That said, I am forever drawn to architecture's "possibilities", even if most are just pipe dreams. It's like that ex-girlfriend you just can't get over. She's never going to change for you. You either have to accept her for what she is or cut ties entirely. I want to accept her but remove all reliance on her.
On the fence, quizzical, diabase speak the truth.
Totally agree with that. Which is why I unsentimentally ditched the ex-girlfriend some time ago. I always remember hearing the words of a professor who said that he only did work where he thought there was an architectural solution, which really reflects the state of architecture today. By and large, if all things are considered equal, it is not necessary.
However, as I have stated many times on this forum, I am exceedingly optimistic about the opportunities that architects have if they recognise both the strengths and weaknesses of the profession, and think laterally.
Rather than act out the role laid by the profession, I prefer to follow a different patch. We shall see if it pays off.
I should also expand upon the necessity or otherwise of architecture - by and largely this relates to residential and small project.
I have had the experience of working as an architect in a traditional practice, as a sole practitioner, as an in-house designer for a developer, as a design manager for a property developer, as a PM for a construction company, as a client and a client rep, and as an entrepreneur and by and large, clients and contractors want and need architects.
And they want and need them to lead the way with expertise they can demonstrate in advice and drawings. They also need architects to accept risk and responsibility for their work.
im an intern architect working in a small firm. i love my work. i have a pre-professional degree so i have to go back to get licensed. and i will get licensed because i love my work.
i make good money. better than what im seeing on this forum so far and ive only been at it 3 1/2 years. not trying to brag, just honestly, why WOULDNT i follow my dream.
why are teachers teachers? they know they wont make money...
i started school as a pre-med track student. i would have made lots of money, but i was bored. i wanted to draw, create. now i do that every day.
no thats good for you ameliab, so while you were thinking about what to do during your pre med time, what other careers did u look into? when did u realize as you say that architecture was your dream? obviously it initially was not that's why i ask. By the way teachers in IL aren't going to get rich, but if they hang in there long enough like a few i know of, they make pretty good money, and college professors well I don't think I need to say it.
we were in my dad's buick on the way home from baseball practice in the 5th grade, we were deciding what else i could be besides a professional baseball player. my father decided that i was good at math and drawing, and so i should be an architect. i started drawing split-level houses in my neighborhood, but would color them in neon green, totally within the lines. i learned 3ds max in my high school's tech. ed. class, and i was the first in my class to use radiosity. my teacher had posters of the experience music project and the farnsworth house hanging on the walls. my design for a lake front villa won a blue ribbon at the shawnee mission school district research and development forum. my father reminds me when i bring home the ribbon of that one day in the buick, on 99th st., when he predicted i would be a great architect. a neighbor down the street, further on down where the big houses were, invites my family for dinner, the host was an architect. he had an especially big house with lots of white and glass. i told him, i too wanted to be an architect, and so he wrote me a letter of recommendation. he was a partner, he is now retired. i finished my m.arch last may, i am now un-employed.
i would say this story is pretty close to ubiquitous for recent grads.
i did pre-med for a year, interior design for 1.5 years, then architecture. in high school i was in a class where they made us take a lot of aptitude tests, several placed me firmly in architecture. i really didn't know anything about architecture and had always planned to become a doctor so i just ignored the results. could have saved a LOT of time and money if i had listened.
@optimistic strawbeary
is there anything more? i'm 27 and i haven't tired of it yet. who knows if that will change as i age. i mean, i'm a leed ap and i'm doing what i can to improve the world around us. so it's like im an earth doctor :)
... there are people that decide to sign up as an Arch major, in a sort of random fashion, some people go from several majors to another, I noticed in college we tend to attract these kind of confused students ...
I will freely admit to having been one of these students.
I bounced from engineering, to business, to journalism before somehow landing in architecture. I had never considered it in high school, but the strange marriage of technical-philosophy-arts was intriguing and I found it very easy. I had no grand plans for changing the world or being the next Frank Lloyd Wright. And I certainly had no idea how fickle and feast-or-famine the profession can be. I just had fun while completing a degree.
my 5th year there was this engineering student, who somehow got to a locker in our architecture building, and guess who was his locker buddy? me. We got along good. The kid was nice, but he was always questioning peoples religion, what they believe in, he kind of fancied himself a Socrates of the architecture department. One night I said "are you going to pull the Socratic method on my again im kind of busy", he didn't know what I meant, I said its what you do every day dude. Sometimes talking about religious conspiracies, pretty much everything that had absolutely nothing to with architecture. Other than disturbing my train of thought sometimes he was a nice kid, but man he definitely had some issues work out.
