“Architecture is an expression of values – the way we build is a reflection of the way we live.” Norman Foster has put it across accurately.
It is righ`tly said that architecture is a tool that can manifest your illusion into reality. Being one of the most respected professions in the world, one gets to explore a ton through the five-year journey of architecture. With this thought, I stepped into this profession with a belief that it will make it worth achieving it. Rigorous learning, meeting deadlines, working for long hours, and making detailed drawings is what makes it one of the toughest courses, where you need dedication throughout five years. Every student of architecture knows the hard work and patience required to achieve the degree. Apart from all the grilling, one gets to learn a lot in the due course of time. From time management to life skills, an architect is a master at everything.
Architecture college has taught me a lot of crucial technical skills as well as other skills that contribute to the holistic development of an individual. Some of the critical technical skills include – hand and digital drafting, 3d modeling, physical architectural model making, etc.
Following are some of the skills that one learns as a student of architecture which eventually turns out as an asset beyond academics:
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Problem solving/ design thinking | Life lessons
One of the basic and most important skills is problem-solving and design thinking which combines the skill sets of logical and creative, both sides of the brain. It not only helps in developing the technological part but enhances the aesthetical aspect too. Technical skills focus on how to draw detailed drawings and constructive details whereas aesthetic skills make a project give its identity by making it unique. A combination of both of the above makes it ideal for making a project successful. Since most of our clients are a part of the skeptical community where we have to be practical apart from just ideas and concepts who don’t understand the language of architecture but are just focused on the final product.
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Communication skills
As an architect, it is very essential to communicate and to market your design. In this highly competitive world, the talent of convincing, defending your design, public speaking, and presentation skills can attract a larger pallet of clients and pay you well at the same time. The more one networks, the more one observes sails through the career smoothly.
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Leadership qualities
Good teamwork skills allow you to learn valuable lessons about how to manage different groups of people with perseverance and tolerance, thus enhancing your leadership qualities to lead the team from the front. Architecture students work like commandos, where they have to get into the system as well as prove themselves every time to make a mark wherever they are.
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Time management
Due to the intense time crunch and work pressure, architecture students should know how to prioritize tasks and manage the time accordingly. It makes one do smart and fast-paced work which can be inspiring and fulfilling. Lack of time management sacrifices the ability to be creative and hampers work quality. Giving oneself time to recover and recharge can make everyday tasks more efficient.
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Taking Criticism | Life lessons
Architecture school life is incomplete with critique and feedback, tough reviews are like a personal attack, one has to defend work often to be able to survive in architecture. Ideas and concepts need to be grounded so they can be built as site realities are different from virtual reality.
Apart from academics, architecture opens the door to broad fields where one can broaden his/her ideas and perceptions. Architecture cannot be taught but has to be learned. Schools provide you with all the guidance and exposure you need to develop a strong foundation for your career. Over half a decade, the guidance reduces and you need to self-learn architecture, critical ability to observe, think, analyze and interpret in your design is what you learn, but it takes decades to master these skills.
Basically, all that is taught is needed to brush your basics so that when you are out into the real world, you can manage and accomplish any task with ease. One learns architecture not only in the classroom but in the outdoor environment. Learning from other disciplines such as contractors or even a mason working on-site collaboratively can make you learn to the minute of details. Admiring the work and taking inspiration from master architects, expands our vision for design. Words like ergonomy, vernacular, or even sustainability which form the so-called architecture vocabulary, and adding them to your obscure architectural ideas, presentations to convince your professors is a skill we all have mastered!
Beyond architecture, one has to think out of the box to stand apart from others as well as putting forth your idea in such a way so that people listen to you. Though the journey is rewarding, after all the tiresome time we all have spent these years, tremendous learning in all aspects.
Traveling, meeting people, understanding the cultural, economic political outlook of a place, and designing in such a way that it can create impact and also make the project stand out. Above all, for an architect’s learning never stops, the progress and development happen at the same time. Even though this course is challenging as it appears to be but rewarding at the same time.
