Archimess

Top 20 reasons to be an architect

You know those videos on youtube “how to architect“…well, the creator, Mr.Doug Patt is on Tumblr now (@nice to have you around Sir) and he wrights about (another, of many many lists around)…

…Top 20 reasons to be an architect

1. It’s a noble pursuit. It takes years of study and hard work to be a reputable professional.

2. Architecture is prodigious. It is a noun and verb, an object and action. It is ubiquitous. It’s what we make, use and admire. It is everything and nothing and we get to be a part.

3. If it motivates you, architecture involves a wide array of learning and skills: philosophy, sociology, psychology, material science, engineering, mathematics, history, construction, reading, writing, and drawing.

4. The work has a massive impact on the creator. To stand in front of a building and be the reason it exists is rewarding.

5. The impact of a building is like momentum in a sporting event. You can’t see it, but you know it’s there.

6. Architects are generally creative every day. They may not design, but they use their minds more than most.

7. Architecture is a source of fascination. It is mythologized. It makes great dinner party conversation.

8. You have the power to inspire.

9. Architects work with people. If you don’t like people there are ways to hide too.

10. Architecture keeps people safe, i.e. you keep people safe.

11. Architects are like Oz. They remain anonymous and yet provide what people need.

12. It’s a highly prized skill, not always appreciated, but quietly revered. And it’s yours forever.

13. Architects learn every day.

14. Architects take ideas and turn them into buildings.

15. If you don’t want to be an architect, but are trained as one, you can pursue all kinds of other creative professions like product design, drafting, illustration, interior design, graphic design, physical model making, virtual model making, furniture design, landscape architecture, building, etc…

15. You get to draw.

16. You get to learn how things go together, come apart, function and fail.

17. You get to immerse yourself in intellectually stimulating environments like universities where a broad range of thinking is supported, accepted and encouraged.

18. The company you keep with the living and the dead is like non-other. There’s nothing like learning from or sparring with an architect.

19. Architects make something out of nothing.

20. Architects are like great painters. They take something simple like a pear and, with paint, make it more beautiful than it actually is. Just think of a building as a functional box. Then think of how beautiful great architects make them.