Hello, I am an 18 year old that is planning to major in architecture and I was wondering if you guys could supply me sources that will give me a good foundation before I attend classes. Whether it be books or videos, I am willing to thoroughly study it.
I was also wondering if there is a sure-fire way to determine if architecture is for me and how I might attain that answer, as well as a description of the daily work as an architect.
Architect? a candid guide to the profession, by Roger Lewis
Many architects tend to be too biased in their opinions one way or the other. Too positive or too negative on the profession. This guy is very balanced.
Study engineering and take some design classes on the side. You'll get paid more and have real value. An architecture degree is really an art degree and you'll get compensated as such upon graduation. Most jobs upon completing and arch degree are drafter with very long hours, tedious boring work and low pay. If you like construction and like seeing things built valuable degrees are in construction management and engineering. Both of which you can take design courses on the side and "design buildings." Most developers consider architects completely irrelevant and try to bypass when ever possible. Architects are increasingly used as a drafting service as design services are increasingly offered for free by construction firms. Unless you are strangely obsessed with design. If you do still decide to pursue it, get a business minor and intern as much as possible for a contractor not an architect to be able to get positions beyond just drafting.
avoid architecture. College will be miserable and your buddies who studied business or someother crap major will make 2x as much as you and work 1/4 as hard for their degree.
Dorf, plenty of folks here complain about compensation. Please note that unpaid or near unpaid internships are still commonplace and people are foolish to take them therefore devaluating the whole post grad intern period.
With that said, compensation is directly related to your billable contribution to a project in the early stages of your career. These skills are often not communicated clearly to students and many find it hard to move out of drafting and production roles and into the more senior aspects of the profession: mainly design oversight, construction administration, or even client negotiations.
Yes, there are tedious tasks involved such as code review, washroom tile elevations, schedules, etc. But it's not hard for a competent person to get a full exposure to all aspects early enough in their career as to avoid the dreaded pigeon-hole effect and resulting saltiness as implying by the above comments.
I like the idea of following constraints, following safety regulations, knowing the ins and outs of a building. Following a budget and providing good architecture is also cool to me. I like how education in architecture completely changes how you look at building. The problem solving is also a really big reason -- I used most of my time in my last years of high school to study Java and I had a lot of fun with solving problems with code. Most of all I really really really like buildings and I would like to be involved in the design of the surrounding world: balancing budget and constraints while providing a pretty space to interact and conduct business or live sounds fun to me.
The reality of architecture is that design is often a tiny part of the process and that most time is spent in administration and management. My father used to say that he was happy if he got to spend 5% of his time on design.
There are many professions that have more creative "design aspects" than architecture. And that pay better and are not as sensitive to economic fluctuations. And that don't require long, expensive and largely counterproductive education to enter the field.
Jun 21, 17 6:49 pm ·
·
theodorf
Would you say civil engineering is a better choice for me then?
“Anything is one of a million paths. Therefore you must always keep in mind that a path is only a path; if you feel you should not follow it, you must not stay with it under any conditions. To have such clarity you must lead a disciplined life. Only then will you know that any path is only a path and there is no affront, to oneself or to others, in dropping it if that is what your heart tells you to do. But your decision to keep on the path or to leave it must be free of fear or ambition. I warn you. Look at every path closely and deliberately. Try it as many times as you think necessary.
This question is one that only a very old man asks. Does this path have a heart? All paths are the same: they lead nowhere. They are paths going through the bush, or into the bush. In my own life I could say I have traversed long long paths, but I am not anywhere. Does this path have a heart? If it does, the path is good; if it doesn't, it is of no use. Both paths lead nowhere; but one has a heart, the other doesn't. One makes for a joyful journey; as long as you follow it, you are one with it. The other will make you curse your life. One makes you strong; the other weakens you.
Before you embark on any path ask the question: Does this path have a heart? If the answer is no, you will know it, and then you must choose another path. The trouble is nobody asks the question; and when a man finally realizes that he has taken a path without a heart, the path is ready to kill him. At that point very few men can stop to deliberate, and leave the path. A path without a heart is never enjoyable. You have to work hard even to take it. On the other hand, a path with heart is easy; it does not make you work at liking it.”
I second 'A Candid Guide to the Profession.' I'd also recommend taking one or two intro design courses as early as you can (or inquire about a job-shadow / short internship at a nearby firm before you even start college).
Don't listen to the cynics. Obviously it's not all sunshine and rainbows, but it's not all doom and gloom either. It's a job, and just like any job there are good days and bad days - and good firms and bad firms. You get out what you put in.
My caveat to most people is that Architecture is a profession that you need to be a little obsessively excited about or else you will hate it. It's a massive time investment for a relatively little payoff (although I live quite comfortably, I'm not making software dev money by any means), but it can be a really rewarding career for the right type of person.
