Building
Instruments
for Practice
I’m Kurt Neiswender, AIA—a registered architect, LEED AP, and educator at Lawrence Tech , learning in public through writing, teaching, and making tools for the profession. I run Urban Colab Architecture in Flint, Michigan and co-host the Coffee Sketch Podcast .
Practice
Tools for Architects
HVAC Calculator
Energy modeling and HVAC load calculations for architects and engineers.
Open tool →EchoTrace
Acoustic simulation and room acoustics visualization tool.
Open tool →Timber Designer
Parametric mass timber building designer with 3D visualization.
Open tool →Proposal Writer
AI-assisted lead qualification and proposal generation for architecture firms.
Open tool →Learning in Public
From the Garden
Show the Math — Building Science Instruments
Four small browser tools from my building systems courses, built on one rule: never hide the calculation from the person learning it.
The Resident Citizen Architect
Five moves for an architect who wants to serve a disinvested city for the long haul: read the map, volunteer the first drawing, build a vehicle that survives, write it down, and build the people.
Urban Colab Architecture
A Flint-based L3C architecture firm focused on regenerative design, missing-middle housing, adaptive reuse, and community development.
Big Tent vs. Little Tent
How AI-empowered toolmaking is expanding the definition of architectural practice — and why architects should embrace the bigger tent.