What to expect on an architecture course?

This was the time of the second wave of COVID-19, so almost everything was online. I didn't experience everything university life has to offer, but I got some taste of it. So here it goes:

1. Lots of presentations.

Architecture is a very social profession. Every week I present my works and tutors give feedback on them. Twice a semester we have crits, often there are presentations and group work. If English is your native language and you know how to use it, then all this is easy, without much preparation. If not, this course allows you to practice and improve your public speaking skills every week.

2. Huge amount of pressure

My first year started calmly. Every Monday we got a new assignment, and on Fridays we went to the studio, presented work, and received feedback. We were introduced to various materials, drawings, scale, elements of architecture, measurements etc.

After our first crit, we were given an actual brief. This is where the real work began. We had to come up with a design, change it several times, draw sketches and many orthographic drawings, correcting something each time, build models, and cut our fingers with a scalpel. The worst thing is, if you accidentally pull the pen and mess up a line, you have to start over. And also the details. Details are cool, but tedious. It takes so much time and effort to draw a curling iron, sneakers, a pen on the table, a bag on the floor, a pot with a plant on the shelf, and much more.

I'm blissful that I have never done an all-nighter, but until 2 am I was definitely working on projects.

3. Preparation

As I said, if English is your native language, then everything is pretty easy. I, on the other hand, am not from an English speaking country. Despite the fact that my language level is C1, I was never good at giving spontaneous speeches. Without preparation, I often stumble, repeat my thoughts. To prevent this from happening, I always had to prepare in advance and sometimes memorize something, and this was my valuable time. But it was worth it. After all, a good presentation affects the impressions of the assessors and the grade itself.

4. Independent work

Of course, there are professors and tutors who are always with us to help, explain, give feedback, but we had to learn a lot ourselves. For example, how to use Adobe programs, 2D and 3D programs for drawing and building models. Therefore, it is important to remember that practice makes perfect!

5. Long hours

I already said that I have never done an all-nighter, but I know that a couple of times a few students in my group definitely sat all night over their work for an evaluation or an upcoming crit. This can be avoided, but even then you have to give up your evenings and weekends to get quality work.

I lived in an accomodation and had 3 roommates from different courses. Of all of them, I studied the most: sat in my room, drew, built models for hours, listened to lectures, and wrote essays. This is not because they were bad students. No, not at all. It's just that the workload of the students of the architecture course is greater and they have to sit on projects for a long time. Although maybe I procrastinated a lot and did not manage my time well :)

6. Creativity and originality

This is a complex topic. There are no tips here. Here you have to spend a lot of paper on drawing sketches. Here you have to search the Internet to find inspiration, but at the same time not copy another architect. Find interesting solutions to problems. Sometimes when you finish and present a project on a crit, the feedback is not positive. They tell you to redo, reimagine the design. And so you go on a 4 week break and, without any help from tutors, you have to come up with something more original, more creative, more interesting, more sustainable. This is what happened to me during my second semester. No one wants to live in a shoebox house, that's why it's important to think outside the box.

7. Diversity of medium

In an architecture course, you can't just have paper, pencil and cardboard. Here you need variety. Variety is required. Use charcoal, gouache, acrylic, pastel, watercolor, etc. for drawings. Foam rubber, wood, metal, wire, 3D pen, plastic etc. for models. Also, be prepared to work on your photography skills. Do not worry if these skills are not developed yet, the university will teach you the basics, but I will repeat point 6, be creative in using the materials.

8. Financial question

When I began my studies, I didn't expect that I would need to buy a lot of things. I thought I would just need a couple of things for drawing and model making. But no. For every crit you must print A2 sheets of work, and that's not cheap. Drawing equipment is also pricey, but at least you do not need to buy it so often. It's also not often necessary to build models, but if the design is unusual, you would want to use various materials, then alas, you have to fork out. The programs on which we work are also priced. Of course, while we are students, we have free trials or the university provides them, but not all, and these programs are expensive. So on this course there is always something to spend money on.

9. Laptop problems

I left this point for last. If you want to know which computer to buy, then there are a lot of such articles on the Internet and I will not talk about it now. But I will say this. No matter how good your computer is, something unpleasant, unexpected can always happen. Flash cards and hard drives are compulsory for this course.

I have a Macbook Air 2016 - 8GB RAM (I don't recommend 8 GB, because when working with photoshop or vectorworks it jams, things load for a long time). I remember how the day before submission my screen turned off and I hadn't downloaded anything to the hard drive yet. And even if I did, I could not afford a new computer. I started to panic, because if I didn’t submit, my tutors wouldn’t be able to do anything. I calmed down, closed the computer, gave it a rest, and opened it in the evening and it started working. But imagine if not. If it hadn't turned on, then everything would have been bad, to put it mildly.

Despite all this, I made the right choice. Actually, I don't know if it's the right choice, but at least I really enjoyed my first year. Yes, it was difficult. Yes, sometimes I had to stay awake until 2 am. Yes, I spent a lot of money and frayed a lot of nerves, but I am happy with my results and with what awaits me in the future. If architecture is yours, then nothing can stop you.

I wrote all this not to convince you not to choose architecture, but to make you ready. It's clear that a lot of new things will come along the way. For example, I didn’t go to university normally - every day and I cannot tell you what it’s like. Everyone has their own path, and yours will have new discoveries, sensations and experiences that you can share with others.

Forewarned is forearmed!