Im 2 years out of high school...kinda at a dead end job...and its finally hitting me that I should probably get my **** together and go to school. I like art and design, its an area where i can say that Im somewhat talented. Thing is that Im not talented enough to be a paid artist, though Ive always loved architecture...the New York Skyline and Roman architecture in particular. Now I havent ever read up on architecture, worked or met anyone in the field, oh and as a former Graffiti artist I guess thats already a strike against me, but I just wanted to know...whats it like to be an architect?...how many years in college did it take to get your degree and how were the courses like.. basically I want to know as much as possible....oh yea and any recomended schools?
architecture is far from being your conventional art...it's more about building...so if you're into art go into art. don't try to use architecture as a bigger and better medium for your art (gehry)...it's a tough medium (if want to go that way)...that involves less artsy procedures (door schedules, selecting refrigerators, submitting plans to the building department, following codes)...
Architecture is a dead end career. It takes too long to learn everything, increasing responsibility, 9 tough exams, 5+ years of school drawing pretty pictures , embarrassing salary. Pursue a real education in medicine, law, engineering.
tes7 (if you're still here/haven't been scared off) a lot of these posts are messing with you.
if you hang around this site long enough you'll realize that, while most of us are passionate about architecture as a career choice, we're also sarcastic, bitchy, and terminally happy being unhappy. you'll get the gist. and you'll begin to see what it is we love, what we hate, and how varied we are in those opinions.
best bet is to start visiting architecture schools and find some architects' offices that might let you visit. you haven't said where you are, but i'm sure a couple of calls here and there will get you in somewhere. depending on your financial situation, a job as a runner/printroom helper can be a good way to get inside and see what's going on. it won't pay you much but, if you do well, you're likely to get a good school reference from that architect.
just start bugging people that are in or around the architectural profession. you'll figure out whether it's something about which you're passionate. many of us don't know what else we would do with ourselves if we couldn't be in architecture.
Graffiti artist background is no strike against you, you may already have an innate understanding of urban space due to considering visual impact and walls as canvases (unless you are not so much a graf artists as just a lousy tagger, in which case you probably weren't thinking much about anything. I hate tagger.).
Steven is right, but as to the school question: five years minimum then 3 years internship then 9 tests. It's a big commitment. You may be interested in pursuing a design-related field: graphic design? Web design? (I think I heard the term "netarting" used as a verb yesterday. Something like that.) The graffiti background may have taught you whether you have any interest in graphic design. And these days graphic design and industrial/object design are so wrapped up in one another that there is no need to consider graphic work as only being able to lead to flat product, or vice versa.
Maybe look for general "design" classes at a local community college or arts center - try one out for an evening class. The brilliant rationalist here will tell you that an evening graphic design class veered her away from architecture and into graphic design instead - they are all related and getting a taste of any design field may help you think about where your interests lie.
Tes - I think Liberty Bell hit it right on the head, as did Steven. Whilst we do bitch and moan (alot) we still do this because we do love what we do, otherwise we wouldn't be on here every single day posting on threads about architecture related issues/interests.
broccolijet.....man you're pretty funny! Thanks for the good laugh this morning!
I agree with the advice to take an evening class or two while you figure it out. Several people I know from architecture school would really have done better in graphic design, industrial design, or interior design. Research the various design professions and see whether one of them doesn't stand out to you a bit more, as architecture is not a treat. I'm not ribbing you when I say this, either.
In school you'll be taught to think, to draw, to design, and to do so quickly. It's exciting. Then when you get out into the 'real world', you'll most likely be stuck at a computer using very little of what you learned for many years before anyone will trust you to design anything. You could end up working on one project for three years straight. Frankly, you might get bored. Then when you do design, your clients won't have the budget to do any of the things you are the most excited about and you'll be left with many projects that were almost something pretty good.
go to some architecture firms. talk to the principals, ask if you can shadow some of them. once, you get an idea of what it really is like then you can find something fun to do.
In response to vado's post, I think it would be more helpful if you go shadow an intern. Once you've had enough (around lunch), start filling out that application for an engineering degree.
p.s. - yes, I know the coffee tastes like shit. I made it yesterday.
