I am 20 year old architecture student in 3rd year and I don't know if its just me but I feel like I haven't learnt anything. my professor usually likes my design proposals (which is rear) and I get like B lowest in this class but I still feel like I don't know anything. I usually just follow my mind on designs and have a hard time when it comes to 3d rendering. I haven't learnt one single thing I can remember and I have to prepare my portfolio to apply for an internship to do summer 2021 and I have no project that I think is worth putting in there. long story short this aint looking good. what did you guys do during your student years that you think have actually helped you improve design wise or generally?
Non Sequitur
Oct 25, 20 9:25 pm
This is a common feeling many get once they've crossed the halfway point in their arch degrees... I certainly felt it (which was like... fuck, 14years ago now. damn.). Anyways, you can't expect your studio profs to tell you what is good or what direction to take your design projects. It is up to you to find something solid and stand behind your decisions AND complete the idea to it's logical end. This means that you see your ideas from dirty napkin sketch to final model and drawings. The benefit here is that you leave yourself a bread crumb trail to build on and you can start to learn how you piece together design solutions. This is a part of what academic portfolios should show. No one cares about the final renderings since they are very easy to pump out. People care about how to see and solve things and in what creative or unique ways.
Jay1122
Oct 26, 20 11:39 am
"No one cares about the final renderings since they are very easy to pump out" I find that statement very very offensive. You know it is a career of its own? Here is a viz firm that I really like.
If you can render those when you are in school. Trust me, you will be hired on the spot.
Chad Miller
Oct 26, 20 11:57 am
I have to agree with NS on the rendering thing but for different reasons. Being able to create renderings is a great skill to have and will make anyone more marketable to a point. In reality though most firms aren't going to have someone in house doing just renderings or have their more experienced staff spending their time doing them. For those photorealistic computer renderings though firms typically hire out to those specialty firms - it's more efficient and saves time.
Non Sequitur
Oct 26, 20 12:39 pm
We have one person who pumps out photorealistic renderings. Takes an hour, maybe more... but often a lot less. It's about a quarter of their work load. I could do it myself, but my time is better spent elsewhere.
thatsthat
Oct 26, 20 10:50 am
Just battle through it. It sucks. A lot of studio courses are like this. 99% of what you need to know you learn through work experience anyway.
Jay1122
Oct 26, 20 11:31 am
Focus less on design and more on graphic and actual deliverable. It is all about the portfolio. Rendering matters as well as other graphical components. In fact the classmates in my school with really good rendering/graphic skills all got into good design firms. Employers are not looking for their design director with the interns. They want someone with potential as well as production skills creating fancy diagrams and renderings for them to present to their internal team/clients. Their design director/partner will do the actual design on those fancy buildings, interns are more like their human sketch pad. And most of the projects are just variations of boxes anyway. Just remember, PORTFOLIO, PORTFOLIO, PORTFOLIO. You have to be in the game in order to rise through the rank and actually get to design later.
Non Sequitur
Oct 26, 20 11:32 am
renderings matter not. Anyone can press the render button.
bowling_ball
Oct 26, 20 11:37 am
Yeah, I'm with NS on this. Unless I'm hiring for a full time renderer position, that's not my focus. If that's the face you present during the application process, that's what you'll likely get stuck doing until you get bored and quit.
Jay1122
Oct 26, 20 11:42 am
It matters. How much? Depends on employer. seriously what do you think those big firms let intern designers do? Pretty much presentation drawings, diagrams, process renderings for internal review pin up. And develop until client presentation. Oh, also physical model making if its "starchitect".
NS, I can tell you are nice and care about intern's design and thought process. But most employers view them as cheap tools.
Jay1122
Oct 26, 20 11:50 am
Also, you cannot render with a single button press. You need to spend time to set up the detailed model, set up the scene and material before you press the button. Not all firms can afford a full time renderer. Many of them let designers do internal renderings for review use. Then outsource to viz firm for final marketing money shot.
Non Sequitur
Oct 26, 20 11:51 am
You need better employers if that's how you see things. Anyone and their grandmother can be shown how to render models. Few can think through design problems. That's what I care. I don't even look at 3D rendings.
square.
Oct 26, 20 12:17 pm
jay, it's called enscape. which is all architects need before they hire someone out. it's quite literally a button now. vray, or any labor intensive rendering (for photo realistic purposes) is dying and most see it as a complete waste of time now.
Jay1122
Oct 26, 20 12:18 pm
Well if you can find a better employer then congrats. But I haven't seen that many. Anyway those are just the big firm "designer" position side. If you end up in the "technical" side of the intern position. Well now you have stair details, door schedules, Revit models, things of that nature.
Jay1122
Oct 26, 20 12:24 pm
Ok. here is a job post from ZGF for intern 4, let me snap the requirements:
3 years' professional experience with Revit, 3D Max, SketchUp, Rhino, Vray Rendering, and Bluebeam.3 years' experience preparing architectural plans (construction documents, elevations, sections, details) and renderings.