Ask people in real life. This forum tends to be a lot more disgruntled than the average sample.
I am an architecture undergrad student. I transferred into the program from an undecided major twi years into school. I can say that i enjoy architecture school a lot better than regular college, despite having ten times more work to do. I have some of the best friends in there with me. I do work at a firm now for the summer and can say that the educational side is very different than the work side. I think knowing both how to design and the actual construction is import. If anything know AutoCAD before you start if you don't already. Or try to work in construction or volunteer building houses. I did not know anything like this and even though we have not used CAD in school I use it everyday in my job. Also I would go ahead and buy some of the software that your school recommends like rhino, cad, adobe suite, and sketchup. Learning these could be a huge help and if you have time over the summer watching tutorials could be really helpful. The first year of school is really just design theory class so you don't learn a whole lot about actual buildings. In terms of whether or not you should stick to it. Architecture will get to your head. If there is any doubt that you are not where you belong then you will not make it. Just speaking from observing the people in my class that have since dropped out. It is also a very long and tedious process. Everyone goes into school thinking they are becoming an architect when really only about 4 in 100 people will actually become an architect. I don't say that to scare you but rather understand completely what you are taking on before you start which helps to kinda prepare yourself for what is to come.
I actually really enjoy and could not see myself doing anything else something that i found really early on. And despite the crazy time investment when I finish a project I feel very accomplished and i actually like to design my work. Different firms are very different so there are all kinds of architecture out there.
I have met people from all different kinds of educational backgrounds in the construction ideas, (civil engineering, Construction management, ect. ) architecture school gets you something that none of those do.
Have you already got into school? If you decide that you are serious about architecture I would recommend looking into one of the IPAL programs. While not for everyone including myself, Its a new program that is like an easy way of getting school and license all in one. You could get through the school part faster and go to grad school for something else like engineering if you wanted to later.
Jun 23, 17 11:29 am ·
·
theodorf
When you were working at your firm in the summer what kind of work were you doing on a day-to-day basis?
How much time would you say you put into your college work when you went for an architecture major?
Jun 23, 17 2:52 pm ·
·
Block this user
Are you sure you want to block this user and hide all related comments throughout the site?
Archinect
This is your first comment on Archinect. Your comment will be visible once approved.
Debating Pursuit of Architecture
Hello, I am an 18 year old that is planning to major in architecture and I was wondering if you guys could supply me sources that will give me a good foundation before I attend classes. Whether it be books or videos, I am willing to thoroughly study it.
I was also wondering if there is a sure-fire way to determine if architecture is for me and how I might attain that answer, as well as a description of the daily work as an architect.
Thanks
Architect? a candid guide to the profession, by Roger Lewis
Many architects tend to be too biased in their opinions one way or the other. Too positive or too negative on the profession. This guy is very balanced.
Study engineering and take some design classes on the side. You'll get paid more and have real value. An architecture degree is really an art degree and you'll get compensated as such upon graduation. Most jobs upon completing and arch degree are drafter with very long hours, tedious boring work and low pay. If you like construction and like seeing things built valuable degrees are in construction management and engineering. Both of which you can take design courses on the side and "design buildings." Most developers consider architects completely irrelevant and try to bypass when ever possible. Architects are increasingly used as a drafting service as design services are increasingly offered for free by construction firms. Unless you are strangely obsessed with design. If you do still decide to pursue it, get a business minor and intern as much as possible for a contractor not an architect to be able to get positions beyond just drafting.
What kind of design classes did you have in mind?
Do engineers not draft just as much?
I second the Archi_dude
avoid architecture. College will be miserable and your buddies who studied business or someother crap major will make 2x as much as you and work 1/4 as hard for their degree.
Is the pay really as you guys make it out to be? What are these boring and tedious tasks you guys do on a daily basis? Is it really just all drafting?
With that said, compensation is directly related to your billable contribution to a project in the early stages of your career. These skills are often not communicated clearly to students and many find it hard to move out of drafting and production roles and into the more senior aspects of the profession: mainly design oversight, construction administration, or even client negotiations.
Yes, there are tedious tasks involved such as code review, washroom tile elevations, schedules, etc. But it's not hard for a competent person to get a full exposure to all aspects early enough in their career as to avoid the dreaded pigeon-hole effect and resulting saltiness as implying by the above comments.
++
Why architecture?
I like the design aspect of it.
I like the idea of following constraints, following safety regulations, knowing the ins and outs of a building. Following a budget and providing good architecture is also cool to me. I like how education in architecture completely changes how you look at building. The problem solving is also a really big reason -- I used most of my time in my last years of high school to study Java and I had a lot of fun with solving problems with code. Most of all I really really really like buildings and I would like to be involved in the design of the surrounding world: balancing budget and constraints while providing a pretty space to interact and conduct business or live sounds fun to me.
