Any student who is the product of an Indian education system is not exposed to looking at things with such critical thinking and looking at innovative solutions to find real-life problems. joining an architecture institute requires students to put their thinking hats on and explore their creative side for the first time.
This is different from any other situation in which we have or will ever have operated. The incredible highs and lows associated with each late-night concept adjustment and planning for critical feedback are overwhelming. Yet for every semester of our desire to push our emotional potential and resolve challenges, there is a lasting impact on our minds.
Architecture School
The biggest mistake people outside this industry do is to confuse architecture with civil engineering. While both are intertwined but still very different from each other. Architecture is a blend between art and technicality of construction while civil engineering is a more technically oriented stream.
The school of Architecture works on several various types of issues. It’s not about going from point A to point B. It’s all about the journey that students are on. I’ve been fighting my entire life in school before I’ve arrived in the design school. Once I did so, for the first time in my college life, I felt like I was praised for my innovative thoughts, rather than being disciplined for not following orders.
After 5 years, 10 semesters, 10 Design Critic reviews, We as architects are hardwired in such a way that we can never look at architecture the same way. Before joining an architecture school, I never really considered architecture or built structures to be anything unique until I started to look at them as a designer.
But one thing I realized when I understood the concept of planning and designing thought and the amount of analysis, time, and commitment taken to design a decent building is that not every well-looking designed space is not necessarily a good architecture to live in. Once we are able to read a building in terms of its functionality, sustainability, etc., then our ability to differentiate great architecture from good architecture becomes more refined.
Joining architecture helped me to find myself as a person, Who just fell in love with the design process, the kind of satisfaction one gets from problem-solving.
Although my journey towards becoming an architect began a few years ago now I have started to see that every architect is trying to tell a narrative through their design. It’s like a story written in a cryptic language that only an architect understands and enjoys.
The School of Architecture has given me a new viewpoint on architecture and nature, that the built and unbuilt space go hand in hand, that there needs to be a certain balance. Our architecture should not only allow the well-being of oneself, but also the environment.
Things Only Architects Notice
After 5 years of learning architecture history, We are always very keen on finding the narrative that comes with every piece of architecture. Every building is a symbol of the time period that is stuck in time. These are the best ways to understand what humans were like in that particular period. It helps us architects understand the different trends that revolutionized architecture.
An act with all the five senses coming together is to enter a new location. At first sight, the entire universe is stunning, but an intellectual vision has always been of great essence to fully grasp its makings. Via the microscope of logic, artists have always gazed at stuff and appreciated those discoveries with an artistic mindset.
Particularly in built-environments, their love is unprecedented for various kinds of spaces. It would not be incorrect to suggest that only an artist will visit an art gallery and eventually take photographs of the house.
How well they understand human psychology and human behavior is one of the main aspects that distinguish a great designer from a mediocre designer. One thing that changed after becoming a designer of designed forms for humans is that I began to note very superficial points about human behavior, how humans act in various social situations, or how they react to different elements of architecture.
Throughout their course and practice, each student who chooses to study architecture goes through a process of thought-changing encounters. Architecture students grow in terms of maturity as they go through the entire process of finding their personality as a designer. The architecture provides this unique approach that not just evolves us as a designer, but also as an individual. My fascination for skyscrapers has changed, my thinking has transcended to questioning whether a design is truly necessary and in what way does it benefit the living and the non-living.
Architecture studies are going to change the way you view the world and eventually change your life. Then when you start, you are going to graduate as a different person. Nobody can understand what you have learned through your years at the school of architecture but for our architect colleagues. The goal of the school of architecture is to produce solid, dynamic, intellectual graduates who will be ready to join the next phase of architecture.
Bibliography
Kathuria, Y., 2021. Things only architects notice while travelling – RTF | Rethinking The Future. [online] RTF | Rethinking The Future. Available at: <https://www.re-thinkingthefuture.com/fresh-perspectives/a1421-things-only-architects-notice-while-travelling/> [Accessed 5 April 2021].
Singh, S., 2021. Architecture School A turbulent experience – RTF | Rethinking The Future. [online] RTF | Rethinking The Future. Available at: <https://www.re-thinkingthefuture.com/fresh-perspectives/a1656-architecture-school-a-turbulent-experience/> [Accessed 5 April 2021].
