Show Notes
We sit down with Keir-Regan Alexander, founder of Arka Works, to explore how AI is transforming architecture. With over 15 years of design experience in top London practices, Keir shares his journey from architect to AI consultant, revealing how AI is changing the way architects work. We cover everything from early career influences and design school experiences at Liverpool and Westminster to the pressures of running a practice and the challenges of embracing new tech.
00:00 - Intro01:23 - Why architecture?03:21 - Early influences05:13 - Architecture school: Liverpool vs Westminster08:28 - Early career at AHMM and Fielden Fowles12:43 - Transition to Morris+Company15:58 - Navigating the split at Duggan Morris18:51 - What are your leadership values?20:52 - Leaving Morris+Company for AI consultancy23:51 - The AI awakening: early recognition of potential27:19 - AI in architecture practices: two buckets approach30:06 - Practical applications of AI in architecture33:44 - Challenges and opportunities with AI36:37 - Omnihat: a new AI startup for architects41:05 - Using AI to optimise architecture workflows43:54 - Future of architecture and AI45:28 - Advice for young architects in the AI era50:04 - The economics of architecture education today
More from Bespoke Careers Podcast
We’ve wrapped season one of the Bespoke Careers Podcast. 42 episodes, from architecture students right up to institute presidents.Here's some of the best advice that stuck with us. Seven ideas worth hearing, from 196 years of combined experience.
James Zagari is the co-founder of EST Lighting, an Australian lighting company he established in 2016 after a career that began almost by accident with a sales role at Philips Lighting.
Download the 2026 Global Salary Guide: https://www.bespokecareers.com/salary-guide/Muyiwa Oki is an architect at Mace and was President of RIBA from 2023 to 2025, the institute's youngest and first Black president, elected after a grassroots campaign that started in a WhatsApp group.He studied at Sheffield, did his Part 3 with RIBA North West, and worked at Glenn Howells Architects in Birmingham and Grimshaw in London before moving to Mace, where he works the front end of projects with public and private clients. During his term he set up the workplace and wellbeing task force and the RIBA's AI advisory group, and pushed the institution on pay, access to the profession and level 7 funding.
Illya Azaroff calls architecture his side gig. He's also the 2026 president of the American Institute of Architects and has spent 30 years responding to disasters around the world.His father arrived in the US as a displaced war refugee from Ukraine, and Illya grew up at a dinner table where hunger was a firsthand memory. That upbringing led to a degree in geography, then a career in disaster mitigation, and now the presidency of a 100,000-member institution.We get into what the presidency is like from the inside, why his kids are the reason he ran, the ethos he borrowed from the Kalinago people in the Caribbean, why nearly half of small businesses never reopen after a disaster, and the message he wants every architect to hear: you are more powerful to your community than you realize.
Shajay Bhooshan is an Associate Director at ZHA Architects and co-founder of ZHA CODE, the practice's computation and design research group, now 28 people inside a studio of around 500. He studied at the AA's Design Research Laboratory, where he still teaches, and completed his PhD with the Block Research Group at ETH Zurich. His work spans high performance geometry, robotic fabrication, game engines and participatory design, including the 3D printed concrete bridge Striatus.