Inside a Top 200 Architect’s Mind: How Design Shapes the Way We Live | Jay Reinert

A beautiful house can still fail you on day one if there’s nowhere to put the trash can, nowhere to set the shampoo, and no plan for how you actually move through your morning. That’s where this conversation goes fast: past surface-level style and into the real mechanics of residential design that make a home feel effortless.

We sit down with Jay Reinert, founder of J Reinert Architecture and a Forbes Top 200 residential architect, to talk about the uncommon advantage of being both architect and builder. Jay shares how a hands-on upbringing and years in design-build shaped his approach to renovations, additions, and new homes, especially in established historic towns where context matters. We get into historic preservation, zoning, and the “knockdown” dilemma, plus why replicas can make authentic architecture feel strangely cheap.

Jay breaks down his process from pre-design through schematic design, and why generating clear alternatives helps clients spend with confidence. We also talk about integrating interior design early so furniture layouts, storage, and daily routines shape the architecture instead of fighting it later. Along the way, we dig into craftsmanship, sustainability, aging in place, what travel in the UK and Edinburgh reveals about building longevity, and how AI may push the industry toward “good enough” unless we protect the human side of design.

If you care about renovation, residential architecture, historic homes, interior design collaboration, or simply building a house that works, hit play, subscribe, and share this with someone planning a remodel. After you listen, leave a review and tell us the one detail you think every architect should plan for first.

Transcript

Welcome To iDesign Lab

Voice Over 0:00

This is iDesign Lab, a podcast where creativity and curiosity meet style and design. Curator of interiors, furnishings, and lifestyles. Hosted by Tiffany Woolley, an interior designer and a style enthusiast, along with her serial entrepreneur husband Scott. iDesign Lab is your ultimate design podcast, where we explore the rich and vibrant world of design and its constant evolution in style and trends. Today on the iDesign Lab, meet Jay Reinert, founder of Jay Reinhardt Architecture, and one of Forbes' top 200 residential architects, who blends craftsmanship, creativity, and precision to design spaces that don't just look incredible, but truly shape how we live.

TIffany Woolley 0:48

Welcome to the iDesign Lab podcast. Today we are joined with Jay Reinhart, who has an architecture firm, a founder, and actually a very serious designer as well. So we look forward to diving into this conversation. Welcome to Rainy South Florida. Yes.

SPEAKER_01 1:06

Thank you. Thank you for having me.

TIffany Woolley 1:08

And um tell us, tell the audience a little bit about your background.

SPEAKER_01 1:14

Introduce yourself. How far would you like to leave?

TIffany Woolley 1:16

Well, we're gonna go back a little bit further, but just tell us a little introduction.

SPEAKER_01 1:20

Um I grew up uh in a family that was very supportive. And um I had a grandfather who was a boat builder and a carpenter um who also worked for Kurdish Public Curtis Publishing in Philadelphia. Um they closed the doors and that gave him an opportunity to go do other things. Um and um then found my way in college or in high school that I wanted to be an architect and was supported uh incredibly well by two per two teachers at that time. Your parents or oh don't teach them. Two shop shop teachers.

TIffany Woolley 1:59

Which is like something we don't even see much of these days.

SPEAKER_01 2:02

I mean, it gives me goosebumps to think about how they changed my life path. Um and then went to UNC Charlotte and then NC State. Um came out in 1990 where there was no work for architects.

TIffany Woolley 2:19

Um why was that?

SPEAKER_01 2:22

Uh I think that was the dot-com bust at the time. Okay. Um it was a real shame because I had spent some time with RTKL in Baltimore and won a traveling fellowship, summer internship with them. And so um the summer before that, I had traveled the West Coast on their dime and generosity.

SPEAKER_04 2:44

Amazing.

SPEAKER_01 2:45

Um, studying every theme park aquarium and zoo on the way. Wow. I mean, uh from the Mexican border to Vancouver.

TIffany Woolley 2:53

That's crazy.

SPEAKER_01 2:54

So um, you know, uh when I graduated, they just left like 300 people go. So it that that opportunity kind of fell. Another transition into what led you to Yeah, and that and that led me into relying on my building.

TIffany Woolley 3:11

Yeah.

Scott Woolley 3:12

So you said your grandfather was a boat builder.

SPEAKER_01 3:15

When you say boat builder, like he built um racing dinghies, so small sailboats. Okay. Um and uh my uncle won the worlds in a moth.

Scott Woolley 3:28

So did did that experience of seeing what your grandfather was doing kind of set your goals or your He would all you know, I was encouraged to go to the basement with him and and work.

SPEAKER_01 3:39

Right. You know, I mean, not work. I mean it wasn't it was more an encouragement thing than like being forced to.

TIffany Woolley 3:45

Well, and I feel like like your story, which I mean we're gonna dive through, but I feel like you really had a hands-on approach versus technical approach. Yes, I mean from the very beginning.

SPEAKER_01 3:59

Uh uh I was surprised when I got to architecture school.

TIffany Woolley 4:02

Right.

SPEAKER_01 4:03

That you needed all the that I had a uh I was coming from craft and architecture at the time was celebrating philosophy and design thinking, right? Which was a surprise to me. You know. Um I didn't have the vocabulary that like, you know, and I won't call it intelligence, but certainly the grades that some of this other students had. Um but I made my way and and you know and it was worked out okay for you.

TIffany Woolley 4:32

It made a difference, yeah.

SPEAKER_01 4:33

That I actually did really, really well through school, um, coming from a hands-on approach versus an academic.

Scott Woolley 4:41

But you also have a construction background. Yes. So where did the construction background come into play?

The Design Build Years

SPEAKER_01 4:46

So when I came out of school in 1990 and there was no work, you went to work. I I bought a pickup truck, okay, lived in my parents' basement, and started building decks and anything I can do to uh, you know.

Scott Woolley 5:01

So at what point along? So you're now in construction, and at what point does it sort of change to architecture?

SPEAKER_01 5:09

Um so somewhere around 2000. So I was always doing architecture along with building. Okay. I had uh connections with architects, so I was doing design build. I was building things I designed.

Scott Woolley 5:22

Okay.

SPEAKER_01 5:23

Um and it was a lot like being a sculptor. So it wasn't very financially productive. Right. When you want to take advantage of ever every opportunity you discover along the way in a in a you know building project. Um after a while, you've been there too long.

SPEAKER_03 5:44

Yeah.

Scott Woolley 5:45

Um so 2004-5, um, crazy enough, um was the time where I decided it was uh time to stop being distracted uh by construction and start moving towards uh but you're you're unique in the fact that from what we experience with we we work with uh uh quite a number of architects, and it's the one thing I think Tiffany Morso says it all the time that half these arch most of these architects don't fully understand the construction or what's involved in the like and it's not part of architectural education, right?

SPEAKER_01 6:22

I mean, so you know, like I was saying, architecture is more of a philosophical kind of you know, endeavor, um or a business endeavor, right? Or a science, you know, uh the like a physics craft part is not something that most architects are are very interested. I shouldn't say not very interested in. They don't have the opportunity to to do to get hands-on. And you know, in in college, when I was going through school, my internship and my TA's positions were always running the shops, you know, so helping other students figure out how to build furniture. I helped with a furniture design studio, and I was we did a lot, a lot of laminated furniture, just crazy fun stuff. It was great. Um so yeah, but most architects do not uh if you ask the We run into it all the time.

Scott Woolley 7:17

I mean, I just had a conversation with an architect this past week, and he and I was asking him a question. He said, Well, how'd the GC figure it out? Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 7:25

I mean, it's um that is what I uh sell against. Right. Right, right. I mean, one of the first you know things in our conversations um with prospective clients is that you know, we're gonna stay involved from the beginning to the end. Right. You know, we think things through. So we're not giving them um we're not giving them a suggestion, we're giving them an instruction. And if something happens and they need to change that or an issue arises, we want to know about it.

Scott Woolley 7:58

Well, I I look at it from the consumer or the client. It's beneficial to have someone like yourself who understands and has done the construction side and as an architect at the end of the day for the homeowner, you know, remodeling or rebuild, you're saving them, I would believe, money in the process.

