About Bryan Toepfer

Bryan Toepfer, AIA, NCARB, CAPM is the Principal Architect for TOEPFER Architecture, PLLC, an Architecture firm specializing in Residential Architecture and Virtual Reality. He has authored two books, “Contractors CANNOT Build Your House,” and “Six Months Now, ARCHITECT for Life.” He is an Assistant Professor at Alfred State College and has served as the Director of Government Affairs and as the Director of Education for the AIA Rochester Board of Directors. Always eager to help anyone understand the world of Architecture, he hosts the New Books Network – Architecture podcast, is an NCARB Licensing Advisor and helps coach candidates taking the Architectural Registration Exam.

Bryan Toepfer, AIA, NCARB, CAPM is the Principal Architect for TOEPFER Architecture, PLLC, an Architecture firm specializing in Residential Architecture and Virtual Reality. He has authored two books, “Contractors CANNOT Build Your House,” and “Six Months Now, ARCHITECT for Life.” He is an Assistant Professor at Alfred State College and has served as the Director of Government Affairs and as the Director of Education for the AIA Rochester Board of Directors. Always eager to help anyone understand the world of Architecture, he hosts the New Books Network – Architecture podcast, is an NCARB Licensing Advisor and helps coach candidates taking the Architectural Registration Exam. btoepfer@toepferarchitecture

Bryan's website

NBN Episodes hosted by Bryan:

Susanna Phillips Newbury, "The Speculative City: Art, Real Estate, and the Making of Global Los Angeles" (U Minnesota Press, 2021)

January 4, 2024

The Speculative City

Susanna Phillips Newbury
Hosted by Bryan Toepfer

Underlying every great city is a rich and vibrant culture that shapes the texture of life within. In The Speculative City: Art, Real Estate, and the M…

Simone Ferracina, "Ecologies of Inception: Design Potentials on a Warming Planet" (Routledge, 2022)

July 8, 2023

Ecologies of Inception

Simone Ferracina
Hosted by Bryan Toepfer
Listen:

Responding to increasing levels of planetary pollution, waste generation, carbon dioxide emission and environmental collapse, Simone Ferracina's book …

Jake Rudin and Erin Pellegrino, "Out of Architecture: The Value of Architects Beyond Traditional Practice" (Routledge, 2022)

March 25, 2023

Out of Architecture

Jake Rudin and Erin Pellegrino
Hosted by Bryan Toepfer

Jake Rudin and Erin Pellegrino's book Out of Architecture: The Value of Architects Beyond Traditional Practice (Routledge, 2022) is both a call to rea…

Brian Tokar and Tamra Gilbertson, "Climate Justice and Community Renewal: Resistance and Grassroots Solutions" (Routledge, 2020)

March 20, 2023

Climate Justice and Community Renewal

Brian Tokar and Tamra Gilbertson
Hosted by Bryan Toepfer

Brian Tokar and Tamra Gilbertson's book Climate Justice and Community Renewal: Resistance and Grassroots Solutions (Routledge, 2020) brings together t…

Ali Mozaffari and Nigel Westbrook, "Development, Architecture, and the Formation of Heritage in Late Twentieth-Century Iran" (Manchester UP, 2020)

March 8, 2023

Development, Architecture, and the Formation of Heritage in Late Twentieth-Century Iran

Ali Mozaffari and Nigel Westbrook
Hosted by Bryan Toepfer

Development, Architecture, and the Formation of Heritage in Late Twentieth-Century Iran (Manchester UP, 2020) analyses the use of the past and the pro…

Dave Colangelo, "The Building as Screen: A History, Theory, and Practice of Massive Media" (Amsterdam UP, 2019)

February 28, 2023

The Building as Screen

Dave Colangelo
Hosted by Bryan Toepfer

The Building as Screen: A History, Theory, and Practice of Massive Media (Amsterdam UP, 2019) describes, historicizes, theorizes, and creatively deplo…

John Vinci, "Reconstructing the Garrick: Adler and Sullivan's Lost Masterpiece" (Alphawood Exhibitions, 2021)

February 23, 2023

Reconstructing the Garrick

John Vinci
Hosted by Bryan Toepfer

For six months in 1961, Richard Nickel, John Vinci, and David Norris salvaged the interior and exterior ornamentation of the Garrick Theater, Adler & …

Jack Ahern, "Design with Nature on Cape Cod and the Islands" (U Massachusetts Press, 2022)

February 8, 2023

Design with Nature on Cape Cod and the Islands

Jack Ahern
Hosted by Bryan Toepfer

Cape Cod and the islands of Martha’s Vineyard and Nantucket are special places known for their distinctive flora, including pine-oak forests, sandplai…

Alex Nathanson, "A History of Solar Power Art and Design" (Routledge, 2021)

September 19, 2022

A History of Solar Power Art and Design

Alex Nathanson
Hosted by Bryan Toepfer

Alex Nathanson's book A History of Solar Power Art and Design (Routledge, 2021) examines the history of creative applications of photovoltaic (PV) sol…

Christina E. Crawford, "Spatial Revolution: Architecture and Planning in the Early Soviet Union" (Cornell UP, 2022)

August 19, 2022

Spatial Revolution

Christina E. Crawford
Hosted by Bryan Toepfer

Spatial Revolution: Architecture and Planning in the Early Soviet Union (Cornell UP, 2022) is the first comparative parallel study of Soviet architect…

