Episode 2
Bridging the Gap: David Supple on Unified Architecture and Construction
In this emotional episode, David Supple, the CEO and founder of New England Design & Construction company, shares how he embarked on his professional journey with a freshly minted degree in architecture, only to confront a stark realization that shook his confidence—he lacked real-world construction experience.
As a fledgling architect, the responsibility of guiding others in the creation of structures felt monumental, especially when he had yet to physically build anything himself. This profound insecurity loomed over him until a revelatory moment arrived with a simple etymological lesson: the term 'architect' originated from the concept of a 'master builder.'
This insight struck David with the force of revelation, igniting a passion to bridge the gap between theory and practice. He understood that to truly excel in his craft, he needed to learn the intricacies of building—the very heart of what those he admired had mastered. David's story is one of growth and the quest for a deep, hands-on understanding of the art and science of building.
We'll also delve into David's groundbreaking book, "Classical Architecture's African Roots," (buy it on Amazon) which challenges established notions by tracing the origins of classical architecture back to Africa, with a focus on Egyptian contributions. This 20-chapter treasure, replete with images for the layman and professional alike, is his bid to enlighten and educate on the subject's rich heritage.
Get ready to rethink the way we create our living spaces with an expert who's not just reconstructing buildings but also reconstructing industry standards. This is Trustbuilders, and you don't want to miss what David Supple of NEC Design & Construction has in store for us today.
Highlights:
- [03:09] Architect turned carpenter, now runs own construction company.
- [06:22] Accountability issues lead to widespread dissatisfaction in industry.
- [11:24] Architects and builders face inefficiencies and cost overruns.
- [13:34] Being transparent about cost and pricing is crucial.
- [17:44] Lack of education key to resistance in sustainability.
- [21:52] Uniting industry and education for built environment.
- [25:54] Separating the architect from the builder to raise social status.
- [28:34] Classical architecture has its roots in Africa.
Sources / Links Mentioned:
• Preorder Scattered to Scaled on Kindle before October 13: https://www.trustleader.co/scattered-to-scaled-book
Transcript
Hi, David.
Speaker A:Thank you so much for joining us for today's podcast.
Speaker A:I am super excited that we are finally got together and talking.
Speaker A:And you are.
Speaker A:You're the founder and CEO of New England Design and Construction.
Speaker A:You're an author, you're an architect, but you have really interesting story how you got to architecture.
Speaker A:So can you give us a little bit of background about yourself and how you became an architect?
Speaker B:Sure.
Speaker B:And thank you for having me, Hannah.
Speaker B:It's an honor.
Speaker B:And yeah, so I went to school for architecture, Kind of headed in that route.
Speaker B:Not super premeditated, just kind of needed a major.
Speaker B:I was interested in that, and I was inspired in just to back up.
Speaker B:In high school, I had an art class where a teacher had.
Speaker B:I had really just been to where I grew up in Connecticut, United States.
Speaker B:And she showed pictures of all these places she's visited and all these.
Speaker B:The Notre Dame, Haga, Sophia, all these incredible buildings.
Speaker B:And I was, like, awestruck.
Speaker B:And I was like, wow.
Speaker B:And so what I was told is, yeah, that's what architects do.
Speaker B:So I was like, okay, that's what I'll do.
Speaker B:So I went to school for architecture, I got a degree, I started practicing as an architect, and I realized that I had no clue what I was doing.
Speaker B:I had never built anything in my life.
Speaker B:Yet my job, I was tasked with telling others how to build and what to build.
Speaker B:And I was like, I couldn't get over.
Speaker B:That was just the insecurity I had was high.
Speaker B:And around that time, somebody told me the derivation of the word architect is master builder.
Speaker B:And that hit me like a ton of bricks.
Speaker B:And I was like, oh, okay, that makes sense, because I don't know how to build, and there's no way I could ever imagine knowing how to put together some of those incredible buildings that we admire.
Speaker B:And so I started to dig into the history of it.
Speaker B:And what I found is that throughout history, for millennia, the architect built.
Speaker B:And the separation really did not occur until about 100, 150 years ago, about the.
Speaker B: The late: Speaker B: an English dictionary in the: Speaker B:They use the other word to define the other one.
Speaker B:And so it's a bit of a.
