Take the gap year! Exposure to the real world is useful and can sometimes be difficult but is FAR more valuable than time spent in the ivory tower.

I agree. Gap year. Makes the time back in school much more valuable as you have a much broader perspective on life that you can then focus in your studies.  And if you can save a little money to ease your student debt, all the better.

I have always said that a) I wish I'd taken a gap year - it would have significantly increased my focus and mental clarity in my studies, especially in architecture which, as a fine art, demands that you know yourself intimately in order to create beautifully - and b) that I will try to get my children to pursue gap years of some kind before they commit to a university education.

THAT SAID, an architectural education is a PARTICULARLY expensive education and therefore, IF the gap year is going to eat up all your funds and leave you needing giant loans in order to pursue architecture, then I am not sure it is worth it.  Education loans in architecture are, as I'm sure you're aware from even a casual perusal of the forum topics lately, a huge issue (because the profession doesn't really pay enough to pay them back).