Shoemuncher acts oblivious to criticism. When he responded to it here on the forum he got his ass handed to him and bailed out. Maybe he is simply consumed by his own bullshit? Reminds me of quondam.
In 1983 my father did a round table with (among others) Franzen, Gwathmey, Meier, and Stern. Afterwards he said he just tried to keep his mouth shut and couldn't wait for it to be over.
Miles, it's part of his gimmick... he's a master of brinkmanship and obfuscation. Also, anyone that shows up in a large fur cape deserves immediate scrutiny.
Speaking of Stern... I think this would have been a relevant quote for the debate yesterday.
Is architecture itself in crisis, or the solution to it? Throughout my entire career in architecture, which dates back to 1960, I've been told architecture is in crisis. If there were a patient on an operating table who had been in crisis for 50 years that patient would be long dead. It is impossible to be in crisis perpetually. The word crisis has been way overused and misunderstood. Architecture is always confronting changing circumstances of its own production and of its own purpose in the world. It has one main purpose, which is to make beautiful buildings to define important occasions.
It has one main purpose, which is to make beautiful buildings to define important occasions.
Which is why Architecture in crisis - ignoring all the really important issues (programmatic function, sustainability, etc.). These aren't going to be resolved by competing styles. You'd think that the 'masters' would debate more substantive issues ... but they can't because they fail miserably in that respect. Thus we have the CLASH OF THE TITANS, a contest to see who has the biggest dick (or maybe who is the biggest dick, lots of competition there).
I was with you up until "It has one main purpose, which is to make beautiful buildings to define important occasions."
I deny the suggestion that Architecture needs ally itself with "beauty," a word so vague, so broad, and so steeped in opinion as to be useless to the investigation of the built environment. I also deny the suggestion that Architecture needs to ally itself with importance. It's this hubris that has allowed our everyday environment to stagnate and become the banal nightmare in which we find ourselves.
Yet it's foolish to deny that architecture will always retain a level of subjectivity - whether defined by beauty, taste or a stylistic agenda. That's what bothered me most of Schumacher's claims of scientific empiricism - that's not why Hadid wins competitions, or even indicative of their design process. He was showing many of these self organized/emergent/etc algorithms they use to define their form making, yet these processes arent objective either - the process of searching for certain data sets is in itself a subjective process.
I think Stern speaks of beauty as his underlying creative subjectivity. What he defines as beauty is his artistic interpretation. That doesn't align with my identity as an architect, yet I respect that his work and voice is still relevant and important in contemporary architecture.
I think of beauty as the "delight" portion - something can be aesthetically delightful without being traditionally beautiful, some things are even so ugly they are delightful.
In many ways I respect Patrik's grandiose obfuscation, and it generally isn't really obfuscating if you work hard to read it - he's a super-intelligent dude. It's even more impressive to me, a dumb Yankee, that he's proclaiming all this polemic in a language not his first.
IMO, we NEED this kind of flamboyant self-aggrandizing rhetoric in our discipline, and hopefully the fashion sense to go along with it. It's fun!
But we also need an equal amount of humble, intelligent, rhetoric-free, solid work done for all kinds of people. Instead of rhetoric-free, let's say simply-explained, because everything *can* be explained with rhetoric.
Curtkram, “says a man who clearly doesn't care about college football, and is therefore a nihilist and probably a misanthrope.” Clearly spoken by one who is stuck at the starting line.
@ivorykeyboard thanks for that recap! Have to say I probably agree with Olaf and Kipnis certainly comes out best in your post.
Anyone got exciting plans for the weekend? I am hoping to participate in some What's Out There Weekend Denver eventsand maybe attend a Bernie rally - in Boulder. If only for the people watching...
"Where did you go to school?" How many times have we all heard that? If school is all you can point to you've got a hell of a problem. Don't ask me where I started, ask me where I finished.
if not college football, what else is there that he could be hiding from?
of course you didn't ask carrera where he went to school, or if there are any particular teams he supports. could be he supports iowa now, even though he may have gone to michigan or minnesota. i don't know. all i know is i've continued to support my almamaters through quite a few bad staffing decisions in their athletic departments...
if you wanted to ask me where i come from, i would be happy to tell you. nothing wrong with being proud of where you finished, but there isn't anything wrong with being proud of how you got there either.
k state week for me on many levels...... which school curt? to be honest i have always been an outsider anywhere i went so i support but frankly don't care.
^-- what tintt said. we're going through hard times now, but i still believe.
i went to uiuc for grad school after undergrad at lincoln. k-state is a good school. snyder will always be remembered as one of the best coaches in college football.
spending a long weekend in Des Moines Iowa. Loads of construction of the banal beige strip mall type. My eyes are barfing. Sad because so many interesting Midwestern typologies are not represented. I actually have fond memories of Iowa but this isn't one of them. What's it like to be a design architect here?
