i'm still a student myself, and the first piece of advice i ever received from an architect was to work construction. i tried to take his advice, and now i'm working a firm where i get to design and work at the site with the construction managers. it's a great balance, and working construction opens your eyes to a lot of details and situations that you would never fully investigate while in school.

if you do construction.... stay in that route....

firms could really care less if you worked in the field... (ask how i know)........ so it will be twice as hard later on to get back in the typical arch. firms/office life

i'm sure others will chime in.......

cryz is perhaps correct.

if you want to do construction management then go that route, but if you want to be an architect is better to learn the trade of architecture. both will take as long and switching is not so easy unless you are careful.

i know lots of great builders who i would never hire as architects even if they had a degree, not in a million years. because when it comes down to it it is still my partner and i who have to work out most of the problems. that requires knowledge of building for sure but there is no reason you can't get that in an office...

there is a trend amongst architects to call ourselves morons when it comes to construction, but i don't think that is really the case.　no reason to assume an office will not be the place to learn how to build.

If you go into construction do the labor not the paperwork contracting & CM side of it. The labor side will not eliminate you from the office aspect of architecture. If you go to the paperwork side of contracting it will be seen as experience in an aspect which you might not see as being inline with your education investment and you could get stuck with it for some time making a switch tough. Eventually the labor side will make your design skills come to reality via the drawings because you know the materials. Advising you towards labor in an intellectual forum thread will likely get booed, that is a given. In my opinion all the intellectual ideas come to reality through labor. Experience with your body and hands in the process will directly benefit your end game. At the end of a laboring day your body may feel tired while your mind will be fresh - the inverse can be said of a day spent at an office. As a laborer you get to be outside and scope hot chicks. At the office it's drawings and averting your eyes.

i worked construction the summer between my freshman and sophomore year in college, and i think the idea is a bit overly-romanticized and highly overrated. unless you are interested in learning about contracts and management, then i wouldn't advise going into the construction field. it's not because there is not much to learn, but because all the interesting work is usually left to skilled workers with many years of experience perfecting their craft. even for something like masonry requires years of training before you get to lay a brick on a any project. for a noob such as myself, i was relegated to doing simple wall framing, hanging sheet rock, and sweeping the construction site. as you can tell, it wasn't exactly glamorous or inspirational. yes, i did learn how far to space studs, tap screws, and fireproof a wall, but i also could have learned that in the first 5 minutes of site visit during my first CA gig.

we all want to be howard roark in the rock quarries, but the reality is there are hierarchies, unions, and the like that aren't so nice once you get into it.

on the other hand, i think building furniture and doing home rennovations are excellent hobbies.

i'm with dot. while i enjoyed my time doing house construction, it's pretty simple stuff: wood framing, roofing, etc. nothing i learned then had much impact on me knowing how things went together from a detailing standpoint. most of my construction knowledge has come from doing construction admin during my intern period.

if you're interested in modern and relatively unorthodox commercial/institutional work, you'll never know enough anyway. you learn it with each job.

be patient. you'll get what you need.

I do think it's valuable to observe the construction process from an alternate vantage point at some point during your internship. The diversion could only be for a year or two, but it has the potential to give you the competitive advantage over your peers who may find themselves stuck behind AutoCAD for their entire internship. This could involve working for a sub-contractor, GC, CM, owner, or developer.

Try to find a role that will give you the most exposure to the comprehensive activities of a complete project. I tend to think that getting a broad overview of construction sequencing on one project is better than seeing one trade over the course of 5 projects. Either way has pros and cons.

Easier said than done; just keep your eyes open.

I know nothing about working the construction side of it but i would agree with SW the CA work is an invaluable experience. You will def. learn how a building is built.

First you draw it and then it materializes in 3d with site visits ,mock ups, checking shop dwgs etc. ..and because we are architects i think most of us have been trained to be visual learners, so the next time you go back and do that detail you can visually remember how its actually constructed.

If this is what your interested in you should probably shop around before you take your first job and make sure that the firm you work for will eventually let you do it. Ive only worked at one firm but ive been told not all offices expose everyone to it.

standaman, you mention this is your first job out of school, but is it your first EVER job in the field? Have you worked in an architecture firm before?

There is no shame in having 7 years of schooling and having absolutely no clue how a building goes together. That's status quo for a new grad. It is definitely, IMO, good knowledge to focus on gaining during your first few years - decades, even - in the field, because I for one believe construction and design are tightly related. Not everyone believes this; it's for you to determine for yourself, over a long career in this field.