I was thinking the same thing Chili.... part of the reason for the dissatisfaction is that school and imagination train everyone to be the principal, and really only a fraction of architects ever end up with that amount of design control. So don't just look at the principal, but look at the project managers that spend most of their time on construction documents and administration, look at the interns, watch everybody in a practice, and try to determine what roles you're ok with and what roles you're not, and whether that's a realistic thing.
how depressing. it seems to me the main take-away is to make sure you're getting the most "realistic" representation you can get of the career you might be entering.
although i'm on the cusp of a career change (entering architecture), it already seems obvious here on archinect that architecture sucks to some people because they had "unrealistic" expectations about what it would be like on a day-to-day basis. the reasons behind this disillusionment could be everything from school, to dreams, to lego, to the brady bunch...who knows?
point is to get the clearest (read: harshest) representation you can and see if that still resonates as something you're interested in nonetheless.
fyi: ALL careers suck on some level, it's just a question of what flavor.
I had a job shadow once, she left early and was really really bored.
If I had visited an architecture office before I got my degree (I didn't) - I never would have stuck it out. But I like what I do now. Although it is really frustrating, I think I have a pretty cool job.
Hang on the forums some more, hear how people talk about architecture here. Take it all with a grain of salt.
I don't know about the rest of you but i'm still fairly dilussional about being an architect. It could be the funny drugs the doctors have been giving me since my tragic fall but nonetheless.
I worked with architects from I was 14, as shadow for the guy who made diazzo prints. I went home each day smelling like ammona with blood shot eyes and I loved every minute of it. 16 years later I look like 50 but still love it as much if not more than then. As I said it could be the funny pills.
But asside from being a shadow I would recommend doing a summer program in architecture at your local college/university. We don't know where you are but its a great way to blow 2k, figure out what you want to do with yourself, and meet really cute girls. Architecture always has the cutest girls.
cute girls....always a plus....but 2 grand?....ehh...
you know its a good thing that when I had this forum recomended to me....they told me to expect a board full of sarcastic albiet a lil jaded group in ppl...and if they didnt.....well....all that would ve had me preparing to sell my soul to law school[what can I say I like to argue and have watched the Practice..lol]....but wow....5 years of school.....3 years as an intern?....9 TESTS!...like building stuff?....plans to build stuff?...no matter...so whats the life like?... good pay?.....trophy wife?[oh the responses to that should be good]...work enviroment?...in an office..on the site?... after all the school and all the work to get your degree...was it worth it....and most importantly...are you happy with your career?
Forget being a lawyer...architects read more contracts and argue more points that any fool who has based the bar. Wait maybe I'm the fool...should of finished law school.
No trophy see other post and watch out for jagged rusted rebar on site
tes7, one thing that I would say is that this profession is not for the faint of heart. I went to architecture school with many people who didn't end up working in architecture, because of many reasons alluded to above, but also because I think it can be exhausting and daunting trying to defend your career choice to people who don't understand why you are so enthusiastic about it.
Put it this way: many of us who work in architecture spent countless, sleepless hours in school to get a degree. Then we graduated and if we want to work in a job that pays well, chances are we're selling out to The Man. But if we want to work in a creative position and potentially do something worthwhile, then we are doomed to many more countless hours of working, and probably not making enough money to live. (The first option, even if it pays "well", probably doesn't really pay THAT well).
After all of this, and for the reasons that I've stated, many of us go for long stretches without getting any ass, too. I'm just saying.
man, i must have gone to the wrong school b/c there were no hot girls iin my class...
in regards to pay, it sucks.
in regards to the life, it's 10pm and i just got home from work [competition due fri]
my office is fun, small but everyone's cool and pretty young, we go out on the weekends and drink together
i've only been out of school since may, but so far it has definitely been worth it, as the work i am doing is so much more rewarding than working for sprint like everyone i went to high school with. i'm in an awesome city, seeing awesome things and doing interesting and challenging work.
i love my career and i love my life. i love getting up to go to work and be an architect, even the days when i'm poking through door schedules. i couldn't do anything else, personally i am completely retarded at basically anything not related to drawing, building, math, piano, baking, and soccer. it don't pay super well but it don't pay badly either. most of the day i'm in the office but i go to construction sites a lot, too. i get to work a lot with people, which i enjoy. i get to draw, i get to build the occasional model, i get to think about beautiful things and how to make people happier with their surroundings and i get to be inspired by beautiful things around me and call it research.
dont goto school - try to get into an architecture office as a print bitch ...learn some Autocad, mabe some revit -some graphic programs on the side...work there for 8 years at least 35 hrs a week...after the 8 years of working for a licensed architect your are eligible to take your ARE exam - which is the test you would take to get your architecture licence...BTW some of the bets architects in the world never went to architecture school...seriously.
