Life of an Architecture Student

6/12/2014 lifeofanarchitecturestudent.net

http://lifeofanarchitecturestudent.net/ 1/12

JUNE 11 2014, 01:48 PM4,640 NOTES VIA: WGSN SOURCE: WGSN

FILED UNDER: NOT ARCHITECTURE RELATED

SUBMIT

Please submit a situation or anything that happens to

you or your friends in architecture school. What are

some of your crazy habits? What's a funny occurrence

that happened recently? What is stressing you out? We

can all relate.

INBOX IS CLOSED

There is over 100+ message currently in my inbox. If you

want to send a message, don't expect it to be answered

quickly sorry. Thanks for understanding!

NAVIGATION



WHOS READY FOR TOMORROW?

VAI BRASIL!

JUNE 11 2014, 11:53 AM284 NOTES VIA: LIFE-OF-AN-ARCHITECTURE-STUDENT SOURCE: LIFE-OF-AN-ARCHITECTURE-STUDENT

FILED UNDER: TILES ARCHITECTURE ARCHITORTURE ARCHITECTURE SCHOOL STUDIO NIGHTMARES DESIGN

Submissions Resourceful Links

Questions Answered About the Admin

Theme



life-of-an-architecture-student:

submitted by: catsight

JUNE 11 2014, 09:01 AM135 NOTES FILED UNDER: ARCHITECTURE ARCHITORTURE ARCHITECTURE

SCHOOL DESIGN PROCESS CREATIVE CREATIVITY INSPIRATION STUDIO

DONT WASTE YOUR TIME ON INSPIRATION

You surf. You tumbl. You pin. You FFFFound. You curate popular, proven work. You

find hundreds of niche, beautiful examples of success. Dozens of formulas that look

like they can be applied to your project. You show your team and clients work that

other people have created.

When youre learning to think for yourself, this is fantastic. But when youre

producing creative work, its not. That is not the creative process.

The more you look for inspiration: the less you make. When you put that much energy

into watching other people make: you begin to think its impossible to do great work

of your own.

You have to dive in. You have to make yourself uncomfortable.Where do you start?

Start by sharing your point of view. Talk to your friends, your team. Whomever. The

moment your idea is in the world, its going to get pushed around a lot. If it continues

to make sense, then you have an opportunity. And you made ityou made your own

opportunity.

-David Mikula



Inspiration is often a way to make ourselves feel creatively energized and busy, but when it comes to being

more productive or creative, thats where the activity falls short. The hours you spend browsing sites for

creative inspiration is time you could have instead spent making your own ideas and learning from the

experience.

The best creative work doesnt come from time spent looking for inspiration, it comes as a result of

tirelessly generating, sharing, and exploring ideas.

Getting the creative process going

JUNE 11 2014, 08:45 AM228 NOTES VIA: LIFE-OF-AN-ARCHITECTURE-STUDENT SOURCE: LIFE-OF-AN-ARCHITECTURE-STUDENT

FILED UNDER: ARCHITECTURE

GETTING THE CREATIVE PROCESS GOING


This summer I have been preparing myself for the Masters Program. While I will be

entering my final year this coming fall, my goal is to starting thinking and working like

a master student. I feel like Im a little late on that and I should have started this

routine my third year, that is why Im sharing this with you guys. Maybe you can start

earlier than me.

Ive been researching a lot about how to get ideas flowing and how to produce these

ideas. Ive written in the past about how to come up with a concept, but I think its

time for me to add on to that. I think that post is really helpful for first year and

second year and what Im writing now is more for upperclassmen. As third and fourth

year, we should be preparing ourselves for Masters (personally thats what I think), if

you think you will be pursuing a Masters that is.

Here is a basis of my goals for this year and what I hope many can also inspire to do:

Literature:

Reading gets the imagination going, makes you start picturing things in your mind. I

think reading is the most creative thing one could do honestly. I love reading and I

love how the picture in my head keeps growing as a read a story.

I say we should start approaching this differently by reading, listening and writing.

Interpretation is the main key for your imagination to grow. Its about how you

perceive what youre reading and listening to that gets the creative process going.

Find authors, poets or journalists that write and talk about what ever topic or

subject youre pursuing. Get their books, download audio tapes and lectures. As you

read or listen start jotting down what comes to mind or start building a model as you

listen. Produce what you imagine. It doesnt have to be put into an actual building,

just start building without thinking too much. Set aside the rules of architecture and

just imagine by reading, listening and writing.

Let the story influence your work and let your intuition produce results.

