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Introduction into architecture
I am interested in design work, drawing, problem solving art and computer science. My interests and strengths seem to be pointing me in the direction of becoming an architect. Now as a Year 10 student it is a great time to consider a future pathway. This report investigates what an architect does, what it takes to become successful as an architect., and the deliberate acts I will undertake to achieve my goal of becoming an excellent architect in the near future.
Job description
An architect does a lot more than simply design buildings. Coordinating with people is the main aspect of the job. An architect needs to be a strong listener and communicator. They need to be able to listen to and interpret the client’s needs and wants. Architects work within limitations such as budget, local building codes and site constraints. Their design needs to satisfy all of those interested parties. After they have developed drawings that the client is happy with, including the pricing, they have to get a working drawing through the council. This often requires working with an engineer to get up to the building code. Then there is the project management part of the job. They need to coordinate... Being an architect is a lot more complex than my original perspective. It’s exciting to think about the variety that the job offers.
Great things about architecture
Architecture is a great job with an almost perfect lifestyle. It has good pay and generally has a positive environment around it. I would say the best thing about architecture is that you get to design a great building and in a couple of years you get to see it fully built and used. Most architects also take this skill home with them and talking to a couple of experts they told me it has impacted what house they bought and what they're doing now. From talking to a couple of architects it sounds like they commonly enjoy outdoor activities such as hiking, biking and sailing. This is probably from their deep appreciation for the beauty of nature. Architecture is a job with a high standard of people who value space, awareness of surroundings and details. Another great aspect of architecture is the creative side of things. It's like being an artist but for buildings as you express emotion in the form of a structure and texture.
Challenges as an architect
Organization is one of the biggest challenges architects are faced with. I talked to a couple of architects and they both said that this was their biggest challenge.This is because the architects are generally left to organize things especially on lower budget builds. Architects are left to organize the builders and the materials even though this is not their proper job. Another key challenge for an architect is time management and prioritizing their work as it has to be sent off for planning permission and engineers to finalize the design. If this is not done right then the drawings and plans would be late to everyone and make the customer unsatisfied with the missed deadline. So as an architect it is best to work on time management to management skills.
Qualifications needed
Becoming an architect is a rigorous and challenging process. To become an architect you have to have an accredited degree in architecture. This consists of an art or design degree or a major in architecture. Followed by becoming a registered architect. To get this title you need a bachelors of architectural studies and a masters of architecture. The recommended requirements to start the cores for these degrees are NCEA level 3 for math, english and physics. And to finish the bachelors of architecture you need to have 420 credits from 8 papers a year, each paper is worth up to 15 credits. After completing this you have to work under a registered architect for 3 to 5 years before being able to become a registered architect.
Pay - compare with other jobs by inserting numerical data tasks.
Red = average pay in hundreds
Blue = people employed
Architecture
This graph shows that there is a higher demand for architects and less supply of them this in turn increases their salary. This also shows that there is a lower demand to become a pilot and a higher supply of them in turn they are worth less. This also indicates that people are willing to pay a lot more money for an architect as they most likely value their time more than the other jobs like web developer or a black smith.
Other benefits
Being an architect has some really cool benefits such as attracting like-minded people. These people all share a passion for good design and have a great appreciation for the work you do. Another benefit from being an architect is having an impact on the cities and towns where you do your work. As an architect you can have a huge impact on what the future buildings and other construction looks like. This means that you can shape places to your Pacific style. This also allows you to make an impact on making people's lives easier and therefore is a high respect job. Architects tend to travel a lot searching for new inspiration and looking at places where a future design might go.
Expert interview
I interviewed 2 experts. The first one's name was Kirsten. She lives in Tauranga and works for DLA. She does a lot of work and was happy for me to interview her, and the other one was called Sam. Sam was the most helpful and gave the most advice and information. He lives in England and owns an architectural firm called 3 British's designers or 3bd for short. He is also my Godfather. Anyway he thought it was a very wise choice of mine to look into architecture. He said that he finds it very fun and almost addictive, and he finds himself doing too much work. He also said that architecture is not a job that you would retire from as even people who would normally retire keep working. Sam only got his degree at age 30. His words of advice were “learn as much as you can, be modest and become hungry for learning”.
Qualities required
To become a great architect you need a wide range of qualities. As your design work requires so much knowledge in lots of areas. The main qualities that stand out the most are
collaboration, communication and creativity below are the extended reasons I think they would be a good choice.
Collaboration
Collaboration stands out in this field as the architect has to be able to effectively collaborate. In order to make the project work properly. This also allows there to be minimal stuff ups, makes things cheaper faster and all round makes the people working on the project happy. This quality is especially key as my dad is an engineer. He loves his work but the one thing he hates is architects as most of them end up making him do extra work that could have been prevented because of collaborating as they expect you to read their mind and just do the work with very little collaboration intended. This commonly makes the project go downhill fast and leaves the client wondering where all their money went. And in turn my dad has on a couple of occasions decided to take the architect position and project manage the build.
Communication
Just like collaboration, communication is very important. Both are almost the same when it comes to working with other companies but there is also another important aspect of communication and that is in the design. The design of the structure/building is very important as you have to be able to display emotion and feeling in a building. It is a very hard task to complete but nearly every good architect can do this. Next time you see a new building that has been designed by an architect, take a good look at it and think to yourself what sort of emotion this awakens. When looking at it you will be quite surprised with what you feel.