I just finished reading through Kaplan's CD-S ARE prep book this weekend. In the last five chapters, the author suddenly switches to only using female pronouns ...evening out the centuries old gender inequalities, one female construction worker at at time.
I've been studying for my licensing exams for the past few weeks (exams Nov 2+3). I keep switching back and forth from "I got this" to "holy shit I have no idea what I'm doing." Which is bothering me because It's not my nature to panic, and I typically test well.
But there's something telling me that I'm somehow underestimating the difficulty of the exams. I keep telling myself "dumber people have passed" but that's not really a strategy for success.
I just passed my last ARE division a couple weeks ago, and I'm glad that whole experience is over. Now I'm a bundle of nerves while NCARB and the State of New York process my paperwork. I keep expecting to get a message saying something like one of the firms where I got half my IDP hours isn't really licensed to practice architecture, or that I can't get registered because I have some unpaid parking tickets in Chicago, or because a former boss said something bad about me, or something like that.
As for the AREs themselves, I found the first division and the last divisions to be the most stressful. The first because I had never taken one before and had no idea what to expect, and the last one because everything was riding on it.
I also think it's possible to over-think the exams. Ironically, the two divisions that I failed on my first try are the two that I had probably spent the most time studying for. (In both cases, I had made a stupid mistake on the vignette portion.) The whole process is a bit of a mindfuck.
ivory, I noticed that as well. I didn't notice it as much while reading another exam guide from Kaplan ... wondering if it was only in CDS or if I just stopped paying attention to it.
bowling, I'm in the same sort of mindset as you; I think I've got this easily. Then I hear about friends and coworkers, who should have easily passed as well, fail a division and I start worrying I don't have it, or that I'm not studying enough. Good luck on your exams.
David, congrats. Hope those parking tickets don't keep you down.
I hate the vignettes. Not because of the problems or anything like that. I hate them simply because of the stupid software and the lack of information about what is really required. For example, the building section in CDS ... are you supposed to extend the joists/deck into the bearing walls? There are 3 sides to that argument. Some say you have to otherwise you're screwed. Some say it you shouldn't, if NCARB wanted you to, they would have stated it in the program. Others say it doesn't matter and they will score your exam the same regardless.
I'm happy to see the vignettes are going away in ARE 5.0 next year. I thought about waiting and taking it then, but ultimately decided I'd rather get it over with now, and not worry about being in the first group under the new test without all the resources available for ARE 4.0 now. Taking another division next week.
I dunno if everybody is aware of it- there is a website called ARE coach . It includes lots of info related to each of the vignettes and what is "good practice" when developing these. Extending or not extending the joists into the bearing walls at CDS is answered, for example. These boards are good reviews for eliminating blind spots in your various vignette solutions.
I only failed my first exam, SD. I blame that on my introduction to the software and not fully understanding all the "rules" on solving the vignettes.
Jerome, the issue I have with all the well intentioned people on Coach's forum is that all of the "good practice" and the "rules" for the vignettes is suspect at best, completely wrong at worst. None of it is from a primary source, all of it is simply, "This is what I think is best because somebody told me to do it this way. They passed so it must be true." Meanwhile, the scoring of the exams is such that you can still make minor mistakes in the vignette and pass.
The forum is helpful to some, myself included, but I've also seen plenty of people worry so much about extending joists, making their footings and slabs on grade be a certain way, worrying about whether to stop and start the ceiling at non-rated partitions, etc. that they get lost. They worry so much about the minor details they fail the major features of the test. All of this simply because direct information about the "correct way" to handle the software is not coming from NCARB. In the meantime, so much effort is wasted on figuring out the "good practice" and "rules" that the purpose of the vignette is lost.
Lately, the most direct source of info for the vignettes has been coming from NCARB's moderators on the ARE 4.0 google plus page. Even then, people on Coach's forum will tell you they are wrong and not to listen to them.
I also briefly considered holding out for ARE 5.0, but decided I'd rather just get it over with. It's worth noting that the pass rates usually take a big nosedive for a year or so after each new incarnation of the ARE, so that was a factor as well. My only real regret is that I didn't start scheduling the exams the minute I finished my MArch degree, but I was dealing with a job search and housing drama in NYC and didn't feel like I'd be able devote as much time to studying as I should.
A big motivator for me to finally start taking the exams was a year-long series of ARE workshops hosted by AIANY on alternating Saturdays, with the idea that participants pass all seven divisions by the end of 2015. This gave me a structure for the process and some peer pressure, and I pretty much followed their schedule even after I moved to Cincinnati later in the year when my housing in NYC finally imploded. (In fact, I accelerated my exam schedule once I arrived in Cincinnati, knowing that I'm probably not going to stay here any longer than I have to and that I'll start looking for a job on the west coast after the new year.)
I'd really love to hear of someone who took the hybrid 4.0-5.0 and finished the exams in 5 tests!