But don't sweat not knowing it all now. Get the internship experience you need to get the license, and after you've been working for awhile you can decide if a stint in the construction world is for you.

students and interns who say they know nothing about building drive me crazy. it's not about knowing; it's about doing. you will never "know" how a building is put together. you design how it is put together. some of this is from experience; some is from simply making it up as you go. i frequently design details i'm not entirely sure of, but between talking it over with other architects in the office or working it out with the contractor, it gets built. (sometimes an rfi is not a bad thing.) if you want to be an architect, you learn from other architects; if you want to be a builder, go into construction.

Looking back many, many years, I can say from my own experience that working in the field does help round out one's academic preparation. I worked construction three summers while in school - one as a carpenter and two as an apprentice ironworker (yep - had to join the union) ... really good way to understand what goes on at the construction site and to get a feel for the sort of person who actually executes what we design. I highly recommend the experience.

However, there is some danger to your architectural career if you stay there too long. One - you'll probably earn more in construction than you would as an apprentice architect - that gets hard to leave after a while. Two, as others have said above, design firms WILL be unsure how to use you if you apply after 3-4 years in construction - your economic expectations will be totally out of wack with your ability to contribute to a design office.

If you do take a construction job, limit your time there to 12 months - that gives you a plausible (and effective) story to tell during interviews for an architectural position.

But, if you're serious about knowing what happens in the field, you don't really have to work construction. Get your ass off the chair and wander around construction sites in the evening and on weekends. Take your camera. Be careful - but you can gain a lot of knowledge that way if you pay attention and try to understand what you're seeing. When you see something you don't understand, take a picture - then find a gray-haired guy like me to explain it to you.

Good luck.

quizzical has an excellent point that I was going to bring up: go look at construction sites. You've finished school, so presumably you have a clue about construction.

There's an interesting condo building going up across the street from me. The exterior is about 80% finished by now, and this time last year there was a hole in the ground where the building now stands. I've watched piles go in, slabs poured, colums poured, structural steel, light steel framing, CMU, brick, air barriers, insulation, windows..... the list goes on. It was like having a lab classroom just 120 feet away from me, and it's actually taught me a lot. I've taken photos, as well.

Some of the women in my studio class even went there and got a tour. You never know.

now that sounds like good advice.

i have done construction, not so sure it was relevant to actual building cuz lets face it a 2x4 is not really the same as welding a steel section. its not equivalent to almost anything an architect does, to be honest.

i don't think it is an elitist intellectual thing to believe it is not necessary as part of architect's education to work as a builder...for the reason's dot pointed out...but as hobby and for self-fulfillment is great.

is useful to remind yourself that when you read about Mies and how he understood brick from his childhood experience in construction that in fact his family were stone masons and he was in any case a draftsman...which is to say the myth and reality are quite different (ie, mies knew shit about bricks from personal experience). romantic notions about building are not always borne out in reality.

I agree that if you want to be an architect you should work at architecture firm after graduation, especially if you want to open your own firm in the future.

The reason behind this is because of Licensure. It will take at least 3 years (usually 5-7 years on average) to get the architect license and if you stay in contractor side too long it is not easy to start as architectural assistant again. Only if your contractor company has registered architects to sign your IDP.

Technically, I am sure it will be a good thing to work for contractor. Another solution to this dilemma is to study part time in some technical or engineering course while you are doing the IDP.

Once you get the license then, you could do whatever you want and you could always switch back to be an architect because of social recognition.

It is funny to read something like this from someone who has spent seven years in school. What the heck were you studying? Where did you go to school? What the heck do you think holds buildings together? Were you at a school where no new buildings or renovations took place during your seven years as a student? If there were projects going on, why the heck didn't the professors have
you out there looking at the work.

I would suggest you go online and spend $35.00 for the book "Wood Frame Construction Manual" if you really want to learn how stick buildings are to be built. It is alot more informative than being a janitor on a construction site. you can find it at: awc.org Spend the summer studying it and by fall you will be ahead of most people who have interned in an office for three years copying someone elses poorly thought out details of how buildings go together. Also be sure to look into the company details for engineered lumber. This is cetainly the way of the future in stick frame building. You can learn a heck of alot about construction without even swinging a hammer.

Thanks for all the feedback everybody. I'm in the market for my first full-time job, but i've interned for 3 summers in the past so I'm not a complete noob to the arch. office. during my 3 internships, I was fortunate enough to experience a wide array of work ranging from competitions, site surveys, redlining DD and CD drawings to client meetings and furniture design, etc. The one thing I've had no exposure to, and may be the reason for me to consider starting this thread, was CA. Interestingly, I've noticed that people who have been in the field for many years often complain about this same lack of exposure--it is often the hardest part of the IDP requirements to fulfill.

