Any architects or architecture students?

Any architect without an appreciation of engineering is a bad architect and any engineer without an appreciation of architecture is a bad engineer.
 
I fully agree with AJ

The banter between us is all fun & games- we are both vital members of the overall design team & I can't help but feel we should team up against Council Planning Officers :p
 
This is probably going to sound like a silly question to some, but I'm going to ask it anyway because I'm curious. How artistic do you have to be to become an architect? Also, what is the pay like?
 
AJUK said:
Any architect without an appreciation of engineering is a bad architect and any engineer without an appreciation of architecture is a bad engineer.
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Well said. I must be a good engineer then and soon enough, I can be both a good engineer and architect (well, part I qualified). :D
 
doublehelix2 said:
This is probably going to sound like a silly question to some, but I'm going to ask it anyway because I'm curious. How artistic do you have to be to become an architect? Also, what is the pay like?
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You do need some artistic talent. You won't get past an architecture degree without any.

Prospects said:
Salaries vary depending on the size and location of the practice. The Royal Society of Architects in Wales (RSAW) publishes a rough guide to the kind of salaries you can expect at the various stages of qualification: part one, or first year out £15,000 - £18,500; part two, or recent post-diploma £22,000 - £26,000; part two, one to two years post-diploma £26,000 - £29,000; part three, newly registered £29,000 - £32,000; part three, three to five years post-registration £34,000 - £40,000 (salary data collected May 06).
Range of typical salaries at senior level/with experience (eg, after 10-15 years in role): £32,000 to £80,000, depending on seniority of position reached in the practice. Hays-Montrose produces an annual survey of earnings showing regional variations on these salaries (salary data collected May 06).
Working hours are usually nine to five, Monday to Friday, but when working to tight deadlines it is not uncommon for architects to work long hours, including evenings and weekends.
Architects are predominantly office-based but their work does include out-of-office visits to clients and sites.
Self-employment/freelance work is commonly possible, with 20% of architects being sole principals.
Job sharing and part-time work may be available but is not very common.
Of current qualified architects, 85% are male and 15% are female. Of new admissions to the register of newly qualified architects, 30% are female. In 2003 the Royal Institute of British Architects (RIBA) carried out research into why women leave architectural practice. Because of the research RIBA recommended action to promote family-friendly working arrangements for men and women. This included promoting diversity and equality in the profession, extending career development information and providing support for career breaks and returning to practise.
Employment prospects in architecture are affected by the state of the economy. In January 2006, RIBA reported that UK architectural employment is proving to be very buoyant. Some regions, especially those eligible for European funding, are experiencing a surge in construction-related jobs and qualified, experienced architects are much in demand.
Jobs are available throughout the country. 30% of architects are based in London, 17% in the South East and 9% in Scotland. The rest are spread throughout the UK, depending on population and local economy.
Many large private practices have offices abroad or work on contracts overseas.
Some jobs may involve occasional absences from home and overseas travel.
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If you are willing to put several years' effort in, I'd say it is very lucrative but maybe not as much in your first few years.
 
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Thanks for the replies people.Thats a generous offer AJUK but unfortunately I live in London so it won't be possible.

Talking to the 2nd years they said they used drawing boards for this term and it be more computer based after xmas.

And trickyj I'm at Brighton Uni studying architecture at the moment.Not a well known uni for Architecture but most of the 2nd year and 3rd year work I have seen are amazing.

I'm going to search around on ebay and newspaper ads and see if I can find a cheap one. Is A0 drawing board necessary or would A1 do?
 
jesta said:
And trickyj I'm at Brighton Uni studying architecture at the moment.Not a well known uni for Architecture but most of the 2nd year and 3rd year work I have seen are amazing.
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Boosh !

img4000lq5.jpg


Is Julia Sewyer and Sue Robertson still teaching ? say Hi from me :p (I doubt you have as I used to turn left when I exit the elevator and the degree students turn right past the computer room) I know David is retired about 2 years ago, he was the head of the department. Wished you had the chance to meet him, not only he's very knowledgeable but he also knows everyone, coming from the same generation as Nicholas Grimshaw, Richard Rogers...etc he knows quite a lot of people. He used to tell us stories about him playing table tennis with Arthur C Clarke (author of 2001 space odyssey) when he was in Sri Lanka and his adventures during his time teaching in Singapore. The guy also has LOADS of slides on his travels, and he used to put on films to show us at lunchtime, one time he put on Peter Seller's Dr. Strangelove, how random is that !

Make sure you go to the end of year show at Grand Parade too, what halls you staying at?
 
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Having heard of Sue and Julia,don't think they still teach there,what year tutor are they?All the tutors I know are males.

Where you at Brighton for the full 5 years??When exiting the elevator i take a right to my 1st year studio(the right side is now where the interiors are based) the 2nd,3rd,Post Grads are on the left. We have Stephen Ryan as our 1st year tutor along with Jüri Kermik(apparantly a fairly well know furniture designer)

Yeah will make sure I make it to the Grand Parade show,I'm staying at Varley Halls,where did you stay?

