Expert: Richard Taylor, AIA - 9/14/2011

Question
Hello,
I am a 11th grade student and am interested in architecture. I have taken engineering graphics as a subject, please tell me if that will be helpful and what should i focus on if i want to choose architecture as a profession.

Answer
Hi Vivek - thanks for your question!

You'll get lots of different opinions on this subject, but since you asked me, here's mine.

The ability to communicate clearly and quickly is one of the key skills that a successful Architect must have; you have to be able to share your thoughts very quickly and powerfully with your clients and colleagues.

That means sketching - not computer graphics - is what you need to learn.  I've talked with dozens of high-school students about just this; drafting, engineering graphics, computer graphics, etc. are interesting and fun, but that road does not lead you to being an Architect, it leads to being a draftsman.

If you want to produce technical drawings, fine - that's a time-honored skill.  But that's only a very small part of an Architect's job, and the world has more than enough technical drafters to go around (and most of them are currently unemployed).

If you want to be an Architect however, you need to have a far broader skill set - you need to know art, history, philosophy, writing, and engineering.  Right now isn't the time to develop your engineering graphics skills; rather it's time to develop your ability to design and create and communicate...and that means taking creating courses (the art, history, writing, etc.).

You'll have plenty of time to learn the technical part of the profession - but if you start with the creative side, you'll come out of school far better prepared to act as an Architect in the real world.

Good luck, let me know how it all turns out for you!

Hope this helps,

Richard Taylor, AIA
www.rtastudio.blogspot.com
www.rtastudio.com