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Post B.ARCH - Industrial Design Advice?
Hey everyone!
I know the threads for graduate school admissions are plenty, but I have a somewhat different question regarding graduate school.
I am currently a fifth-year architecture student and will be graduating in May with my B.Arch from an accredited university. Here's my problem/situation: as much as I love the field of architecture- after 5 years of school I've come to realize that I ultimately want to enter the field of industrial and product design versus strictly that of architectural design. I enjoy designing furniture, objects, and products more than I do buildings. And I know that I definitely want to pursue a master's degree because in the distant future I would like work as a professor.
Now that you're secretly thinking "Get to the point....where is she going with this?!" here's my question: Would pursuing an MFA in Industrial Design or an MID be worth my time and effort? Does anyone have any advice on switching disciplines, or applying to graduate schools such as School of Visual Arts, Pratt, or RISD for Industrial design? Most of my portfolio works are architecture, and not objects.
I ultimately want to attend a university that enables me to make. One open to research and conceptual design. My university now is slowly advancing in those fields, but in my 5 years here I've felt as if I've been put in a box- restricting my creative approaches to architecture. Everything I design here has to be very literal and- for lack of a better term- realistic (not necessarily saying it's a bad thing....just restricting to someone with crazy ideas like me....I'm constantly being told I cannot do things because they're not realistic in my conservative state.)
So, if you've read my entire rant/post, I thank you, and I would truly appreciate your thoughts!
Hi Laney,
I'm in a similar position, my ultimate goal is not "become a licensed professional and build buildings", however I have completed an undergraduate degree in arch and it feels like my only option is to continue onto arch grad school, especially because I don't have a complete vision of what I ultimately want. I am also looking into MID grad schools right now and I plan to apply to RISD for fall 2015, Heres the advice I tell myself:
Architecture seems like a limited degree/field, but it is not. You can ultimately design whatever you want with an architecture degree. If you end up going for an MArch it will be fine.
Going for ID is a completely understandable transition from architecture and would not be a waste of time (especially if that's really what you want to do), and applying with a portfolio full of buildings is totally fine and normal. They will still be able to see your design process and thinking.
A BArch program is meant to prepare you for professional experience, so it is going to be "realistic" and strict. If you had went through a BFA in arch or similar, you probably would have had more freedom in your designs and felt differently.
If you want to go for MID, then do it! Show them your best Arch designs and don't worry that they are buildings and not products.
To both of you - why don't you contact some designers / design firms you are interested in and see if you can get an internship? Or even just talk to an experienced designer to discuss your interest in product design? They know architects can have a good understanding of design, and they would be better able to give you some career direction than a group of architects.
Some architects like Michael Graves have done product design - if you could find a smaller office doing this to talk to they might be able to give you good advice too.
The transition from architecture to industrial design is pretty common - but it would be worth finding out what you're getting into before going to study it.
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