SPEAKER_01 8:16

I think that we're certainly cleaning up the process. Right. Yeah. Right. I mean, um, there's some great builders out there, and I always say, you know, I don't want to limit anybody's input and and creativity as far as our projects go. But you need to bring it to us and have a conversation with us. Yeah, you can't make a decision at seven o'clock in the morning, you know, to move a closet from that wall to that wall because you found a pipe in the wall that you don't want to move. Right.

TIffany Woolley 8:44

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 8:45

You know, I mean, that's not the way we make decisions. You need to inform us and we need to have a conversation with the client. And, you know, in that conversation with the client, we discuss why that decision was made to begin with, and then give the builder, you know, instruction on what to do. But yeah, it's it's a different process when you have a background, I think, in construction. And I'm not the only one. There are architects out there. Yeah. Um, but it's so I don't want to badmouth the profession. There's certainly people who have expertise in certain oh, for sure. You know, and but for residential projects, especially in like the the Philadelphia suburb area, right? Where we have a lot of buildings already. And the idea is how do we make them become better and become part of the you know the client's life and represent who they are and their lifestyle and things, um you gotta be able to modify things. You know, which means you've got to have an understanding of how they were put together the first time. First place, right? It's a little different if you're doing a new home, right?

Renovations That Respect Neighborhoods

TIffany Woolley 9:52

I mean That was one of the questions I was gonna ask you. Is that like as you you know transitioned from being in construction and kind of doing both, and you you know opened your firm and went into is it mainly residential?

SPEAKER_01 10:07

Uh mainly residential, although we do some commercial work where um the client is wants to have fun.

TIffany Woolley 10:18

Right.

SPEAKER_01 10:19

And or it's meaningful to the community that we're in.

TIffany Woolley 10:23

Okay.

SPEAKER_01 10:23

Um we uh just did a um a garden center, an expansion of a uh hardware store, which is now an ace, but you know, it was a hardware store, family-owned for like a hundred years. And they bought the lot next door to them and want to extend that into the into a garden. But it happens to be in the center of our town.

TIffany Woolley 10:44

Uh-huh.

SPEAKER_01 10:46

So, you know, so that was a project I took on so that it didn't end up looking like the back of a home depot.

TIffany Woolley 10:52

Right, right, right, yeah, yeah. In the middle of our farm and keep the character.

SPEAKER_01 10:56

So, how do we get involved in uh, you know, so it it turned a little more into a park atmosphere where we tried to activate the sidewalk. You know, so we do anything that's fun.

SPEAKER_03 11:08

That's it.

SPEAKER_01 11:08

I tell clients I'll design a birdhouse for you. If if you're interested in going through a process that gets the birdhouse that you want, you know, then I don't care what we're designing.

TIffany Woolley 11:22

Right.

SPEAKER_01 11:22

You know, and that that's a uh something else besides the building end. We expect our clients to be highly involved in the process.

TIffany Woolley 11:31

Well, it is a collaboration, and you're bringing your expertise to the table.

SPEAKER_01 11:36

And what I try to explain is that I'm gonna help them understand their options.

TIffany Woolley 11:43

I know I like to do that too.

SPEAKER_01 11:45

Through alternatives. Everything I do is alternatives.

TIffany Woolley 11:48

I'm not the one who's like, this is the way it's gotta be, and this is I I practice the same way.

SPEAKER_01 11:53

Yeah. I my goal, my best clients seem to be very creative people who are a little afraid to take on the the project.

TIffany Woolley 12:01

That trust them themselves almost, yeah. Like they have great idea, great taste, but don't have like all the technical. Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 12:10

I mean, there's a lot of starchitect firms that, you know, basically just they want a program, you know, a brief, and then go away and we'll show you what your house is going to look like in six months, you know. And that's not us. I mean, we're if you're not gonna be involved and and think about things deeply and care, then you're better off going to somebody else.

Preservation Versus Knockdowns

TIffany Woolley 12:34

Right. So do you primarily do a lot of renovation since you're in an area where there is such an established town?

SPEAKER_01 12:42

And yes, that's um a plus and a minus.

TIffany Woolley 12:47

Oh, I think it's so wonderful because we live here and there is so many new communities where they're just starting from scratch, and you know, there's the cookie cutter world where we also have projects that are architectural little gems that we're trying to preserve and bring to the next generation, and they are historical properties. So we have to deal with historical society. Are you dealing with that too? Yes. And a lot of people don't want to take them on, so I always applaud people who do.

SPEAKER_01 13:22

The goal, whether it's zoning or whether it's historic or what, you know, is um understanding where the regulations are coming from and what they're trying to accomplish. And and you know, and then do the best you can creatively to to address those. Right. Right. And then when you present them, you can explain to them that we can't do this because of that. But we're we would like to do this, you know. And I do some contemporary work as well as you know, kind of restoration, right? Not to the point of um like uh Department of Interior restoration stuff, but um and it really is um important, I think, in a history. We my office is in Haddonfield, New Jersey, which was founded you know, before 1700.

TIffany Woolley 14:12

So crazy.

SPEAKER_01 14:12

It's a really interesting story, actually. Elizabeth Haddon came over as like a 16-year-old and founded Haddonfield, you know. And I'm like a 16-year-old woman by herself, you know, which is a girl. Right. You have 16-year-old or something about like that. I mean, it just blows my mind to read about how, and it's it was a Quaker community, and um it uh the area had to be settled and lived in where they would lose the rights to the property. And um so Haddon had his daughter come over on a boat and settle Haddonfield, which is just blows my it just blows my mind. Um so we have a lot of um I would say influence, right?

TIffany Woolley 15:03

From her.

SPEAKER_01 15:04

Yeah, so the community, the community is a lot of four square. Um, we do have some Victorian, um, we have some colonial, and then we have a lot of uh you know development done in like the 20s. And those buildings typically are small in scale. The houses are smaller in scale than people typically want today.

SPEAKER_04 15:28

Okay.

SPEAKER_01 15:29

So, you know, there's a knockdown problem, like in every community, yeah. Right. And the neighborhoods are changing in character, and they really are established beautiful neighborhoods, you know. And so there's a big uproar about are we wrecking the feel of a community. And so I've kind of developed a thought about how to deal with that, you know, and my thinking is if it if it's if it's well built, was well designed, rec, you know, represents a um a historical time in architecture like Victorian or Foursquare, right, you know, um, and adds to the character and context of the community, then we ought to protect.

Scott Woolley 16:17

How far back was it develop was it started that she started?

SPEAKER_01 16:20

So I I'm not great with dates, but 16 late 1600s, I believe, was the first. Yeah, and there were some major um events that happened in Haddonfield uh through the revolution and you know, and so there's some history there, you know. That should be what we call history. My daughter's in Edinburgh, and that's where the real history is, you know.

TIffany Woolley 16:46

And so when we talk about history, it's kind of No, but I think when comparison to what's in Europe, we want to preserve that here. I mean, in every little four court little space we can.

SPEAKER_01 16:58

Yeah, and so you know, the Department of Interior says we have to protect, you know, or if like we have a historic district, right? Yep. Anything in the historic district, you can do anything you want to it except change the the the exterior. Yeah, the street facing, public facing facades, right?

SPEAKER_03 17:15

Yes.

SPEAKER_01 17:16

I think that's like way under what we should be doing. You know, I mean, buildings, the floor plans of buildings explain this what society was like at the time. Oh, totally right.

TIffany Woolley 17:28

Isn't it just like the use of a kitchen was so different? Exactly.

SPEAKER_01 17:31

When you walk into a house and there's a parlor on the right, that's this beautiful space where dad came home, sat down, had his brandy and his cigar, yeah, you know, and the kitchen's in the back with one little teeny window. Yeah, it tells you about the dynamics of a family. Yeah, yeah, you know. And um as we raise that by just blowing things out and making open open floor plans.

TIffany Woolley 17:55

You know, it it's just killing.

SPEAKER_01 17:57

So I do think there's some properties that should be protected much higher more than we protect them, and maybe should even be museums. Right. Right. And um and somebody will choose to live there, you know. I mean, they might need to wear a bonnet and stuff, but you know, you know. Um and then most of the houses, 90% of the houses, are um homes that are adding to the context, you know, and the way the the the original property property. The neighborhood feels. Those we ought to be evolving slowly to support contemporary lifestyle.

TIffany Woolley 18:34

Right.