I must admit, in addition to my strong desire to learn how to build, it is partially the eagerness to become more competitive in today's market that has led me to consider construction. However, from everybody's feedback, it is clear that delving into construction can be a double-edged sword for someone who ultimately hopes to be a designer.

I will keep my eyes wide open. Thank you.

if you want CA experience, offer to help process shop drawings and answer RFIs (the boring stuff the PMs don't want to do)... and bug people to take you on site visits and to construction meetings.

once you work on a couple projects from start to finish (this could take a couple years), you'll have a pretty good idea of what it takes to build something. plus - seeing that detail you drew in the field is pretty exciting...

it just takes a lot of time to learn this stuff.

I am working for a builder and I really feel like I am learning a lot. On the construction sites I am seeing the errors in how drawings are being interpreted and how the people in the field don't always talk to the architect about the problems. It is so much easier to draw details and then see them being built in the field.

I met a fairly well known architect in my area and he explained how he was taking a year off just to actually build a house himself. He explained how it was one of the biggest eye openers. He is getting a lot more structurally creative with his projects now.

i as a child laborer then a grunt it was invaluable
won some cad competitions in hs
got a job working for drafting firm doing mcmansions
a job with a arch firm doing everything from tract to publicworks and retail
did design built, where I made the CD's and did the actual construction on alternative materials homes
now I do only facilities and have my Architectural license threw 6 years experience under an architect.

i would say having hands on was more than worth it to skip the whole education process that i see so many kids come out of any understand nothing other than what career profesors 'crafted' into them ;p

do what makes you happy......

or be ready to play the game.....

Dont assume construction only teaches you the fundementals of putting a building together - It also teaches you a different way of looking at buildings. From an appreciation of whats actualy involved to get a building built without mountains of other people's money all the way to recognize good design ideas from the absurd.

awareness about weakness between materials in details.

the ability to make the most with the least.

a good idea about estimates in cost and time.

worth ethic

it'll also help you understand why contractors and architects get pissed at each other...ahahha

I worked construction through high school, and I would not trade it for anything. I got into a arch firm after I graduated high school, and I'll say that the knowledge I learned in the field helped me the most in understanding how a building went up and comprehension of details. Every person has a different situation, I really enjoyed the process of construction, but I can agree with an earlier comment...furniture design and home rennovations are excellent fields to study hand-in-hand with design work at school.

Go build anything, Particularly if you have designed it yourself. I don't trust anyone who hasn't tried doing any form of construction. Its not about learning to build its about logistics and practicality. Not that everything needs to designed in that fashion but if you don't know how something gets built, the processes involved and the sequences required then it difficult to get builders to have much respect for your skills. I have always found that good a relationships between the builder and architect will always result in a better finish product.

I worked in a garage while in High School and a practical example was that a client brought in her car to have a tune-up pretty basic job ( I think it was a 76 pontiac sunbird )but to change the spark plugs you had to pull the whole engine, the extra $1500.00 to pull the engine was sure a shocker for her. I learned a big lesson about design that day apparently the car designer hadn't considered a pretty practical aspect of car maintenance and operations clearly called for in its manual.

Whistler you mean you didn't design an after market tool to avoid having to pull the motor. I had this sorta problem with a Mazda,
but there was an after market tool which made the whole process alot less painful.

Funny enough we had another one come in about a year later and the new mechanic that had been hired had this one snap-on spark plug wrench he had welded up that had been adapted with a 180 bend and skew that fit the condition. It was pretty funny but he had a whole tool draw with specially adapted tools for particular situations on a host of cars.

I didn't know squat about how a building goes together right after school either, but I learned in an architecture office over the last few years, and now I know plenty about how the ARCHITECTURE as well as the building goes together, and how to get what I want as an architect (well, sorta, on that last part). Would I have gotten that by framing for 12 months? I don't know...

why waste your time learning construction...spend that time learning how to make hero-renderings and you will find yourself with many more job offers.

Construction experience / knowledge is unneccessary provided you never ask a contractor to delete an existing wall.

If you've never worked with a "skilled" carpenter your missing a great education. I'm talking about guys who can split a pen line with a hand saw and make awkward joints look M-a-a-a-a-a-avalous. Its an appreciation of craftsmanship that very few aspire to and when you work with great craftsmen I can guarantee its a totally humbling experience, particularly if you're a fumbling weekend warrior DIY type.

OK standaman
Plenty of good advice that all these posters took the time to give you - now what's it gonna be... door number 1 or door number 2?