Everyday: I hear ya- there is a lot of noise. Nevertheless, i found it somewhat helpful. It helped me see things that I wasn't recognizing that were fails or programmatic misses.
I also loved watching people solve the vignettes on youtube. Seeing the visual was a great cue to solving things quickly.
I wrote the NCARB...."David Cole, once drove a Jeep Cherokee." They could take that message either way. Dear Mr. Cole you will do fine with your registration and we will welcome you to the pack of Architects.
Congrats David! A good friend/one of my best-men, recently got licensed in CA. Imagine the relief will be high. Seems like it opens up new possibilities and can take things up a notch.
That video series seems exactly like the kind of thing AIA should be doing more of, given all the grumbling on this site... Not just the material itself. But the process as you said. Even the goad of getting together periodically and being asked (as that man did in beginning of video) who "has taken a test/has forward" motion to share.
I get to visit Madison again this year. Twice over this month, thanks to new job.
Again, congrats David. Must be nice to put those behind you.
I'm taking the Canadian version. 4 exams over 2 days. No splitting them up. Held once a year so if you fail any one section, you're toast.
Also, there are no study guides, practice exams, or other help available. Our provincial Association has also pit the fear of Corb in everybody, so they're all afraid to discuss what's on the exams (confidentiality agreement).
At the end of it all, I can frame the license and get back to my desk without a pay raise, so I got that going for me, which is nice.
Oct 13, 15 2:54 am ·
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bowling_ball,
I wish you best on that exam. In some ways, it resembles the NCBDC exam which has been for some time, a 2 day exam much like the Canadian exam. I took a look at the very spartan preparation guide of ExAC.
NCBDC exam is undergoing some changes including computerized delivery. Some other changes reflecting various feedback among building designers including practices that resemble closer to ARE in that the exams are delivered not just once or twice a year but at a more flexible delivery. Perhaps, some day, Canada might follow some similar practices in the future (don't expect it to be the same).
Again, best of luck and look forward to you passing it.
Congrats David! A good friend/one of my best-men, recently got licensed in CA. Imagine the relief will be high. Seems like it opens up new possibilities and can take things up a notch.
Thanks, that's what I'm banking on. I feel like I set my career back 15 years by moving back to Cincinnati from NYC earlier this year, and I was beating myself up for that decision before I even made it across the George Washington Bridge. I was pretty much working my dream job on a very cool project with great colleagues at a great firm, and in retrospect, I should've found some other way to deal with my housing issues and stayed in New York.
I'm convinced that my career will remain at a dead end as long as I stay in Cincinnati, but I'm hoping that having my license will open some doors for me when I start my job search after the new year. I'm aiming for Seattle or Portland, or at least someplace where having a decent career and a decent quality of life aren't mutually-exclusive ideas. I'd even be open to the idea of going back to New York if I were able to afford a decent place to live, but a quick look at craigslist usually dissuades me of that idea pretty fast. It's pretty much impossible now unless you're willing to share a place (I'm not) or pulling in at least six figures.
Ouch, bowling_ball, your last comment fills me with woe! Sigh...
I heard last night about a person who has been registered and with a good firm in NYC for many years, had to move to Brooklyn because Manhattan got too expensive, now has to move to Jersey because Brooklyn got too expensive....this is someone who by the metrics of other professions should be living very well-off!
David I think your housing situation in NYC would never have resolved. But man, our profession is ridiculous. I love it, of course, but it's ridiculous.
On the other hand, Monica Ponce de Leon gave an excellent talk on her work yesterday, and today's speaker is Brian Mackay Lyons. Plus, architects are great drinking buddies!
Bowling_Ball. I wrote the ExACs back in 2011 when they were just rolling them out country-wide (not all provinces were on board at the time).
I may be able to help out a little. The Canadian exams are far more reasonable than the AREs and are designed to test work experience rather than test-example memorization. Plus... they are in metric. Silly feets and inches. PM me if you have any questions.
As for the raise, start the conversation early prior to exams and license. Sit down with the boss and ask for an increase upon license and suggest an increase in related responsibilities while you finish. If you keep doing the same thing, there is no incentive for them to up your wages.
Yeah, I was faced with a number of options and none of them were good. Staying in that hellhole apartment was out of the question, but staying in NYC would've meant putting most of my stuff back into storage, possibly giving my cat up for adoption, and moving in with a roommate again. In the longer term, maybe getting an apartment way out in Queens or New Jersey and dealing with an even longer commute. Even if I had stayed in NYC, I'd probably still be planning a move to the Pacific Northwest next year.
Right now the current plan is to move to Seattle at the end of April (hopefully Bainbridge Island, if I can find an apartment there and land a job located near the ferry terminal in downtown Seattle), and ideally fly to NYC a couple times a year for a long weekend to get my fix. New York City is my recreational drug; the highs were incredible and the withdrawal is brutal, but the long-term exposure was killing me.
