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The Building Culture Podcast

The Building Culture Podcast

Written by: Austin Tunnell
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 Fusing the liberal arts with architecture, construction and real estate to build a more beautiful, resilient, and thriving world for PEOPLE. I believe a more thriving world is possible through restoring our built environment. But today's hyper-segregated, financialized building industry is not conducive to solving complex problems or creating dynamic places for human flourishing. I interview a wide range of guests involved with crafting the built world: developers, architects, urban designers, builders, investors, inventors & officials, exploring holistic solutions to a better human habitat.Austin Tunnell Art
Episodes
  • #46 Jan Sramek: California Forever - Building the Next Great American City

    #46 Jan Sramek: California Forever - Building the Next Great American City
    Jan 13 2026

    In this episode, I sit down with Jan Sramek, Founder and CEO of California Forever, to talk about one of the most ambitious development efforts in the country: they're building the next great American city.

    Chapters

    0:00 — Why This Conversation Matters

    02:05 — Meeting Jan and the Origins of California Forever

    06:45 — Growing Up in the Czech Republic and Coming to America

    12:10 — What California Forever Is Actually Trying to Build

    17:55 — The Housing Crisis and Why Incremental Fixes Aren’t Enough

    23:40 — Walkability, Safety, and Designing for Families

    30:15 — Why Cities Should Work for Kids and the Elderly Alike

    35:50 — The Reality of Building a New City in California

    41:30 — Regulation, Risk, and the Cost of Not Building

    47:20 — Reviving American Manufacturing and Shipbuilding

    53:10 — Master Planning, Density, and Mixed-Use Neighborhoods

    59:00 — Learning from Traditional Urban Design

    1:04:45 — Community, Belonging, and Social Trust

    1:10:30 — What Success Would Actually Look Like

    1:15:40 — Long-Term Vision and Final Reflections


    CONNECT WITH JAN SRAMEK

    California Forever - Building the next great American city

    Jan Sramek | LinkedIn

    https://x.com/jansramek?s=11


    CONNECT WITH AUSTIN TUNNELL

    Newsletter: https://playbook.buildingculture.com/

    https://www.instagram.com/austintunnell/

    https://www.linkedin.com/in/austin-tunnell-2a41894a/

    https://twitter.com/AustinTunnell


    CONNECT WITH BUILDING CULTURE

    https://www.buildingculture.com/

    https://www.instagram.com/buildingculture/

    https://twitter.com/build_culture

    https://www.facebook.com/BuildCulture/
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    1 hr and 11 mins
  • #45 Aleksandr Gampel: Reinventing Homebuilding with Mobile Micro-Factories and Cuby Technologies

    #45 Aleksandr Gampel: Reinventing Homebuilding with Mobile Micro-Factories and Cuby Technologies
    Sep 11 2025

    What if the future of affordable housing doesn’t come from prefab or 3D printing, but from building vertically integrated factories that travel to where homes are needed most?

    In this episode, I sit down with Aleksandr Gampel, co-founder and COO of Cuby Technologies, to talk about their radical approach: Mobile Micro-Factories. Instead of shipping oversized boxes across the country, they bring a full factory on-site – producing windows, panels, framing, and even helical piers locally, then assembling homes with unskilled labor.

    We get into why housing costs have exploded (up 40–50% since pre-COVID), how Cuby’s system cuts hard costs by reducing skilled labor, and why most prefab and modular ventures have failed. Aleks explains how their vertically integrated model works, why they’re targeting small-to-mid-sized builders instead of one-off homeowners, and what it will mean when dozens, or even hundreds, of mobile microfactories are running across the U.S.

    We also dive into design: steel tube framing, magnetic facades, and the surprisingly elegant logic behind Toyota’s production system applied to housing. If you’ve ever wondered how we might actually build cost-effective, durable homes at scale – without sacrificing beauty or quality – this episode is worth your time.