P.S. I have never ever seen Natal Road that empty in the day before.You must have got up helluva early or during the weekends!:p
 
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That pic was taken after the term had finished, hence the lack of people :p

I was there to do my Diploma back in 2002-2004 (Degree in Plymouth before that), Sue and Julia only taught at Diploma I think, they are both practicing Architects so had full time jobs and came in twice a week for the tutorials. I turn left out of the elevator because thats where the Diploma Studios are and the Interior Designs too. May be they've moved the Diplomas somewhere else now, not been back since 2005.

I lived in Phoenix Halls, which was much more convenient, just 20 mins walk up Lewes Road. I lived with a bunch of photography and fashion students too and they all go to Grand Parade, go to their shows if you can (fashion shows for the eye candy ;)) and photography for some stunning work.

I know you are in your first year, but learn how to do presentations, look at how the best people have their work presented in a way that even if you are not there to defend it, it speaks for itself. The way it flows, the order it goes, from site analysis to design.
 
Ahhh that could explain the emptiness of the road.:p

I applied for Phoenix Halls but unfortunately I didn't get it,apparantly this year 1000 people applied for it.Yeah all the eye candy are at Grand Parade or so my housemate has been telling me,have to check them out soon as I have some free time(which isn't often as the amount of work I get for 1st year is unbelievable)

Yer I've been going to 2nd and 3rd year crits to see their work,hoping to get some inspiration from them,I got slated for my work on Friday so hoping to use the inspiration I got from the years above to improve my work!

Btw are you an architect now?If so where are you working at?Wanna look for some work experience this summer.
 
Getting slated goes hand in hand being an Architecture students, I've seen girls come out of a crit crying. I myself slammed the doors a few times too after it. Also learn to blag and BS, but BS with authority. You'll soon realise some people got better grades than it looks on paper because they can blag a bit, its so true its not even funny. Great designs is nothing if you can't express it in the end of term crit, so learn how to do presentation, a bit like Dragon's Den really.

I am not an architect, of all the people I know off my course only 1 actually has RIBA Part III ! I did a CPE and LPC after my Diploma, might go back to finish it at some point but at this point in my life Architecture doesn't interest me.

I also have to tell you, the degree and work is totally different side of the coin. To a point where I think the degree teaches the students nothing useful in practice. The only thing you learn (actually self taught) is how to draw, Architecture degree dwell on designs but not construction, which is what practicing is. Those 1:50 scale detail drawings with window sill and foundation is almost the bread and butter of most Architects, and how to survey. Go out to site with a tape ruler and a pad, come back and draw the whole thing in scale in CAD, that's not easy, and you can't go back since the site could be hundreds if not thousands of miles away.

Only the very top like Foster who has a team working under him can do a few doodles on a flip chart and let his minions do all the work. I've seen it in person too, been to his office to do research the Great Court in British Museum to interview one of his minions/Project Architect and he was in the corner (its a BIG open plan office) having a meeting/crit/tutorial and he was doodling on some flip chart thing.
 
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I don't fully agree with the above- it depends hugely upon what kind of practice you work for, their deisgn ethos & priorities in practice. Also the size of the design team; in most practices the construction detailing is the job of technicians not architects or assisstants.

Here is my Architecture School Building:

roland_levinsky_building_plymouth_hla1107_2.jpg
 
Yeah I've seen a few 2nd and 3rd year girls crying after a crit,but most of the guys I see just laugh it off.Yeah I think I need to learn the art of BS,guess that comes with experience after crits.

trickj what uni is that?Plymouth? Brighton building has to be the ugliest architecture uni building in the world!:(
 
Yes thats right, the studios on the top 3 floors offer excellent views across the city. :)

Some crits are very harsh sure but also hillarious for onlookers; some of my favourite crit quotes (not directed at my work might i add!) include:

"I like where you have placed that balcony- it is the perfect location to throw your self off from after looking at your hideous building."

"it's quite a masculine building, isn't it?" This perhaps wouldn't have been so bad if the brief had not been for a breast cancer caring centre.

"your building isn't very at home in its rural surroundings it looks like it should be in Paris or Madrid.... heaven forbid you should ever build anything there though!"

To someone in my studio:
"It looks like a rat."
He then proceeds to pen an outline of a rat around the drawing, complete with whiskers and tail.
"See?"

"well, to be honest it's a bit **** but that's ok, you'll learn!"

"Rendering and adding context to your elevation is like putting glitter on a piece of ****."


Tutors are so nice eh? :p
 
You should've seen plymouth's old school. It doesn't win any awards alright. They were going on about building all that when i was there and when i left, even after i did my diploma they only got started. As for my above comment, yes it depends on the kind of practice you are in but how many foster size practice do you think there are? I've worked in practice and only the partners can get away with only doing design, everyone else does the hardwork behind it.
 
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