Article of the Week 📚

The majority of you reading this went to architecture school. You either finished and went into architecture or switched fields completely! Those of you who are still in the industry, you probably realized how dramatically different school is from work. It’s taken me a little over 3 years to finally feel like I’m not chasing the carrot and trying to figure out what the hell I’m doing every day. It’s been a great learning experience though! I’ve learned what I love and what I hate about architecture… 😅

My favorite part is still the ideation phase. I’d leave architecture all together if people could pay me for my ideas. (Anyone need ideas..?) In school, we had the opportunity to really think outside the box and design whatever the hell we wanted! Walking through studio every morning was like looking into a sci-fi world of buildings, some dilapidated that obviously didn’t work but others that looked like space ships touching the ground ever so gently that was designed as a meditation space for one person. As absurd as that sounds, why can’t we go back to designing these fanciful projects? Oh yeah, money…

What if our professional life were more like that first assignment? Architects would go out for a morning walk, look around until they spot something they believe has a problem, and then design a solution? Instead of waiting around for a client to patronize us, can we not look for problems on our own? Is it a choice that nobody bothers to take? Or is it not a choice at all?

For those of you still in school, this isn’t mean to deter you from following your dream! It just means you’ve gotta go into it with curiosity and some knowledge of what to expect. This quote sums it up best,

Look, your professors and mentors, including me, will always ask you to change things. But it’s not an absolute necessity that you do it the way they asked you to. Whenever they are giving you comments, listen to everything. But act only on the portions which make sense to you. People only give advice. It’s your choice whether to follow it or not.

Now you’re probably done reading this and realize you’re back in the office about to start your 8 hour work day. What’s next? What are you going to do about the passion you had for design that’s been fading away for years now? I say spark that baby back up! Find a problem around you and seek a solution! The beautiful thing about architecture school is that we didn’t just learn how to become architects, we learned how to think critically and solve problems. Solve that problem and have fun doing it. Fix the door, develop a new app, design a new product.

Let me know how it goes!

Quotes are from this article.

If you enjoyed this issue of Life of a Designer, consider buying me a coffee to show your support!👇

That's all for this week, follow me on Twitter & Instagram📲
I'll be back! 💪🏽

Life of a Designer

What if we could choose our own architecture?