    CHAPTERS:

    00:00 Introduction to Housing Challenges

    02:53 The Concept of Mobile Micro Factories

    05:35 Manufacturing Process and Product Offerings

    08:24 Building Systems and Structural Integrity

    11:17 Cost Management and Market Strategy

    14:05 Design Flexibility and Market Demand

    17:07 Community Development and Housing Affordability

    19:53 Operational Dynamics of Mobile Micro Factories

    24:43 Building Efficient Factories with Unskilled Labor

    27:30 The Role of Automation in Construction

    28:54 Phased Business Plan for Housing Production

    30:34 Funding and Capital Efficiency in Startups

    32:33 Design Versatility and Limitations in Home Building

    34:10 Long-Term Vision and Growth Strategy

    35:15 Innovative Problem Solving in Construction

    39:13 Challenges of Prefabrication in the Housing Market

    41:33 Material Science Innovations for Housing

    43:11 The Journey of Co-Founding a Startup

    44:33 Connecting with Cuby Technologies


    CONNECT WITH ALEKSANDR GAMPEL

    LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/iamaleksandrgampel/

    Twitter/X: https://x.com/agampel1

    Cuby Technologies: https://www.cubytechnologies.com/


    CONNECT WITH AUSTIN TUNNELL

    Newsletter: https://playbook.buildingculture.com/

    https://www.instagram.com/austintunnell/

    https://www.linkedin.com/in/austin-tunnell-2a41894a/

    https://twitter.com/AustinTunnell


    CONNECT WITH BUILDING CULTURE

    https://www.buildingculture.com/

    https://www.instagram.com/buildingculture/

    https://twitter.com/build_culture

    https://www.facebook.com/BuildCulture/


    SPONSORS

    Thank you so much to the sponsors of The Building Culture Podcast!

    Sierra Pacific Windows: https://www.sierrapacificwindows.com/

    One Source Windows: https://onesourcewindows.com/


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    55 mins
  • #44 Ann Sussman and Kelsey Bradley: Cognitive Architecture – Stone Age Brains In A Modern World: What Neuroscience Can Teach Us About Making Places People Love

    #44 Ann Sussman and Kelsey Bradley: Cognitive Architecture – Stone Age Brains In A Modern World: What Neuroscience Can Teach Us About Making Places People Love
    Jun 26 2025
    What if the key to designing better cities wasn’t just in concrete, code, or cost, but in understanding how our brains actually work?In this episode, I talk with Ann Sussman and Kelsey Bradley of the Human Architecture and Planning Institute (HAPI) about a subject that’s as profound as it is underdiscussed: how our unconscious biology reacts to the built environment – and how that should change everything about how we design.Ann, architect and author of Cognitive Architecture and Kelsey, founder of Design Cause Inc., now Executive Director at HAPI, walk us through the neuroscience of placemaking. We talk eye tracking. Skin conductivity. Heart rate variability. And how our “Stone Age brains” are still calibrated for the Savannah, even when we’re stuck in a strip mall.This episode will validate what many of us feel but can’t quite explain why some places energize us, and others quietly drain us. The answers aren’t just aesthetic. They’re evolutionary.CHAPTERS:00:00 The Car-Free City: Oslo's Urban Transformation03:43 Human Architecture: Merging Biology and Design08:03 Understanding Human Experience: The Emotional Brain11:24 The Impact of Environment on Human Behavior18:37 The Influence of Modernism on Architecture23:28 The Threatening Nature of Suburban Design26:47 Measuring Human Responses: Biometrics in Architecture31:25 The Science of Emotions in Design33:52 The Power of Empathy in Leadership36:57 Designing for Human Flourishing40:07 The Impact of Built Environments on Mental Health45:35 Understanding Human Perception in Urban Design49:13 The Need for Beautiful and Functional Spaces53:00 The Future of Urban Planning and Community Well-beingMENTIONED RESOURCESBook: Cognitive Architecture: Designing for how we respond to the built environmentBook: Urban Experience & Designhttps://thehapi.org/Free course on "The Genetics of Design" – HAPI.org Courses Design Cause Inc. – Kelsey’s nonprofit building schools in AfricaCONNECT WITH ANN SUSSMANLinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/ann-sussman-a1a34a14/X: https://www.linkedin.com/in/ann-sussman-a1a34a14/ Ann’s Blog: https://annsussman.com/ The Genetics of Design: https://geneticsofdesign.com/about CONNECT WITH KELSEY BRADLEYLinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/kelseybradley/Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/kelseydeebradley/ CONNECT WITH AUSTIN TUNNELLNewsletter: https://playbook.buildingculture.com/ https://www.instagram.com/austintunnell/ https://www.linkedin.com/in/austin-tunnell-2a41894a/ https://twitter.com/AustinTunnellCONNECT WITH BUILDING CULTUREhttps://www.buildingculture.com/ https://www.instagram.com/buildingculture/ https://twitter.com/build_culture https://www.facebook.com/BuildCulture/ SPONSORSThank you so much to the sponsors of The Building Culture Podcast!Sierra Pacific Windows: https://www.sierrapacificwindows.com/ One Source Windows: https://onesourcewindows.com/
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    1 hr and 4 mins
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