIT with a masters in architecture, Alex previously ran a design and development agency called Dixon & Moe, collaborating with architects, startups and Fortune 500 companies.
He currently leads the product team at Monograph—a project planning and time tracking platform for architects and engineers—with the mission to develop better software for the building industry.
Architechie
Moe
Amaya
Moe is a fickle wildcard and works at Monograph, a small software company building tools for architects. Previously he worked with Figma, Spoke, and Teespring while also earning a degree in design computation at MIT.
Lately, he's been seen spending way too much time buying and taking care of houseplants.
Architechie
George
Valdes
George serves as a New Market Specialist at WeWork. He has held various roles in design, product management, sales and marketing in cutting-edge technology companies, most recently, Paperspace and IrisVR.
In 2013, he co-founded Built-In: The Architecture and Entrepreneurship Meet Up, the largest meetup in NYC devoted to fostering entrepreneurship within the AEC industry. George received his M.Arch from Columbia University and B.LArch from Florida International University.
Architechie
Jeff
Lin
Jeff is a cross-disciplinary strategist in architecture, industrial design, and product development. He’s built global experiences across emerging technologies, environments, and digital products, working with organizations like Doctors without Borders, IDEO, MIT Media Lab, and Samsung.
Jeff currently designs field construction products at PlanGrid & Autodesk. He studied Architecture and Industrial Design at MIT and Art Center College of Design.
New York
Architechie
Violet Whitney
Violet is an Adjunct Assistant Professor at Columbia University’s Graduate School of Architecture, Planning, and Preservation, where she teaches urban data analytics. She leads the Generative Design product at Sidewalk Labs as a Product Manager.
Architechie
Vanessa
Quirk
Vanessa is Sidewalk Labs' Editorial Manager and the producer and co-host of the podcast "City of the Future." She was previously the web editor for Metropolis, where she covered everything from VR's burgeoning relevance to architecture to the integration of refugees into American legacy cities. Before that, Vanessa was a managing editor at ArchDaily, the world's most visited architecture site, headquartered in Santiago, Chile. When she's not writing, editing, or thinking about cities, she's probably traveling, cycling around the city, singing harmonies, or listening to podcasts.
Architechie
Celeste
Layne
Celeste Layne began her career as an architect and urban planner, but quickly got absorbed into San Francisco's tech scene after a brief stint on the West Coast. She currently lives and works as a software engineering instructor at General Assembly in New York, NY.
Architechie
Adrian von der Osten
Adrian is the Co-founder & Head of Product of Skipp, Co-founder of Built-In: The Architecture and Entrepreneurship Meetup, received his M.Arch from Pratt Institute, and B.LArch from Florida International University.
Writing
Gavin Johns
A Guide to becoming a Product Designer - Part II
Designing a product
Gavin Johns
A Guide to becoming a Product Designer - Part I
Learning efficiently
Blake Hudelson
When Architects Design Software
A conversation with San-Francisco design agency Dixon & Moe
Team
5 former architects talk about their transition into new careers in technology
In June 2016, five architects who recently transitioned into new roles in technology came together to discuss why they decided to leave one of the world’s oldest and most venerated fields for new careers that have only existed for a few years including augmented reality, wearables, IoT, bitcoin, and transportation innovation. Excerpts from our conversation are below
Gavin Johns
Architects, stop everything and pursue a career in UX
8 reasons why you’ll be great at it
Events
Happy Hour @ Monograph
14 May 2018
Learning Workshop @ Method
25 Feb 2017
Becoming a Designer in Tech Workshop @ Tradecraft
12 Oct 2016
Tech Talks @ Matter
06 June 2016
Membership Benefits
Motivation
Get inspired
Hear from designers working at the forefront of new industries.
Advancement
Level up your career
A chance to network with multidisciplinary designers who have leveraged backgrounds from another fields into technology.
Education
Learn best practices
The opportunity to learn best practices from design leaders.
Participation
Contribute your perspective
A chance to strengthen the design industry with your insight.