After attending a local community college for an A.A. degree in General Studies. Throughout all that time I was planning on going for a Bachelour's degree in Computer Science and program games for a living. Well as much as I hate to admit it, I can't stand sitting in front of a computer all day, everyday to make money. Earlier in my life I aspired to be an architect. I even drew floor plans of houses I wished to live in. I even drew up a floor plan for a nice 1 bedroom loft apartment inspired by Anne Franks' attic that she hid in. I don't know exactly why I switched from pursuing architecture into computer programming. Its just that I can't see myself as a happy person doing nothing but programming whereas I can see myself being content and motivated to draw and design someone else's next house, or office building, or restaurant, etc. I still like computers and videogames and will draw inspiration from these very much like any painter and artist draw their inspiration from something close to them for their next masterpiece. So, what I'm going to do know is either two things: 1. Stay at this college and switch from A.A. General Studies into A.S. Architectural Drafting. Graduate with that degree; get a job as a drafter and start having a career and then go back to school and work on my Masters in Architecture at some good school. 2. Graduate with a General Studies A.A. and transfer over to an accredited Architectural school and work on my M.A.. I might have a better chance with the first choice because I'll immediately be put into the industry and then have real-world experience by the time I go back to school to work on my M.A.. Just thought I'd share this with you all.
Those were my options when I started attending college back in 1999. I could either become an architect or a computer scientist. I ended up studying something completely different, but that's another story. I started architecture, but I had to switch due to health related issues. Still, I have some experience in the field. Also my girlfriend's sister is an architect, and my girlfriend puts together most of her models - and my brother studied architectural design in high school, a lot of it. I think I can give you some pointers, not before wishing you the best of luck. Recommendations when you start your architectural studies: 1) Make sure you know several techniques in the fine art of building models. While you will most probably have a class related to these matters, it might (it hope it doesn't) happen like it happened to me, when you'll be required to build something without previous instructions as of how to build it - and then graded as if you were an expert in using whatever technique. Polyestyrene and contact glue are highly recommended for advanced model building. Make sure you have enough of a VERY fine grade sandpaper, to get rid of rough edges. Contact glue, however, makes flat pieces of polyestyrene fuse to each other, so it'll REALLY make your models one piece. Keep this in mind. Make sure you always have a lot of extra material - but be creative in its use. Always try to get more than you need and keep it clean and safe. Always have a spare compass, set of triangles, T-rule and drawing materials. Get the professional quality triangles, without numbers. They're worth it. 2) Learn how to "blueprint" by hand. You might not think you _need_ this if you have Autocad, but you'll be surprised how much it makes you really understand the nature of architectural design. Be one with your Stylographs and mechanical pencil - you're bound to spend more time with them than anything else. Be extremely clean in doing this, and make sure you have a proper drawing table, chair, and lamp. Excercise "free-hand" drawing, and be extremely sure about your traces. Excercise your wrists, for your own good. 3) Learn more than one drawing technique. Markers and Pastel are quite friendly, but also, prismacolor pencils will be your best friends. Learn how to trace and copy photographic images using transparent wax paper (called Herculene in Mexico. No Idea what it's called in the States) and practice often. This technique is invaluable. 4) Study very closely the work of the masters. Know your Frank Lloyd Wright, your Calatrava, your Barragán and your Gaudà by hand. Learn about art history, and never forget the Vitruvian theory of balance. Architecture is about the combination of Form, Structural Strength, and Habitability (function). 5) This one is VITAL. This one is the one that made me have a nervous breakdown, so be VERY careful: BE CALM, KEEP STRESS AT A MINIMUM. Things WILL look grim very often. You'll have seriously insane deadlines, teachers that simply destroy your model that cost you 6 sleepless nights and give you a 60/100 without even looking at the details. You'll have to build useless shit out of toothpicks and have it support five or six bricks, and fail if it doesn't. You WILL be subject to stressful situations. Stay calm. Do your work as soon as it's requested, and, for God's sake, try to stay cool about it. Trust yourself and have people you can trust nearby. Architecture is a VERY demanding study, but I'm sure you will be able to survive it. Contact me if you have anything I can help you with, and have VERY good luck. Hope this helps.
I took drafting classes in Highschool it was a much better class than the computer classes I later then took. One technique I need to get good at and practice is free hand drawing and sketching. Be able to control my hands to make a decent sketching of the exteriors of buildings. I will take classes and even practice on my own in building models of houses. In fact if I stayed in the drafting course (draftin 1 through 3, I only took Drafting 1), in the third course I would've built a model for my final project. I will persevere regardless if just one professor thinks my project turned out to be crap. If something like that does happen I'll learn from that experience and find out why. I'm thinking of taking a drawing class this summer but I have to make sure I can afford it because my financial aid won't cover it. I think I'll do better in a class room environment rather than learning free-hand drawing on my own. Architecture is a special artform and I understand the basic concepts of Form, Structural Strength, and Habituality. I will study the masters and learn from them. I won't try to be better than them or reach the level of success they reached. I want to do it for the greater good of humanity, to help people have a roof over their head. Artistically, architecture, the way I see it, is a bridge between man and nature to where man can compliment its environment. Thanks for everything you guys.
Stop posting shit for starters ;-). Seriously though, stop wasting time on the internet, it can get a hold of you. It almost did for me.
You're only 15 or 16 though, right? Don't worry about it until you get out of highschool - you'll only give yourself an ulcer if you stress it too much. Wait until you're four years into college with graduation nowhere on the horizon - THEN you can start freaking out. Good luck with the architecture gig, madhatter. It's always heartening to hear someone decide on a direction to take in college and be excited about it - now I can live vicariously through you. Seriously though, if it's something you love then there's no better reason to go after it - and if it's that much fun, you'll never work a day in your life once you graduate.
i was in the same situation as well. stated in computer sciences but realised in my 2nd year that i hated programming and don't want to spend the rest of my life doing that. i switched to electrical engineering. i'm prepared to switch back if need be. you gotta find something you like to do or you'll end up kicking yourself later on.
Heh, changing majors is pretty normal here, as well as doing 2 in a row - I'm a second year Computer Science student now but after that I'll probably do a few more years of Japanese or Management/Economics And madhatter, you are so damn right about the internet getting hold of you and mucking up your school work. It's like marihuana
Well, they do say "LSD then, DSL now." (Especially because actually _getting_ DSL for a month costs the same than a dose of LSD)
I've not tried LSD, but the internet is indeed addictive. But think about it - instant contact with anyone in the world, unimagineable information at your fingertips, just waiting for you to Google it. That's a siren call that's pretty hard to resist. If only it could feed you, too.