Fred Delcomyn and James L. Ellis, "A Backyard Prairie: The Hidden Beauty of Tallgrass and Wildflowers" (Southern Illinois UP, 2021)

August 4, 2022

A Backyard Prairie

Fred Delcomyn and James L. Ellis
Hosted by Bryan Toepfer

In 2003 Fred Delcomyn imagined his backyard of two and a half acres, farmed for corn and soybeans for generations, restored to tallgrass prairie. Over…

Ann Marie Borys, "American Unitarian Churches: Architecture of a Democratic Religion" (U Massachusetts Press, 2021)

July 22, 2022

American Unitarian Churches

Ann Marie Borys
Hosted by Bryan Toepfer

The Unitarian religious tradition was a product of the same eighteenth-century democratic ideals that fueled the American Revolution and informed the …

Andrew Witt, "Formulations: Architecture, Mathematics, Culture" (MIT Press, 2022)

July 8, 2022

Formulations

Andrew Witt
Hosted by Bryan Toepfer

In Formulations: Architecture, Mathematics, Culture (MIT Press, 2022), Andrew Witt examines the visual, methodological, and cultural intersections bet…

Fleur Watson, "The New Curator: Exhibiting Architecture and Design" (Routledge, 2021)

June 7, 2022

The New Curator

Fleur Watson
Hosted by Bryan Toepfer

The New Curator: Exhibiting Architecture and Design (Routledge, 2021) examines the challenges inherent in exhibiting design ideas. Traditionally, exhi…

John DeFerrari and Douglas Peter Sefton, "Sixteenth Street NW: Washington, DC's Avenue of Ambitions" (Georgetown UP, 2022)

May 20, 2022

Sixteenth Street NW

John DeFerrari and Douglas Peter Sefton
Hosted by Bryan Toepfer

Sixteenth Street NW in Washington, DC, has been called the Avenue of the Presidents, Executive Avenue, and the Avenue of Churches. From the front door…

Hilton Judin, "Architecture, State Modernism and Cultural Nationalism in the Apartheid Capital" (Routledge, 2021)

April 19, 2022

Architecture, State Modernism and Cultural Nationalism in the Apartheid Capital

Hilton Judin
Hosted by Bryan Toepfer

Hilton Judin's book Architecture, State Modernism and Cultural Nationalism in the Apartheid Capital (Routledge, 2021) is the first comprehensive inves…

Richard K. Rein, "American Urbanist: How William H. Whyte's Unconventional Wisdom Reshaped Public Life" (Island Press, 2022)

April 1, 2022

American Urbanist

Richard K. Rein
Hosted by Bryan Toepfer

On an otherwise normal weekday in the 1980s, commuters on busy Route 1 in central New Jersey noticed an alarming sight: a man in a suit and tie dashin…

Nadir Lahiji, "Architecture, Philosophy, and the Pedagogy of Cinema: From Benjamin to Badiou" (Routledge, 2021)

March 11, 2022

Architecture, Philosophy, and the Pedagogy of Cinema

Nadir Lahiji
Hosted by Bryan Toepfer

Philosophers on the art of cinema mainly remain silent about architecture. Discussing cinema as ‘mass art’, they tend to forget that architecture, bef…

Michael Merrill, "Louis Kahn: The Importance of Drawing" (Lars Muller Publishers, 2021)

March 3, 2022

Louis Kahn: The Importance of Drawing

Michael Merrill
Hosted by Bryan Toepfer

“The importance of a drawing is immense, because it’s the architect’s language,” said the architect Louis Kahn to his masterclass in 1967. While most …

Kerry Dean Carso, "Follies in America: A History of Garden and Park Architecture" (Cornell UP, 2021)

February 23, 2022

Follies in America

Kerry Dean Carso
Hosted by Bryan Toepfer

Follies in America: A History of Garden and Park Architecture (Cornell UP, 2021) examines historicized garden buildings, known as "follies," from the …

Kian Goh, "Form and Flow: The Spatial Politics of Urban Resilience and Climate Justice" (MIT Press, 2021)

February 17, 2022

Form and Flow

Kian Goh
Hosted by Bryan Toepfer

Cities around the world are formulating plans to respond to climate change and adapt to its impact. Often, marginalized urban residents resist these p…

Randall Whitehead and Clifton S. Lemon, "Beautiful Light: An Insider’s Guide to LED Lighting in Homes and Gardens" (Routledge, 2021)

February 9, 2022

Beautiful Light

Randall Whitehead and Clifton Stanley Lemon
Hosted by Bryan Toepfer

Beautiful Light: An Insider’s Guide to LED Lighting in Homes and Gardens (Routledge, 2021) by internationally acclaimed lighting designer Randall Whit…

Carla Yanni, "The Architecture of Madness: Insane Asylums in the United States" (U Minnesota Press, 2007)

January 28, 2022

The Architecture of Madness

Carla Yanni
Hosted by Bryan Toepfer

Elaborately conceived, grandly constructed insane asylums—ranging in appearance from classical temples to Gothic castles—were once a common sight loom…

Ginger Nolan, "Savage Mind to Savage Machine: Racial Science and Twentieth-Century Design" (U Minnesota Press, 2021)

January 18, 2022

Savage Mind to Savage Machine

Ginger Nolan
Hosted by Bryan Toepfer

Attempting to derive aesthetic systems from natural structures of human cognition, designers looked toward the “savage mind”—a way of thinking they as…