You have made the decision where to study architecture. You’ve chosen the architecture school and your degree path. So now what? How much work is this going to be? Do I need to start preparing now to be equipped to do certain things and have specific skills? We covered some issues in Part 1, and now we will finish the monumental task of summarizing what it’s like to start architecture school. Welcome to Episode 132: Starting Architecture School Part 2.
There is a lot to cover on this topic, which on the one hand, makes it simple for those of us who have gone through the process to reminisce about. But, this is a difficult subject to discuss because all the programs vary from one another, and what occurs in one is not unilaterally applied to all.
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When you Start, What are you Going to Study? jump to 6:52
Some of this we covered, but not all. We spoke about the possible variances of each program and school. So realize that there will be differences in the pedagogy of each school. They have a different process and emphasis. Again you may find this information about the school from its website. Not all of them will lay this out in a simple manner; you may have to spend some time investigating and extrapolating that information from various areas of the school’s website, social media, and publications. Most will not simply state, “This is what we emphasize at this school.”
For example, some schools start with hand drawings and lots of analog work. Others will jump right into digital work and skip analog tools. You can find this by investigating the school curriculum fairly quickly. The first year typically has hand-drawing coursework, and they may also focus on analog in other areas. Think of physical models made by hand or other handmade crafting of projects and assignments. Other schools will have first-year courses in digital modeling or creation. These may say something about the overall pedagogy as well. This school may be more “future-forward” in the curriculum. They may push hard for technology as the major driver of design. As a third option, some schools will provide a balance of both analog and digital in the early years. A quick perusal of the website, degree plans, and course descriptions will help you determine this about the school.
Another element that differs from other majors is that you will start architecture-specific courses in the first year. Many majors will have a year or two of generalized courses to create a foundation. Then the upper-level course is where the major-specific course begins. Architecture does not work that way. Most of your courses will be architecture and only a limited number of “core” generalized courses. So this is a reason that it is sometimes difficult to transfer into or out of an architecture program.
How Much Work is it? jump to 20:26
Architecture school is a lot of work. No other way to state that. Also, the first year is difficult, but not how you might think. It seems like A LOT of work at the time. But that is because it is typically an all new way of learning and all new skills. So that takes more time. In this process, the only real competition is you, which increases the time factor. When you are working to satisfy yourself or your ideas, it can take longer as we are usually our own harshest critics. Some of us at least may struggle with this a great deal in the first year of architecture school. The tasks may seem overwhelming, but the goal, again, in most instances, is to stretch your mind, imagination, and creativity. A goal is to teach students to evaluate their process as much as the product. It pushes students to iterate and generate multiple ideas. All of this is difficult to learn initially. But it would not seem as difficult if a student could repeat the first year of architecture school after four or five years in the program. It would most likely seem like lots of fun and freeing! So architecture school is difficult initially, but it is all relative. It seems hard mostly because it is new, not because it is too much work.
Studio culture has changed a great deal over the years. It is no longer the large community of working space that it was back in “our” day. In some ways, the laptop has made it possible to leave the studio space and work in isolation. This is not positive, in my opinion. Yes, studio culture can become toxic with too much time or competition among students. Some level of student competition is good, but it can also become too much and toxic to the overall studio environment. It is a fine line. Yet the culture of a full studio of creative people creates a measurable “vibe.” There is definitely an energy that comes from a room full of students working on projects and sharing ideas. It can be one of the most positive and energetic spaces to inhabit.
Again in the first year, it may take more time to complete your work. And you will be terrible at estimating how long your assignments and tasks will take. For the first two years, you should almost always double the time you think it will take. If you think it’s going to be two hours, plan for four; four hours, plan for eight. So on and so forth. This will probably continue as you progress through architecture school. Even when you are in the fourth or fifth year, you will have a more efficient workflow, but you will also think you can get more done because of that. So be mindful of this time management no matter what point you are in architecture school.
You will refine your process over time, and certain parts will become less work. It is a case of practice makes it quicker. Will you always have to pull all-nighters and never sleep? No. You need to learn to manage your time better. I can admit I did pull some all-nighters during school, although Bob was able to never have the need. But time management is one of the most important skills to hone in architecture school.
The credit hours for architecture school always seem to work differently than the rest of the campus. For example, the typical college class is a direct ratio of credit hours to class time hours. So if there is a three-credit hour course, that typically translates into 3 hours spent in class each week. Maybe that is 90 minutes on Tuesday and Thursday, or 60 minutes on Monday, Wednesday, and Friday. But in architecture school, that is not quite the case. The architectural studio course that is five or six hours of credit will be ten to twelve hours of class time each week. So as an architecture student, you are typically in class more than other students.