Speaker B:It's wild because today it's so accepted, the separation.
Speaker B:But a nutshell, I was like, I need to know how to build.
Speaker B:And so I actually stepped away from the studio.
Speaker B:I worked as a carpenter for a while, and I never really made it.
Speaker B:I'm Not a licensed architect, by the way.
Speaker B:I own a licensed.
Speaker B:We are a licensed architecture firm and I have licensed architects.
Speaker B:But the type I would need to go and do some more requirements.
Speaker B:I consider myself capable.
Speaker B:But just to clarify that point and we are licensed builders.
Speaker B:And in 20 I graduated, I worked as an architect for a period, got let go, worked as a carpenter, where I didn't get let go as an architect.
Speaker B:I got let go as a carpenter after about a year and I just started my own company really with the purpose of still how do I fill this void.
Speaker B:And so the last almost 20 years have has been a progression of that.
Speaker B:Today we do high end residential renovations in Boston, Greater Boston.
Speaker B:We do a lot of new construction in the way of additions, but we are fully integrated firm.
Speaker B:So whatever we design, we're going to build.
Speaker B:We only build what we've designed.
Speaker B:And very passionate about that methodology and really increasing awareness on the history of it and how this is not a new thing.
Speaker B:This is actually just a return to the way it had been done for Millennial.
Speaker B:And when you start and when anybody really thinks about this, they're like, oh yeah, that makes sense.
Speaker B:It's the analogy I give.
Speaker B:It's imagine going to, you're going to be a chef, but you never cooked anything.
Speaker B:You just theoretically learned how to about recipes and how they go together, but you never cooked anything.
Speaker B:How would your recipes be?
Speaker B:And that though today, that's the way an architect is trained.
Speaker B:And I've gone into a deep dive on how that came to be.
Speaker B:I've written on it.
Speaker B:I'm going to be releasing books on this topic.
Speaker B:And because I think it's important, it's what it's what occurred yet is not known.
Speaker B:And I'm going to fill that void.
Speaker A:That's awesome.
Speaker A:Yeah.
Speaker A:I want to get to your books.
Speaker A:Absolutely.
Speaker A:Later on because you also wrote a really interesting book on the roots of architecture.
Speaker A:So I want to get back to that in a second.
Speaker A:But I want to before I want to pick a little string there at what you said with being a master builder and how you're explaining it.
Speaker A:You are doing constructions up to 100,000 square feet.
Speaker A:Right.
Speaker A:Like you, you can do.
Speaker A:You do also small ones, but you can do really big ones.
Speaker A:And I just want to pick apart a little bit of how people are perceiving that.
Speaker A:What's the reaction you usually get?
Speaker B:Yeah, it depends if they've gone through the process.
Speaker B:But before or not those folks that have who have the projects that we do typically, comparatively or traditionally, there's a separate architect, there's actually a separate interior designer, and there's a separate builder.
Speaker B:And that has been the status quo of what is presented to the client.
Speaker B:If the client wants to do a significant project where design is important and they want like a certain vision and whatnot, this is what's been put there for them.
Speaker B:So for those folks who have been through that, it's like a relief because it is so much simpler.
Speaker B:There's not.
Speaker B:Because when you have that setup, when there's those three, or maybe add a landscape architect and builder, add two more to that for these, some of these projects we do, it is confusing.
Speaker B:There's a lot that can go wrong.
Speaker B:Everybody's responsible, yet no one is fully responsible.
Speaker B:And a lot of those firms are amazing and they get over it and they provide an exceptional experience regardless.
Speaker B:But it is not set up that way.
Speaker B:That setup is set up to be contentious, adversarial with things falling down.
Speaker B:The only way it is overcome is because those firms, you know, have a different mentality, but it is wrought with issues.
Speaker B:And our industry does not have the greatest reputation.
Speaker B:I believe it has been for 10 years in a row.
Speaker B:Over 10 years in a row has been number two in client satisfaction or dissatisfaction behind the cars, the auto industry.
Speaker B:So, and for me, I see the source of that as the separation.
Speaker B:Because what happened is for thousands of years, you could turn to an individual or an entity and they were fully.
Speaker B:You'd have a single source of accountability.
Speaker B:And it happened gradually, but over a century, we get to today and it is not that way.
