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Is Architecture Difficult To Do?

urbanime

This is for those who have real working experience.

Do you find the practice of architecture difficult? Do you find that you do not have the skills or knowledge to competently perform as an architect? Are you dissatisfied with your results, as compared to the architects that you admire? Is working a daily struggle to meet the demands of your boss, or the client, or the contractor, or just yourself?

If so, why do you think you are facing this? What is it that you are lacking? And what is it that you need to be able to rise up and do work that the client will buy, others see it as beautiful,  history finds it enduring and that you can be proud of?

 
Sep 7, 11 7:57 am
calculator

1) architecture school didn't prepare me properly to create actual construction documents.  I could draft, but I didn't really know how to put together the drawings for a project.  This could be because the school I went to is considered very theoretical, and most of the 'education' was in precedence and design, and not technical skills.  It was very 'arty'.

I learned this on the job, but it took months until I was where I should have been.  This is something that absolutely could have been taught in school.

2) I didn't know enough about how buildings come together, which is funny when you think that I went to school to learn how to put buildings together.

3) I'm relatively new, and I don't get to design grand sweeping beautiful architectural gestures, but I do get to do a lot of gruntwork, and I design a lot of stuff smaller stuff, and rooms, etc.

Like anything you start at the bottom.  No one becomes CEO on their first day.

Sep 7, 11 9:34 am  · 
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trace™

Money.  Simple as that.  If you have money, you can easily find everything else.

Sep 7, 11 9:39 am  · 
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This thread sounds like an advertisement for a drug company.  Viagra, yo!

Sep 7, 11 11:05 am  · 
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trace™

If architecture could achieve the same results then we'd all be paid quite well!

Sep 7, 11 11:18 am  · 
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JsBach

 There is a fine line between calling something a difficult struggle and calling something a challenge. Almost every project is going to present challenges, thats what makes life interesting. Some projects are a struggle for one reason or another, sometimes it is a poorly concieved program, where the client has unreal expectations. Sometimes dealing with government officials, contractors, or your own subs can make a fun job become a nightmare. I don't think that architecture is unique in this way, every thing you do is going to have pitfalls.

  Overall, the challenges that architecture presents makes for a satisfying career compared to most other professions. You do have to have a knack for graphic problem solving and for processes that work. If you aren't able to organize information and be accurate in presenting this information in drawings, then architecture will be hard if not impossible. If you have a reasonable amount of talent and knowledge, then architecture can be really rewarding.

Sep 7, 11 12:05 pm  · 
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"Is Architecture Difficult To Do?"

Any idiot can do it. Just look at some of the buildings that have been built.

 

Sep 7, 11 12:09 pm  · 
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Wilma Buttfit

It is pretty easy to do a mediocre job, it is very, very hard to do a great job. Just my opinion. 

Sep 7, 11 2:26 pm  · 
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