A friend said to me the other day.
Architecture is a great profession and a horrible business.
At times, I tend to agree.
Whats great about the profession is what architecture is in history, what it aspires to be in the
future and most of all what the training & doing exposes one to in life.
Architecture is about many things.
As Ive said before its about making form, story, music, and inspirationÉ its also about
illuminating ones life with philosophy, sociology, psychology, material science, engineering,
mathematics, history, construction, and in the end making something out of nothing.
These are the reasons architecture is a great profession that can enrich your life.
That said, Ive heard many complaints that the business of designing buildings, running
an office and keeping an architectural firm solvent can simply be overwhelming.
This can also be very true.
From my experience the education of an architect prepares one to become a designer, but it
may be that you simply do very little design work as an architect.
The truth is, design is really a very small part of what the architect does and unless
your in a position where you can dictate that design is what you focus on most, your in
for a quite a shock.
As Ive discussed in other videos the job of an architect involves doing a lot of technical
drawing and writing as well as research.
It also involves an incredible amount of coordination and organization.
Being an architect may also require real people skills.
The architect can work with large numbers of subcontractors and consultants and should
be able to work well with other people, particularly contractors in the field.
Not to mention their most important job, Managing the client.
The architect also needs to be able to manage the business and employees if Theyve got them.
In fact all these jobs can be exactly what an architect does with no time for design
at all.
This why the business of architecture can be so different from the profession and in
the end a bit unfulfilling.
So understand, architecture is many things not just design.