Speaker B: nstruction manager in the mid-: Speaker B:They did not know enough about construction to manage it.
Speaker B:And the client's in the bottom, in the middle of all that.
Speaker B:So whatever does fall down, it falls down on them.
Speaker B:It's confusing.
Speaker B:So for those folks that have been through it, it's like a relief.
Speaker B:For those folks who this is their first project, I feel like they like it, but they don't have that comparable.
Speaker B:So it's, it's.
Speaker B:That's what they go into.
Speaker B:But it resonates with people.
Speaker B:It makes sense to people because they want simplicity.
Speaker B:They don't want to be managing three to five various entities.
Speaker B:And so, yeah, but there's some real.
Speaker A:World consequences, right, for the customers if you have all these separate.
Speaker A:You just alluded to them to those a little bit.
Speaker A:But having more simplicity, having you are able to probably define the scope of the project more precise.
Speaker A:So the costs are more precise?
Speaker B:Probably, yeah.
Speaker B:I think what is it?
Speaker B:Is this a simpler approach because we are fully responsible?
Speaker B:There's a whole slew of pitfalls, I think, of this separation that we could have multiple podcasts on topic of and how it's not been good for anyone.
Speaker B:It's not been good for the architect.
Speaker B:The architect is extremely marginalized today.
Speaker B:The builder is like an order taker and nailbanger.
Speaker B:And yeah, it has not been good for the industry, but for the client, it's litigation.
Speaker B:That whole industry around this industry is built from the separation and the fact that there's ambiguity of who is fully responsible.
Speaker B:So I think for us, the thing that we're able to do is get rid of the mystery.
Speaker B:You know, you need to kind of compare it to the alternative.
Speaker B:But like when I initially meet with a client because we build, I know what things cost, I know how long things take to execute and I'm actually responsible for it.
Speaker B:I'm not going to turn you over to somebody who's, oh, I can point a finger at.
Speaker B:It's going to be coming back to myself.
Speaker B:So I am.
Speaker B:I think the biggest benefit is early having the transparency and setting expectations of, okay, I got what the pain points are.
Speaker B:I got what you are looking to address.
Speaker B:Here's what I see.
Speaker B:Here's an outline of a project that I think and that might not be the right one.
Speaker B:We're going to get into the design process.
Speaker B:We're going to iterate.
Speaker B:We're going to look at you were going to get a ton more information and then we're going.
Speaker B:But here's what I see.
Speaker B:Let me just show you like a parameter of a project in the way of a design.
Speaker B:Like, I'll do sketches very early to help communicate.
Speaker B:Here's high level.
Speaker B:What I'm thinking could work.
Speaker B:Here's what.
Speaker B:Here's a range, a cost range that's going to fall under.
Speaker B:Here's what to expect on timing for that.
Speaker B:So those things coming from me, where I'm going to be fully accountable for them is much different than an architect who's going to ballpark.
Speaker B:You know, it is not uncommon for us to get calls where folks have gone through the entire design process.
Speaker B:Hey, I just, I have these plans.
Speaker B:They went out to bid.
Speaker B:The cost came in twice as much, sometimes three times as much as what was projected.
Speaker B:What we were targeting with this architect to budget and architects kind of, it's not them.
Speaker B:It's super inefficient.
Speaker B:And then on the builder side, if you talk to a builder early he can tell you like, hey I, you know, I could do this for that.
Speaker B:But it's then going to be designed and it's.
Speaker B:Once it comes back to them, it's different.
Speaker B:They weren't responsible for that.
Speaker B:So it's really.
Speaker B:And there's also an unwillingness from the builder because they're not going to control that design to.
Speaker B:I feel like part of the thing with our industry is they keep mystery, keep cost a mystery.
Speaker B:Let's not talk about it until it's too late.
Speaker B:Until they're so far into it that they're like.
Speaker B:And for those really high end clients, most don't have the means.
Speaker B:If the, if it's twice the budget of three times those high end clients, they can do it.
Speaker B:And I feel like they've accepted it or bared with it because they can and because they, they want the end product but then they have the means but most can't.
Speaker B:And what I'm banking on is they like to it have been simpler.
Speaker B:If I can provide that same product with a extremely enhanced experience.