-Frank L. Wright
-Le Corbusier
- and many more
- sure going to school will help you with design skills and develop your social skills but you will learn 10 times as much and 10 times as fast working in the field (an office or contruction)40 + hrs a week
-also another way to go is to get onto a job site - that always gives you the edge on others in architecture school...if you decide to go that route. working for a contractor would also help you understand in 3d how a bouilding is constructed!
Being an Architect...Whats it like?
Im 2 years out of high school...kinda at a dead end job...and its finally hitting me that I should probably get my **** together and go to school. I like art and design, its an area where i can say that Im somewhat talented. Thing is that Im not talented enough to be a paid artist, though Ive always loved architecture...the New York Skyline and Roman architecture in particular. Now I havent ever read up on architecture, worked or met anyone in the field, oh and as a former Graffiti artist I guess thats already a strike against me, but I just wanted to know...whats it like to be an architect?...how many years in college did it take to get your degree and how were the courses like.. basically I want to know as much as possible....oh yea and any recomended schools?
thx in advance..
architecture is far from being your conventional art...it's more about building...so if you're into art go into art. don't try to use architecture as a bigger and better medium for your art (gehry)...it's a tough medium (if want to go that way)...that involves less artsy procedures (door schedules, selecting refrigerators, submitting plans to the building department, following codes)...
dead end job... you are half way there
Tes, How long can u stay without sleep at a single stretch ?
(Thats the MOST important, the rest of all archy stuff is all secondary to this )
what is it like ? actually it's in the eye of the beholder
you know what check out this, it'll help u get the picture of the practice:
http://www.raic.org/architecture_architects/becoming_an_architect/index_e.htm
Architecture is a dead end career. It takes too long to learn everything, increasing responsibility, 9 tough exams, 5+ years of school drawing pretty pictures , embarrassing salary. Pursue a real education in medicine, law, engineering.
Pain.
tes7 (if you're still here/haven't been scared off) a lot of these posts are messing with you.
if you hang around this site long enough you'll realize that, while most of us are passionate about architecture as a career choice, we're also sarcastic, bitchy, and terminally happy being unhappy. you'll get the gist. and you'll begin to see what it is we love, what we hate, and how varied we are in those opinions.
best bet is to start visiting architecture schools and find some architects' offices that might let you visit. you haven't said where you are, but i'm sure a couple of calls here and there will get you in somewhere. depending on your financial situation, a job as a runner/printroom helper can be a good way to get inside and see what's going on. it won't pay you much but, if you do well, you're likely to get a good school reference from that architect.
just start bugging people that are in or around the architectural profession. you'll figure out whether it's something about which you're passionate. many of us don't know what else we would do with ourselves if we couldn't be in architecture.
Graffiti artist background is no strike against you, you may already have an innate understanding of urban space due to considering visual impact and walls as canvases (unless you are not so much a graf artists as just a lousy tagger, in which case you probably weren't thinking much about anything. I hate tagger.).
Steven is right, but as to the school question: five years minimum then 3 years internship then 9 tests. It's a big commitment. You may be interested in pursuing a design-related field: graphic design? Web design? (I think I heard the term "netarting" used as a verb yesterday. Something like that.) The graffiti background may have taught you whether you have any interest in graphic design. And these days graphic design and industrial/object design are so wrapped up in one another that there is no need to consider graphic work as only being able to lead to flat product, or vice versa.
Maybe look for general "design" classes at a local community college or arts center - try one out for an evening class. The brilliant rationalist here will tell you that an evening graphic design class veered her away from architecture and into graphic design instead - they are all related and getting a taste of any design field may help you think about where your interests lie.