Creativity
Nearly everyone would understand why an architect would need good creativity. Just in case you don't know why, I'm going to explain it to you. In order to fully stand out in the field of architecture you need to be creative with your designs and innovative. As if that never happened, all buildings would look practically the same. But with it this makes new buildings interesting and different.
Competencies required
Competencies are very important to further elevate your skills as an architect. Here are the top 3 I think would be best used as an architect. As they need to be able to work efficiently and well with other clients and colleagues.
Self management
Self management is key to being successful as an architect. This is because you need to be on time to meetings, conferences, get plans out on time and finish drawings. Without self management you would fall back on work and plans would come out late. Most starting out architects end up doing this but after some practice they get better at self management.
Attention to detail
Attention to detail is the most important. In order to make good building plans, even the slightest mistake can have some of the biggest consequences. Such as if the architect typed the measurement for the supporting beams without an extra 0 the building might be built on supports that can not support the building. This may not be noticeable at first but if there was an earthquake it could kill hundreds of people.
Problem solving
Problem solving is one of the most sought after competencies in today's job market. This makes people with this skill very valuable And is key to becoming a good architect as there are lots of problems that need fixing when designing and building the building. Also coming up with logical solutions to clients' ridiculous problems like having too many cars or not a big enough bed for their satisfaction.Problem solving is a large part of the design process . As usually the client comes to an architect with an idea but it can not be properly executed . Then as an architect you have to come up with a solution. Usually it's cost wise as most people are not super rich.
Career plan
Career
Year 12 & 13
Year 11
Year 10
architect
In Class
Out of class
In Class
Out of class
In Class
Out of class
Qualifications
Bachelor of architecture
Get 80 credits
NCEA level 2
Computer science
NCEA level 1 merit endorsed
Get drivers license
art, design, graphics, computer studies, environmental studies, history, biology, geography, physics, mathematics, communications, and technology.
Drawing
Art
Qualities
Choose two qualities that you think will be important for your chosen career that you can develop both in and out of class. Choose from the TBC Qualities (Respectful, Generous, Loyal, Resilient, Committed, Honest) or choose your own (e.g. Leadership, Grit, Integrity, Hard worker)
Respect
Became a prefect
Do some volunteering work for the school
Get 5s and 6s one report card
Do some volunteering work for those less fortunate
5s and 6s one report card
Keeping everyone happy at home and look after my sister
Grit
100% completion
E pro 8
100% completion
Get into E pro 8
100% completion
Play at least 1 sport
Competencies
Choose two competencies that you think will be important for your chosen career that you can develop both in and out of class. Choose from the TBC Competencies: Critical Thinking, Communication, Creativity, Collaboration, Cultural Understanding or choose your own (Adaptability, Curiosity etc)
Communication
Level 3 in DVC
Get a part time job working for an architect
Get level one in DVC
Enter into the spirit of adventure
CL5 and CL6 for inquiry presentation
Enter an art competition
Collaboration
Be well known for working well with other people.
Captain a hockey team
CL5 and CL6 on report card
Enter young innovators
Be a leader my math group
Enter young innovators
What I need to do in Y10:
Year 10 does not affect your chances of becoming an architect. Although it can help you become a better architect.
Qualifications
You don't really need any qualifications although there are some core and options you can take to make things easier in the long run as you can take design and visual communication, digital technologies, product technology and business. These are arguably the best options to take in year 10 to increase your chances of becoming an architect.
Qualities
Qualities to work on in year 10 I think are modesty admitting that you don't know something. Willingness to learn is key, as no matter how dumb you are you can still become smart and knowledgeable if you have the willingness to learn
Competencies
The best competency I think to work on in year 10 is problem solving as I think it is an important base skill that will hale out in all aspects of your life.
What I need to do in Senior School
Senior years can be very important as they can affect your degree. Especially if you want to start studying for your degree before 20 years, as then your grade in college is a big deciding factor for whether you get in or not.
Qualifications
Qualifications to become an architect: you have to get 60% or more in math and have completed NCEA level 2.
Qualities
I think the qualities that should be worked on are communication and collaboration as at this point in time you start to focus on your own grades and results and start to move away from collaborating which could affect you in the long run. And communication can be quite hard as a teen as most of them just want to do their own thing without listening or communicating.
Competencies
Well the best competency at this point in time is self management as most teachers step away from learning and you do a lot of preparation for NCEA and tests by yourself so if you can master this skill thing will become much more easier
What I need to do in tertiary
The last years of schooling are the most important. As for an architect they are trying to get a bachelor of architecture
Qualifications
Qualifications that you study and are aiming is a bachelors of architecture this requires a very high level of knowledge
Qualities
Creativity and patience are very important qualities to have as getting a bachelor of architecture takes about 8 years and working on your creative aspects of things will really help you stand out and get a bachelor of architecture.
Competencies
And competencies are attention to detail is very important as you need to read the fine print and make sure there are next to no errors made while working
Conclusion
In conclusion, it's very important to plan ahead for your future. And to find out what you love and are passionate about using this information to find what job best suits you.
And for me I find that architecture best matches my skill set and what I'm passionate about: design and creativity, problem solving, and building. These skills are very important for architects as that is what they work with every day. And lastly, a quote “architecture begins where engineering ends”written by Julia Morgan
foot notes
https://www.theinterngroup.com/our-blog/benefits-career-in-architecture/
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