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what motivates you to be an architect?

batdinger

i'm a senior in college working towards my degree in architecture. Been working on my portfolio (or at least trying to) for the past couple days. Been having alot of anxiety since june about my future. Grad school? Job? I love architecture but is it what I want to do for the rest of my life? etc.

Been feeling pretty sucky lately...

So what motivates you when you get the ol' architecture blues?


-thanks for replies :)

 
Aug 19, 08 11:51 pm
blackcomb1

kick ass details

Aug 20, 08 1:16 am  · 
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mantaray

there was a REALLY good thread on this some time ago ; try searching for "motivate" or "motivation" on the advanced google search engine (specify to search within the archinect.com domain)

Aug 20, 08 2:19 am  · 
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ksArcher

hehe , the referral to another thread is kindof funny in this case..

"Ah..motivation...hmm, yes! check in file cabinet three...yes.."

Aug 20, 08 2:41 am  · 
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zoolander

All the hot women I score

Aug 20, 08 5:03 am  · 
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i think, at my core, i've been an architect since i was 8-10.

so i just AM an architect.

so is the question really: 'what motivates me to keep living?'.

Aug 20, 08 7:40 am  · 
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liberty bell

I'm right there with Steven - I just am one.

But a great motivator - which I've posted here often - is this: when someone asks me what I do and I say I'm an architect, they are invariably impressed/scared. (The latter is usually contractors, but after they work with me for a bit they know they have no reason to be scared, I respect them.)

Clients calling me a year later and telling me how much they love their building is a great motivator, too, and the most ultimately satisfying aspect of this job.

Aug 20, 08 7:48 am  · 
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ih1542006

I used to say, a week at work is: 1 hour of total happiness followed by 59 hours of being completely terrified. Not sure why I haven't use that saying lately.

Aug 20, 08 8:24 am  · 
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Arzo

i love to make pretty drawings

Aug 20, 08 10:11 am  · 
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Philarct

like drawing
like have my designs come to life
like how smart i sound

Aug 20, 08 10:22 am  · 
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Benjamin_

Nerdy, I just recently graduated myself. Believe me, I had the same anxiety and frustration about my future. Since then, I got a job working as an intern. Since I've had this job, my perspective has changed entirely. The work has become my motivator, because I love what I do. If you love architecture, then don't worry about it, it will work out. Keep your chin up and strive for the best.

This is just some advice from a newbie in the industry, but I hope it helps.

Aug 20, 08 10:33 am  · 
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Antisthenes

legacy, leaving a mark to be remembered by

Aug 20, 08 11:25 am  · 
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holz.box

The thing is, Bob, it's not that I'm lazy. It's that I just don't care...

It's a problem of motivation, alright. Now, if I work my ass off and Initech ships a few extra units, I don't see a dime. So where's the motivation? And here's something else, Bob. I have eight different bosses right now...

Eight, Bob. So that means that when I make a mistake, I have eight different people coming by to tell me about it. That's my only real motvation is not to be hasseled. That and the fear losing my job. But you know, Bob, that'll only make someone work just hard enough not to get fired.


-lately, that's pretty much summed up my life.

Aug 20, 08 11:56 am  · 
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what's that, holz?

Aug 20, 08 12:18 pm  · 
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holz.box

office space, steven...

office space.

Aug 20, 08 12:22 pm  · 
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Benjamin_

That's from the movie 'Office Space'. Fantastic movie!

Aug 20, 08 12:23 pm  · 
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ah. yeah. i have toddlers; i don't see movies. unless we're talking about 'cinderella' or 'aristocats'.

Aug 20, 08 12:25 pm  · 
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archroma

Threads like these.
Well, my motivation to be an architect seems to be imprinted on my every cell, but....
Threads like these make me glad I found archinect and are a great boost when I start to wonder why I have to take this hard road to architecture.

Aug 20, 08 12:42 pm  · 
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toasteroven

my old boss believed that fear, constant pressure, and intimidation were good motivators. I'm glad I don't work for that jerk anymore.

What keeps me going is any kind of positive feedback - especially directly from clients. Plus being around good respectful people who do good work and pull their weight.

Aug 20, 08 12:51 pm  · 
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FrankLloydMike

Pritzker Prize, 2041

Aug 20, 08 2:13 pm  · 
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anecdoto

not sleep can a sense make and

to be the owner of all the buildings of the world also

Aug 20, 08 3:14 pm  · 
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nb072

i still want to be an architect because everything else ive tried is just boring

once you design buildings and get in the über hip architecture club, its hard to go back to finance or business or whatever

Aug 20, 08 3:30 pm  · 
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Antisthenes

because every animal need shelter

Aug 20, 08 4:37 pm  · 
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trace™

the money, obviously

Aug 20, 08 4:46 pm  · 
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talking/writing/arguing about architecture definitely gets me fired up. thanks all.