SPEAKER_01 18:34

And uh respecting, you know, the community um and its feel, you know. Um, and I think they even should be giving like abatement for that. You know, like if you don't knock this house down and instead you work with it, we're gonna support it. On the hundred first hundred thousand dollars you spend or something, you know, that put your money. Put your money where your mouth is. Like I said, if you think this is valuable, then figure out a way to encourage it. Encouraging instead of making rules, I think is is the best.

TIffany Woolley 19:07

Working with somebody for sure.

SPEAKER_01 19:08

And then there's houses that should be knocked down, right? I mean, there are houses that don't add to the community, you know, weren't well maintained, weren't well designed or built in the beginning. And um those houses, I believe we should be building homes of our time. The same as, say, the Victorians that we're trying to save were homes, you know, of 1890, you know, 1890, you know.

Scott Woolley 19:33

Is it a large percentage of homes that you're doing that fall into that category that you're having to deal with?

SPEAKER_01 19:39

Um, so the the houses that I I do mostly renovation work.

Scott Woolley 19:45

Right.

SPEAKER_01 19:46

So then I do you run into a lot of it being where you're located. Yes. And new homes are typically done by flippers, right? Developers. Right. So they're buying properties and knock them down, right? So when we get to do a home, you know, a new home when we decide that and determine that knocking it down is the best thing to do, you know, then we want to I want to do a project that is significant, you know, and it's gonna be different. Right. Right. I mean it's gonna be contemporary, probably. Or but it still should it should still uh address and work and respect the context of the process. Right you use and but I always left because uh you know, in in 1885 when the first Victorian started to get built in the Quaker community of Haddonfield, and it's a Queen Anne, you know it people were saying, I mean, how can they begin to think to build a house as beautiful as heaven? Right, you know, I mean like and so new styles of architecture in traditional towns have been resisted forever. Yes, but they're the ones that start to like get appreciated over time. So for us, you know, designing homes that meet a ha a family's lifestyle for today is what we should be doing in that case. So here it's a hard thing. I mean, with you guys having mostly new homes, that's a whole different thing.

TIffany Woolley 21:16

It is. And and that's why, you know, it just even in what we do together different separately, but in the same type of background, I feel like it's actually more exciting to work on houses that are existing, that you have the challenges and that you are trying to, you know, make more beautiful, but maintain that original look and feel. And, you know, not necessarily blow 'em out or anything like that. But I feel like I enjoy that challenge more than I do just the throw-em up square boxes, not a lot of character. Yeah. They all kind of look the same on the street. You know, I I definitely prefer those beautiful time capsules, you know, and really enjoy working on that too.

SPEAKER_01 22:13

Yeah, I mean I agree. I mean, I I I enjoy each type.

TIffany Woolley 22:17

In its own way. Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 22:20

Yeah. You know, the renovation work, when you have some limits, it it does kind of make the design process a little different than if, you know, you can just do whatever you want. Yeah, it's really it's taste. Right. You know, I mean the clients are bringing to the project the aesthetics. Yes. Right. I mean we don't get anybody who wants a Victorian home designed, and we end up giving them contemporary house.

unknown 22:49

Correct.

Craftsmanship And The Replica Trap

SPEAKER_01 22:49

That just doesn't happen, right?

TIffany Woolley 22:51

And as like even in the architecture field, like one thing I keep hearing a lot about is like, oh, they just don't build things like this anymore. Like, where is the character and where is the craftsmanship? And why do you think we are cleaning things up? Obviously, we live in a more fast-paced environment and things take people want things quicker and all that beauty and layers take a lot of time. But what's your thought process behind all that? Like why are we not taking as much time?

SPEAKER_01 23:25

I think um for all the reasons that you just said is one of them. You know, it's part of it. Um I think that um flexibility is really important in new construction these days. Yes. And I mean that is a sustainable thing. And they're trying to appeal to multiple and and even as life changes, right? You know, like we do a lot of agent in place. And you know, I mean a 1920s cottage doesn't you know adapt well to agent in place, right? And so, I mean, the newer stuff I think if we can um keep it flexible enough that you know a bedroom can become an office, right? Um then that's that that's probably a benefit. Um but it's also the the days in my in our world, the days of the gymnasium with a kitchen in the corner called an open plan are over.

TIffany Woolley 24:33

Yeah, which I I do appreciate that part. So do I'm even talking about like the ornamentals and just all the like you're talking about craftsmanship.

SPEAKER_01 24:43

Craftsmanship. Well, so there's craftsmanship and lack of ornament too.

TIffany Woolley 24:47

There is.

SPEAKER_01 24:48

And from the builder end, you know, another piece of trim to cover a gap is easier than spending the time from the you know, rough ends to make sure that the tile's gonna lay out properly.

unknown 25:03

Right.

SPEAKER_01 25:03

There's no gap. So Right. And so it it's a much more invested builder who is trying to meet close tolerances than covering sins, you know. Um but that said, I mean, the um I think it's expensive.

TIffany Woolley 25:25

Yes. Um that's true.

SPEAKER_01 25:28

And I'm not sure. I mean, like I'm sure down here, I mean, we're certainly going to to wood in our, you know, natural wood again.

TIffany Woolley 25:36

Yes, we are.

SPEAKER_01 25:36

You know, giving an earthy feel to buildings.

TIffany Woolley 25:39

Organic, yeah. Eco chic.

SPEAKER_01 25:42

So is it harder to put a bunch of one by one by sixteen foot long together with a half-inch gap between them, you know, than it was to put crown molding up? I'm not sure. But why are we being more streamlined? It's probably because um we're just simpler. I mean, I think we are definitely simpler, right? I mean, especially after COVID. I mean look, I it's true. If this was 10 years ago when I was coming, I'd probably have a suit on.

TIffany Woolley 26:14

Right, I know. Like that's right. I mean, yeah.

SPEAKER_01 26:17

We are, I think we're I think some of it's societal. And you know, when I ride around and I if I see a new home that is trying to appear old, but that's a replica. Right.

Scott Woolley 26:36

I also think it goes back to something that you we talked about when when we first sat down, shop.

unknown 26:41

Yeah.

Scott Woolley 26:42

I mean, in high school, shop was something like big, huge. Right. I don't think any schools have shop anymore.

SPEAKER_01 26:48

No, they don't have shop.

Scott Woolley 26:49

But but but what does everyone have? A cell phone. Yes. So they're not learning, people aren't learning the skills and the crafts that they were years ago. Now they're learning how to search, you know, and social media and yeah.

SPEAKER_01 27:05

So the skills and their expectations are different with social media, right? I mean, that's I would say 10 years ago, most of our projects were drywall and trim.

Scott Woolley 27:18

Right.

SPEAKER_01 27:18

Right? And like special was uh, you know, a wall that was painted out a different color to try to pop the wall, right? Now the the the finishes budget is equaling the you know rough construction budget. So true. And you're right, most people don't I mean I don't think there's a lot of people who don't have that kind of mind.

Scott Woolley 27:43

But I don't think people realize or even understand that.

SPEAKER_01 27:46

Well, I mean, why construction costs have gone to where they've gone, I think a lot has to do with people's expectations. And I think that there's a lot of people who are below what they're seeing who aren't hiring interiors and architects because they think that all they can afford is drywall. Right. Right. And I, you know, I believe that architecture is the space, it's not the things, the things just surround the space. And so drywall's fine. I mean, we can create great space, you know with that doesn't have to have a bunch of stuff, right? Right. But I will the the replica thing is one of my pet peeves.

TIffany Woolley 28:31

Okay.

SPEAKER_01 28:32

I'm a uh old car guy, right? And uh um I took my son to a uh a a Porsche swap meet, and there were um four 356s lined up and there were speedsters, right? Like what um James Dean died in, like that.

TIffany Woolley 28:48

Gorgeous, yeah.

SPEAKER_01 28:49

And three of them were like worn and rusted, and you know, and one was beautiful, right? And I asked him, so which which which car would you pick, you know? Well, of course he wants the gorgeous, the one perfect, right? Right. I'm like, you just gave away a million dollars. I mean, that was a replica car that made the cars next to it look like they were trash, right? And those cars are worth a million bucks.

TIffany Woolley 29:14

Is that crazy? What a good analogy.

