The Geeks Design Show - "Where great architecture begins."

S01 -Episode 07- From AI Visualization to Studio Tim Fu Experience –

What does it actually take to build something from scratch — while also working full-time, studying for a Master's, winning international design awards, and freelancing for one of the most exciting AI-first studios in London? Today's guest is doing all of that simultaneously — and somehow making it look considered rather than chaotic. Pouya Nasr is an Iranian-born architect and designer now based in Lincoln, UK. He has silver wins at the IDA Design Awards, an Interior Architecture Master's from the University of Lincoln, a role as AI Visualizer at Studio Tim Fu, and — as of early 2026 — he is the founder of Wandify: an AI-enabled workflow platform built specifically for architecture and design studios. I'm Divya Goel, your host at The Geeks Design Studio. And this conversation is one I've been genuinely looking forward to.

S02 Episode 01- Design Is the Most Radical Act of Hope

EPISODE TITLE: Design Is the Most Radical Act of Hope — Joanna Nsenga on humanitarian architecture, community dignity, and what JI's model is changing about the built world   SHOW NOTES: Season Two begins. And it begins here.   Joanna Nsenga is an architect and Senior Project Manager at Journeyman International — the nonprofit that pairs volunteer designers with humanitarian NGOs to build schools, clinics, libraries, and community facilities in places that have never had access to professional architecture before. 114 projects. 44 countries. A model that is unlike anything else in the design world.   In this conversation, Divya and Joanna go deep on what it actually means to design for communities in crisis — the rigor, the cultural intelligence, the stakes, and the extraordinary things that happen when a building is designed to affirm the people inside it.   In this episode: •        How Journeyman International's volunteer design model works — and what makes it rigorous, not charitable •        What 'culturally appropriate design' actually means in practice — and what happens when architects design from the wrong cultural default •        The moment a school changed its attendance rate — not because of the curriculum, but because of the building •        Why the hardest design brief in architecture might be a rural clinic with a modest budget — not a luxury penthouse •        AI's potential in humanitarian design — the parametric humanitarian brief that needs to exist •        Design 'for' vs. design 'with' and 'by' — and why that distinction is everything •        Joanna's 10-year vision: the complete loop between design, community, and the next generation of local architects   If you've ever wanted to use your design skills for something that really matters — this episode is for you. And if you're a humanitarian organisation that needs architectural design support, visit journeymaninternational.org [http://journeymaninternational.org].   Hosted by Divya Goel | Architect & Design Technologist | @thegeeksdesignstudio   Guest: Joanna Nsenga | Architect & Senior Project Manager | Journeyman International | journeymaninternational.org [http://journeymaninternational.org]   #GeeksDesignStudio #HumanitarianArchitecture #DesignForGood #JourneymanInternational #VolunteerDesign #SocialImpact #ArchitectureForChange #CommunityDesign #SeasonTwo #DesignPodcast #WomenInArchitecture #BuildingWhatMattersMost #Africa #SustainableDesign #Dignity

S01 Episode 06- 3,000 Designers. 40 Countries. One Mission.

Hello, my nerdy, geeky, brilliantly obsessed designers — Episode Six is here. And this one is for everyone who is trying to figure out where AI fits into their actual practice. Naman Mehta is an architect, founder of IntelliBuild Group, co-founder of StageLens AI, and one of the most active AEC educators in the world right now. He has trained over 3,000 professionals across 40 countries — and he started, like most of us, with a frustration and a lot of late nights. In this episode, Divya and Naman have the honest conversation about what it actually takes to bring an entire industry into the AI era. In this episode: • How Studio Lotus shaped Naman's design thinking — and why that foundation matters more now than ever • The real story behind training 3,000 professionals across 40 countries • Why you should start with the problem, not the tool — and how to actually do that • StageLens AI — building cultural intelligence into a real estate staging product for India • Why AI amplifies your skill level rather than replacing it — and what that means for how you learn • The curriculum lag in architecture education — and who's closing the gap • The version of the AI story that doesn't get told: amplification, not replacement • Homework: 30 minutes, one tool, one workflow — and tell me what happens Tools & platforms mentioned: Grasshopper, IntelliBuild, StageLens AI, Flora AI, xFigura, Midjourney, Stable Diffusion. Find Naman at @naman.ai [http://naman.ai].aec on Instagram and on LinkedIn. Hosted by Divya Goel | Architect & Design Technologist | @thegeeksdesignstudio Guest: Naman Mehta | Founder, IntelliBuild Group | @naman.ai [http://naman.ai].aec

S01 Episode 05- From Kharkiv to Xi'an to Dubai. And Every Render Was Worth It.

