2: Progress > Perfection + Insomnia + Building Innovation | James Casper, founder of Baya Build

Christina and Alisa talk about the story of how Arc Benders was created, how we deal with insomnia, and the importance of collaboration. We also interview James Casper, the founder of Baya Build, a company on a mission to solve housing insecurity through innovation in the building and construction industry.

Baya Build uses a new method of construction that produces high-performance structures at a significantly cheaper cost and in a fraction of the time. Baya dwellings are environmentally friendly, infinitely customizable, and can range from low-income housing to luxury housing. Baya Build is a finalist for the Ivory Prize for Housing Affordability for their innovations in construction and design.

James describes the need for solving this systemic issue of sustainable development:

“In America, there is a deficit of 7.2 million homes for the affordable space…. And every year, we’re losing more and more laborers, which means that construction is only going to become more and more expensive — and more out of reach.”
–James Casper*, founder of Baya Build
(*Who also said, “You can quote me, just don’t make it sound too good.”)

Here are some of the highlights discussed on the show:
* Arc Benders was started by Christina as a photography storytelling project of people who are changing the world. It has evolved into launching this podcast to truly share the power of these stories & work to build a community of Arc Benders working to drive positive change.
* Alisa has been having stress dreams. Christina hasn’t been able to fall asleep because of a mixture of excitement & overwhelm. They both share their strategies to manage insomnia.
* Embracing progress over perfection: as evidenced by this episode’s so-so audio quality and Christina’s dog, Shadow, barking in the background.

James Casper talks about:
* What it took for him to feel confident enough to build Baya Build
* The amount of time he invested in solving this systemic challenge
* Baya Build’s approach to leveraging open source in architecture
* How housing innovation helps people with disabilities
* The importance of a strong team & collaboration for innovation and systemic change

Links mentioned in this episode:
* Baya Build’s website
* Washington Post article about Baya Build’s collaboration for high-tech housing for adults with autism
* Alisa’s Arc Benders interview

Not sponsors, just helpful things we discuss:
* Zenni Optical
* Headspace
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