Aug 20, 08 9:39 pm  · 
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zoolander

Most all of the above answers are based on massaging the EGO.

What sad little people.


"I was born to be an architect" blah blah

"People are invariably impressed when I tell them my profession" blah blah

Catch a grip of yourselves.


No wonder there is so much shit in the built environment when everyone is fucking about trying to become famous.

Aug 21, 08 4:59 am  · 
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zoolander

Oh and another thing,

Pretty drawings are not architecture!

Aug 21, 08 5:02 am  · 
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yeah that totally didn't work for zaha, or steven holl (the pretty pictures thing)

not that i disagree, but it doesn't mean the pretty pictures aren't worth it.

the adulation of clients and peers is not such a big thing to me. it happens. my peers are pretty cool people, as are the clients so it is nice to be regarded well by them. but it doesn't turn my crank. i wouldn't belittle anyone who enjoys it though.

i think if i were honest my chief motivation for everything in life is fear of returning to the poverty i grew up in and all the things that went with that life. i am good at architecture and at a few other things. i just want to be VERY good. that's about it. doesn't matter if its architecture, art, being father or playing guitar...

thats about as Freudian as i ever plan to get.

Aug 21, 08 5:42 am  · 
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while i know i shouldn't feed the zoolander troll, i'll just point out that THIS PARTICULAR thread is about personal motivation which is, by definition, personal and therefore might have something to do with ego.

to word mine a different way that might satisfy zoo:

'give me architecture or give me death!'

after all, no one thought patrick henry was being selfish.

Aug 21, 08 7:20 am  · 
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zoolander

In the words of George Bernard Shaw:

"The true artist will let his wife starve, children go barefoot, his mother drudge for his living at seventy, sooner than work at anything but his art"


Based on this description, I regard the true artist no better than filth on the street.


And given todays cultural debasement, with every tom dick and harry watching MTV and wanting to become a diva/male equivalent, it is no wonder that the world is in a state of chaos.

As Joxer Daly said in O'Casey's "Juno & the paycock"

"Mans inhumanity to man makes countless thousands mourn"


So my opinion of architecture is that there are too many 'paycocks' wanting the addoration and fame, not enough decent souls.

My memories of college were of absolute fonies, cheats and liars. 'Craig Ellwoods' if you will. Most students and architects spend more time looking over their shoulders to snoop on others than spend the time to be somewhat original.

In general this profession is rotton to the core, albeit with a few diamonds.

Long live Walter Seagal.

Aug 21, 08 8:16 am  · 
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your screen name is starting to make more sense to me.

Aug 21, 08 8:56 am  · 
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chatter of clouds

Filth on the street is a whole world of poignant being.

Mr. Merman, Mermaaaan....

Aug 21, 08 9:00 am  · 
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won and done williams

while i don't wholeheartedly agree with zoo, the whole "i was born to be an architect" line sounds to me like ancient greece meets frank capra, i.e. a little rough to stomach. i think for most of us architecture is a profession. we know that we are not going to be zaha or frank, but it supports a pretty good quality of life and i believe for most, it is something that we actively enjoy doing, actively being the key word. there's something about correct lineweights that we find pleasurable. we like calling our structural engineers and discussing steel shapes. we enjoy going into the field and seeing that our drawings actually can communicate an idea. i think there's a tendency to overcomplicate what we do, to imagine too much that we are artists, or to aspire to fame, especially early in our careers. to me, these are simply thoughts, not at all engaged with the active day-to-day aspect of the profession. if you enjoy doing architecture, i think it can lead to a long and satisfying career.

Aug 21, 08 9:19 am  · 
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chatter of clouds

but who says "i was born to be an architect"? architects, largely, are the group who only chose to be architects because it was the nearest thing to -or next best thing after what they want to be. how many i know who wanted to be artists, film makers, engineers...but somehow found architecture to be such an ambiguous amalgam of skills that it was virtually tantamount to being , and i exagerrate slightly, an "undeclared" major straddling art, science and engineering courses. architecture is, and i exaggerate here, the marshland between the other domains of knowledge. no one was born to be a marshland king or queen.

really, the idea many architects have of the idea many architects have of themselves is sheer nonsense. the only truth and common factor between many architects is that they don't make an easy buck..or many many bucks.

Aug 21, 08 9:32 am  · 
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chatter of clouds

" if you enjoy doing architecture, i think it can lead to a long and satisfying career." someone shoot this cliché

Aug 21, 08 9:33 am  · 
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won and done williams

you may have missed my emphasis on doing rather than thinking architecture. then again you may still think it's cliche. that's fine.