EPISODE TITLE: From Kharkiv to Xi'an to Dubai. And Every Render Was Worth It. — Olga Myronova-Kopysova on 3D visualisation, the AI revolution, and what Dubai does to your design ambition SHOW NOTES: Hello my nerdy, geeky, beautifully obsessed designers — Episode Six is here. And this time, we're going to Dubai. Olga Myronova-Kopysova has one of the most extraordinary design journeys I've come across — Ukraine to China (MArch, Xi'an Jiaotong University) to Poland to New York to Dubai, where she now works as an Interior Designer and 3D Visualiser at XBD Collective, one of the Middle East's most award-winning luxury design studios. Clients include Emaar, DAMAC, Rixos, St. Regis, and W Hotel. And she started her career as a 3D Visualiser — which means she has watched, from the inside, how AI is transforming the craft of making spaces look real. This conversation is essential listening.   In this episode: •        Olga's path from Ukraine → China → Poland → New York → Dubai — and what each city gave her design vocabulary •        Inside XBD Collective: what it's really like designing luxury spaces for a market recording $39B in Q1 2025 real estate transactions •        Why 'the render IS the space' in the Dubai luxury market — and what that means for quality •        The AI visualisation revolution from a 3D specialist's perspective: what it can do, what it can't, and what the future looks like •        The honest Dubai expat life — the ambition amplifier, the pace, and the beautiful challenge of building community from scratch •        Triple homework: the AI render test, the city question, and the emotion exercise that changes how you think about visualisation •        Tools discussed: Midjourney, ArchiVinci, Spacely AI, V-Ray, Corona, Adobe Photoshop, 3D Max   Drop your homework answers in the comments — or find Divya at @thegeeksdesignstudio on Instagram. Find Olga: LinkedIn — Olga Myronova-Kopysova | Upwork — link in show notes   Hosted by Divya Goel | @thegeeksdesignstudio Guest: Olga Myronova-Kopysova | XBD Collective Dubai | Interior Designer & 3D Visualiser #GeeksDesignStudio #InteriorDesign #3DVisualization #DubaiDesign #XBDCollective #LuxuryInteriors #AIinDesign #ArchViz #DesignPodcast #ExpatsInDubai #WomenInDesign #DesignDistrict #DubaiD3 #PhotorealisticRendering #FutureOfDesign

S01 Episode 04- I Opened Stable Diffusion. I Never Closed It. What AI is actually like in real life.

Hello, my nerdy, geeky, ridiculously talented designers — Episode Five is here. And this one is for the practitioners. Ar. Md Abdul Vasi is a COA-registered architect, BIM-VDC specialist, and AI-integrated workflow practitioner based in Hyderabad, India. He's worked on hospitals, high-rise towers, luxury villas, and now — remotely — on restaurant chains across Canada. And he started his AI journey the same way most of us do: alone, with Stable Diffusion open and a YouTube tutorial running on another screen. In this episode, Divya and Vasi have the conversation architects actually need to have. Not the AI hype version. The real version — what works, what breaks, what clients misunderstand, and what's worth betting your career on.   In this episode: •        How Stable Diffusion changed Vasi's client conversations in the first week he used it •        The 'expectation inflation problem' — why AI visualisations can create confusion at the wrong project stage •        What's actually in Vasi's AI toolkit (D5 Render, Stable Diffusion, AI documentation tools) and what each one earns •        Why AI in healthcare architecture is fundamentally different from AI in a restaurant fitout •        The case for AI in documentation and specifications — not just visualisation •        How cross-border practice from India to Canada is becoming viable partly because of AI •        Vasi's concept of 'strategic AI fluency' — the skill that separates the next decade's leaders •        Homework: your first generative tool experiment AND the workflow task you're secretly dying to give to a machine   Tools mentioned: Stable Diffusion, Midjourney, D5 Render, Chaos Corona, Revit, BIM workflows, AI specification/documentation tools. Drop your homework answer in the comments — or find Divya at @thegeeksdesignstudio on Instagram. Episode Six might just feature what you share.   Hosted by Divya Goel | Architect & Design Technologist | @thegeeksdesignstudio Guest: Ar. Md Abdul Vasi | Registered Architect (COA) | BIM-VDC Specialist | @versatile.architects