wise words. good schooling does provide one with more informed opinions, it is frustrating to find out how many total drones are out there in the professtional sphere, and i often find myself trying to get along with "broham" types in the architecture world (and often not succeeding).
becoming an architect sounds like a fantastic idea to intellectual-types who have a firm grasp of the way things work in the world, some artistic/spatial talent, some quantitative skills, dare i say are well-read, and a passion to want to change things for the better. but to actually make a difference...there are very few spots for that, i know.
i've applied to my m arch program because i have a firm opinion on the types of change i want to make through architecture/urban design (specifics i won't go into, perhaps reserved for another thread?). i've grown up surrounded by people who essentially grew up with nothing after a war in another country, and before college lived in mostly unfriendly urban areas where i developed an imaginative mind that longed for ways to make my situation better. this is why i feel compelled to represent my opinion for everyone who helped me get this far and for people who can benefit from the smallest architectural improvement in their lives.
architecture is my way of going for my dreams of making any small difference because my talents happens to point towards this profession. i have no confidence in the policy end of making positive change because my people skills can use some improvement.
and a master's opens up opportunities to stay in academia, as well.
i stated earlier that i wanted to draw and create, so i switched from pre-med. i was 18 in pre-med and when i decided it wasn't for me i was left with no plan for the first time. at that point i thought maybe i wanted to do something uncomplicated and fun with my life.
i watched a lot of hgtv and i thought, that looks fun and uncomplicated. while i enjoyed planning spaces, it turned out interior design was a little too easy and i got bored very quickly. i felt like i was wasting my potential (and my parents were livid).
after trying out those 2 majors, architecture seemed like the right mix of my talents. (top physics student, published artist, strong leadership skills, etc) not to mention those aptitude tests in high school that placed me in architecture.
i feel like "who cares" about my life story, so i'll stop there. idk what you're looking for exactly. i may not have known from birth that i wanted to be an architect, but that doesnt make my journey any less valid. (or my drive to continue in a flawed profession that i absolutely love, less valid)
People still go to architecture college? Why?
On the fence, quizzical, diabase speak the truth.
Totally agree with that. Which is why I unsentimentally ditched the ex-girlfriend some time ago. I always remember hearing the words of a professor who said that he only did work where he thought there was an architectural solution, which really reflects the state of architecture today. By and large, if all things are considered equal, it is not necessary.
However, as I have stated many times on this forum, I am exceedingly optimistic about the opportunities that architects have if they recognise both the strengths and weaknesses of the profession, and think laterally.
Rather than act out the role laid by the profession, I prefer to follow a different patch. We shall see if it pays off.
I should also expand upon the necessity or otherwise of architecture - by and largely this relates to residential and small project.
I have had the experience of working as an architect in a traditional practice, as a sole practitioner, as an in-house designer for a developer, as a design manager for a property developer, as a PM for a construction company, as a client and a client rep, and as an entrepreneur and by and large, clients and contractors want and need architects.
And they want and need them to lead the way with expertise they can demonstrate in advice and drawings. They also need architects to accept risk and responsibility for their work.
I cant really see this changing.
im an intern architect working in a small firm. i love my work. i have a pre-professional degree so i have to go back to get licensed. and i will get licensed because i love my work.
i make good money. better than what im seeing on this forum so far and ive only been at it 3 1/2 years. not trying to brag, just honestly, why WOULDNT i follow my dream.
why are teachers teachers? they know they wont make money...
i started school as a pre-med track student. i would have made lots of money, but i was bored. i wanted to draw, create. now i do that every day.
no thats good for you ameliab, so while you were thinking about what to do during your pre med time, what other careers did u look into? when did u realize as you say that architecture was your dream? obviously it initially was not that's why i ask. By the way teachers in IL aren't going to get rich, but if they hang in there long enough like a few i know of, they make pretty good money, and college professors well I don't think I need to say it.
we were in my dad's buick on the way home from baseball practice in the 5th grade, we were deciding what else i could be besides a professional baseball player. my father decided that i was good at math and drawing, and so i should be an architect. i started drawing split-level houses in my neighborhood, but would color them in neon green, totally within the lines. i learned 3ds max in my high school's tech. ed. class, and i was the first in my class to use radiosity. my teacher had posters of the experience music project and the farnsworth house hanging on the walls. my design for a lake front villa won a blue ribbon at the shawnee mission school district research and development forum. my father reminds me when i bring home the ribbon of that one day in the buick, on 99th st., when he predicted i would be a great architect. a neighbor down the street, further on down where the big houses were, invites my family for dinner, the host was an architect. he had an especially big house with lots of white and glass. i told him, i too wanted to be an architect, and so he wrote me a letter of recommendation. he was a partner, he is now retired. i finished my m.arch last may, i am now un-employed.
i would say this story is pretty close to ubiquitous for recent grads.
pzuro I think you forgot to mention legos in there someplace ;)
ameliabadelia, don't you think your aspirations will go beyond drawing someday?
