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In this special episode of Gale Force Wins, guest host Spencer Carew sits down in Kassel, Germany with his host Mark Kohler—an architect and entrepreneur—to explore life, business, and culture through an international lens. Mark shares his journey from freelancing to leading a firm of 25 employees, designing schools and public buildings, and even transforming a historic swimming pool into a vibrant office and event space. The conversation dives into architecture as a tool for community building, the value of hosting international students, the challenges of Germany’s labour market, and the importance of work-life balance. With reflections on creativity, burnout, and what makes Germany’s quality of life so unique, this cross-cultural exchange is both thoughtful and inspiring.

Timestamps:

0:00 – Welcome to Gale Force Wins Season 5
0:15 – Introduction to the episode: Spencer in Kassel, Germany
0:52 – What excites Mark about the future of Kassel
1:27 – Why Mark became an architect
2:31 – The value of hosting international students
3:30 – First impressions of Germany and opportunity for youth
3:56 – The biggest challenge of running a business in Germany
4:44 – Where Mark sees himself in 5–10 years
5:28 – How Mark built his architecture career
6:38 – Transforming an old swimming pool into an office and event space
7:39 – Breathing new life into heritage buildings
8:48 – Current sustainable projects: all-wood school gymnasium
9:54 – Favourite spaces to design
10:42 – Discipline, deadlines, and burnout in architecture
12:14 – The importance of self-awareness and stamina
13:19 – Canada vs. Europe: work-life balance and creativity
14:30 – Creating beauty where there’s scarcity
15:31 – Germany’s quality of life and its impact on business
16:14 – Wrapping up the interview
17:10 – Thank you for watching Gale Force Wins

Gale Force Wins started out simply as an inspirational podcast releasing episodes wherever you get your podcasts every Tuesday evening. We continue to do that every Tuesday but have expanded into custom content for clients. We also have perfected a conference and trade show offering where you can receive over 20 videos edited and posted to social media at the same time the event is unfolding.

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