Why Preston, who wanted to write comic books, stayed in architecture after reading Italo Calvino's Invisible Cities in his first design studio.

His idea of design as narrative, and why there is no arbitrariness in architecture: every move needs a reason, so he builds systems.

How his first script turned eight hours of CAD work into about three and convinced him that software is just instructions.

The staffing reality of design technology: two or three people in a firm of 100, each serving the demands of about 50 colleagues.

Why the 'buildings equal data' thesis still has not come to fruition, and how tech firms look for the smallest unit of value while AEC moves from project to project.

How low architecture pay pushed him to stay always hireable and use BIM management as a bridge into technology.