SPEAKER_01 29:16

So what I learned, you know, through that is the craft person in me can respect the effort and talent that it went in to making that replica. It should have had a different area in the show.

Scott Woolley 29:33

Right.

SPEAKER_01 29:34

Right? Yep. It shouldn't be put next to something authentic. Correct. And so if that was in an area where we knew they were all, you know, uh replicas, then you could really dig in and say, man, the craftsmanship in this is really incredible, right?

SPEAKER_03 29:49

Right.

SPEAKER_01 29:50

But you take it over there, and really what it made, it made all of these valuable relics seem less than that. Look like you could just put them on a dumpster and take, you know, put them in a show and take them away. So houses, I feel, are like that too. I think it's really important not to be putting replicas next to authentic pieces.

TIffany Woolley 30:12

This actually makes good sense. I mean, and you see a lot of that in Palm Beach, like you drive down A1A. I mean, you appreciate the different, like kind of like how you said of your town. You appreciate the the eras, you know, from different historical time frames where they really highlighted architectural details in different ways.

SPEAKER_01 30:37

And they I think it it's important that you know we establish the difference between like developer now and architectural now, right? No, and there's a difference, you know. Like soon as we let's say hold on. As soon as you see a McDonald's start to get those finishes, then you they're done.

TIffany Woolley 30:54

It's or a Starbucks. Right. It's it's you know it's with all the wood cladding and I know.

SPEAKER_01 31:00

So then you know it's done and you should be looking for the next thing. Next thing.

TIffany Woolley 31:03

Ooh, I like that, Scott.

SPEAKER_01 31:05

And um so that the the rep book or the the new um intervention, if it's an existing neighborhood, we'll call it an intervention, right? I mean, we're putting something new in a neighborhood. It's still got to respect the the area that it is, right? I mean, and um that's really important, I think.

TIffany Woolley 31:31

Well, and you dra as you do travel and you go through different areas too, you you can appreciate where people had that artistic, you know, intention consistency versus some areas where how did that get allowed to people here? Right, that makes sense. That's commonplace.

Pre Design And Better Decisions

SPEAKER_01 31:51

Yeah, you know. But like if you go to a place like Princeton or or um Charleston, right? And you look at their ability to incorporate contemporary architecture into a historic context and make the whole place richer environmentally, that's I think where we should be trying to get, right? And that takes some mistakes, right? I mean, so you know, and those mistakes are just gonna be knocked down anyway again, right? So it's the you know, I mean, I think that's my feeling. Um and understanding what it is. I mean, it is a psych, it's psychology. You know this from being in from interiors. I mean, you're trying to make a person feel a certain way about life and themselves. Yeah, evoke emotion, you know, and some people are really touchy-feely about detail, and some people want as much sun as they can get because the vitamin D is just fantastic. Right.

TIffany Woolley 32:54

So what is your process? Like, depend, I mean, do the does it var obviously it's gonna vary if it's a new project or a renovation, but what is your process when a new client comes to you?

SPEAKER_01 33:06

We start out in pre-design, regardless. And pre-design for us is um gathering all the information we need to get started, having fun, right?

SPEAKER_03 33:16

Okay.

SPEAKER_01 33:16

So if it's a renovation, then we're doing the as build drawing, you know, we're surveying the house, doing the as built drawings, reviewing the um zoning and external rules, and um and sitting with a client and generating a program and design brief.

Scott Woolley 33:35

How important is it in that process when you're starting out to simultaneously be thinking in doing the interior design? Because most people look at it as I'm gonna hire an architect and I'm gonna build the house, and then the house is the interiors person. Now we're gonna bring an interiors person, which is which is what most people Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 33:56

I mean, that's the typical process, right? And um so and I'll I'll I can explain that perfect in our next phase, which is schematic design. Yeah, right, which is where we're having fun, right? I mean, so where you're laying things out. Yeah, so that's the pre-design is like we have the game plan, we have a we know the playing field, the rooms, you know, we have a little bit of, you know, we have a rule book, you know, and then we start to have fun when we move into schematic design. So just the understanding of how important it was to have a builder within me as an architect, um which is a big plus for whoever's hiring you. I began to understand the importance of having an interiors person involved. Right. And so I brought an interiors person into our firm. And so um typically the process is you know, um the architect designs something and then it that brick is handed to the interiors person, and the interiors person takes a different brick and puts it on top of it, and that's which and sometimes they want us to modify the brick the brick bullet, but you know, so it's not uh it's not a continuous process, right? It's more kind of staged. Um my goal was to have an interiors person involved in architecture. So if this much is architecture of the project, this much is interiors at the beginning, right? And by the time we get over here, this much should be architecture and that much should be interiors, right? So it's one process that tapers through, and that way I feel like all of the deep thinking that we did in the beginning is transferred straight through, and we're not um challenging all the decisions we made in the architectural design process, right? I mean, that's the biggest thing, and and it's really the impact it has on the client that drove me to do that. I mean, because we make them make tough decisions and they're making the decisions, yeah. You know, and so if they gotta go make that decision again in six months, uh it's just not fair.

TIffany Woolley 36:17

I know, and I feel like furniture layouts are such a significant part of the architectural.

SPEAKER_01 36:25

Yeah, well, like when we do exterior, like you know, outside living spaces and stuff. Typically we're starting with the furniture layout. Yeah. And then we'll figure out the building around it. Right. Right. I mean, again, so your interior designing first. Uh space planning, definitely. Yeah. Right. Um, and then Emily, my interiors person, I mean, we don't procure, you know, so we don't want to go to that level. Right, right. But we do have design decks and things to to to share what our inspiration was, where we're hoping it to go, you know, and things like that to help, you know.

Scott Woolley 37:05

I think it's a big mistake that a lot of clients and a lot of people who are uh starting. So if you're building a significant house, doing a big remodel or building a house, don't think about that and not thinking about it too late. You know, it uh I when I got involved with Tiffany a few years ago with the interior design, because she's been doing this for 25 years. A friend of mine, when we start when I started, I joined her and working with her, he said to me, He's like, Scott, I'm investing in in houses. And I'm the guy who's putting the money up, and I got two different companies that I'm giving them the money. He's like, I'm gonna stop doing that. But I want to talk to Tiffany. I'm like, why are you gonna stop? He goes, Well, it's been profitable, but he goes, it's been so frustrating. I said, What is frustrating? He's like, Well, we I did a house with him, I I funded it, the house went up, but then it wasn't selling. So I moved into the house. He goes, I was in a transition, and I thought that's interesting, and that would be a requirement, just like architects' building should be a requirement. Well, he moved in because he was part of the burn in maintaining that house while it was up for sale. And he says to me, he's like, I what a wide opening experience. He's like, I said, I still don't understand what you're saying. He's like, I moved into the house, and the first thing that I realized is the kitchen didn't have a garbage pail, like in any cabinet. He goes, I'm used to having a garbage pail next to the sink. Little convenience. There was no garbage pail. He goes, in the master bathroom, I go in the shower, there's no place to put my shampoo. Right. And he's like, I had to buy this rack that I had to hang from the shower head. And he goes, We're talking about a three million dollar house that had no place to put shampoo. And he's like, on top of it, I could have fit eight people in this shower. He goes, but the master closet on the other side of the wall, he says, I couldn't even put all my clothes in. How is a husband and wife going to buy this house? The closet, the master closet was so small. He goes, the shower should have been the master closet. He goes, but the architect who did this didn't look at this and design it from the perspective of a buyer.

Why Interiors Must Start Early

SPEAKER_01 39:12

Unfortunately, you know, development types of projects.

TIffany Woolley 39:15

I know, and I like how you used that. Development is a total notherment.

SPEAKER_01 39:20

Yeah. They have they have a a recipe.

TIffany Woolley 39:23

Right.

SPEAKER_01 39:24

And as long as that recipe all land, it doesn't matter if the eggs and you know milk go in first. Right. You know, they don't that doesn't matter to them. As long as everything that's in there that they can check off the real estate listing, you know, how many houses do you drive by that nobody's in? Correct. People will buy just about anything.

SPEAKER_04 39:44

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 39:44

You know, and and and and be proud of it. So that's why I'm always cautious.

TIffany Woolley 39:49

It's true.

SPEAKER_01 39:49

You know, and the other thing I like to bring up to clients all the time, too, is pretty much no matter what I've worked on in my life, it's in the half percent of the way the world lives. Right? I mean, we better be damn grateful.