I was in Washington in the summer, saw a job posting out there for a licensed architect in the Wenatchee area, at firm doing residential work offering $70k ++. Seemed to me that would be a good living out there...
I have the 2015 AIA Compensation Survey, and I'm cautiously optimistic that I'd be able to pull in enough money to live at least a reasonably middle-class lifestyle. (At this point I'd be happy just to have an apartment with its own washer and dryer.) Seattle is building like crazy right now and most of the big firms out there seem to be hiring pretty aggressively.
David, sorry to hear that the Midwest got-ya, but have to say that I can’t blame you.
I did a thread on the Midwest and found a lack of universal appeal to say the least. The responses were not revolting, but more along the lines of “lack of opportunity” and I think “opportunity” is deeper than just getting a job.
I feel that roots are important and ricocheting around the country chasing opportunities is corrosive, but when you are just a seed, looking for the optimal place to lay down roots is prudent.
Why not, at your stage, find the best of all worlds, but not just an exciting place to play out your youth, but a place that has balance for long term growth.
Isn't Seattle's cost of living being driven up pretty significantly by Amazon right now? Maybe that's only in certain areas and hasn't spread throughout the city yet. Not sure what the numbers in the compensation survey show for the area, but it might not get as far as you might think. You've probably already considered it though if you are already focusing on Bainbridge Island as the place to live. Even if it is being driven up, it is still probably less than New York's.
I posted in that thread a few times. Some people love the Midwest, and more power to those who stay and try to make it better, but I can't really see myself building much of a career here.
My job in NYC: "Oh, you have ten years experience? Great, we need you to do construction administration for a $60M new headquarters for a multinational media company in a historic landmark skyscraper. Let us know if you have any questions."
Multiple jobs in Cincinnati: "Oh, you know AutoCAD? Great, we need you to pick up some redlines on these fifty Orange Julius* locations that we're rolling out in terrible shopping malls across the country."
(* not my real client)
Completely different ideas about what architecture should be. While NYC was stressful as hell, I at least had clients who knew the value of good design and were willing to pay lots of money for it, and I like to think I grew into the challenge. In Cincinnati, architecture as a discipline (as opposed to merely a professional service) seems pretty much dead outside the UC campus and a handful of very small boutique firms.
I just turned 40 this year and I think my youth is pretty much already played out. Now I'm desperate to find a place to settle down and sink some roots, and hopefully launch my own practice in the longer term. The Pacific Northwest is a place I've always considered for that; in fact, I was discussing that possibility in my very first posting on Archinect over ten years ago. I'm not getting any younger, and this seems like the now-or-never time to finally make the jump out there.
IA: Seattle is getting more expensive, but I've been following the market closely enough to have a pretty good idea of how far my money will go out there. Even the most expensive neighborhoods in Seattle are still a bargain compared to NYC. Just today I posted a listing on my FB page of a 3-bedroom house for rent on Bainbridge Island for $1800 a month. That rent won't even get me a 1-bedroom apartment anymore in my old neighborhood in NYC.
Enough talk. I just booked another trip out to Seattle in mid-March for (hopefully) job interviews and an apartment search. Wish me luck.
Oct 13, 15 4:46 pm ·
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David Cole,
Try outside the downtown core areas of Seattle or Portland. Somewhere, close enough to reliably commute to or within the public transit network where you pay $600-750/mo. compared to $1000+ a month.
If you choose Portland, Oregon area, consider St. Helens or Scappoose, Oregon area. Small community but close to Portland downtown.
Even if it means buying a tract area out in the county area outside city limits. An interesting dynamic.
Another area is on the east side of Portland.
If you don't mind commuting a little bit, Vernonia might be a nice town outside the downtown Portland area but it is maybe an hour drive to Portland. I recommend these cities:
- St. Helens
-Scappoose
- Vernonia
They are outside the metro but close enough to it if you want to get into Portland metro area and provides you a dynamic life experience. You have access to the 'big city' and have a small town experience as well in the more rustic/rural environment. At least something exciting.
You aren't too far from the big city to get to anything.
Other areas further to the west is Rainier / Longview-Kelso area.
In the Seattle area, Bainbridge island is pretty cool. I been at Whidbey Island and Port Townsend. Beautiful town and area. I can tell you there is some nice beautiful area in the Pacific Northwest.
Wish you best and hopefully something good comes about.
Thread Central
i give Herr Schumacher credit for one thing; it usually takes a 100 years after the person is dead for me to fall in love with them all over again.
Peter, will you have my baby?
Shoemuncher acts oblivious to criticism. When he responded to it here on the forum he got his ass handed to him and bailed out. Maybe he is simply consumed by his own bullshit? Reminds me of quondam.
In 1983 my father did a round table with (among others) Franzen, Gwathmey, Meier, and Stern. Afterwards he said he just tried to keep his mouth shut and couldn't wait for it to be over.