Daily Log:

Its really important to start writing for yourself. Everyday starting asking yourself

questions, write down inspirational quotes, paste pictures you find motivating,

doodle your emotions or thoughts. This sketchbook should be full of inspiration that

can come from anywhere. Your inspiration does not need to be architectural,

remember its about how you interpret these inspirations into architecture thats key.

A daily log can also be a design blog. Many master students are required to have a

website/blog that shows their process through thesis. And again, you can publish

anything- photos, quotes, text, animations, design, etc.

-Jess

Now that M.Arch has finally come for me, Im going to print this and hang it at my desk so Ill remember to

stay focus!



A place for

architecture

students to

humorously laugh

about the glories of

our daily lives.

Share your stress,

habits, opinions,

happiness,

experience, etc.

Please submit!

LIFE OF AN ARCHI STUDENT

JUNE 10 2014, 06:01 PM16 NOTES FILED UNDER: ARCHITECTURE

Recently, many followers have found me through Google!

Very cool. Glad you like the blog.

-Jess

JUNE 10 2014, 03:50 PM9 NOTES FILED UNDER: ARCHITECTURE ARCHITORTURE ARCHITECTURE SCHOOL QUESTION DESIGN

HOME MESSAGE ARCHIVE SUBMIT FAQS



I hope all is going well with you and youre able to return with a full recovery! Continue to have passion for

architecture and when you start again, give it your all!

Ive answered a similar question about studying abroad before and your search for a school depends on

what you want to do and where you want to be.

There are plenty of Master degrees- planning, urban design, sustainability, theory or just regular

architecture. Find what you want to pursue and find where financially you fit best!

Best of luck!

-Jess

JUNE 10 2014, 03:40 PM55 NOTES FILED UNDER: ARCHITECTURE ARCHITECTURE SCHOOL BOOK BOOKS DESIGN STUDIO QUESTION

There are a ton of books out there!

Ive generated a list of books, thanks from suggestions of followers, that you can find here:

What books do you recommend to read?

Never miss a post!

life-of-an-architecture-student Follow



These books are all inspirational and get your mind thinking!

Any suggestions, please submit!

JUNE 10 2014, 02:13 PM3 NOTES FILED UNDER: ARCHITECTURE QUESTION BUT NOT REALLY

Yeah, definitely !

If you want to pursue things outside of just architecture and get your license in a different field, then by all

means do what you have to do!

Architectural theory would be a great alternative if it was an interest and not career choice.

Thanks for your input!

-Jess

JUNE 10 2014, 01:20 PM19 NOTES FILED UNDER: QUESTION ARCHITECTURE ARCHITORTURE ARCHITECTURE SCHOOL THEORY PHILOSOPHY

MINOR IN PHILOSOPHY?

In my opinion, architecture alone holds so much philosophy and theory that theres no need to go and get a

minor in philosophy. If youre into philosophy, sticking to architectural theory is not a bad idea.

I love architectural theory and what I do is take any elective courses that involve theory. Also Im pretty

sure there are Master and Ph.D programs on theory as well if youre that passionate to pursue it.

But if I think it would be a worthwhile to minor in philosophy, no I dont think it would be.



Find some classes that involve theory, you wont be disappointed if youre into philosophy!

-Jess

JUNE 10 2014, 01:11 PM76 NOTES FILED UNDER: ARCHITECTURE ARCHITECTURE SCHOOL STUDIO DESIGN ARCHITECT ARCHDAILY SUBMISSION

10 THINGS THEY DON'T TEACH YOU IN ARCHITECTURESCHOOL

JUNE 09 2014, 04:50 PM128 NOTES VIA: MIDGETSARENTREAL SOURCE: LIFE-OF-AN-ARCHITECTURE-STUDENT

midgetsarentreal:




WHAT PROGRAMS DO YOU USE?

So let me start from the beginning, what I programs I started with and which

ones I use now.

First year AutoCAD, SketchUp, Photoshop, Illustrator

Second year AutoCAD, SketchUp, Photoshop, Illustrator, Artlantis

Third year AutoCAD, SketchUp, Photoshop, Illustrator, Kerkythea

Fourth year Revit, Photoshop, Illustrator

By fourth year, Ive shorten my workflow by learning Revit which can

produce all the things I need from Plans, Sections, Perspectives, Axons, Site

Plans (All the linework I need) then transfer it over to Photoshop to make

the magic happen! Illustrator is really great for diagrams and such.

My last project was all Revit and Photoshop. Learn and master photoshop!