TIffany Woolley 40:04

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 40:05

That doesn't mean we shouldn't try to make it better. Right, right. But you know, when I hear a comment like, Can you believe I have to live like this? I leave. Sorry, I'm just, I don't think we'll work well together. If you know, that just blows my mind when somebody, you know, it it's the kitchen's not in style. It's, you know, but it it, you know, was made done in the 90s. We get a lot of that, you know. And um it's just it it doesn't work for them now, and it's it it needs to be updated. But if you tell me that like you're that that's a hardship, yeah, I I don't think you're gonna appreciate anything we do.

TIffany Woolley 40:44

Yeah, it's a good I know that's a good thought process.

SPEAKER_01 40:48

And the the that people who expect um there's limits to everything we can do, right?

TIffany Woolley 40:57

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 40:57

I mean, and so with that because that's client managing client expectations.

TIffany Woolley 41:02

It's huge, yes.

SPEAKER_01 41:03

Is the thing that that's the second hardest thing that I never thought I was gonna have to do. The first is social media.

TIffany Woolley 41:10

I know so.

Scott Woolley 41:11

Being an architect, I never thought, you know, social media was the Well, it doesn't matter what profession you're in these days. You gotta know social media.

SPEAKER_01 41:19

Yeah. And then client, you know, client expectations is tough.

TIffany Woolley 41:25

Which obviously you're doing a very good job of since you just had a huge recognition with Forbes. Congratulations on that.

SPEAKER_01 41:32

One of the top architects in the country. Trevor Burrus, Jr. We were named top 200 residential architects in America. Amazing. And then top 400 best in state. So that they broke up into states. So how did that feel when you were told that or my there was all it's all it um the whole process was uh like Did you know that you were up for this?

Scott Woolley 41:58

How in the process?

SPEAKER_01 42:00

So like in March of 2025, um, we received an email that basically said, you know, congratulations, you've been the uh, you know, selected to submit for and you know Nancy, our office manager, came to me with it and said, Do you think this is real? And and I'm like, probably not. And you know, I stayed in, I like to work late. And um so I started looking it up, you know, and I realized this is real, you know.

TIffany Woolley 42:29

And I'm thinking, what project am I gonna submit? Yeah.

Scott Woolley 42:33

So did you have to submit projects?

SPEAKER_01 42:36

So it asked for one to three projects. Um and um I had some questions because we didn't have a bunch of new houses and it would seem like it was asking for new houses. So I contacted the editor who had his cell phone number on the yeah, it's crazy. Um and I'm saying, you know, are you looking for new homes? Are you looking for renovations? And he said, you know, it's interesting. We thought we were gonna have more new homes, but we see a lot of renovation work on architects' desks right now, so we're probably gonna have to figure out how to do that evaluation. And um so I'm like, okay, and he said, so um the house had to be completed after two in 2019 or after. And he said, so when was Hadrow House completed? Which was like our best, like most academic project, you know.

TIffany Woolley 43:26

So the fact he knew the name of it.

SPEAKER_01 43:28

Probably was sitting at his computer and Googled the name that came up on his phone, probably. But um so I'm like, that one we're definitely, I'm definitely gonna submit. But you know, and so after that conversation, I'm like, I'm only gonna submit one because I'm gonna the work I could ruin it with the others. Right. You know what I mean?

SPEAKER_03 43:47

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 43:48

So um they did, they they evaluated the the how their criteria of decisions came out after we found out. They evaluated like 18,000 architects websites.

TIffany Woolley 43:59

Unbelievable.

SPEAKER_01 44:00

And picked 750 to ask to submit to m to get to the 200. And they had real criteria that they were grading things by, which was really interesting. And I'm just like the fact that they were able to find a small firm in Haddonfield, New Jersey, you know, we're not La Hoya. Right. Um it just blows my mind that they were that the process that they came up with was able to kind of bring it bring us to the top. So finally feeling some recognition for something that I've paid a my family has paid a big price for over the years was was really rewarding. And it was a surprise. Matter of fact, I found out when a friend of mine's firm got listed in North Carolina and put it out on Instagram. And I'm like, damn, I you know, I guess I'm not, I didn't make it, you know. And then you go through the whole imposter syndrome thing that all architects and designers have, where you're walking around going, well, why would you think you'd get in there anyway?

SPEAKER_03 45:04

Right.

SPEAKER_01 45:05

And so then I opened up the app and I went to look for the list and and Kirstein is the name. And so I'm Jay and K, right?

SPEAKER_04 45:13

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 45:13

So as I'm flipping through the list, I come across my name. Oh, so you found it yourself. That's how I found out they don't want to release the list because you'll ruin it. Right? I mean, they they spend a lot of money putting the list together, and you know, if it gets leaked, then they don't have a list, right?

SPEAKER_04 45:30

Right.

SPEAKER_01 45:30

And so that's how I found, yeah. I I like jumped out of my chair, ran in and told my wife, jumped in the car and drove to my dad's house and told my dad at 11 o'clock at night. Yeah, it was, it was, it was definitely um a career highlight. Yeah, it really was. And and I didn't understand why. And then when the does when the criteria, the evaluation criteria came out, which I think anybody creating a website should probably go look for that. Um, because they list what they how they you know credited things. You know, one is that you know, you you value your work enough to have professional photography taken. Right? I mean, I think that's actually, you know. Um so they were looking for people who are very serious.

Scott Woolley 46:16

That's something we lack on. We just haven't had the time on so many projects to it's um Hadrow House.

SPEAKER_01 46:23

I was blessed with a famous architectural photographer out of Philadelphia. He used to work with um um Robert Venturi's office. He was an employee in-house photographer, and he reached out to me and I was posting on Instagram, and um he said, Jay, I'd love to photograph this project for you. And I'm like, Matt, I know who you are, and I don't think I can afford, you know. And he um he's like, Well, maybe you can. And you know, he sent me a proposal and I was like and so he shot our work. And you know, there as long as it's well done photography, I think that you know, that's all that really I mean having his name credited on my work probably helped. I I mean, I think.

TIffany Woolley 47:13

I'm sure.

SPEAKER_01 47:14

You know, um, so that's part of that commitment to your profession and your work that Forbes was looking for. You know, they were looking for people who were trying to create place, right? So they wanted a New Jersey architect who was trying to design for New Jersey, not designing California or Florida in the future.

TIffany Woolley 47:33

Which I love, I really do, and I have such appreciation for.

SPEAKER_01 47:38

And then, you know, the other agenda they had when they did it was to be able to give clients looking for architects, you know, good anywhere in the country. You know, so like they could have found 200 great architects in, you know, LA. Right. Right. So it's just a wonderful, it was a wonderful experience.

TIffany Woolley 47:58

Aaron Powell So how has that changed the way you've approached future projects, has it or no?

SPEAKER_01 48:05

It has changed how I approach my my office and my profession and myself.

TIffany Woolley 48:11

I bet.

SPEAKER_01 48:12

More so than the work. I mean, the work has always kind of been what the work is. Um it's it's given me the confidence to speak out about it.

TIffany Woolley 48:21

Good for you.

SPEAKER_01 48:21

You know, like to talk in Haddonfield. Like now we did an exhibit on art walk in Haddonfield for about architecture, you know, and I feel like now um it's not me sharing my opinion about how contempor well-done contemporary architecture in a historic town can better the you know the visual richness of a community. You know, now like if I would have said that three years ago, people it's Jay's opinion. You know what I mean? Now, with some backing behind my opinion, I feel more comfortable speaking out about how I feel about architecture.

TIffany Woolley 49:02

And it's in its impact on people's lives and a special community, because I mean that's something that's gonna stand the test of time. And I do feel like even in this field, like you do have to educate people along the way of the importance of the architecture. It's not, you know, as we said before, just the drywall can do anything. But I mean, it really does have value. And sometimes people don't understand that. It's kind of our job to share and inform along the way.

SPEAKER_01 49:34

It definitely is, you know, and like and and and it doesn't have to be expensive either. Like I use an example all the time. Like, so a two by four costs like six bucks now or somewhere around there, right? I always want to say$1.95 because that's what it was when I was building, right? But now it's probably six bucks, right? And where you put that two by four, you know, can make that two by four works worth six thousand dollars. You know, and it's not, it's it's drywall and two by fours or six as it were. You know what I mean? Like that's creating space. And if if you put that two by four in a in a in a design that takes advantage of it, it's worth it's worth more than its weight. Right?

