If you want to BE an architect you need to get licensed, which requires a lot of experience or an accredited degree. If you want to WORK WITH architects, you need to guide your career that way.

My advice, since you asked, would be to put together two portfolios(one for school and the other for consultant work) and post them here and ask for constructive comments and then decide.

www.visulaizingarchitecture.com

that guy has a fairly compelling story - probably don't need to go to architecture school to visualize spaces.

In my experience, 'visualization, illustration, graphics' is really easy to market if youre good at it, fast, and dont mind a crap load of work with competing deadlines. I still provide graphics services/illustration as part of my landscape arch practice, but try to do it only for my own projects now, though i still get contracted to do graphics for other firms. Ive tried raising my fees to thin back some of the graphics work, as it can be quite monotonous, but I keep getting asked to do it. The money is good, the work is easy to sell, everyone loves a good graphic, but the production gets to be almost mechanical. Its like mowing lawns sometimes. 

If you can get started that way while studying, and honing your design skills, you can turn graphics contracts into 'visioning' which can be fun. I had a professor once that told me good graphics go hand in hand with good design. if you make good graphics, youve probably got a pretty good design eye too. You can parlais those skills into design projects.

you could look into exhibit design - skills/interests would translate well

I should mention that I am in the UK.

@Shuellmi:  Yes I had considered this. I think I could be happy designing exhibits. My concern with the industry is that, when I researched it previously, the majority of exhibition design companies produce very boring, cookie-cutter exhibits that do not allow for any creative freedom. I assume this is due to cost, having pre-exisiting schemes, and requiring a very fast turnaround. I wouldn't want to go into this industry if that's likely to be the work I'd be doing. I'm not certain if this is the case?

@SneakyPete: But in what ways could I work with architects and still be involved in design? 

I thought there were ways that people create architectural designs for clients without being accredited. They just give themselves a different title?

What would I need to get accredited or to be hired by an arch firm?

Go work for Ikea - 75% of the images they produce are CG.  http://time.com/money/3207951/ikea-furniture-3d-images-technology-art-catalog/

Somewhere to start, anyway.

I also have a degree in product design and made the transition to architecture, albeit through the traditional way (going back to school) and graduated at 31 IIRC.  Going back to do a Master's after having a previous design degree allowed me to concentrate on producing good work during school, as there wasn't any adjustment period needed. For what that's worth. 

Bowling_ball: Yes it's a growing industry. It'll be especially interesting to see how real-time graphics in visualisation plays out. Was it a 2 year MArch on top of your Bachelors in ID then? It would be great to hear about your experience and how it has worked out for you.

Larchinect: What did you mean when you said "you can turn graphics contracts into 'visioning' which can be fun"?

Blocks my path was this (roughly): high school --> 2 yrs fine arts school --> 4 yr I.D. school --> work designing and fabricating jewelry prototypes and tools for the body modification industry (4ish years) --> 2 yrs pre-Masters Architecture --> 2 years M.Arch --> now working for the past 4 years in architecture.

I'm not so sure that my story is super interesting or even atypical. Architecture always appealed to me but I was also really intimidated by math, and ended up in I.D.  But then one day I just decided that I didn't want to be doing that forever (it was amazingly fun but there was no room for growth). I applied to a school, moved half-way across the country, and it was the best decision I ever made, despite the low pay and occasional mega-stress.

I'm at a corporate firm now, and we are starting to see the need for more and more renderings for our clients, municipalities, future tenants, etc. I'd say we do about 40% of our visualisation work in-house, and we hire out the rest both locally and internationally, depending in deadline mostly. The local guy we use is a close friend (I was in his wedding party) and he also has an M.Arch, which of course has been an asset for him and us, as we don't have to walk him through every little detail.

worked briefly for EEI Global - they do pretty good exhibit work - kind of a burnout type job though, everything has to be done ysterday

Bowling_ball, jewellery design looks like a great field to be in. How come you did 2 yrs pre-Masters Architecture, instead of going straight into the Masters? And coming from such a creative background, have you found architecture restrictive at all?

That's what I thought Shuellmi. Even with such short time frames, did you find it a very creative field?

I found it to be very creative, because the displays are not permanent and less expensive than any building there is more design freedom.  It seemed like the people I worked with had pretty diverse backgrounds too. 

it sounds like you've had some success already, you can prob be successful in any chosen path if you really believe in it. 

Blocks, I basically came to see the restrictions on my future career path if I'd stayed in my specific niche. I became very well known, very quickly, but it never made me any money. Besides, I was in my 20s and I wasn't looking to do much more than enjoy it, which I did.

Jewelry's fun, too, as it's pretty flexible. I see a lot of opportunity for 3D printing, once reliable metal printing becomes available. 

Shuellmi, I have had some success, but it's been a bit random. As you say, I need to find my path and I'm sure it'll work out well. Good to hear it was very creative. My assumption is that only the large studios working on the large projects would get to be creative. And I can imagine that vacancies at those studios are very competitive.

Bowling_ball, yes 3d printing is changing the industry. As far as I know there are a few designers manufacturing their jewellery with SLS. I was under the impression that there are some very good quality metal prints. And rapid prototyping is going to get a lot faster https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UpH1zhUQY0c

I may have misread your previous comment. You mentioned that you did 2 years pre-masters architecture. Does this mean that you were working in an architectural studio before you had any architecture experience? And if so, how did you get your foot in the door, and what sort of work were you doing?

Sorry, the 2yr pre masters is a program for those with a non-arch background, required by the university i Went to. 

I see. I haven't heard of that before. That would definitely prevent me from going the educational route. Do you know if it is usually required, or will most MArch courses accept an applicant with a BSc in Product? 

I imagine it varies from school to school. Here in Canada, there are only a few schools who will accept those without an undergrad in architecture ("environmental design"), and those that do, require a pre-master academic program of 1.5 to 2.5 yrs. I can't speak for schools outside Canada though, sorry.

It slipped my mind, but I researched this 6 months ago. A lot of places in the UK require previous architecture experience and a Part 1. It'd be good to hear if anyone has gone another route. Thanks for your input bowling_ball.

I recently heard about visioning, which seems to be the concept stages of architecture, but it does not require qualifications. Is anyone here experienced in this, and can a career be made of it?