Being an architect is pretty much just like being Mike Brady in real life.
sometimes i think i'm netarded.
There's more fun and notoriety in being a graffiti writer. If you're good you can end up making decent money, like Seen, Mear One, etc.
Tes - I think Liberty Bell hit it right on the head, as did Steven. Whilst we do bitch and moan (alot) we still do this because we do love what we do, otherwise we wouldn't be on here every single day posting on threads about architecture related issues/interests.
broccolijet.....man you're pretty funny! Thanks for the good laugh this morning!
I agree with the advice to take an evening class or two while you figure it out. Several people I know from architecture school would really have done better in graphic design, industrial design, or interior design. Research the various design professions and see whether one of them doesn't stand out to you a bit more, as architecture is not a treat. I'm not ribbing you when I say this, either.
In school you'll be taught to think, to draw, to design, and to do so quickly. It's exciting. Then when you get out into the 'real world', you'll most likely be stuck at a computer using very little of what you learned for many years before anyone will trust you to design anything. You could end up working on one project for three years straight. Frankly, you might get bored. Then when you do design, your clients won't have the budget to do any of the things you are the most excited about and you'll be left with many projects that were almost something pretty good.
Buildings are great, but Architecture Sucks.
go to some architecture firms. talk to the principals, ask if you can shadow some of them. once, you get an idea of what it really is like then you can find something fun to do.
squirrelly
im here on archinect cause it beats being an architect..
nice mdler....nice!!
In response to vado's post, I think it would be more helpful if you go shadow an intern. Once you've had enough (around lunch), start filling out that application for an engineering degree.
p.s. - yes, I know the coffee tastes like shit. I made it yesterday.
I was thinking the same thing Chili.... part of the reason for the dissatisfaction is that school and imagination train everyone to be the principal, and really only a fraction of architects ever end up with that amount of design control. So don't just look at the principal, but look at the project managers that spend most of their time on construction documents and administration, look at the interns, watch everybody in a practice, and try to determine what roles you're ok with and what roles you're not, and whether that's a realistic thing.
how depressing. it seems to me the main take-away is to make sure you're getting the most "realistic" representation you can get of the career you might be entering.
although i'm on the cusp of a career change (entering architecture), it already seems obvious here on archinect that architecture sucks to some people because they had "unrealistic" expectations about what it would be like on a day-to-day basis. the reasons behind this disillusionment could be everything from school, to dreams, to lego, to the brady bunch...who knows?
point is to get the clearest (read: harshest) representation you can and see if that still resonates as something you're interested in nonetheless.
fyi: ALL careers suck on some level, it's just a question of what flavor.
rationalist...beats me to the punch yet again. i need to type faster.
Mine sucks like mongolian beef.
hmm mmongolian beef..........now im hungry. Thanks Chili!!!!!
I had a job shadow once, she left early and was really really bored.
If I had visited an architecture office before I got my degree (I didn't) - I never would have stuck it out. But I like what I do now. Although it is really frustrating, I think I have a pretty cool job.
Hang on the forums some more, hear how people talk about architecture here. Take it all with a grain of salt.
Steven, Pls stop brainwashing the kid.
lol brainwashing! love it.
hey Im still hungry....whats for lunch?
I don't know about the rest of you but i'm still fairly dilussional about being an architect. It could be the funny drugs the doctors have been giving me since my tragic fall but nonetheless.
I worked with architects from I was 14, as shadow for the guy who made diazzo prints. I went home each day smelling like ammona with blood shot eyes and I loved every minute of it. 16 years later I look like 50 but still love it as much if not more than then. As I said it could be the funny pills.
But asside from being a shadow I would recommend doing a summer program in architecture at your local college/university. We don't know where you are but its a great way to blow 2k, figure out what you want to do with yourself, and meet really cute girls. Architecture always has the cutest girls.