SPEAKER_03 50:17

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 50:18

If you nail it across the front door, it's not worth anything, right? It devalues the whole house, right? And that's design.

SPEAKER_03 50:25

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 50:26

I mean, the only thing that affects the value of that two by four is good design. If you know, and so it doesn't just have to be on expensive projects. Good design works.

Scott Woolley 50:41

So how do you balance creativity and and a profitable business?

SPEAKER_01 50:46

Like, I have a business manager. Um I've never been a good businessman.

Scott Woolley 50:54

Um so you're putting more emphasis into creativity and creativity is takes time, and time is money.

SPEAKER_01 51:01

At the expense of my family, and my wife is paid a dear toll one, you know, so you spend a lot of money. Waking up every morning at three o'clock to get to her job and you know, uh carry the mortgage and the health care why I was building, you know.

TIffany Woolley 51:17

Your business.

SPEAKER_01 51:18

Um and and that wasn't till, you know, I mean, she's still doing that, right? So this isn't like something where Forbes came along and now all of a sudden we're rolling in dough. Right. That's just not the case.

SPEAKER_03 51:29

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 51:30

Um the um so from a business end, I've always um held to like thinking design is most important. And I guess I was probably willing to live in a trailer if that's what it took. You know, my wife wasn't, so that's why she um and so you know, design, science, you know, still staying up with building science is difficult, and business practice, you know, and the business practice for me is the one that I care least about. Um and the bank account that I mean I would tell anybody as advice maybe the best thing I did as a business person was hire a business manager, an office manager. I mean, she is on top of me and makes sure that you know everything is on my schedule. Yeah, and you know, and and the account the the the the the bank account had for the first time is like amazing, right? I mean, and it's because there's some focus on it. Right.

TIffany Woolley 52:45

You know, we sit down every Monday and which has got to be a great reward on top of it all, too, you know, that you can be creative and do what you do best and let somebody else it's the it it's the thing that changed my life, you know.

SPEAKER_01 53:03

Instead of feeling like underperforming and all the things that, you know, I mean, now I have uh a drafts person who's a technical person as well, um, not an architect, but 20 years experience in residential construction and an interiors person to contribute into the design work. And you know, she doesn't just do interiors like when we're talking about architecture, like when we were looking at my stuff, yeah, you know, Emily's you know, review exterior finishes with Emily. You know, like we want to make sure that everything is working together.

Scott Woolley 53:38

So when you're when you design, you use CAD yourself, or you hand sketch or I um depending on what's like Tiffany's does everything still by hand. So she draws it, sketching.

SPEAKER_01 53:53

Yellow bum, you know, trace paper. Yeah, rolls of trace paper. And I still like the canary yellow. Yeah, like I don't like the white, you know. Um and I I sketch a lot, um, and then move into and it depends if Steve's busy doing construction documents, you know, the project that we need to get out. So the office is like one person each, right? So when that person's busy, you don't have somebody else doing it, right? Yeah, we're in the same way. Still when it comes back to me. Yeah, right.

TIffany Woolley 54:25

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 54:25

So um yeah, I like to sketch, and then if I have somebody like even I'm only available for an exterior, I'll hand her a sketch and she'll develop the exterior. And then the review I also don't hire anybody like that's not in the office. If you can't come to my office, I agree. We're the same way.

Scott Woolley 54:44

The way you communicate and collaborate. And also just how you're on the fly with things in the office. And uh you come in with an idea and a change, or the client walks in, or one of the contractors, the subcontracts work, we can all work together.

SPEAKER_01 54:59

Yes. But from a business perspective, yes, right. Yeah, if I'm expecting that I'm gonna have a hundred hours in schematic design, right? Yep. And somebody's working from home and they put eight hours in going in the wrong direction, yeah. That's disaster. Yeah. Right? Well, that's where the I want to be.

Scott Woolley 55:16

That's where the profitability and also maybe I'm a control freak.

SPEAKER_01 55:19

Well, I would like to be able to create the artist with their design by a desk and or have somebody go, you know, Jay, can you take a look at this, right?

Scott Woolley 55:28

But I think more than anything, it's just keeping the project on time so the client's happy, so you meet in deadlines and so forth by having everyone in in-house as well.

SPEAKER_01 55:38

Yes, it it it's a big, it's it's a big help.

Scott Woolley 55:40

Yeah, we've sat and you know, we've recently been hiring people, uh two people and interviewing people. We got people saying to us, well, I can work from home, I can do everything you want from home. Well, we're not looking for someone from home. Oh no, but uh you have to understand I can really do a lot from home. They're trying to sell us.

SPEAKER_01 55:57

Yeah. No, I I just and it's not that they're not going to work hard and they're not it it's it's just not part. I mean, and and that might have to change someday, right?

Scott Woolley 56:07

I mean, I'm not um No, the collaboration of the team and everyone being in the same way.

TIffany Woolley 56:15

That's where design is so fluid, you know, too.

SPEAKER_01 56:18

And also it's I think it creates the uh a funness, you know. Oh, it does. I want to I want to live in studio that I was in in college.

Mentorship, Internships, And Real Skills

Scott Woolley 56:25

Yeah, that's the environment that I create. What would what advice would you give to an individual now who's let's say they're graduating from high school, getting into college, thinking about a Korea? What should they be thinking about?

SPEAKER_01 56:38

As far as architecture goes.

Scott Woolley 56:39

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 56:42

That's a hard question because architecture has changed so quickly over the last 10 years, thing, right? When I came out of school, we were still hand drawing. I had hoped that I could get through my career before having to learn AutoCAD. Right. Right? Well, that didn't happen, right? I still don't, I I I do do SketchUp, right? 3D and SketchUp, but I don't do Revit and things, you know. So and I'm hoping that I can get through the end of my career, which I that's when I die. I'm not gonna stop working.

TIffany Woolley 57:17

Yeah, same thing.

SPEAKER_01 57:18

To me, you know, this is my life, this is what I like to do. So, and I'm not a fisherman or a golfer. Um so yeah, that's that's what I would recommend the beauty of an architectural education is its well-roundedness and problem solving, right? You're it's about, I mean, architecture is a problem solving activity, right? And so with those skills, you should be able to put that problem solving to good use. Into into any kind of situation. Right. And so architects, you know, are very valuable outside of architecture. And it's amazing how many architecture students don't go into architecture. I mean, you know, as far as uh uh respected profession, you know. Why do you think that is? It's a money thing. Yeah. I mean, it's a respected profession in a cocktail party. Uh you know, in the bank account, not so much.

TIffany Woolley 58:27

Well, I feel like the development part of it probably had some say in that. Because I feel like a lot of architects who have like gone on and become, you know, financially they they've taken on that dual role of developer architects. Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 58:45

I mean, I think that you know every architect has to make a decision on what they, you know, I was driven by design. And some are driven by business. Correct. You know. And, you know, I say a lot because, you know, in New Jersey or South Jersey, Philadelphia area, pizza's a big thing, right? So pizza. Yeah, right. So a lot of times I say, you know, if if I wanted to develop a business to sell drawings like slices of pizza, yeah, I would have opened a pizza point. Yeah. I would have I could have eaten my, you know, anything that wasn't, I couldn't sell, I can eat, you know. You can't eat drawings. Yeah.

TIffany Woolley 59:22

So with that said, would you expand your business? Do you look to grow it in any way?

SPEAKER_01 59:29

I would um in a market that's better than now.

TIffany Woolley 59:33

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 59:33

Right. Um, I would love to have a young architect who um was ambitious to learn. And mentored. And mentored, yeah. I mean, I that is a lot, I enjoy that a lot. I enjoy having interns because it makes me speak out loud what I'm thinking. So my design process becomes evident to me because I have to explain it to somebody. Whereas if I don't have to explain it to somebody, it just stays inside. So you like having interns. I love, I work better with people than I do.

SPEAKER_04 1:00:07

Yeah, on my own.