The reality of architecture is that design is often a tiny part of the process and that most time is spent in administration and management. My father used to say that he was happy if he got to spend 5% of his time on design.
There are many professions that have more creative "design aspects" than architecture. And that pay better and are not as sensitive to economic fluctuations. And that don't require long, expensive and largely counterproductive education to enter the field.
Would you say civil engineering is a better choice for me then?
Search civil engineer jobs and see if you like the descriptions of the work. The real questions are what do you like to do and what are you good at?
Is that a direct question, or is that a question for me to ask myself?
“Anything is one of a million paths. Therefore you must always keep in mind that a path is only a path; if you feel you should not follow it, you must not stay with it under any conditions. To have such clarity you must lead a disciplined life. Only then will you know that any path is only a path and there is no affront, to oneself or to others, in dropping it if that is what your heart tells you to do. But your decision to keep on the path or to leave it must be free of fear or ambition. I warn you. Look at every path closely and deliberately. Try it as many times as you think necessary.
This question is one that only a very old man asks. Does this path have a heart? All paths are the same: they lead nowhere. They are paths going through the bush, or into the bush. In my own life I could say I have traversed long long paths, but I am not anywhere. Does this path have a heart? If it does, the path is good; if it doesn't, it is of no use. Both paths lead nowhere; but one has a heart, the other doesn't. One makes for a joyful journey; as long as you follow it, you are one with it. The other will make you curse your life. One makes you strong; the other weakens you.
Before you embark on any path ask the question: Does this path have a heart? If the answer is no, you will know it, and then you must choose another path. The trouble is nobody asks the question; and when a man finally realizes that he has taken a path without a heart, the path is ready to kill him. At that point very few men can stop to deliberate, and leave the path. A path without a heart is never enjoyable. You have to work hard even to take it. On the other hand, a path with heart is easy; it does not make you work at liking it.”
Thanks for the help.
I second 'A Candid Guide to the Profession.' I'd also recommend taking one or two intro design courses as early as you can (or inquire about a job-shadow / short internship at a nearby firm before you even start college).
Don't listen to the cynics. Obviously it's not all sunshine and rainbows, but it's not all doom and gloom either. It's a job, and just like any job there are good days and bad days - and good firms and bad firms. You get out what you put in.
My caveat to most people is that Architecture is a profession that you need to be a little obsessively excited about or else you will hate it. It's a massive time investment for a relatively little payoff (although I live quite comfortably, I'm not making software dev money by any means), but it can be a really rewarding career for the right type of person.
Ask people in real life. This forum tends to be a lot more disgruntled than the average sample.
^ It's true, very few of us here are gruntled =o\
I am an architecture undergrad student. I transferred into the program from an undecided major twi years into school. I can say that i enjoy architecture school a lot better than regular college, despite having ten times more work to do. I have some of the best friends in there with me. I do work at a firm now for the summer and can say that the educational side is very different than the work side. I think knowing both how to design and the actual construction is import. If anything know AutoCAD before you start if you don't already. Or try to work in construction or volunteer building houses. I did not know anything like this and even though we have not used CAD in school I use it everyday in my job. Also I would go ahead and buy some of the software that your school recommends like rhino, cad, adobe suite, and sketchup. Learning these could be a huge help and if you have time over the summer watching tutorials could be really helpful. The first year of school is really just design theory class so you don't learn a whole lot about actual buildings. In terms of whether or not you should stick to it. Architecture will get to your head. If there is any doubt that you are not where you belong then you will not make it. Just speaking from observing the people in my class that have since dropped out. It is also a very long and tedious process. Everyone goes into school thinking they are becoming an architect when really only about 4 in 100 people will actually become an architect. I don't say that to scare you but rather understand completely what you are taking on before you start which helps to kinda prepare yourself for what is to come.
I actually really enjoy and could not see myself doing anything else something that i found really early on. And despite the crazy time investment when I finish a project I feel very accomplished and i actually like to design my work. Different firms are very different so there are all kinds of architecture out there.
I have met people from all different kinds of educational backgrounds in the construction ideas, (civil engineering, Construction management, ect. ) architecture school gets you something that none of those do.
Have you already got into school? If you decide that you are serious about architecture I would recommend looking into one of the IPAL programs. While not for everyone including myself, Its a new program that is like an easy way of getting school and license all in one. You could get through the school part faster and go to grad school for something else like engineering if you wanted to later.
When you were working at your firm in the summer what kind of work were you doing on a day-to-day basis?
How much time would you say you put into your college work when you went for an architecture major?
Block this user
Are you sure you want to block this user and hide all related comments throughout the site?
Archinect
This is your first comment on Archinect. Your comment will be visible once approved.