Speaker B:That's the real difference is you could look at pictures all day, they don't tell you what the experience was to get there.
Speaker B:And it's a, it's the, it's that intangible of the experience that I think is really the biggest difference of what it took to get there.
Speaker B:What was the stress involved, what was the schedule, was the cost differentials.
Speaker B:So it's a huge difference.
Speaker B:It's a huge difference and I love, I love what we do.
Speaker B:It's like a, I don't say it's an easy sell but it's because it's simpler because it makes so much sense, it's real.
Speaker B:I'm just educating folks on what I feel is kind of being withheld from them.
Speaker B:That's been a mystery.
Speaker B:Providing an opportunity for a better way.
Speaker A:I think this is one of the main things that intrigued me about your story the most because in my job I constantly talk to businesses about trust is the single most important emotion that we have to feel as customers in order to give money in exchange for a service or product.
Speaker A:And by, by hiding the prices and not being able to tell ahead of time what it's going to cost.
Speaker A:It's very detrimental to that trust and you providing that kind of transparency and simplicity.
Speaker A:I know on your website you have a pricing guide that really explains you can't give like a software company, you can't say this is going to cost.
Speaker B:So much Every project is different.
Speaker A:So speaking about that cost guide a little bit, can you give a little bit of a background of why you've decided to do that and what sort of the reaction is of that, how it's been used?
Speaker B:You know, in the States, in America.
Speaker B:There's been this publication that's been put out since I've been in business which is called the Cost versus Value Report.
Speaker B:It's put out by Hanley Wood Remodeling Magazine and it's been a great resource.
Speaker B:Like I've utilized that to share with clients on hey, here's a third party resource for.
Speaker B:Because nobody knows what these projects cost.
Speaker B:It's not.
Speaker B:You don't buy these things every day.
Speaker B:And, and, and there's not really a lot of great resources out there.
Speaker B:Again, I feel like the industry's trying to withhold that information and but this has been a great resource.
Speaker B:It goes over what typical.
Speaker B:And it's still a great resource.
Speaker B:It goes over what typical projects cost.
Speaker B:They break it down into like high end and mid range and they show plans, they have renderings so you can know what you want to do or have that idea and then go there and be like, oh, this is kind of the most similar oak.
Speaker B:It's broken down geographically by all parts of the country.
Speaker B:So you can get pretty granular in that regard.
Speaker B:And that was the inspiration for it really.
Speaker B:It's just to have like more information.
Speaker B:So ours is a little different.
Speaker B:We've broken it up in a way that I think is for some of the projects we do, like whole home renovations and additions, it's a little simpler for folks to be like get a sense.
Speaker B:It's not going to be exact by any means.
Speaker B:But all I'm trying to do is like when you're starting from scratch and you have no clue, this is going to give you.
Speaker B:This is a great resource to fill that void and kind of get a high level sense of cost.
Speaker B:And that's.
Speaker B:And it is, it's scarce.
Speaker B:That information is scarce.
Speaker B:So been really well received as a result of that and just helps.
Speaker B:It helps us because people can look at it ahead of time, do their due diligence.
Speaker B:It's just a resource for them to be educated and, and see if those projects make sense.
Speaker B:And it is.
Speaker B:Ours is more tailored to the types of projects we do.
Speaker B:So we don't do replace a bathroom or kitchen in kind.
Speaker B:It's more significant.
Speaker B:It's multiple rooms.
Speaker B:We do break it down by like laundry, mudrooms, kitchens, baths.
Speaker B:Because when someone calls us and they're like, hey, I have no clue.
Speaker B:We're gonna share like, okay, here's what we see typically for these types of projects that we do to give them that information.
Speaker A:An educated customer is definitely a happy customer, always.
Speaker A:Right?
Speaker B:Yeah.
Speaker B:It's gotta be.
Speaker B:It's gotta be like helping them to make a right decision.
Speaker B:We're not right for everybody.
Speaker B:So I want to help them look, get the information that will help them determine what is.
Speaker A:No for sure.
Speaker A:One other thing that I think you and I have talked about in the past and really have some shared passion for is sustainability.
Speaker A:And we've talked about passive houses in the past, and I want to just pick on that a little bit.
Speaker A:What is your biggest sort of obstacle that you're running or generally the industry is facing when you're selling sustainable projects or passive houses?
