i've seen good portfolios here with no drawings or very few drawings in them. i remember seeing a few portfolios where i thought the drawings were pretty bad but the posters said they got into places like columbia and yale.

i don't get how you could have paintings/sculptures in your portfolio but no background in drawing. that's like saying kristi yamaguchi has no background in dance. you should post some of your drawings--then we'd know exactly how "poor-skilled" they are. they are probably nowhere near as bad as you say.

i'll take you up on that -

it doesnt seem to work though.. how do i upload?

i think you need to upload images to another site, then link to it.

you need to go visit campuses you are interested in, remember you will be paying tons of money for it might as well invest in a plane ticket to go see these college programs, l'll let you in on something we all figure out about 2nd year of architecture college, School of Architecture rankings are useless. Go visit the college and see for yourself. Of course you could just go for the big name college, and pray you will not hate it.

Especially at the Graduate level, hand drawing seems to be a fairly under appreciated technique / method / skill-set (whatever you choose to call it) at the majority of North American architecture schools.

Unless we're talking about a Cooper Union or similar, I don't think it'll be an issue, especially if the rest of your portfolio presents a compelling case.

Seriously, check out student work from the likes of GSAPP, Harvard, Penn, etc. (I'm assuming those are your "A" level schools?) and you'll see a dearth of quality (non-digital/mixed media) drawings.

RueRavignan

i tried uploading to facebook, but the links were broken... i dont have a blog so i dont really know how to do it :(


DonQuixote

thanks for the advice, i'm actually visiting a few schools in October - cornell, possibly columbia, and considering going to risd's open house. i'll probably arrange further meetings


IamGray

i have no doubt that this skill isn't really needed. my sister is a designer, and even though she had to take drawing for three years, she never used it a day after. but i got the impression that when applying, you are expected to show you're capable at it. some of the schools i checked out stated that the portfolio should be compiled of mostly drawings. so i figured they want to know you can do it.

Flurbii- I'm applying for M.arch I this year as well, but not necessarily to the top tier schools...

But in lines with this drawing discussion, do the drawings necessarily need to be architecturally based or can it be of portraiture and figure drawing? I also heard that most schools like to see sketches to see your conceptualization. Do you guys think it's better to include well polished drawings or rough, quick sketches? or both?

yalla habibi!

i applied from israel last year to all those schools. Though I wasn't accepted, by comparing my port and stats to last year's Commiserate thread, I learned a lot about why that might be.

No, you don't need drawings- if you have sculptures and whatnot that will be fine, as long as they are comprehensive and go towards showing a consistent design viewpoint.

If you are self-confident and have a story to tell, I believe that is most of what they are looking for.

Behatzlacha, and send me a message if you want to talk further.

Below is a website with a list of the Graduate Open Houses for the fall 2010 semester.

http://www.aias.org/news_detail.php?nid=354

My background is in the arts and I had no prior history of drawing. An arts background is great to have in architecture school -- was definitely an advantage when it came to designing things. All architecture school admissions are very competitive actually but you will be fine -- a lot of international students were in my same program too and they did a great job! Just make sure you develop a good portfolio. Check out links on Archinect to see what others have posted -- particularly ones that have been well-recieved.

As for drawing skills -- free hand drawing and sketching is something you will definitely need to sharpen your skills with down the stretch. It's okay though, I have seen many people with very little background doing this become rather good. you just have to try and make a concerted effort. In school, you will be carrying a sketchbook with you all the time, and you will be using it all the time so get into that habit. I still know some architects who aren't particularly good at drawing... As for drafting, you will learn all that stuff in school as they will train you. No need for further academic training (for a year as you mentioned) -- that ALL comes in architecture school.

Another good habit is to observe the built environment and take note of what it is that inspires you -- and with your journalistic ability, you can write about it. Architects are always very thrilled by good writing especially since many of us are so bad at it.

There, bet you would have never thought you would get advice from a Palestinian today! ::Wink::