There is No Right Answer jump to 44:58
This concept typically makes students work longer because, generically, they want to find the “right” answer. For many, this is one of the largest frustrations and issues in the first year of architecture school. This does not matter if it’s the first year of college or the first year of graduate school for architecture. Up to this point, most of the educational system has taught students there is only ONE right answer to every problem. There was almost always a correct answer from kindergarten to high school graduation. Now, in architecture and design, this is not the case. There is seldom one singular right answer. This can be the hardest lesson to learn, even with a bachelor’s degree. Again, a major focus of the first year of study is to make you “unlearn” this lesson that has been most likely programmed into you for your entire education. When a professor cannot tell a student what is the “right” action to do, it is because the goal is for the student to explore their own ideas and rationale for those ideas. Students need to search for their answer to the architectural problem.
We have discussed this concept in greater detail in a previous episode, 115 The Art of Getting it Wrong. Also there is the original post from 2013, “Architecture and the Art of Getting it Wrong.” Both of these go into some more detail about the concept of iteration, failure to create success, and the need to seek out multiple solutions to the architectural problems. As a result, sometimes failure is a requirement to reach success. Failure can teach you a great deal if you can manage to see those silver linings.
What is this Going to Cost? jump to 52:36
Architecture school incurs additional costs, to be certain, so be prepared. You may not ever have to buy books, but you will buy supplies, possibly lots and lots of supplies. Every semester you will need to buy new supplies for the project. This may be model materials, paper, pens, or 3D printing filament. It could be anything used to make the project representations required. Now this is only for studio, but you may still need books for the other courses you are taking. Here is a list of many of the tools, books, and supplies you might be asked to purchase.
It is critical to realize there will be additional costs when studying architecture. But that cost is not usually books, but supplies and printing. Printing may also be a big budget number. Whether it is large paper prints at the end of the semester or 3D printing costs for a model, just realize there is a need for additional funds when studying architecture. It will also be spread out over the entire semester as projects develop. And sometimes, it will come all at the end of the semester when your big project is due. This could be up to $300 for the final review pinup. Sometimes this gets shared among students, but sometimes it is just on the student. Again this cost will vary by school. A “typical” number cannot be plugged in here. I understand that can be frustrating for students, but sometimes it is the best way to educate and teach lessons about architecture. Some schools may be shifting to digital presentations for all studio projects, but some do not. As architects, we still seem to cling to the physical representation of the project in some manner.
So How can we Summarize All of This jump to 1:04:31
We wanted to summarize the ideas of starting architecture school in just a few short thoughts. The process of deciding where to go to school, choosing a path, and then starting that first year is a lot for anyone to deal with. We hope to have provided some help with this process. While this is not easy to summarize the enormity of this topic, we both gave it a go.
Andrew suggests spending some time before you enroll and try to find the right program. Also, to realize that in the beginning, architecture school is about modifying how you view the world and the lens you look through. If you can lean into the idea of viewing the world from multiple perspectives and putting in the work, it can help you succeed. Just realize that architecture school is about learning an individual process of design, and not always about the end result of that process. Andrew has a series entitled “Studio Lessons 101” which gives some advice on school related topics form his viewpoint as a professor in both accredited and non-accredited programs.
Bob wanted to stress the notion of being a good communicator. There is a lot of freedom and excitement with so much new learning. The ability to communicate your ideas to others is a critical component to success in any career, but it is imperative in architecture. So work on those communication skills just as much as you work on design, drawing, and making. Also he wants to ensure students that everyone has a place in the profession. So if abstract thinking and biophilic polymorphic design is not your thing, there is still a position for you in the field of architecture. Not everyone in the profession is a designer.
Would you rather? jump to 1:09:14
For today, we are going to do a would you rather again …
Bob has moved into his new office and whenever he comes up with a new idea for one of these, he writes it on the marker board that is on the wall in his office. There are currently four written there; of those, today’s question is the one that literally everyone gravitates toward first.
So here is the question:
Would you rather have extremely greasy hair or horrible unrelenting bad breath?
I’m not sure this is one I ever would want to discuss from his marker board. But, this one was interesting, to say the least. Is it about quantity versus quality? Does that mean making it less gross for a greater number of people? Or is it about perception versus reality? Which could be concerned more with what more people see instead of what fewer people experience. It was very difficult not to view this through some type of superficial lens in either case. It feels like these things should not truly matter, but we all know that they still do. We have some different perspectives on this, to be sure. We came to a conclusion, but Bob did not like his answer, and we did not land on the same choice with this one.
Ep 132: Starting Architecture School Part 2
So we have attempted to cover a great deal of content in the last two episodes about architecture school. It was not an easy task to tackle, even over two full episodes. But we hope it was helpful to those of you who may be interested in architecture school and possibly a walk down memory lane for the rest of you. We did some reminiscing in these two episodes and realized that architecture school was a lot of work. It was late nights, successes, failures, fatigue, excitement, and stress, but most of all, it was some of the most memorable years of our lives.
Check out all the information on the site and the podcast that relate to Architecture School.
Cheers,
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