Aug 21, 08 9:37 am  · 
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won and done williams

"the only truth and common factor between many architects is that they don't make an easy buck..or many many bucks."

and...someone please shoot this cliche.

Aug 21, 08 9:40 am  · 
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who said 'born to be...' first? zoolander did. i didn't decide it until i was 8 or so, but by then it was a done deal; never changed course.

Aug 21, 08 9:48 am  · 
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TED

sex

Aug 21, 08 9:52 am  · 
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won and done williams

i wasn't targeting you, sw. just a common answer to the question i hear.

Aug 21, 08 9:57 am  · 
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Apurimac

Holy shit, for once I agree with you noc. Well your 6:32 post at least.

I for one, wanted to be a scientist and explore the oceans. Whenever we went to the beach when I was a small child, no matter how dangerous the sea was, I was always trying to run in and mom or dad always had to get me. I actually got interested in architecture playing SimCity and Myst as a kid and my appreciation for the built world I wound up exploring largely through video games. In that respect, architecture as a bit of a life-long interest which I never figured I could do until 9-11 happened.

What gets me out of bed everyday to do this job is a myriad of factors that would take me a long time to post.

Aug 21, 08 10:08 am  · 
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j-turn

The thing is ... in the grand scheme of things, architects do just fine financially. Not as well as lawyers, bankers and doctors, but overall we do fine, and everytime I've moaned about low pay to a lawyer or banker, they shoot right back: "at least you like your work."

And they're right.

It might sound like a cliche to some of you, but I like my work. I'm very happy to be an architect, I like designing buildings, I like figuring out nice detail, I like to make my drawings look good. I've wanted to be an architect since I was a kid, and I've been doing it for 12 years now. Don't plan on stopping.

Aug 21, 08 10:31 am  · 
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j-turn

In reply to noctilucent,

If you go to a BArch program and start asking around, you'll find that most of them decided to be architects at a really young age.

MArch programs probably have more folks who tried one thing, but ended up in architecture schools.

Compare that to Law School where practically noone wanted to be a lawyer, and they all secretly hate themselves for being there.

Aug 21, 08 10:39 am  · 
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chatter of clouds

j-turn, i was in school ( i did the UK BA+Diploma thing) and I don't need to go back to ask. Architecture schools have the special aroma of students who don't know whether they really wanted to do architecture in the first place, wehther they like it, whether they will be able to complete their studies. In the more advanced studios, it has a different smell, the smell of survivors of an internal war.

Then again, many americans are so much more moral about things (test this one for being a cliché)...so it might also be a microclimatic thing.

Aug 21, 08 10:57 am  · 
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j-turn

Interesting. Maybe it's a UK thing - I would bet that in continental Europe people decide to be architects at a young age. That's just a guess tho ...

Anyway, what did you want to be before you became a smelly archi-student? Why did you stop wanting to be that thing? When did you decide to be an architect? Was it a slow creeping transition in your mind? Or did you have a sudden calling?

Aug 21, 08 11:10 am  · 
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chatter of clouds

personally, i didn't want to be anything and then i became an architect. no glamourous wunderkinder stories of drawing abilities and love of lego land. i was still getting over the fact that i hadn't died at a young age (a teenage angst thing :)

Aug 21, 08 11:29 am  · 
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holz.box

special aroma - it's more of a stench, really

Aug 21, 08 11:31 am  · 
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j-turn

mmm ... yeah it's the stench of too much coffee, anxiety sweats and too few showers.

Aug 21, 08 11:35 am  · 
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all kids are filled with angst. architects aren't special that way.

i do actually know a lot of very rich people in the money biz who seriously and absofuckinglootly hate their jobs and most of the people they work with. some of them have made similar comment about how at least i like my job. they make millions a year though, so i don't pity them very much. lets get real here.

i also know lots of people in same biz who are nice humans and love their jobs. it comes down to character somehow, that sort of thing. some people can stay above the bullshit. others can't.

in architecture i guess it is the same thing. i do like architecture. but i didn't when i started archi-school. my motivation to do architecture now has nothing to do with that. that was almost 20 years ago. i can't even remember why i went into archi-school in first place. i did come from fine arts and physics though...so there you go.

Aug 21, 08 12:25 pm  · 
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zoolander

I was born wearing a pair of ''libeskind'' frames. Hadn't really much of a choice after that debacle.

Aug 21, 08 12:30 pm  · 
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fays.panda

sketching sketching sketching, even if it has nothing to do with the work I have to do. I can carry a sketch book around wherever I want, and ppl just think im crazy cuz im an architect... its fine though

Aug 21, 08 5:22 pm  · 
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