Scott Woolley 1:00:09

It's interesting because this morning before uh 7.15 or 7.30, we had uh two or our uh twins at their school. We had to go see their college advisors. They're college advisors. They're in high school. And basically the conversation was about the courses they're taking because they're sophomores next year junior and senior, and the school is very focused on academics, academics in college, and what colleges are you thinking about? And one of our daughters is very interested in architecture, she really loves it and she wants to continue her architectural classes. And I found it interesting, as the counselor said in senior year, you know, internship. And I was like, great, because I when I went to college, I took an internship, and it was the greatest thing that I ever did. And, you know, I I said to them, Do they have the school picks what the interns are, what internships? And I said, Well, she might only wants to be an architect. Well, will it be an architectural company? She said, Well, maybe not necessarily. I said, that makes no sense. Yeah. I said, because then I think an internship in an architect in an architect's firm would be great for her. It's not always easy to find. Well, I asked her, I said, if we can help get an architectural firm that will take her on, will the school Yeah. No, right, that would be great. They were saying yes. And, you know, and then she was talking about her her electives, you know, the not necessarily most important classes. I said to my daughter, I said, you should take a multimedia, that's my background. I said, take a class about you know, film, so you learn about a camera and and and an aperture and f-stops and and lighting. Yes. Because when it comes to sketchup and Revit, if you have those lighting skills, you're gonna be so big.

TIffany Woolley 1:01:58

So impressive.

SPEAKER_01 1:01:59

Yeah. I mean, I think anything where you're working through a process and learning how to learn is that no matter what AI does in the future and all that kind of stuff, you're always gonna be valuable if you know how to think.

TIffany Woolley 1:02:12

Totally. Well, and that's what AI is really trying to take away from us is our ability to think.

Scott Woolley 1:02:18

Are you concerned about AI for architectural? I'm concerned about AI for affecting the humanity. Yeah. Well, that's a whole conversation and podcast in itself. But so but you think it's gonna affect the architectural community?

SPEAKER_01 1:02:36

I think that there's a chance that yeah, I think it definitely will. I mean, is it now?

TIffany Woolley 1:02:40

I I mean I think it's just tools. I think AI is just a tool is the way I'm looking at it.

SPEAKER_01 1:02:46

Yes, trying to but it could it affect the business of architecture, right? Are people gonna be satisfied with good enough? Or, you know, when we take a client through a design process, our goal is to make them understand exactly why the building is the way it is, right? Like if you've got kids in the house for two more years, and you know you come in every day and trip over their shoes, you know, and we're gonna take on a project, you know, and that makes you angry, you know, and you we're gonna take on a project and it's gonna cost you fifty thousand dollars more for us to move those shoes. If you're okay with tripping over them, then I as long as you know you're gonna trip over them, I'm okay with that decision. You know, but when you walk in and kick them to the side, I don't want you to say that damn architect, why didn't you think about this? Right. I want you to think that damn architect told me this was gonna happen, but it's worth the 50 grand for another two years to kick them aside.

SPEAKER_04 1:03:44

I like that.

SPEAKER_01 1:03:45

I mean, I really like to have clients informed about how they're spending their money. You you know, it's not a car. You can't get in it and drive down the street and say it's too slow. I can't see out the back window. You know, it's a it's the only way to do it for me is to generate alternatives. That's great. Then we can con we can have a conversation like, okay, over the kitchen's far away from the garage in this one, but it's got great light and a great view of the pool. And you know, and over here, it's closer to the to the garage where we can have a mud room, maybe that's better, and you know, maybe even a utility room, and you know, getting the groceries, which everybody seems to be afraid of.

TIffany Woolley 1:04:22

That and washing windows.

SPEAKER_01 1:04:23

I'm like, so when was the last time you washed your windows?

TIffany Woolley 1:04:25

Yeah. Yeah. We have those same conversations. You know.

Scott Woolley 1:04:30

So you you mentioned your daughter lives in Edinburgh. Yes.

SPEAKER_01 1:04:34

My son is a California or a Florida poly, uh-huh, up in Lakeland, studying electrical engineering, and my daughter is in Edinburgh. So I guess you visit her there. Have you visited her there? She is she went, did undergraduate in uh in Galway, Ireland.

TIffany Woolley 1:04:50

Unbelievable.

SPEAKER_01 1:04:51

So she was in Galway for like six years. She did her undergrad and her master's.

TIffany Woolley 1:04:55

Oh my goodness.

SPEAKER_01 1:04:56

And then she went to the University of Edinburgh to do her PhD. And um she's defending her, I think they called a Viva there, um, on the 20th. So she's not coming home.

Scott Woolley 1:05:13

Not coming home. So have you been there and visited? I try to get two times a year.

SPEAKER_01 1:05:18

So has going there and seeing huge impact huge impact on my design.

TIffany Woolley 1:05:23

I bet.

SPEAKER_01 1:05:24

Yes.

TIffany Woolley 1:05:25

How can it not?

SPEAKER_01 1:05:26

Um one thing that I really appreciate um is they seem to think of things less emotionally, right? So if they have history that's history, right?

SPEAKER_04 1:05:44

Yeah, absolutely.

SPEAKER_01 1:05:44

And so to them it's not so precious necessarily because they've got they've got everything. You know. So if it's they're more like a fire department, right? If if you've got equipment on a truck and it's not serviceable or usable, It's gotta go off the truck.

Scott Woolley 1:06:01

Right.

SPEAKER_01 1:06:01

Right. The last thing you want is something that so they're really fire departments are really good at throwing stuff away if it's not m repairable or maintainable, right? So what I noticed in Edinburgh is that like it seems to me, and this is just me, you know, I haven't read anything about this, but it seems to me that um if it doesn't work, it goes. Right. It either works or it doesn't work.

TIffany Woolley 1:06:26

Yeah, you don't try to make it.

SPEAKER_01 1:06:28

And I think they feel the same way about energy, right? Like we were traveling um north of Edinburgh on the North Sea, and we stopped at this castle that was falling apart way out on in on the water, you know. And I'm like marveling at this, you know, from architectural wonder. Yeah, like and just the beauty of the whole thing, right? And then I look down and I noticed there's a full photovoltaic cell. A what? A solar cell and a solar panel down on the ground next to the castle with a light to shine on the castle for night, right? Here we'd be like, you can't put that technology in front of like something historic. And then I look up and in the North Sea everywhere there's windmills. Yeah. Right? You can't do that here because it's going to ruin the visual, you know, character. I'm staring at this thing that is absolutely phenomenal from many, many, many years ago. And the impact, and then you know, you look then they have pocket nuclear facilities, you know, that are further up the coast, and uh a gas, you know, well out in the in it's like whatever's and this could be my projection onto the way things are. I don't know this, but it seems to me like whatever works is what we're gonna use. Right. You know, I mean, yes, we can make it beautiful, yes, we can do those things, but we're not gonna save something because we have some romantic vision of our past.

Scott Woolley 1:08:06

Right.

SPEAKER_01 1:08:07

You know, but they do save stuff. There's I don't mean to say that. It's not easy to build a contemporary building in Edinburgh.

Scott Woolley 1:08:14

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 1:08:14

But they're great contemporary buildings in Edinburgh. I mean, that some of the stuff the some of the additions and things they've done are just really sensitive and phenomenal. Like I stand there and I mean I'm a geek, you know. Yeah, and it's my daughter knows that she like schedules our trips to go see things.

TIffany Woolley 1:08:34

Yeah, yeah.

SPEAKER_01 1:08:34

Where she can buy wool and I can and I can see architecture.

TIffany Woolley 1:08:39

Oh, that's wonderful. So well, that's a great, great like trips are definitely, you know, inspirational. And they definitely enhance how you come back from them and you like are reinvigorated for many reasons.

Scott Woolley 1:08:56

We just came back from from London. You know, one of the things that I've and I've mentioned this a number of times to a number of people is we went to see a friend who's living in a house 522 years old. Right.

SPEAKER_01 1:09:10

Set off from high. Mind boggling.

Scott Woolley 1:09:12

We're not that old. Mind boggling. That's twice as old as anything I we it's crazy. It's two times older than the United States. Yes. But walking into the house, and like Tiffany says it all the time, there wasn't a straight wall.

TIffany Woolley 1:09:24

Nothing was straight.

