If you’ve just started architecture school and are boggled by all the things you should and shouldn’t do to get a great start to the year, here are five myths about architecture school that the sooner you realise the better your experience of architecture will be.
You need to be good at art before you’ve gotten onto the course.
You don’t need to be an artist to be a great designer, you just need to be creative. If the idea that you can’t draw museum pieces of work is putting you off picking up a pencil and sketchbook, you need to stop. You don’t have to be talented to learn a skill, just willing to work on it, like a muscle, until you get strong at using it when you need it. Please don’t feel intimidated if art was never something you were great at, that isn’t the point. Art is an expression with tools, and when you know how to use them it is a language that will allow you to travel to wherever you need your projects to go, or rather where they lead you to. It is never too late to learn a skill, and besides, you are university to learn, so what are you waiting for? Open that sketchbook and get to work.
You need to buy all your materials for model making
Now this one is a little hit and miss. So yes, having an abundance of materials to work with at various stages of your design process is all good and well, but what about if you don’t? Materials can be expensive, but it is the tools that you want to spend more money on. If you can’t get materials to begin with you might soon come to realise that you probably already have some materials lying around already. Cardboard boxes from deliveries or cereal boxes, sheets of paper, toothpicks you name it. Your models, especially the concept ones don’t have to be made out specific materials, just a unified material and texture is all you usually need for the first few models. If you aren’t familiar with your tools, and method of working this is a great way to practise, you waste less time and are less wasteful when you become resourceful with the materials you need, not the materials you want. Once you get more familiar with your own method of working models, you’ll realise what materials you actually need.
You are working hard if you pull all-nighters all the time.
All-nighters are a choice, how frequently you do them and when is usually an indicator of your time management skills. This is where you need to find how you work best. Don’t force yourself to work into the late hours of the night if that isn’t how you work best. You do need your sleep and that is something you shouldn’t deny yourself especially earlier during the academic year. This isn’t to say that they won’t happen but be smart about them. You might need to spend a lot more time on tasks especially when it is something you aren’t familiar with, this just means you need to be honest with yourself and your other commitments, you truly know yourself best. You need to be working smart not hard. Of course, everything is trial and error but don’t fall into the expectation that you need to be pulling an all-nighter because everyone else is doing it, it isn’t a badge of honour. Some may deem it as a commitment to being obsessed with the work they are doing, but too much of anything isn’t good for you. And with the time you’ll realise that you know how far you should push before it will make you sick, ill even and you aren’t going to produce your best work when you worked to the bone like that. Every time they were ever done was nearer to the deadlines (usually a day or two before) and I would promise myself every time that I wouldn’t do them ever again. What you need to be doing is finding moments where you can focus on the work your producing, into a workflow that allows you to accomplish and learn so much more that has no specific time frame, it is up to you to find a method, time or state of mind that gets you into your deep moments of work.
Your grades will matter a lot
Grades are a measure of the exploration and skills you can demonstrate, not a measure of your self-worth. You are learning, and everyone learns at a different pace based on a number of factors. You aren’t any less of a designer if you don’t get perfect grades, they aren’t the be-all or end-all. You grades are an indicator of where you are according to this criterion set by the school you are at. When you understand that on a larger scale grades aren’t important, but the progressions you make are, remember it is a subjective degree to study, after all. Make sure that you focus on what matters, the skills you develop and that you produce quality work for the narrative of your projects. Seek interesting perspectives and research that will help you understand your own work, a measurement, after all, cannot always capture the full picture of what you are actually learning.
Only show your refined work during presentations
When presenting your work it is important that you show all your work. The mistake that students often make is showcasing the work that feels complete or final. Yes, this part of your portfolio you should be showing but that can’t be the only part you present. Your tutors and critics want to understand your design process, this is such a crucial part of your project that we often shy away from showing because it doesn’t seem good enough. With all the resources available you should acknowledge the work you do whether it’s paper sketch models or sketchbook diagrams these are all parts of your design that allows your tutors to understand your project in a clear manner. This means, scanning sketches and taking photos of your models as you make them in an appropriate angle and including them as part of your portfolio. By doing you’ll be sure that those you present to understand the ideas or the root of your investigation and then they can better proceed with feedback that is useful to the continuation of your project. Whatever medium you are comfortable using to show your initial ideas should be shown and discussed so that even if it doesn’t look presentable now your tutors will help you figure out a way to show them in a manner that reflects the efforts and ideas you do have.