Miles, it's part of his gimmick... he's a master of brinkmanship and obfuscation. Also, anyone that shows up in a large fur cape deserves immediate scrutiny.
Speaking of Stern... I think this would have been a relevant quote for the debate yesterday.
Is architecture itself in crisis, or the solution to it?
Throughout my entire career in architecture, which dates back to 1960, I've been told architecture is in crisis. If there were a patient on an operating table who had been in crisis for 50 years that patient would be long dead. It is impossible to be in crisis perpetually. The word crisis has been way overused and misunderstood. Architecture is always confronting changing circumstances of its own production and of its own purpose in the world. It has one main purpose, which is to make beautiful buildings to define important occasions.
It has one main purpose, which is to make beautiful buildings to define important occasions.
Which is why Architecture in crisis - ignoring all the really important issues (programmatic function, sustainability, etc.). These aren't going to be resolved by competing styles. You'd think that the 'masters' would debate more substantive issues ... but they can't because they fail miserably in that respect. Thus we have the CLASH OF THE TITANS, a contest to see who has the biggest dick (or maybe who is the biggest dick, lots of competition there).
I was with you up until "It has one main purpose, which is to make beautiful buildings to define important occasions."
I deny the suggestion that Architecture needs ally itself with "beauty," a word so vague, so broad, and so steeped in opinion as to be useless to the investigation of the built environment. I also deny the suggestion that Architecture needs to ally itself with importance. It's this hubris that has allowed our everyday environment to stagnate and become the banal nightmare in which we find ourselves.
Yet it's foolish to deny that architecture will always retain a level of subjectivity - whether defined by beauty, taste or a stylistic agenda. That's what bothered me most of Schumacher's claims of scientific empiricism - that's not why Hadid wins competitions, or even indicative of their design process. He was showing many of these self organized/emergent/etc algorithms they use to define their form making, yet these processes arent objective either - the process of searching for certain data sets is in itself a subjective process.
I think Stern speaks of beauty as his underlying creative subjectivity. What he defines as beauty is his artistic interpretation. That doesn't align with my identity as an architect, yet I respect that his work and voice is still relevant and important in contemporary architecture.
I think of beauty as the "delight" portion - something can be aesthetically delightful without being traditionally beautiful, some things are even so ugly they are delightful.
In many ways I respect Patrik's grandiose obfuscation, and it generally isn't really obfuscating if you work hard to read it - he's a super-intelligent dude. It's even more impressive to me, a dumb Yankee, that he's proclaiming all this polemic in a language not his first.
IMO, we NEED this kind of flamboyant self-aggrandizing rhetoric in our discipline, and hopefully the fashion sense to go along with it. It's fun!
But we also need an equal amount of humble, intelligent, rhetoric-free, solid work done for all kinds of people. Instead of rhetoric-free, let's say simply-explained, because everything *can* be explained with rhetoric.
Curtkram, “says a man who clearly doesn't care about college football, and is therefore a nihilist and probably a misanthrope.” Clearly spoken by one who is stuck at the starting line.
@ivorykeyboard thanks for that recap! Have to say I probably agree with Olaf and Kipnis certainly comes out best in your post.
Anyone got exciting plans for the weekend? I am hoping to participate in some What's Out There Weekend Denver events and maybe attend a Bernie rally - in Boulder. If only for the people watching...
night TC.
You may be seeing a lot more of this guy today:
Carrera you don't like College Football?!?!
Iowa is looking good this year, that's my out of nowhere team...playoffs
^Never said that…College Football is my favorite thing, love everything about campus life & learning, just critical of the colluding for profit.
Curtkram why must you accuse Carrera of such a serious indiscretion?
carrera said
"Where did you go to school?" How many times have we all heard that? If school is all you can point to you've got a hell of a problem. Don't ask me where I started, ask me where I finished.
if not college football, what else is there that he could be hiding from?
of course you didn't ask carrera where he went to school, or if there are any particular teams he supports. could be he supports iowa now, even though he may have gone to michigan or minnesota. i don't know. all i know is i've continued to support my almamaters through quite a few bad staffing decisions in their athletic departments...
if you wanted to ask me where i come from, i would be happy to tell you. nothing wrong with being proud of where you finished, but there isn't anything wrong with being proud of how you got there either.
k state week for me on many levels...... which school curt? to be honest i have always been an outsider anywhere i went so i support but frankly don't care.
curt is a Husker fan, the worst kind of fan there is in my opinion. :)
^-- what tintt said. we're going through hard times now, but i still believe.
i went to uiuc for grad school after undergrad at lincoln. k-state is a good school. snyder will always be remembered as one of the best coaches in college football.
finding tom Osborne not easy....michugan looking good too
Where is Waldo....is sort of like where is: Richard W.C. Balkins, Professional Building Designer.?
