Architecture as a profession is yet to prosper in India. People still confuse if architects are contractors or are contractors architects. Only an architect is capable enough to draw the line between the two. It is not a five-year degree graduation course. But a process, which architecture students are put through to make them capable to draw the line and create livable spaces for the community. It yields the basics of art and creativity and inculcates an entirely fresh palette. Uprooting and replanting is a tedious but rewarding process. The article gives a humorous insight into the extremes in life in architecture and the methods to outlive them.
Extreme Sizes of Paper
The instantaneous shift from struggling to fill A4 “RULED” notebooks in school to “RULING OUT” on unheard number papers on the first day of Architecture School is the most appalling experience every fresher goes through. Wrestling to catch hold of dripping sheets and trying to keep them crease-free for a class automatically inculcate in students within the first week of college. The icing to this cake is the preparations done before the actual baking even begins. Storage – Transportation – Assembly of a “DRAFTING BOARD” is the ultimate task that takes more time to get hold of, than the “MIGHTY DRAFTING TECHNIQUE”. When everyone is aware, that one day the ultimate rescuer in the school will be “AUTO – CAD”.
The bread and butter of architecture school are these extreme sized papers. If they are up on the presentation board, you are still afloat in the sea of unending presentations, if not, you will catch up with an old friend named – “REDO”.
The lives of these giants are very less. Till the second of the presentation, they are the deck you stay afloat on, but as soon as the end is near, you start visualizing techniques to make DIY diaries from them. In the hope to sell them off to recover the printing costs.
The Extremes of a Relationship with your Physical Model.
It is only hard for the giants to mess up student life in an architecture school themselves. Therefore they have a partner named “MATERIALS”, presented as Models at the very end of every semester. Materials and Models are important for ideation, curation, and presentation. A good set of “Conceptual Models” will move you up the ranks and turn heads on the final day of the jury. But all of this comes with a price.
Model Materials are not like giant sheets of paper, whose investment can be potentially recovered. They will test your ability to spend, which will further define your determination to turn heads in your classroom. They will replace the place of your special one in your car. Because the relationship that developed between you and your model during the process of creation, will be too easy to break, even by a small bump on the road. The extreme range of emotions is felt while deciding to either break or place the model at your condo. If the decision is to store, you might wanna give up on your clothes closet as soon as you start your architecture school, because it will be hard to let go of them, no matter how ugly they look.
The Extreme Rescuers.
An architect’s life revolves around “Delivering”. During the process of delivery, we tend to stretch all-nighters, skip baths, forget about meals and exercise is the last thing we want to hear about. What helps us in coming around and delivering on the final day without shedding a tear or breaking a sweat are these “Rescuers”.
- Caffeine: The amount of caffeine found in the blood of any architect or architecture student exceeds the amount of food and water. A few no. of sources are famous among us. For eg. coffee, tea, Red Bull, etc.
- Mid – Night Speed Dials: Midnight cravings are extremely common among students and professionals in architecture. When caffeine doesn’t suffice at night, midnight delivery restaurants come to the rescue and repumps the fuel to keep the car running through the night.
- 24*7 available Printing and laser cutting booths: A night out trip to printing and cutting lab days before the big day is an experience in itself. Blessing the seniors for contacts, the relief of getting an open spot in the line, believing in the almighty to run the files on the booth computer, feeling of bliss after seeing freshly minted sheets out of the printer, and hoping that the colors are not distorted is the roller coaster ride we used to get on every semester for five years. Connections established with people at these booths over five years have no name, but they do are one of the most crucial ones, since these people were available at the time of need
- Smart Phones: The function of a good smartphone in an architect’s life is like a loyal dog. Capturing instant references, estimating quick dimensions, becoming an upcoming photographer, and helping you with virtual presentations of your process works.
Extreme Excursions
College trips in architecture schools have an entirely different meaning. We are “Scored” to explore a city. We are provided with tools and advised to visit the most extreme and influential corners of a city to understand the dynamics of its functionality. It is almost like “Incentive Studying”. Field trips are like incentives given to us as students to understand and come up with the best SWOT of any potential site. The perks of visiting different fields every year are the hidden gems that we as architects come across. The food, the crafts, being able to enter and experience the living conditions of locals and try to clarify that we are not some ‘government officials’ but only students. The adrenaline rush which comes along with these excursions is almost life-threatening. Analyzing heavy traffics, having the courage to enter unknown locations, relying on google maps for guiding through feet wide lane networks, and hoping for the phone battery to never die in worst scenarios.
These insights are only the tip of the iceberg. This process manages to overlap the extremes of amusement and learning over five years. Architecture and architecture schools have a lot more to offer if you are willing to dive in and attempt to stay afloat throughout.
