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Architecture is a science of sorts, but it isn’t ‘like’ science in that, being good at Architecture at university is considered cool rather than geeky. Getting a ‘well done’ in a Crit would make you feel ecstatic, like a form of acceptance from your tutors and peers, unlike in other courses where talented students excel and then choose to keep their accomplishments to themselves.
It is cool to be good at a creative course, you don’t even have to lie about how much work you have done - unlike at school where not one single student is honest about the amount of ‘revision’ they have done. Nope, at university, putting in the hours and getting the work done means you are passionate and once again accepted.
It is this acceptance and mutual understanding between architects that has helped to forge the close knit relationships and respect within the architectural profession. It also goes some way to explaining the ever-present issue of the ego.
Having spent the obligatory 5-7 years studying architecture myself and subsequently 6 years teaching architecture and design in it’s different forms in various institutions, watching this realisation manifest itself is fascinating!
The month of September sees the intake of fresh faced first years, all with excellent grades from their respective schools and colleges, mostly A’s. Stepping out of the security of school life where the mantra, follow-the-rules-you-will-do-well is still ongoing, and landing in a university environment being confronted with the idiom ‘independent learning’ leaves many a grade A students blinded by the halogens. Explaining to a group of students that there is no longer a right answer or a wrong answer to any question has a similar affect on their facial expressions as if I had told them that I used to be an elephant herder in Leeds and that Dumbo likes to wear high heels on a weekend.
They eventually come around to our way of thinking, and are not quite as surprised, when you drop the bombshell that not only is there no right or wrong answer, but now there is in fact no question at all! First year in architecture school is quite the cleansing process, stripping away the educational conditioning that their schools [and parents] have worked so hard to forge – but this mind expansion is necessary – architects don’t think the same as everyone else!
Now don’t think that just because I work in a university that by default I was a super star student, quite the opposite in fact. I was what I have since heard coined a ‘Desmond’ – a flat out 2.2 [TuTu] grade student, but this is what provides me with a certain amount of insight. I wasn’t the cool kid getting high 5’s from the trendy tutor who trained in from London once a week, I wasn’t the cool kid whose Dad had an architect’s practice and got work experience between semesters, I was simply just one of the ‘kids’. From this unique standpoint I am also able to shed light on certain expectations, which stem more from social conditioning than educational conditioning.
The older I get and the more people I meet, the more I respect certain parts of the architectural profession. The most commonly asked question on open days is still about the proportion of men to women on the course as well as in the industry itself. Gender inequality is not yet dead and buried [we could debate this for another decade, but we won’t] but the design industry is extremely accepting of diversity. As a gay woman I have never encountered any hostility - in fact it is so commonplace that nobody even talks about it anymore. Just one more thing I love about architecture.
If you liked this - you might also be interested in my post "I am not an architect"
It is cool to be good at a creative course, you don’t even have to lie about how much work you have done - unlike at school where not one single student is honest about the amount of ‘revision’ they have done. Nope, at university, putting in the hours and getting the work done means you are passionate and once again accepted.
It is this acceptance and mutual understanding between architects that has helped to forge the close knit relationships and respect within the architectural profession. It also goes some way to explaining the ever-present issue of the ego.
Having spent the obligatory 5-7 years studying architecture myself and subsequently 6 years teaching architecture and design in it’s different forms in various institutions, watching this realisation manifest itself is fascinating!
The month of September sees the intake of fresh faced first years, all with excellent grades from their respective schools and colleges, mostly A’s. Stepping out of the security of school life where the mantra, follow-the-rules-you-will-do-well is still ongoing, and landing in a university environment being confronted with the idiom ‘independent learning’ leaves many a grade A students blinded by the halogens. Explaining to a group of students that there is no longer a right answer or a wrong answer to any question has a similar affect on their facial expressions as if I had told them that I used to be an elephant herder in Leeds and that Dumbo likes to wear high heels on a weekend.
They eventually come around to our way of thinking, and are not quite as surprised, when you drop the bombshell that not only is there no right or wrong answer, but now there is in fact no question at all! First year in architecture school is quite the cleansing process, stripping away the educational conditioning that their schools [and parents] have worked so hard to forge – but this mind expansion is necessary – architects don’t think the same as everyone else!
Now don’t think that just because I work in a university that by default I was a super star student, quite the opposite in fact. I was what I have since heard coined a ‘Desmond’ – a flat out 2.2 [TuTu] grade student, but this is what provides me with a certain amount of insight. I wasn’t the cool kid getting high 5’s from the trendy tutor who trained in from London once a week, I wasn’t the cool kid whose Dad had an architect’s practice and got work experience between semesters, I was simply just one of the ‘kids’. From this unique standpoint I am also able to shed light on certain expectations, which stem more from social conditioning than educational conditioning.
The older I get and the more people I meet, the more I respect certain parts of the architectural profession. The most commonly asked question on open days is still about the proportion of men to women on the course as well as in the industry itself. Gender inequality is not yet dead and buried [we could debate this for another decade, but we won’t] but the design industry is extremely accepting of diversity. As a gay woman I have never encountered any hostility - in fact it is so commonplace that nobody even talks about it anymore. Just one more thing I love about architecture.
If you liked this - you might also be interested in my post "I am not an architect"
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