He has been missing in action for the past few days...thinking maybe he took a vacation on a Cruise Ship with not internet access.
I just finished reading through Kaplan's CD-S ARE prep book this weekend. In the last five chapters, the author suddenly switches to only using female pronouns ...evening out the centuries old gender inequalities, one female construction worker at at time.
I've been studying for my licensing exams for the past few weeks (exams Nov 2+3). I keep switching back and forth from "I got this" to "holy shit I have no idea what I'm doing." Which is bothering me because It's not my nature to panic, and I typically test well.
But there's something telling me that I'm somehow underestimating the difficulty of the exams. I keep telling myself "dumber people have passed" but that's not really a strategy for success.
i can't wait until this is all over.
I just passed my last ARE division a couple weeks ago, and I'm glad that whole experience is over. Now I'm a bundle of nerves while NCARB and the State of New York process my paperwork. I keep expecting to get a message saying something like one of the firms where I got half my IDP hours isn't really licensed to practice architecture, or that I can't get registered because I have some unpaid parking tickets in Chicago, or because a former boss said something bad about me, or something like that.
As for the AREs themselves, I found the first division and the last divisions to be the most stressful. The first because I had never taken one before and had no idea what to expect, and the last one because everything was riding on it.
I also think it's possible to over-think the exams. Ironically, the two divisions that I failed on my first try are the two that I had probably spent the most time studying for. (In both cases, I had made a stupid mistake on the vignette portion.) The whole process is a bit of a mindfuck.
Good luck...
Congratulations David! passing the tests is a big step, and pretty exciting.
good luck ivory and bowling. i hope you get good news saying you pass them all the first time.
ivory, I noticed that as well. I didn't notice it as much while reading another exam guide from Kaplan ... wondering if it was only in CDS or if I just stopped paying attention to it.
bowling, I'm in the same sort of mindset as you; I think I've got this easily. Then I hear about friends and coworkers, who should have easily passed as well, fail a division and I start worrying I don't have it, or that I'm not studying enough. Good luck on your exams.
David, congrats. Hope those parking tickets don't keep you down.
I hate the vignettes. Not because of the problems or anything like that. I hate them simply because of the stupid software and the lack of information about what is really required. For example, the building section in CDS ... are you supposed to extend the joists/deck into the bearing walls? There are 3 sides to that argument. Some say you have to otherwise you're screwed. Some say it you shouldn't, if NCARB wanted you to, they would have stated it in the program. Others say it doesn't matter and they will score your exam the same regardless.
I'm happy to see the vignettes are going away in ARE 5.0 next year. I thought about waiting and taking it then, but ultimately decided I'd rather get it over with now, and not worry about being in the first group under the new test without all the resources available for ARE 4.0 now. Taking another division next week.
I dunno if everybody is aware of it- there is a website called ARE coach . It includes lots of info related to each of the vignettes and what is "good practice" when developing these. Extending or not extending the joists into the bearing walls at CDS is answered, for example. These boards are good reviews for eliminating blind spots in your various vignette solutions.
I only failed my first exam, SD. I blame that on my introduction to the software and not fully understanding all the "rules" on solving the vignettes.
Jerome, the issue I have with all the well intentioned people on Coach's forum is that all of the "good practice" and the "rules" for the vignettes is suspect at best, completely wrong at worst. None of it is from a primary source, all of it is simply, "This is what I think is best because somebody told me to do it this way. They passed so it must be true." Meanwhile, the scoring of the exams is such that you can still make minor mistakes in the vignette and pass.
The forum is helpful to some, myself included, but I've also seen plenty of people worry so much about extending joists, making their footings and slabs on grade be a certain way, worrying about whether to stop and start the ceiling at non-rated partitions, etc. that they get lost. They worry so much about the minor details they fail the major features of the test. All of this simply because direct information about the "correct way" to handle the software is not coming from NCARB. In the meantime, so much effort is wasted on figuring out the "good practice" and "rules" that the purpose of the vignette is lost.
Lately, the most direct source of info for the vignettes has been coming from NCARB's moderators on the ARE 4.0 google plus page. Even then, people on Coach's forum will tell you they are wrong and not to listen to them.
I also briefly considered holding out for ARE 5.0, but decided I'd rather just get it over with. It's worth noting that the pass rates usually take a big nosedive for a year or so after each new incarnation of the ARE, so that was a factor as well. My only real regret is that I didn't start scheduling the exams the minute I finished my MArch degree, but I was dealing with a job search and housing drama in NYC and didn't feel like I'd be able devote as much time to studying as I should.
A big motivator for me to finally start taking the exams was a year-long series of ARE workshops hosted by AIANY on alternating Saturdays, with the idea that participants pass all seven divisions by the end of 2015. This gave me a structure for the process and some peer pressure, and I pretty much followed their schedule even after I moved to Cincinnati later in the year when my housing in NYC finally imploded. (In fact, I accelerated my exam schedule once I arrived in Cincinnati, knowing that I'm probably not going to stay here any longer than I have to and that I'll start looking for a job on the west coast after the new year.)
