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civil engineer to architecture...questions about day to day live of an architect
hi
this is my first post to forum
I'am a fresh graduate civil engineer in Egypt who suddenly fell in love with amazing architecture designs in the beginning of my last year in my studies as a civil engineer...and I started really getting into reading about those greats like Guadi , van der rohe, and zaha hadid and it struck me how beautiful their work is and how come I haven't been exposed to this line of work before choosing my major but I decided to continue my studies and finish it to get a job as I was in my last year and also one of my friends in architectural department told about how the academia here in egypt is not worth it and that their studying are tedious and outdated ...right now I have a job as a construction engineer and Iam still thinking about my dream to become a renowned architect and i even started studying after work on my own from books that i found on MIT ocw and Iam drawing sketches right now as Iam writing this....the thing is I want to travel to europe to get my formal education as an architect and also work there after graduating but I don't know where to go or even should i choose an undergraduate program or a postgraduate one. and I have questions also about the nature of work as an architect and more specifically on the matter of when do I after working in a firm get to lead a design team to make my own designs and is it really possible to make a breakthrough as a renowned architect as the greats i read about online is pretty much dead or too old ....so I don't see great architects online that are around their 40s or 50s...is innovation in architecture is done or what?
There are hundreds of thousands (if not millions?) of architects in the world. A few dozen may be considered famous.
Those are bad odds if you're looking to become a renowned architect. The likely scenario is you will be working for some mid-low level architecture firm, drawing windows or guttering details.
A very few people in the profession pull themselves out of this situation, and they often have a backing in the form of money or a big first commission as a favour etc. You also need an ego.
And, if you haven't come across the famous architects you mentioned already in your day to day life, then chances are you aren't really that interested. At least, not enough to make it to the top.
If you're happy with architecture as a humble rewarding experience and are interested in the idea of study for your own edification and don't mind the daily grind, perhaps it's for you.
what do you mean by haven't come across the famous architects ?.....I really do not understand this part
but i have to give you that...the most suitable profession for someone is the one that he will be happy to go through the daily grind of for pursuit of its own edification
What I mean is, the majority of people who are serious about architecture (and to make it, you need to be serious) have built up a passion from an early age. If you're only just coming across some of the most famous architects in the world at the end of your engineering degree, I'd question your actual interest.
What about becoming a renowned structural engineer? you already have the schooling and you will work on the same amazing architecture projects...but get paid better.
Your have a geometrically higher probability of getting struck by lightning repeatedly than you do of becoming renowned architect.
Go work for Arup engineering. Or some equivalent. You've gotta be good to get a job there, but all the zaha work etc seems to get figured out by Arup. A plus is you'll be paid way better. A second plus is you'll actually be figuring out how to implement cool designs.
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