I guess after 2 years in this architecture field.. I would want to say or two for my sleepless nights in catching the “perfection” of Architecture studies..well it never reaches any near to it anyways. As I said there are many things an architect needs to master, or most probably you will see the successful, young architects will be around 40 years old.
Simply because I think we have a lot of aspects to master. Or sometimes I even say, I love Architecture because simply to be excel in it, simply means you have to be good in many aspects and that’s meaningful for a life of a human been.
1) Design – well the most basic of all and also a compromise of all the designing areas of the expertise.. but of course design comes with thoughts and concepts where they are born from the other aspects below…
2) Laws – Laws may sound a little irrelevant and too formal for some students.. but it’s practical and there are reasons for laws like UBBL Uniform Building By-Laws to exist.. and sometimes by beating around the corner of the laws, one may get a sound idea that could turn up interestingly. And laws are the one that can change the design of the building, that made it more uniform.. or “standardized” which is an oppose to a culture as well, especially Malay traditional houses.
3) Sociology – We are saying a career of creating the urbanscape.. and our design determine how people interact… if we study the social studies of a city, it has very much to do with the planning of the city that determines the frequency of nodes and also interaction. Thus as good Architects, we need to be aware of this to recognize our importance in our design that could build a socially sustainable city or building.
4) History – Being Ethical in design means also we have a part of the responsibility to know some history of designs and its relations to human beings.. cityscape or urban designs in the past have much to reflect on our current designs. You see, the idea of designs are never new, it is being recycled, considered that human history ranges so broad and hence many have been tried, just that depends on what aspect we see. Concepts can be recycled like THIS.
5) Politics – Let’s face it, politics? Why? because it covers almost everything too. Be it governance politics or corporates but it has to be studied as the world changes with it too.
6) Economy – Design comes with a practical budget, it is said whoever dominates economic intelligence that means everything because money makes the world go around. Investments in your designs have to show a good figure in return. Thus in a way having the knowledge of a little Quantity Surveyor comes handy.
7) Technology – And technology makes the world goes around too, and technology today has been integrated into the house. That comes to Smart House, which I blog about before at HERE. And following up technology has to do with economics comparison and studies too.. the cheapest way to build an efficient house etc.
8 ) Environmental Sustainable Issues – This comes lately, so we have heard of climate change and floods and extreme heat waves. And also it’s our responsible to design a form that adapts to nature, including the problem. I mean this is direct enough I believe. more about it HERE
9) Current Issues… – Yeap any news in our world means awareness of people’s perception of our design.. for example one of the building i saw in Treehugger was two tall buildings with the middle of it seem to be exploded.. that’s the design.. and the public protested because it seems to remind people of the 911 case of the World Trade Centers.
10) Computer Softwares – Ultimately students spend time on this a lot.. and also this could mean a vast amount of time in learning.. rendering techniques etc too.. Most people may refer to AutoCAD all the time. but CAD has many other softwares like Bentley as well. So one has to know how to software industry works.. that sometimes ought to monopolize the industry..
Conclusion: Yes indeed we have a lot of things to learn, simply because designing the city or the building or the world has to do with almost everything.. if speaking ethically. Simply because what makes the world around, we have to know it too because that’s the winning factor. It’s a very short post, I could write more, but my message is simple. To be a successful Architect, take the time to know many things instead purely on design. Because our designs speak, and matter a lot to the world, not to you or your firm.