2 years' experience collaborating with junior team members on projects (preparation of architectural plans, construction documents, elevations, sections, details and renderings).
Professional experience (any) with institutional, research / laboratory, corporate and commercial projects.
Professional experience (any) with energy-efficient design.
Submission of portfolio containing all of the following: A) samples of at least two (2) sets of photo-realistic renderings of institutional, research / laboratory, corporate and commercial projects suitable for use by an architectural firm (at least 4 renderings total), and B) Sample Construction Documents (plans, elevations, details and section drawings) for at least four (4) different professional projects.
MOFO wants it all and pay you intern salary. They want 3D modeling, rendering, architectural drawings, create CD sets, LEED specialization. Only thing they don't want, ability to be creative and design buildings. Nuh uh, those are not for interns.
Jay1122
Oct 26, 20 12:32 pm
BTW. That position had 200+ applications on linked in alone last time I saw. My guess is probably 400 applicants for 1 job. My advice to people like OP. Do your best on portfolio and try to land one. Trust me your design does not matter much. Suffer through it then jump ship with those fancy buildings in your portfolio. Eventually when you rise high above in a nice design firm. You can start doing your design and talk about your philosophy.
Non Sequitur
Oct 26, 20 12:37 pm
Jay, respectfully, you need more experience.
Jay1122
Oct 26, 20 12:47 pm
I don't think what we are talking about have anything to do with experience. In fact I probably can relate to the interns more. You are on the upper side of the pyramid. At that point, many people either left the field or settled with firms doing boring work. Intern level on good design firm is cut throat competitive. The more skills you can get to market yourself the better. Design idea alone will never cut it.
Jay1122
Oct 26, 20 1:10 pm
Look at this intern position for wHY, right here fresh on archinect. Let me decipher it.
• Ability to work and multi-task in a design intensive(work extra hours), collaborative environment.
• Strong working knowledge of Adobe Suite(make diagrams) (Illustrator, InDesign and Photoshop) and AutoCAD (drafting) is required.
• Excellent 3D rendering/modeling(slave labor) skills
• Prior professional work experience(Help produce CD set) is required.
• Ability to start immediately.
Internships are compensated with a monthly honorarium(low pay).
Jay1122
Oct 26, 20 1:21 pm
In case you guys don't know how applications are reviewed when there are 200+ applicants. 20 secs on resume, 40 secs on portfolio. Scroll through them and look for graphical prowess and basic education/professional experience. Then decide keep for next round or discard. Design ideas? LOL only if you make it to interview stage.
archanonymous
Oct 26, 20 1:49 pm
I like doing renderings. If only I ever got to do them anymore...
apscoradiales
Oct 26, 20 3:24 pm
Jay1122,
"...here is a job post from ZGF for intern 4, let me snap the requirements..."
Reminds me of late 1980's when firms were looking for ACAD operators with 10 years (MIN....!) of experience in R12, which, if I'm not mistaken was introduced in 1989 or something like that.
Oh yeah, you had to bring in your own machine with ACAD installed in it...pirated, naturally.
LOL!
Glad I don't have to put up with that shit any more - feel sorry for young kids. And then, they want to be "Architects"!
hello
I am 20 year old architecture student in 3rd year and I don't know if its just me but I feel like I haven't learnt anything. my professor usually likes my design proposals (which is rear) and I get like B lowest in this class but I still feel like I don't know anything. I usually just follow my mind on designs and have a hard time when it comes to 3d rendering. I haven't learnt one single thing I can remember and I have to prepare my portfolio to apply for an internship to do summer 2021 and I have no project that I think is worth putting in there. long story short this aint looking good. what did you guys do during your student years that you think have actually helped you improve design wise or generally?
This is a common feeling many get once they've crossed the halfway point in their arch degrees... I certainly felt it (which was like... fuck, 14years ago now. damn.). Anyways, you can't expect your studio profs to tell you what is good or what direction to take your design projects. It is up to you to find something solid and stand behind your decisions AND complete the idea to it's logical end. This means that you see your ideas from dirty napkin sketch to final model and drawings. The benefit here is that you leave yourself a bread crumb trail to build on and you can start to learn how you piece together design solutions. This is a part of what academic portfolios should show. No one cares about the final renderings since they are very easy to pump out. People care about how to see and solve things and in what creative or unique ways.
"No one cares about the final renderings since they are very easy to pump out" I find that statement very very offensive. You know it is a career of its own? Here is a viz firm that I really like.
plomp
If you can render those when you are in school. Trust me, you will be hired on the spot.
I have to agree with NS on the rendering thing but for different reasons. Being able to create renderings is a great skill to have and will make anyone more marketable to a point. In reality though most firms aren't going to have someone in house doing just renderings or have their more experienced staff spending their time doing them. For those photorealistic computer renderings though firms typically hire out to those specialty firms - it's more efficient and saves time.
We have one person who pumps out photorealistic renderings. Takes an hour, maybe more... but often a lot less. It's about a quarter of their work load. I could do it myself, but my time is better spent elsewhere.