Speaker B:It's not for us today.
Speaker B:It's think people want it.
Speaker B:Particularly I think the correct answer is lack of education, because once people are more educated on the topic, I think they do want it.
Speaker B:Because while the energy efficiency aspect of it is really heavily pushed or talked about, the benefits of it relating to health and comfort are significant.
Speaker B:And those are the things that we really try to communicate and get understanding of.
Speaker B:I say it's also not difficult here where we are in Massachusetts.
Speaker B:Massachusetts, for the US at least, is a leader in sustainability, energy efficiency.
Speaker B:The code that we use, the IBC International Building Code, that there's a portion of it for the energy code they adopted, Massachusetts energy code for the, you know, for pretty much every state now uses that.
Speaker B:And Massachusetts has been at the forefront of it.
Speaker B:And a lot of these things are mandated now.
Speaker B:Passive house is really being used and those standards is really being used like now in the building code.
Speaker B:And so if you're not on board, you're going to be like, you're going to have to.
Speaker B:So right or wrong, that's.
Speaker B:That's kind of the way it's going down.
Speaker A:Yeah.
Speaker A:For me, the problem is always if you walk into a passive house, you will absolutely.
Speaker A:You feel it instantly that there's something different about this house.
Speaker B:Yeah.
Speaker A:How do you bring that feeling across?
Speaker B:Totally.
Speaker B:I think, you know, a passive house is really, it's.
Speaker B:It's really just the epitome of it.
Speaker B:Like it's the highest standard there is for that energy efficiency.
Speaker B:But the components of what make up a passive house, there's five components those can be applied to every single project you do.
Speaker B:And they might not be to the extent and certified and what have you, but those are principles that we look to apply on every single one of our projects.
Speaker B:Not all our projects.
Speaker B:Most of our projects are not passive house certified, but we can.
Speaker B:There's opportunities on every single project we do to enhance the comfort, enhance the indoor air quality, and enhance energy efficiency by applying those principles.
Speaker B:And it's just like our operating procedure now.
Speaker B:And because it is now being mandated, people are kind of like being forced to be educated on it.
Speaker B:And there's some gray areas because they.
Speaker B:There can be projects the way the code is structured.
Speaker B:Like if you are doing a certain amount of reconfiguration, you need to bring the entire house.
Speaker B:Or if you're doing an addition that's over 1,000 square feet, your whole home, which could be from.
Speaker B:In New England, we have a lot of.
Speaker B:For America's standards have a lot of older homes.
Speaker B:And so it's kind of forcing.
Speaker B:The.
Speaker B:Forcing in the updating of that.
Speaker B:The standards that we build with today.
Speaker A:So it's rather like a push approach where people have to be educated rather than people coming into the room a little bit.
Speaker B:It is a bit.
Speaker B:I think also most of our clients are extremely receptive to it because they want a healthier home, they want a more comfortable home.
Speaker B:They want to do their part in creating a healthy environment.
Speaker B:So I think it's a combo.
Speaker B:But.
Speaker B:But if we're talking to builders, it's whether you disagree with it or agree with it, like, it's coming.
Speaker B:It's just like AI, so you can't get away from it.
Speaker A:It's like the Scotland of Europe.
Speaker A:Scotland has a very similar approach right now.
Speaker A:So that's great to hear.
Speaker A:If you had a magic wand, what would be the one thing that you would change about the industry tomorrow?
Speaker B:It's really just the awareness of where we came from.
Speaker B:I think that for me, I get actually a little emotional about it because we're one in the same.
Speaker B:And yet we have been bred and taught to be that we're different and we're all.
Speaker B:That's before my day is done, before my last breath.
Speaker B:I am.
Speaker B:I would.
Speaker B:I want to reunite the industry.
Speaker B:Those that create the built environment have been segregated with force and laws and lies.
Speaker B:And so it's really to know that we're one in the same and we need to work together to achieve that.
Speaker B:The educational system is what has really created the segregation.
Speaker B:I don't know if we're the educational capital of the world, but maybe in Boston and Harvard, mit, bu, Northeastern, all these schools have architecture programs.
Speaker B:They have construction management degrees, they have engineering Degrees, they are completely segregated.