Bye for now time to take my pills.
cute girls..?
architechnophilia, pls go and take your pills . and stop brainwashing the kid.
fogey you just described my ideal architect wife!!!
today it was like this
cute girls....always a plus....but 2 grand?....ehh...
you know its a good thing that when I had this forum recomended to me....they told me to expect a board full of sarcastic albiet a lil jaded group in ppl...and if they didnt.....well....all that would ve had me preparing to sell my soul to law school[what can I say I like to argue and have watched the Practice..lol]....but wow....5 years of school.....3 years as an intern?....9 TESTS!...like building stuff?....plans to build stuff?...no matter...so whats the life like?... good pay?.....trophy wife?[oh the responses to that should be good]...work enviroment?...in an office..on the site?... after all the school and all the work to get your degree...was it worth it....and most importantly...are you happy with your career?
Forget being a lawyer...architects read more contracts and argue more points that any fool who has based the bar. Wait maybe I'm the fool...should of finished law school.
No trophy see other post and watch out for jagged rusted rebar on site
i don know why discussions start with a subject and end with another two or three completely different subjects mainly about food or a concert.
meez, then you can't become an architect.
hey ppl drift...I get it...I do it all the time...
but back on topic....
the life?...the job?...the pay?...the ass?..lol
The ass.
The Life...
tes7, one thing that I would say is that this profession is not for the faint of heart. I went to architecture school with many people who didn't end up working in architecture, because of many reasons alluded to above, but also because I think it can be exhausting and daunting trying to defend your career choice to people who don't understand why you are so enthusiastic about it.
Put it this way: many of us who work in architecture spent countless, sleepless hours in school to get a degree. Then we graduated and if we want to work in a job that pays well, chances are we're selling out to The Man. But if we want to work in a creative position and potentially do something worthwhile, then we are doomed to many more countless hours of working, and probably not making enough money to live. (The first option, even if it pays "well", probably doesn't really pay THAT well).
After all of this, and for the reasons that I've stated, many of us go for long stretches without getting any ass, too. I'm just saying.
but are most of you happy with your career choice?....
man, i must have gone to the wrong school b/c there were no hot girls iin my class...
in regards to pay, it sucks.
in regards to the life, it's 10pm and i just got home from work [competition due fri]
my office is fun, small but everyone's cool and pretty young, we go out on the weekends and drink together
i've only been out of school since may, but so far it has definitely been worth it, as the work i am doing is so much more rewarding than working for sprint like everyone i went to high school with. i'm in an awesome city, seeing awesome things and doing interesting and challenging work.
Does this mean that I'm potentially going to be in school with a bunch of dudes who want trophy wives and are freaking out about getting "ass?" Great.
Oh wait I already knew that :P
i love my career and i love my life. i love getting up to go to work and be an architect, even the days when i'm poking through door schedules. i couldn't do anything else, personally i am completely retarded at basically anything not related to drawing, building, math, piano, baking, and soccer. it don't pay super well but it don't pay badly either. most of the day i'm in the office but i go to construction sites a lot, too. i get to work a lot with people, which i enjoy. i get to draw, i get to build the occasional model, i get to think about beautiful things and how to make people happier with their surroundings and i get to be inspired by beautiful things around me and call it research.
it's a pretty good fucking job.
oh, and i get great ass.
so, in conclusion, architecture is pretty good. what else would you do, finance??
To "borrow" the line
"architects do it with models, and usually all night long"
cash....ass....and most importantly happiness..which is tied to job fufillment.....
I just really wanna design,,,this was an option.....thx to the board...its given me alot to think about....
just 1 thing,,,,
its all about ass...... but is it quality ass?
lol
i like it. it's hard, frustrating. but good. what myriam said.
tes7,
Brad Pitt is an architect..that should answer your question.
yes...but that leads to more questions...
dont goto school - try to get into an architecture office as a print bitch ...learn some Autocad, mabe some revit -some graphic programs on the side...work there for 8 years at least 35 hrs a week...after the 8 years of working for a licensed architect your are eligible to take your ARE exam - which is the test you would take to get your architecture licence...BTW some of the bets architects in the world never went to architecture school...seriously.
-Frank L. Wright
-Le Corbusier
- and many more
- sure going to school will help you with design skills and develop your social skills but you will learn 10 times as much and 10 times as fast working in the field (an office or contruction)40 + hrs a week
-also another way to go is to get onto a job site - that always gives you the edge on others in architecture school...if you decide to go that route. working for a contractor would also help you understand in 3d how a bouilding is constructed!
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