Just battle through it. It sucks. A lot of studio courses are like this. 99% of what you need to know you learn through work experience anyway.
Focus less on design and more on graphic and actual deliverable. It is all about the portfolio. Rendering matters as well as other graphical components. In fact the classmates in my school with really good rendering/graphic skills all got into good design firms. Employers are not looking for their design director with the interns. They want someone with potential as well as production skills creating fancy diagrams and renderings for them to present to their internal team/clients. Their design director/partner will do the actual design on those fancy buildings, interns are more like their human sketch pad. And most of the projects are just variations of boxes anyway. Just remember, PORTFOLIO, PORTFOLIO, PORTFOLIO. You have to be in the game in order to rise through the rank and actually get to design later.
renderings matter not. Anyone can press the render button.
Yeah, I'm with NS on this. Unless I'm hiring for a full time renderer position, that's not my focus. If that's the face you present during the application process, that's what you'll likely get stuck doing until you get bored and quit.
It matters. How much? Depends on employer. seriously what do you think those big firms let intern designers do? Pretty much presentation drawings, diagrams, process renderings for internal review pin up. And develop until client presentation. Oh, also physical model making if its "starchitect".
NS, I can tell you are nice and care about intern's design and thought process. But most employers view them as cheap tools.
Also, you cannot render with a single button press. You need to spend time to set up the detailed model, set up the scene and material before you press the button. Not all firms can afford a full time renderer. Many of them let designers do internal renderings for review use. Then outsource to viz firm for final marketing money shot.
You need better employers if that's how you see things. Anyone and their grandmother can be shown how to render models. Few can think through design problems. That's what I care. I don't even look at 3D rendings.
jay, it's called enscape. which is all architects need before they hire someone out. it's quite literally a button now. vray, or any labor intensive rendering (for photo realistic purposes) is dying and most see it as a complete waste of time now.
Well if you can find a better employer then congrats. But I haven't seen that many. Anyway those are just the big firm "designer" position side. If you end up in the "technical" side of the intern position. Well now you have stair details, door schedules, Revit models, things of that nature.
Ok. here is a job post from ZGF for intern 4, let me snap the requirements:
3 years' professional experience with Revit, 3D Max, SketchUp, Rhino, Vray Rendering, and Bluebeam.3 years' experience preparing architectural plans (construction documents, elevations, sections, details) and renderings. 2 years' experience collaborating with junior team members on projects (preparation of architectural plans, construction documents, elevations, sections, details and renderings). Professional experience (any) with institutional, research / laboratory, corporate and commercial projects. Professional experience (any) with energy-efficient design. Submission of portfolio containing all of the following: A) samples of at least two (2) sets of photo-realistic renderings of institutional, research / laboratory, corporate and commercial projects suitable for use by an architectural firm (at least 4 renderings total), and B) Sample Construction Documents (plans, elevations, details and section drawings) for at least four (4) different professional projects.
MOFO wants it all and pay you intern salary. They want 3D modeling, rendering, architectural drawings, create CD sets, LEED specialization. Only thing they don't want, ability to be creative and design buildings. Nuh uh, those are not for interns.
BTW. That position had 200+ applications on linked in alone last time I saw. My guess is probably 400 applicants for 1 job. My advice to people like OP. Do your best on portfolio and try to land one. Trust me your design does not matter much. Suffer through it then jump ship with those fancy buildings in your portfolio. Eventually when you rise high above in a nice design firm. You can start doing your design and talk about your philosophy.
Jay, respectfully, you need more experience.
I don't think what we are talking about have anything to do with experience. In fact I probably can relate to the interns more. You are on the upper side of the pyramid. At that point, many people either left the field or settled with firms doing boring work. Intern level on good design firm is cut throat competitive. The more skills you can get to market yourself the better. Design idea alone will never cut it.
Look at this intern position for wHY, right here fresh on archinect. Let me decipher it.
• Ability to work and multi-task in a design intensive(work extra hours), collaborative environment.
• Strong working knowledge of Adobe Suite(make diagrams) (Illustrator, InDesign and Photoshop) and AutoCAD (drafting) is required.
• Excellent 3D rendering/modeling(slave labor) skills
• Prior professional work experience(Help produce CD set) is required.
• Ability to start immediately. Internships are compensated with a monthly honorarium(low pay).
In case you guys don't know how applications are reviewed when there are 200+ applicants. 20 secs on resume, 40 secs on portfolio. Scroll through them and look for graphical prowess and basic education/professional experience. Then decide keep for next round or discard. Design ideas? LOL only if you make it to interview stage.
I like doing renderings. If only I ever got to do them anymore...
Jay1122,
"...here is a job post from ZGF for intern 4, let me snap the requirements..."
Reminds me of late 1980's when firms were looking for ACAD operators with 10 years (MIN....!) of experience in R12, which, if I'm not mistaken was introduced in 1989 or something like that.
Oh yeah, you had to bring in your own machine with ACAD installed in it...pirated, naturally.
LOL!
Glad I don't have to put up with that shit any more - feel sorry for young kids. And then, they want to be "Architects"!