Speaker B:No cross totally separate buildings, professors, syllabuses.
Speaker B:Whereas the product that they're creating is.
Speaker B:It doesn't occur without the collaboration and communication and integration.
Speaker B:So it is completely nonsensical.
Speaker B:And yet.
Speaker B:And so that's what we have in the industry because it's being bred into us, it's being trained into us.
Speaker B:This separation and this.
Speaker B:And so no wonder you have these kind of adversarial relationships.
Speaker B:But we are going to overcome that because it doesn't make sense.
Speaker B:And technology is a thing too that is.
Speaker B:Is bringing those.
Speaker B:It's showing that.
Speaker B:It's like regardless of whether people figure out about the true history in the past, we're going, you got SpaceX going to Mars.
Speaker B:Is that going to be done?
Speaker B:Is that going to be designed by someone and then built by someone else?
Speaker B:No, it's not.
Speaker B:You have a lot of the technology that is coming about.
Speaker B:It's.
Speaker B:It forces in this integration because it's like what technology is like when you 3D print a house, when did which push of the button started the construction and ended the design.
Speaker B:It's like this.
Speaker B:The lines start to blur there.
Speaker A:You just mentioned whether or not people are going back to the roots and understanding where this is all coming from.
Speaker A:So that's a perfect segue into talking about your book.
Speaker A:You wrote about the roots of the classical architecture being in Africa.
Speaker A:Can you give us a little bit of.
Speaker B:Yeah, I put out a book last year called Classical Architecture's African Roots and I put it out as a free ebook.
Speaker B:It's designrootsafrica.com it is on Amazon as a print book, but it's a picture book.
Speaker B:It's really what it is.
Speaker B:And it was part of a larger book that I'm still in.
Speaker B:In the midst of and basically in my research.
Speaker B: So in the mid-: Speaker B:Prior RIBA was the predecessor in England.
Speaker B:The Royal Institute of British Architects.
Speaker B: atus initially in America was: Speaker B:And their stated purpose was to raise their social status.
Speaker B:They were all builders by the way.
Speaker B:19 Of the.
Speaker B:I've gone, I've done a deep dive of all the founders backgrounds.
Speaker B:They were carpenters, master masons, they were from the trades.
Speaker B:The problem they were trying to solve to and the solution was to create this organization was to raise their social status because they could not be considered gentlemen because of Their participation in manual labor, their connection with physical labor, from which they came.
Speaker B:That was a.
Speaker B:No, this term gentleman came from England.
Speaker B:It was a.
Speaker B:It was.
Speaker B:It was in their census.
Speaker B:It wasn't just like an adjective, but it was like a thing you hit.
Speaker B:And per the definition of a gentleman, that was uno.
Speaker B:So they.
Speaker B:That was.
Speaker B:The simplicity and craziness of it is that's how it went down.
Speaker B:They then got the way an architect was trained, switched from an apprenticeship system like this master builder thing comes from the trade.
Speaker B:Like you're an apprentice, you're a journeyman, and now you're a master.
Speaker B:They switched that to a university curriculum.
Speaker B:The first university they got it adopted in was MIT Prestigious.
Speaker B:It goes along with their play, right?
Speaker B:And so one of the things they also started to do was who writes the history books?
Speaker B:Those same institutions.
Speaker B:So they literally.
Speaker B:And I know this because Thomas Ustick Walter, who was one of two, who was part of both AIA's like the 36 and the 57, he was the vice president of the latter.
Speaker B:He was like the founder of the founders.
Speaker B:He wrote the first American history architecture.
Speaker B:He was the first American to write a history of architecture.
Speaker B:It's published.
Speaker B:I have this book behind me.
Speaker B:If you look at that book, he credits, without a doubt, the Greeks and Romans got it from the Egyptians, he wrote he knew this to be true.
Speaker B:Without a doubt.
Speaker B:And it.
Speaker B:And what ended up happening is the history books started to be changed just like the history books started to be changed of that the architect and builder were separated throughout history.
Speaker B:That's the way.
Speaker B:That's why it's like people are indoctrinated this bit way.
Speaker B:That's what these books say from these prestigious universities.
Speaker B:It must be true.
Speaker B:And the other thing they started to do was that it just started in Greece.
Speaker B:It didn't.
