ARCHITECTURE IS WILD

As an architecture student on social media recently, you may have seen a number of congratulation posts about students passing their RIBA part 3.

If you don’t know, this means they have completed RIBA Part 1 - your undergraduate degree (Bachelors) typically a 3 year course, RIBA Part 2 - your postgraduate degree (Masters), typically a 2 year course and the RIBA Part 3 which is typically a 9-12 month course depending on where you study.

This last part teaches you what you need to know to practice as an Architect. It’s not about design, it’s about knowing how to properly communicate with clients, what you need to do if something goes wrong, what you need to be prepared for - here is the curriculum if you’re interested.

When I qualified (Just over a year ago) I was conflicted with what to do next, whether it was the stress of studying, the stress of my then work situation knowing the lead architect was leaving on a big project or because I wasn’t as passionate about architecture as I once was.. I wasn’t sure I wanted to continue as an Architect.

I am now in a completely different practice, sector and city and am happy I qualified but I’m 100% sure a lot of students once qualified, wonder what to do.

I would say you have 4 solid choices, staying in your practice, moving practice, moving within the construction industry or leaving architecture all together.

As a University Studio Tutor I had the pleasure of talking through and supporting student design projects every Thursday from the initial brief right at the beginning of the project through to the final drawings and model at the end, with site analysis, concept design, design development and technical work all in between.

I, after years of study, once again had a Studio Day where I could get creative, explore new ideas and develop projects. Thursdays were very much my creative outlet. I got to talk to students about projects that didn’t have planning issues and didn’t have to comply with building regulations. There was no contract administration, no actual client or contractors to work through issues with.

Back when I was tutoring at Nottingham Trent University (the university I studied at), I had a tutorial with a student and he was asking me about Perspective sections.. that same day I had a different student ask me about a very particular tool on Sketch Up.

I have not done a perspective section or even used Sketch Up in over 10 years, in practice or otherwise. That’s not to say I haven’t done other sections or drawings or used other software, but it made me think.. I need to brush up.

I spent so long learning and developing various skills at university, it would be a bit of a waste to then lose those skills now that I’m working in practice as an Architect.

A couple of months ago I was packing and preparing to move from my university city, Nottingham, to a new job and new life in Cambridge.

As you do when you’re moving, especially after moving just the year before, you want to reduce the amount of ‘stuff’ you have and in the process of going through all my stuff, amongst old notebooks and drawings, I came across my university certificates.. and university work, and A-Level work and secondary school grades. I found myself reading (and crying) my way through the education which led to me qualifying as an Architect.

If you are my current boss or in fact, any future boss where I am applying to be an Architect, it’s probably best for all of us if you just don’t read this :) if however you’re an architecture student wondering what to do, come on down.

This week’s piece is for anyone who has deviated in any way from the standard Architecture journey and is feeling confused about what to do next or scared that they may have missed their chance. Let me tell you now, you’re all good .

The idea for this post initially came to me when one of my students wanted to talk about their mental health and how it has been and could in the future, affect their work. I am obviously not going to go into detail but it reminded me of an important point about architecture that many people forget: not everyone starts from the same place or has the same advantages or obstacles along their journey…

I, as an unspoken rule to myself, do not like speaking in public. I never have. Tell a lie, I take pride in the fact that when I was in primary school, I was very happy to act in school plays in front of students, teachers and parents (in the lead role of course).

Since then, however - a mere 20+ years ago - I have avoided public speaking at all costs. To be fair, there haven't been many opportunities beyond the occasional group presentation in secondary school, but you’d best believe, that if they did arise, you would not have seen me volunteering. In comes however, studying Architecture at University.

Architecture has dulled me somewhat. I feel that as a person, I tend to be quite funny, sarcastic, a bit cynical, a bit awkward but also kind, caring and empathetic. These are not qualities or attributes commonly used to describe an Architect or words that people who do not know me well, would use to describe me at all. The expectation is professional, and whilst I do my very best to reflect that, I feel I could do more to show the rest of my attributes…