Ever slept while standing under a shower? Or sat outside a print shop at 5 in the morning to get your sheets printed? Came with a completely disheveled model and got the best grades? Protected your architecture sheets and models more than your own life? Cue, virtual nods.
Architecture. It is a journey, isn’t it? A journey involving a high-speed roller coaster at the speed of 250kmph, complete with multiple loops and headlong dives. The first thing most of us encounter on our first day in architecture school is the question, ‘Why Architecture?’. Creativity and undying love for buildings are what we commonly have mistaken as the only thing that architecture revolves around until we are hit with Working Drawings, Theory of Structures and Bye-Laws, which then leaves us to ask the question, ‘Why Architecture?’
The immense amount of knowledge and a variety of information that we absorb every year is directly proportional to the complexity of the coursework that gets introduced per year. From being perfectly nonplussed in the first year (because what is so complex about laying water pipes) to the sheer joy and pride of completing that final dissertation (because laying those service pipes is what most jurors are interested in), to the uncertainty of starting your first ever internship (because toilet designing is the first step into architecture practice), we go through it all.
“You’ve gotta get out there and improvise and you’ve gotta be completely unafraid to die.”
-Bill Murray, Esquire Magazine
This particular quote of Bill Murray’s defines the beginning of architecture college somewhat appropriately. The only complication is the literal implication that most of our professors emphasize. Because death is not an excuse to miss a submission! “I don’t care if you’re on your deathbed, you need to be there for your jury,” is something most of us are familiar with. Maybe not death, but we have all left bits of fleshes and drops of blood while showcasing impressive metal and wood cutting abilities in design workshops. Coming to a jury with hands full of scratches and broken fingers is considered a good omen (most of the time).
“I begin with an idea and then it becomes something else.”
-Pablo Picasso
The story of every design project! Rhythm, symmetry, textures, minimalism – words that have been our saving grace during critical jury moments. They never run out of style. These form the basis of many of our architectural projects. However, most of these get left behind after the defining conceptual stage. Because one thing we architects are the best at is “Procrastination”.
“If you hear a voice within you say, ‘you cannot paint’, then by all means paint, and that voice will be silenced.”
-Vincent Van Gogh
Similarly, if you hear a voice within you say, “start work today”, then by all means delay it, and that voice will be silenced. Because diamonds are created under pressure, aren’t they? That is how at least most of us remember our best juries. To share a personal experience of one such pressure-induced jury would be our Urban Design presentation. The night before the jury had an entire class of 40 students awake and holed up in a 10 x 5m computer lab till daybreak. The icing on the cake was how the delay led to one of the most remembered and cherished juries as we bonded over washroom timings.
Friendships formed in Architecture, are some of the best in life! Especially when you have a Theory of Structures exam the next day. More Physics! More Group Study Sessions! More Procrastination! The art of accommodating an entire syllabus in just 6 hours is something we are all familiar with. But the art of requesting for an open book test and still failing miserably is something that is precious to an Architecture student. Because the open book test requires books! A minor glitch that we conveniently (and deliberately) forget.
“Fear of a name only increases fear of the thing itself.”
-J. K. Rowling
A famous Harry Potter quote and life lesson. The similarity between Harry Potter and Architecture is He-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named, or in our case, it is, That-Subject-Which-Must-Not-Be-Named. Yes, Working Drawing, it is! The one subject that has every architecture student terrorized. The introduction of this subject makes you question if architects purposely choose curves over straight lines. Is it a conscious choice or a mistake? Do we intentionally complicate our own life? Maybe that is what sets us apart. That sheer will to challenge ourselves and expanding our knowledge is what drives us to take a step further. Also, the complex your working drawings are, the better your grades are, on a side note.
“Everything you can imagine is real”
-Pablo Picasso
Something we all take away from Architecture. There is a lot more than designing and working drawings for architecture. It takes courage to dream the imagination and put all your might in order to bring it to life. It takes friends and juniors and seniors and printer guy and stationary guy and security and librarian to assist you at every step through the years. It is that nostalgic remembrance of night outs in colleges and street food late in the night to pump your energy and motivate you. It is the knowledge and experiences your professors impart to you. It is the truth that no matter what your grades are, or which rank you hold, you do start your professional practice with toilet designs!