Speaker B:The earlier part got cut out because of the.
Speaker B:At that time, if you think about when that was slave people were enslaved in America, colonization of Africa was rampant.
Speaker B:And so that didn't fit in the.
Speaker B:Into the narrative.
Speaker B:It was like, oh, nope.
Speaker B:They were all using classical architecture at that time.
Speaker B:Neoclassical was really a primary.
Speaker B:Even Gothic is really fundamentally, you know, still has a lot of classical elements to it.
Speaker B:So that didn't work.
Speaker B:That was it.
Speaker B:That didn't work.
Speaker B:So they cut it out.
Speaker B:They cut out that.
Speaker B:And if you look in encyclopedias today and you look up where classical architecture came from, you'll see it may be a line, maybe one line.
Speaker B:But my book shows visually, without a doubt, I have not had one person challenge Me, Please do.
Speaker B:I would love to hear that.
Speaker B:But it shows without a doubt that, you know, the Greeks got it from.
Speaker B:From the Egyptians, from Africa, and not just like a little bit.
Speaker B:Like every significant principle of classical architecture came and it.
Speaker B:For me, I put that out initially just as a.
Speaker B:It is visual, so you don't have to believe me, just look at the pictures and make your own assessment and judgment.
Speaker B:It just shows that.
Speaker B:Oh, wow, yes.
Speaker B:That's not right.
Speaker B:I can see that to be 110%.
Speaker B:So maybe I feel like it opens the door to, oh, maybe this.
Speaker B:Maybe there's other stuff that don't.
Speaker B:We've been doing and thinking and been taught.
Speaker B:That's.
Speaker B:That's not right.
Speaker A:Yeah, I was just gonna say your book has a lot of images and it's not primarily for architects or you don't have to have a technical background to really enjoy the book or get a lot out of it.
Speaker A:Right.
Speaker A:It's like for.
Speaker A:For everyone to look at and learn from.
Speaker B:Yeah, No, I really intended for it to just be very accessible.
Speaker B:That's why I put it out as a free ebook.
Speaker B:Very shareable.
Speaker B:I want this information to spread because when I was.
Speaker B:I couldn't believe when I started to research it, how there wasn't something like this there already.
Speaker B:Because it's.
Speaker B:The buildings still stand today.
Speaker B:Like the evidence is still there.
Speaker B:It's visible, but it's been hidden.
Speaker B:It's a wild trip.
Speaker B:It's a wild thought if you think about it.
Speaker B:Yeah.
Speaker B:So it is really just primarily pictures.
Speaker B:It's like looking at what the status quo is like what we're taught for a specific element of classical architecture.
Speaker B:Take the column types or take its basis in proportion.
Speaker B:And here's what the encyclopedia say on where this came from.
Speaker B:Now look at these pictures, look at this information and make your own assessment.
Speaker B:And so there's 20 chapters and every chapter is like that on a different point.
Speaker B:And at some point I think everyone who has read it is like, oh, yeah, this is pretty comprehensive.
Speaker A:Excellent.
Speaker A:I'll put the link to the book, to the ebook and the Amazon version in the show notes.
Speaker A:So if anyone wants to download it or buy it from Amazon, they can.
Speaker A:Now where are you hanging out the most?
Speaker A:If someone wants to get in touch, how would they go about that?
Speaker B:Yeah, I'm very active on all the social media platforms.
Speaker B:Honestly.
Speaker B:LinkedIn is a favorite.
Speaker B:I'm on TikTok now, but Instagram and my email is dave@anydesignbuild.com and I hope to be findable and approachable because this message is one that I'm extremely passionate about.
Speaker B:I have a full time job with my business.
Speaker B:I love what we do.
Speaker B:I love servicing our clients.
Speaker B:But I really do want us to be an example of this way, this better way.
Speaker B:And I want to get the truth out.
Speaker B:And we'll be speaking on that.
Speaker B:I hope, whether they intend to or not, that my face keeps popping up.
Speaker A:Thank you so much, David, for sharing your story and sharing your passion with us today.
Speaker A:I really enjoyed our conversation and I hope our listeners did too.
Speaker A:Thank you so much.
Speaker B:Thank you.
Speaker B:My pleasure.
Speaker B:Me too.
Speaker A:Awesome.