David, I came upon this video this weekend. Is this from the AIANY workshops you referenced?
Yeah, that's it. Here's the schedule they followed:
Related: I miss being in a city where stuff like this goes on.
I'd really love to hear of someone who took the hybrid 4.0-5.0 and finished the exams in 5 tests!
Everyday: I hear ya- there is a lot of noise. Nevertheless, i found it somewhat helpful. It helped me see things that I wasn't recognizing that were fails or programmatic misses.
I also loved watching people solve the vignettes on youtube. Seeing the visual was a great cue to solving things quickly.
^ The fun part is when you can pick out the errors they make on their videos.
@22:50 his sketch rectangle is accidentally drawn at 9'-0" for his 10'-0" side setback.
I agree, the YouTube videos were super helpful.
I wrote the NCARB...."David Cole, once drove a Jeep Cherokee." They could take that message either way. Dear Mr. Cole you will do fine with your registration and we will welcome you to the pack of Architects.
Congrats David! A good friend/one of my best-men, recently got licensed in CA. Imagine the relief will be high. Seems like it opens up new possibilities and can take things up a notch.
That video series seems exactly like the kind of thing AIA should be doing more of, given all the grumbling on this site... Not just the material itself. But the process as you said. Even the goad of getting together periodically and being asked (as that man did in beginning of video) who "has taken a test/has forward" motion to share.
I get to visit Madison again this year. Twice over this month, thanks to new job.
Again, congrats David. Must be nice to put those behind you.
I'm taking the Canadian version. 4 exams over 2 days. No splitting them up. Held once a year so if you fail any one section, you're toast.
Also, there are no study guides, practice exams, or other help available. Our provincial Association has also pit the fear of Corb in everybody, so they're all afraid to discuss what's on the exams (confidentiality agreement).
At the end of it all, I can frame the license and get back to my desk without a pay raise, so I got that going for me, which is nice.
bowling_ball,
I wish you best on that exam. In some ways, it resembles the NCBDC exam which has been for some time, a 2 day exam much like the Canadian exam. I took a look at the very spartan preparation guide of ExAC.
NCBDC exam is undergoing some changes including computerized delivery. Some other changes reflecting various feedback among building designers including practices that resemble closer to ARE in that the exams are delivered not just once or twice a year but at a more flexible delivery. Perhaps, some day, Canada might follow some similar practices in the future (don't expect it to be the same).
Again, best of luck and look forward to you passing it.
Congrats David! A good friend/one of my best-men, recently got licensed in CA. Imagine the relief will be high. Seems like it opens up new possibilities and can take things up a notch.
Thanks, that's what I'm banking on. I feel like I set my career back 15 years by moving back to Cincinnati from NYC earlier this year, and I was beating myself up for that decision before I even made it across the George Washington Bridge. I was pretty much working my dream job on a very cool project with great colleagues at a great firm, and in retrospect, I should've found some other way to deal with my housing issues and stayed in New York.
I'm convinced that my career will remain at a dead end as long as I stay in Cincinnati, but I'm hoping that having my license will open some doors for me when I start my job search after the new year. I'm aiming for Seattle or Portland, or at least someplace where having a decent career and a decent quality of life aren't mutually-exclusive ideas. I'd even be open to the idea of going back to New York if I were able to afford a decent place to live, but a quick look at craigslist usually dissuades me of that idea pretty fast. It's pretty much impossible now unless you're willing to share a place (I'm not) or pulling in at least six figures.
I heard last night about a person who has been registered and with a good firm in NYC for many years, had to move to Brooklyn because Manhattan got too expensive, now has to move to Jersey because Brooklyn got too expensive....this is someone who by the metrics of other professions should be living very well-off!
David I think your housing situation in NYC would never have resolved. But man, our profession is ridiculous. I love it, of course, but it's ridiculous.
On the other hand, Monica Ponce de Leon gave an excellent talk on her work yesterday, and today's speaker is Brian Mackay Lyons. Plus, architects are great drinking buddies!
Bowling_Ball. I wrote the ExACs back in 2011 when they were just rolling them out country-wide (not all provinces were on board at the time).
I may be able to help out a little. The Canadian exams are far more reasonable than the AREs and are designed to test work experience rather than test-example memorization. Plus... they are in metric. Silly feets and inches. PM me if you have any questions.
As for the raise, start the conversation early prior to exams and license. Sit down with the boss and ask for an increase upon license and suggest an increase in related responsibilities while you finish. If you keep doing the same thing, there is no incentive for them to up your wages.