Scott Woolley 1:09:25

Nothing. But what like my my my my hands and my arms were standing on end, just being in the house, sitting there, going, This house is like 522 years old, and it was like the coolest little house. Yeah, I it's there. How is this place still standing?

SPEAKER_01 1:09:44

Yes, like what they're yeah, it's funny. They're detailing their detailing was a little better than ours.

Scott Woolley 1:09:51

You know, and our friend, she had renovated the master bathroom, so the master bathroom had a more modern well was still like on par with the house like that, though.

TIffany Woolley 1:10:01

Like she did it right.

SPEAKER_01 1:10:04

Yeah, and I again I think that that's appropriate in in the, you know, because it offset, it's not trying to if you went in it and and tried to mimic what had been there, it would it would take away, like, you know, if you went in and you said, okay, so some of this trim is, you know, 500 years old, now you'd question like what's new and what's old, right? It's better to distinguish between the two and allow what is really special to stay.

TIffany Woolley 1:10:33

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 1:10:33

But it's also interesting how the the architecture in you know areas who've been inhabited forever by you know European types, right? Right. Um it's it's what worked. You know, I mean it's not like the they didn't have the luxury of saying, I want to, you know, there's uh um a window tax in, you know, at back in the day. And so like you got taxed on how many windows you have. Right. Well, now you see a lot of glass in a in in a hazy, cloudy area, right? And you know, I think maybe it's a reaction to being told that, you know, if you had more windows, you had to pay more money.

Scott Woolley 1:11:23

Well, it's just, you know, flying back and not the two of us talking about the house and just our trip and so forth, and then coming back to the office here, and we look at like, you know, how many projects we get, the house is 30 years old. Okay, the client wants to knock the house down. And how many people are just buying houses, knocking them down, and putting new because it's 30 years old or it's 40 years old. You know, why did this house last five? Not just that house, the whole area, all the houses in that area are all four and five hundred years old. And they all and they don't look like they're four or five hundred years old. The thatched roofs kind of that gather's still different.

SPEAKER_01 1:12:06

Yeah, yeah. No, I it's it they're they I think they just feel differently about where they live, how they live, and you know, it's you know, it's a cultural thing. Yeah, you know, but all of the cool things we see there, usually it's like you know, you're walking through a little alley with these great magic laid stones, you know, that have a pattern to control the water runoff, you know, and you know, and they're stepped so it ripples, so it doesn't get a good thing.

TIffany Woolley 1:12:37

So intentional.

SPEAKER_01 1:12:39

Everything is intentional.

TIffany Woolley 1:12:40

I know.

SPEAKER_01 1:12:41

Intentional is the and you know, appropriate and intentional.

TIffany Woolley 1:12:43

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 1:12:44

That's how I judge design work.

Scott Woolley 1:12:45

And I love that. Well, uh a little uh I thought it was very cool looking, and I would and I had the question like, what is that? And at each corner of the house, positioned really well, was like a wine barrel. A wine barrel, a big wine barrel.

TIffany Woolley 1:12:59

Those are the water.

Scott Woolley 1:13:00

And so the gutter from the house came down into the wine barrel, and at the bottom of the barrel there was a spigot. And but it it was the way it was built and set up, it looked like it was part of the house and looked very cool. And it's like, what is that for? What it she's like, so we don't have we don't really have public water, you know. That's how I water my plants. Right. He says, What do you mean how do you water your plants? She's like, that's collects the water and the spigot. I take my my garden bucket and I fill that up and I water my flowers. That's how I water my grass.

SPEAKER_01 1:13:33

That's how I it it seems like there's some simple ways of life you know that they have that we are trying to convince our society to invest and do. And I mean it's common sense stuff.

Scott Woolley 1:13:51

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 1:13:51

You know, I mean, sustainability is an issue that we, you know, environmental change. You can we can talk about who's responsible for it and all that kind of stuff, right? Right. But we can't change we can't we can't question whether it's changing.

TIffany Woolley 1:14:05

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 1:14:06

I mean, if it's not changing, that that's just ridiculous stuff.

TIffany Woolley 1:14:09

That's the most constant thing is change.

SPEAKER_01 1:14:10

And so we should be doing things to to try to address that and and make sure. And they're great at it. I mean, that that's those buildings have have uh have been able to withstand a whole bunch of changes. And that's why they're still there. Yeah. Yeah.

TIffany Woolley 1:14:27

You know, and it's um it's a great profession to be a part of. It's a great thing to be able to appreciate where the growth of architecture has translated all over the world, right?

SPEAKER_01 1:14:42

Yeah.

TIffany Woolley 1:14:43

I mean it's um and then to have our own part of it here.

unknown 1:14:47

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 1:14:48

I mean architecture is that. I mean, it is it's it's it's so much that like no one person can kind of everybody specializes in a part of it. Yeah. Right? I mean, there are architects who study societies and design towns and try to figure that kind of stuff out, you know. Of course, if they go to Europe, then they realize that we regulate everything here that we can't that looks great and is fun there. Like that little alley that you go through that has this little cool little pub at the end. You know, yeah. And here if we tried to do that, oh you can't do that.

TIffany Woolley 1:15:20

No, can't do that.

SPEAKER_01 1:15:21

You know, you know, yeah, the walkway's gotta be the walkway's gotta be, you know, 40 feet wide.

Scott Woolley 1:15:26

Right, it was even the food that we eat here. We didn't we didn't go, but like had some friends, two friends kept telling me, go to go to McDonald's and when you're in England, I go, McDonald's. So my wife and kids don't want to go to McDonald's. They're like, if you go to McDonald's, the burger tastes like it did like in the 1960s and 70s. It is totally different than what it is here in America. Yeah. And I'm like, really? That's funny. They're like, yeah, it's because it's the in the United States, they've put all these different things and they've changed the way in which what's going into our food.

SPEAKER_01 1:15:58

To put things a little bit in perspective, though, I think, you know, when I'm over there talking to people, they're amazed by what we do.

SPEAKER_04 1:16:05

Of course. Without a doubt.

SPEAKER_01 1:16:07

So a little bit of it is without a doubt. You know, that distance and seeing things that are just different and responding to that.

SPEAKER_04 1:16:15

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 1:16:15

And, you know, um I'm glad we have that curiosity. Right?

TIffany Woolley 1:16:21

Isn't that the truth? We're grateful for it.

SPEAKER_01 1:16:23

Yeah, if we didn't, I mean it would be the same old, same old, same old.

Where To Follow And Closing

TIffany Woolley 1:16:26

Same old, same old. Well, Jay, thank you.

Scott Woolley 1:16:29

Oh do you have an Instagram? Are you on Instagram? Yes. So what is your Instagram for anyone who's listening or watching?

SPEAKER_01 1:16:35

Jay Reinart Architect.

SPEAKER_04 1:16:36

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 1:16:36

And your website is the same? Um the letter J.

SPEAKER_04 1:16:40

Mm-hmm.

SPEAKER_01 1:16:40

You know, when you're named Jay. Right. Which my brothers used to tell me, you know, mom and dad didn't love you enough to give you a name, they gave you a letter. Because my real name is Jay.

SPEAKER_03 1:16:52

It's not John.

Scott Woolley 1:16:52

I've never heard anyone say that. That's that's funny.

SPEAKER_01 1:16:54

So um the letter J, Reinert Architecture is at um.com. Is our um so the letter J.

TIffany Woolley 1:17:05

So we encourage people to follow along on your growth and Forbes and all that fabulousness. Thank you for watching. We're hoping for 2026 too.

Scott Woolley 1:17:14

I'm a little nervous.

TIffany Woolley 1:17:16

I was gonna say keep it going, right?

Scott Woolley 1:17:18

You have to resubmit.

TIffany Woolley 1:17:19

Oh, yeah, new projects, I'm sure.

Scott Woolley 1:17:21

It's uh yeah.

TIffany Woolley 1:17:23

So stay tuned. Yeah, thanks for being with us today. Thank you for joining us on this rainy South Florida day.

SPEAKER_01 1:17:30

Thanks for having me.

TIffany Woolley 1:17:32

Thank you for listening to the iDesign Lab podcast. Have a great day.

Voice Over 1:17:39

iDesign Labs Podcast is an SW group production in association with the five star and TW interiors. To learn more about iDesign Lab or TW Interiors, please visit TWInteriors.com.