It was another survey lecture of ours when our professor entered the studio! This time he came in with some really weird instruments! There were a lot of interesting things that most of us had never seen before. long coloured rods with pointy ends, nails, a huge coiled rope, the biggest measuring tapes we’d seen then and many more such things. “Let’s go see how contours are measured today “, he said! And our eyes twinkled! We were all curious as we all were going to learn how those contours which made designing complicated are measured and put on paper! Also, the instruments seemed to be interesting and then field activities always called for fun learning! We. were divided into teams, the boys were asked to do the heavy-duty work of hammering nails in the ground which marked the meanders of the contours! A group was appointed fixed the poles painted red and white and as our professor told us were called the range poles. The next group handled the compass and the levels and kept the readings in the survey journal. The groups were swapped for measuring different contours and at the end of the day, we had accomplished a task we never even knew existed! We had a whole contour diagram on the site marked for our design project! We not only learned a completely different subject, ancillary to architecture but very crucial in designing but also came across new instruments and how they are handled!
This is just one of the many times we learned a new task in architecture college! Every day was introduced us with something new and captivating tasks to explore and fulfil! The Building technology lectures were the most engrossing as we were taken to the sites and made to construct a particular building element! I remember we erected a whole column and spent a whole month learning about the exact procedure from the labours! We were taught how to mix concrete in the perfect ratios, Filling the concrete, tying the steel bars to curing the concrete, this the which in turn strengthened our site surveying skills which helped and ameliorated it! This built our very foundation for an efficient professional career!
The Theory of structures lectures was the most challenging as we were taught some major calculations required to make sure the structure is safe for occupancy in future! These included studying load transfers to calculating the diameter of bars which would go into the elements! From finding the elasticity of materials to by-hearting exact ratios we learned physics and mathematics differently! Though this would not be something an architect does in his professional career, we were merely taught this to make sure the engineers are efficient enough at their work and don’t mislead you in any possible way!
Studying architecture not just moulds you as a professional but also teaches you some basic life skills! The design juries, for example, are the most repetitive tasks in architecture studies but it has its own set of advantages which as a student we could never foresee. But as we advance in the course, we realise its benefits the most and group presentations serve as excellent examples for developing some essential adroitness. The group exercises helped to work in teams and built leadership skills within me! With every presentation is learned conveying my idea with clarity! Each design jury not just teaches us how to represent an idea and sell it but also polishes our public speaking skills!
Architecture is known as the mothers of all arts because during the architecture course we not just learn about the technicalities but also, we learn the basics of drawing. I am sure we all as a first-year architecture student have been humiliated for making sheets and sheets of simple alphabets and that too in capital letters only. Whiles some fellow mates of mine hated making the history sketches I made some extra sketches for better understanding and visualisation. This enhanced my sketching skills and also improved my 3D visualization and perspective knowledge. Hand-draughting taught us using technical drawing instruments for making precise drawings to be followed on the site.
Architecture is all about composition and we as architecture students learn about the elements of art and composition from the very beginning of the course only to evolve the understanding and its applications in different genres of structures to meek and minor things like making PowerPoint presentations more precise.
When it comes to digitalization, architectural studies include the usage of a couple of complicated software like Auto-Cad, Revit, Sketch-up etc. Architecture students learn multiple software during their five years. Where on one hand architects use the most intense designing Softwares, we are also taught the basics Software for better connection building and understanding of the client. PowerPoint is extensively used to deliver some prodigious presentations and create an everlasting impact on your client’s mind.
Today as a professional, an Architect stands with extreme confidence and with apt marketing skills, which creates a poised personality and an aura respected on any stage we stand! Hence architecture is regarded as a profession and has a set of laws in the constitution too. As every coin has two sides, we as professionals thus have to face the grievances in case of any major failures in the structures we build. It is rightly quoted ‘With power comes responsibility’ Architects are thus responsible to set new standards to the profession of architecture. The architecture course builds every skillset one needs to be a professional and thus bestows upon us the usage of Ar. as a suffix before our names. All these rewards are a result of a physically intense and challenging course of Architecture which builds the following set of skills,
- design skills and composition aptitude
- building and construction; technicalities
- acknowledging the beauty in detail & to be thorough and pay attention to it.
- teaches thinking and reasoning skills
- marketing & customer service skills
- excellent verbal communication & confidence in public speaking.
- both logical & analytical thinking skills
- basic usage of computers and the main software packages confidently!
It is thus evident how Architecture as an academic major is so hectic and is mentally stressful too. But even after being termed as the toughest course it is considered and taken up by many students just because they are good at drawing and sketching or merely to acquire a degree to start practising as Professionals only to unfold multiple intriguing tasks and activities in the whole course which one cannot even think of at the time of appearing for the simple entrance exams. Isn’t that a whole lot of knowledge an architect imbibes in just five years of the student life but with accuracy and perfection?