-Jess

In my opinion using Revit for studio work is a mistake. On the design side youre more

likely to end up with something boing/static and on the production side youre

severely limiting the quality of your renders and drawings. Sketchup is alright for

starting out, but as early as possible I would move to a workflow of rhino -> maxwell -

> photoshop for renders and rhino -> autocad/illustrator -> photoshop (if needed) for

line drawings.

Oh I should have been more specific.

I completely agree with you! There were others studios around me who started with Revit within the

second week and all their building came out static and lifeless. Revit will kill creativity!

I spend all semester drawing, sketching, and writing. I only move onto Revit the last 2 weeks in order to

produce final work. Revit renderings arent great, but for the look I was going and my photoshop skills, it

was good enough to work with for me.

I cant use Rhino and I dont have time to learn it in a semester. Ive heard great things about it and I should

learn while Im on summer break.

But again, I would not recommend building your project in revit till the end. Let all creativity flow out

through sketches and drawing before you put it in any programs whatsoever.

JUNE 09 2014, 03:44 PM40 NOTES FILED UNDER: ARCHITECTURE PORTFOLIO QUESTION



A great program to use to assemble a portfolio is InDesign. You can drag in all the pdfs or jpegs you want

and add text and all that.

Try searching for some tutorials to get familiar with the program.

-Jess

JUNE 09 2014, 03:18 PM128 NOTES FILED UNDER: ARCHITECTURE ARCHITECTURE SCHOOL DESIGN STUDIO QUESTION

WHAT PROGRAMS DO YOU USE?

So let me start from the beginning, what I programs I started with and which ones I use now.

First year AutoCAD, SketchUp, Photoshop, Illustrator

Second year AutoCAD, SketchUp, Photoshop, Illustrator, Artlantis

Third year AutoCAD, SketchUp, Photoshop, Illustrator, Kerkythea

Fourth year Revit, Photoshop, Illustrator

By fourth year, Ive shorten my workflow by learning Revit which can produce all the things I need from

Plans, Sections, Perspectives, Axons, Site Plans (All the linework I need) then transfer it over to Photoshop

to make the magic happen! Illustrator is really great for diagrams and such.

My last project was all Revit and Photoshop. Learn and master photoshop!

-Jess



JUNE 09 2014, 01:49 PM650 NOTES FILED UNDER: ARCHITECTURE ARCHITECTURE SCHOOL ARCHITECTURE STUDENT SLEEPLESS SLEEP ARCHI ARCHITORTURE

I would say this is pretty relevant for architecture school!

JUNE 09 2014, 11:53 AM70 NOTES FILED UNDER: ARCHITECTURE ARCHITECTURE SCHOOL INSPIRATION LIVE REGULARLY TIME

MANAGEMENT FAQ AARCHITECTURE STUDENT ARCHITECTS ARCHITECT QUESTION



LIVE A REGULAR LIFE?

On the contrary, architecture students can definitely live disciplined lives. Its about time management

and setting priorities; a routine that takes some time to find and get used to. Ill share with you how I went

about getting setting a routine:

I just finished my undergrad and I found my routine in third year. My first year was complete shit; I had no

sense of time, priorities, or tasks. Being social was more important and the amount of work didnt match

with that. Im not saying I couldnt have friends, but I should have been more selective of my time and

where I spent it on.

Second year was a slap in the face with project after project; there was so much work that I felt like it was

the only thing I was doing. First part of third year was similar, but then the second part I start to plan out

my tasks better.

Fourth year become much easier to handle because I would arrive in studio at 7 in the morning everyday

(Ive done so since second year) but this time around actually do work and focus, because I know later on in

the day Im going to take breaks for lunch, coffee, or socializing. After classes I stay in studio to work till

about 6 in the evening and thats when my day ends. After 6, I dont do work (unless its really needed with

deadlines and such) to spend the night with my son and fianc.

So the idea is to set priorities, plan your time wisely, and focus! Ive grown comfortable with this routine

and I cant wait to continue it in M.Arch this fall.

I hope this helps you all get an idea of how long it actually can take for you to find your rhythm. Some

people are lucky and find their routine right away or not. Try and find what works for you, what makes you

get work done while also fulfilling your other personal needs in life.

For some reference read my posts:

How do you manage your time in architecture school?

What are the pros and cons of being an architecture student?

-Jess

1 2 3 4 5 6 NEXT

Life of an Architecture Student

Documents

architecturestudent

creative process goingjune

creative process goinglife

youreproducing creative

best creative work doesnt

am135 notes

am228 notes

am284 notes