How I transformed my architecture work to a professional standard.
By: James Alexander
Tags: Architecture, Improvement, University, Students, Proffesional

Nowadays, competition within the field of architecture is growing due to the raising standard. There are numerous reasons as to why the standard of the field is growing, things such as better education and more advanced software. For the customer, this is great, a more competitive environment leads to higher quality products and services, however for a learning student this can be very intimidating and may make you feel like you are already too far behind.

In order to grow with the market, positive change is required, wether it be dedicating more time to study or growing ones skillset. The list below demonstrates major steps that you can take today in order to become a better prospecting architect.

Learn more skills!

The first thing one can do is learn more skills such as advanced photoshop, illustrator storyboarding, realistic rendering engines and advancing one’s cad ability. These wont nessecarily advance the capability of an architects ability to think. Increasing ones skillset is more like building a healthy foundation and demonstrating ones ability to learn skills vital for the field and may also lead ones design style and process.

Read more books!

Reading more books on the field will give you a plethra of information and experience. They can also provide you with the thought process of living and past architects, precedent examples, material palettes and much more. Dedicating time to read more books will grow your knowledge faster than the market and can lead to you being a key thinker in the places you decide to study and work.

Think differently!

At first this notion seems vague, what does it mean to think differently? How does one know if they are thinking differently? What defines if a thought is different? Where are the boundaries in original and unoriginal thought? Did you get it yet? The key is to ask questions! The original idea may seem simple and vague at first however through dissection and applying our own individual processes, we can journey through a train of thought that will make us ponder what the original question even was and why it was important. This train of thought can be applied to the most minute details of architecture, for example why are walls not sloped? What makes a wall and what is defined as a slope? Can the idea of a wall and the slope of a hill be merged into a new idea? How will this wall effect the exterior and interior design? Can the slope be translated into the character of the building? Can the walls and slopes be adjusted to justify more design decisions within the building thus leading to a better and more totale design?

Draw inspiration from various ideas and fields!

Wether it be music, religion, history, books, films and other forms of expressive work, emotion and stories can move us deeply and transform the way we work. The same can be said for the way architects work. Most architects have a design process which may depend on self expression or being guided by the expression of multiple architects. Things like sketching and speaking are forms of expression that can be influenced by films, music and etc. Perhaps before you next piece of work watch a critically acclaimed movie that is different from what you would normally watch. This idea in itself begins to make you question other ideas which you had already subscribed to and leads to new angles within not only your work but in your life as well.