It should come as no surprise when I write, in the most literal sense, that an architect’s hands are always full. This statement is backed by a reflection of certain burdensome experiences from my years as an architecture student. Experiences that I now proudly recognize as new learnings and acquisitions of necessary life skills, in an attempt to shine some positivity on the embarrassments of the past. If you are a student, this article will by all means assure you that occurrences such as the ones I am yet to mention were overcome by most of us. And if you are a professional, then I allow you to reminisce some good old times as I present to you my humorous episodes.
Episode One
If I could retrace the origins of carrying this great amount of baggage to its roots, my findings would lead me back to the beginning of architecture school. It started with a long list of prescribed stationary to buy, ones that were new and intriguing to a person who was introduced to the subject for the first time. Of course, half of the instruments ceased to exist from my memory and possession, and the other half had to be replaced repeatedly.
However, that initial set remained special and it played a significant role in this first episode. I often liked to picture myself as a warrior setting out for battle as I commuted between home and college every day. Bearing the weight of a bag full of supplies and refreshments on my shoulders, with a sheet container resembling a quiver slung across my back, one hand clutching a T-scale as a sword and the other, an A3 sized sketchbook as a shield. This account goes out to all those who did not have the privilege of riding a vehicle and instead had to travel either by foot or by public transport.
As mentioned earlier, every experience in architecture school had an undeniable lesson that came with it. I convinced myself that this adventure taught me endurance and strength to carry on despite the weight to drag, distance to travel, and confused onlookers to ignore. Also, let me include that I developed good balance as I desperately held on to handrails with the fingers I had left to spare in a moving bus to prevent an unfortunate fall.
Episode Two
Throughout architecture school, the only task that was more laborious and required extra precision than model making was transporting the model(s) that needed a great deal of effort to make but only provided partial satisfaction, to the studio. This journey was undoubtedly challenging, as it required fragile models to be held at arm’s length with a deprival of sight of what lay ahead and instead relying on peripheral vision and familiarity of the space. Occasionally, a clumsy person like myself would trip or drop what was being held without the influence of any external factor. It may be noted that heartbreak and misery take over almost immediately as major contributors to this episode.
What I learnt, you ask? Resilience. To fix a broken model or probably even start over amongst some who were to begin at that moment, just in time to present it to a jury. Moreover, spontaneity to undertake a presentation without preparation, a highly underrated skill that deserves more credit, especially in a field such as ours.
Episode Three
A sigh of relief dwells upon those who finally reach the much-awaited stage of stepping out of college to begin an internship. The liberation was, however, short-lived as the endeavours that were faced at this point were worthy of being qualified as troubles that entailed adulthood. This episode focuses on the professional responsibilities entrusted to an architectural intern upon entering the field. By this time, I was already acquainted with having both my hands occupied and hence it came with relative ease to perform competently despite challenges during site visits that included project folders to be held, drawings to be issued, discussions and observations to be noted in a sketchbook and simultaneously, photos of the site to be documented. For the sake of self-confidence, I would like to assume that there was not much sweat involved.
Multi-tasking was a valuable skill that I acquired during this period. Furthermore, taking ownership of a project that was assigned to me was an important quality that I obtained to prove loyalty in a professional setting.
Outcome
Let me state at this point that an exaggeration is a key I often use to make my point loud and clear. Besides, despite this heightened narrative of my troublesome experiences, I still left architecture school with a sincere resolve and I intend to keep my hands full and seek some lessons for much longer until I reach undoubted content.