Did anyone post this yet?
@creativity expert
i did pre-med for a year, interior design for 1.5 years, then architecture. in high school i was in a class where they made us take a lot of aptitude tests, several placed me firmly in architecture. i really didn't know anything about architecture and had always planned to become a doctor so i just ignored the results. could have saved a LOT of time and money if i had listened.
@optimistic strawbeary
is there anything more? i'm 27 and i haven't tired of it yet. who knows if that will change as i age. i mean, i'm a leed ap and i'm doing what i can to improve the world around us. so it's like im an earth doctor :)
thats nice ameliabadilia, you've explained what you did in school, but you still haven't answered the question why did u do it? why architecture?
ps. dont ever tell any of your co workers you went to interior design school.
I will freely admit to having been one of these students.
I bounced from engineering, to business, to journalism before somehow landing in architecture. I had never considered it in high school, but the strange marriage of technical-philosophy-arts was intriguing and I found it very easy. I had no grand plans for changing the world or being the next Frank Lloyd Wright. And I certainly had no idea how fickle and feast-or-famine the profession can be. I just had fun while completing a degree.
my 5th year there was this engineering student, who somehow got to a locker in our architecture building, and guess who was his locker buddy? me. We got along good. The kid was nice, but he was always questioning peoples religion, what they believe in, he kind of fancied himself a Socrates of the architecture department. One night I said "are you going to pull the Socratic method on my again im kind of busy", he didn't know what I meant, I said its what you do every day dude. Sometimes talking about religious conspiracies, pretty much everything that had absolutely nothing to with architecture. Other than disturbing my train of thought sometimes he was a nice kid, but man he definitely had some issues work out.
@gc
wise words. good schooling does provide one with more informed opinions, it is frustrating to find out how many total drones are out there in the professtional sphere, and i often find myself trying to get along with "broham" types in the architecture world (and often not succeeding).
becoming an architect sounds like a fantastic idea to intellectual-types who have a firm grasp of the way things work in the world, some artistic/spatial talent, some quantitative skills, dare i say are well-read, and a passion to want to change things for the better. but to actually make a difference...there are very few spots for that, i know.
i've applied to my m arch program because i have a firm opinion on the types of change i want to make through architecture/urban design (specifics i won't go into, perhaps reserved for another thread?). i've grown up surrounded by people who essentially grew up with nothing after a war in another country, and before college lived in mostly unfriendly urban areas where i developed an imaginative mind that longed for ways to make my situation better. this is why i feel compelled to represent my opinion for everyone who helped me get this far and for people who can benefit from the smallest architectural improvement in their lives.
architecture is my way of going for my dreams of making any small difference because my talents happens to point towards this profession. i have no confidence in the policy end of making positive change because my people skills can use some improvement.
and a master's opens up opportunities to stay in academia, as well.
@creativity expert
i stated earlier that i wanted to draw and create, so i switched from pre-med. i was 18 in pre-med and when i decided it wasn't for me i was left with no plan for the first time. at that point i thought maybe i wanted to do something uncomplicated and fun with my life.
i watched a lot of hgtv and i thought, that looks fun and uncomplicated. while i enjoyed planning spaces, it turned out interior design was a little too easy and i got bored very quickly. i felt like i was wasting my potential (and my parents were livid).
after trying out those 2 majors, architecture seemed like the right mix of my talents. (top physics student, published artist, strong leadership skills, etc) not to mention those aptitude tests in high school that placed me in architecture.
i feel like "who cares" about my life story, so i'll stop there. idk what you're looking for exactly. i may not have known from birth that i wanted to be an architect, but that doesnt make my journey any less valid. (or my drive to continue in a flawed profession that i absolutely love, less valid)
please don't feel like i'm putting you under the spotlight. You said "i wanted to do something uncomplicated and fun with my life" thats good enough.
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