Yeah, I was faced with a number of options and none of them were good. Staying in that hellhole apartment was out of the question, but staying in NYC would've meant putting most of my stuff back into storage, possibly giving my cat up for adoption, and moving in with a roommate again. In the longer term, maybe getting an apartment way out in Queens or New Jersey and dealing with an even longer commute. Even if I had stayed in NYC, I'd probably still be planning a move to the Pacific Northwest next year.
Right now the current plan is to move to Seattle at the end of April (hopefully Bainbridge Island, if I can find an apartment there and land a job located near the ferry terminal in downtown Seattle), and ideally fly to NYC a couple times a year for a long weekend to get my fix. New York City is my recreational drug; the highs were incredible and the withdrawal is brutal, but the long-term exposure was killing me.
I was in Washington in the summer, saw a job posting out there for a licensed architect in the Wenatchee area, at firm doing residential work offering $70k ++. Seemed to me that would be a good living out there...
I have the 2015 AIA Compensation Survey, and I'm cautiously optimistic that I'd be able to pull in enough money to live at least a reasonably middle-class lifestyle. (At this point I'd be happy just to have an apartment with its own washer and dryer.) Seattle is building like crazy right now and most of the big firms out there seem to be hiring pretty aggressively.
David, sorry to hear that the Midwest got-ya, but have to say that I can’t blame you.
I did a thread on the Midwest and found a lack of universal appeal to say the least. The responses were not revolting, but more along the lines of “lack of opportunity” and I think “opportunity” is deeper than just getting a job.
I feel that roots are important and ricocheting around the country chasing opportunities is corrosive, but when you are just a seed, looking for the optimal place to lay down roots is prudent.
Why not, at your stage, find the best of all worlds, but not just an exciting place to play out your youth, but a place that has balance for long term growth.
Isn't Seattle's cost of living being driven up pretty significantly by Amazon right now? Maybe that's only in certain areas and hasn't spread throughout the city yet. Not sure what the numbers in the compensation survey show for the area, but it might not get as far as you might think. You've probably already considered it though if you are already focusing on Bainbridge Island as the place to live. Even if it is being driven up, it is still probably less than New York's.
I posted in that thread a few times. Some people love the Midwest, and more power to those who stay and try to make it better, but I can't really see myself building much of a career here.
My job in NYC: "Oh, you have ten years experience? Great, we need you to do construction administration for a $60M new headquarters for a multinational media company in a historic landmark skyscraper. Let us know if you have any questions."
Multiple jobs in Cincinnati: "Oh, you know AutoCAD? Great, we need you to pick up some redlines on these fifty Orange Julius* locations that we're rolling out in terrible shopping malls across the country."
(* not my real client)
Completely different ideas about what architecture should be. While NYC was stressful as hell, I at least had clients who knew the value of good design and were willing to pay lots of money for it, and I like to think I grew into the challenge. In Cincinnati, architecture as a discipline (as opposed to merely a professional service) seems pretty much dead outside the UC campus and a handful of very small boutique firms.
I just turned 40 this year and I think my youth is pretty much already played out. Now I'm desperate to find a place to settle down and sink some roots, and hopefully launch my own practice in the longer term. The Pacific Northwest is a place I've always considered for that; in fact, I was discussing that possibility in my very first posting on Archinect over ten years ago. I'm not getting any younger, and this seems like the now-or-never time to finally make the jump out there.
IA: Seattle is getting more expensive, but I've been following the market closely enough to have a pretty good idea of how far my money will go out there. Even the most expensive neighborhoods in Seattle are still a bargain compared to NYC. Just today I posted a listing on my FB page of a 3-bedroom house for rent on Bainbridge Island for $1800 a month. That rent won't even get me a 1-bedroom apartment anymore in my old neighborhood in NYC.
Enough talk. I just booked another trip out to Seattle in mid-March for (hopefully) job interviews and an apartment search. Wish me luck.
David Cole,
Try outside the downtown core areas of Seattle or Portland. Somewhere, close enough to reliably commute to or within the public transit network where you pay $600-750/mo. compared to $1000+ a month.
If you choose Portland, Oregon area, consider St. Helens or Scappoose, Oregon area. Small community but close to Portland downtown.
Even if it means buying a tract area out in the county area outside city limits. An interesting dynamic.
Another area is on the east side of Portland.
If you don't mind commuting a little bit, Vernonia might be a nice town outside the downtown Portland area but it is maybe an hour drive to Portland. I recommend these cities:
- St. Helens
-Scappoose
- Vernonia
They are outside the metro but close enough to it if you want to get into Portland metro area and provides you a dynamic life experience. You have access to the 'big city' and have a small town experience as well in the more rustic/rural environment. At least something exciting.
You aren't too far from the big city to get to anything.
Other areas further to the west is Rainier / Longview-Kelso area.
In the Seattle area, Bainbridge island is pretty cool. I been at Whidbey Island and Port Townsend. Beautiful town and area. I can tell you there is some nice beautiful area in the Pacific Northwest.
Wish you best and hopefully something good comes about.
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