I think we have this false idea about inspiration. This false idea is that we need the inspiration to be creative. Every great designer will tell you they produced there best work when they were inspired. So then how can we be inspired all the time so that we too can make our best work? You see the problem here lies in believing that we must be inspired all the time, like all things we need everything in moderation and like every muscle - overworked and you’ll be left incapable of doing anything let alone any of your greatest designs.
You need to schedule creativity into your calendar.
The academic start is slowly returning and you want to have enough creative juice to last you at least till the next break. So then how do you keep yourself being actively creative? You schedule in time to be creative. Now, what does that mean? This will look different for each person what it means is that you set out time and place where you’ll dedicate your time doing this one task, removing yourself away from others if you have to or leaving your distractions such as your beloved phone in a completely different room on a strict and consistent basis. What this does is give you the mental space to do focus and do what Cal Newport calls Deep Work (in his book called Deep work which I highly recommend you read). When this becomes a habit you will no longer need to be inspired because it will become routine and you’ll be accustomed to thinking about your work because there is nothing else you need to worry about. We are creatures of habit, after all, might as well use it to your advantage. Which brings me onto my next point.
Make taking a break a habit and you won’t need to rely on inspiration.
When you take a moment or moments to rest away from whatever reminds you of architecture you’ll slowly realise just how architecture or your design work will find its way creeping into your thoughts. Even when you aren’t actually doing anything completely correlated to your design work it’ll find it’s way to you, that’s the perks of being a designer. That’s not creepy, trust me that's normal. That is what being productive looks like actually (apparently, I’ve convinced myself that it is). But all jokes aside, you aren’t just an architecture student or architect you are a person, with thoughts and a life outside of the focused and technical world that is architecture. You can’t talk about designing for people if you haven’t experienced living, in all sense of the word. If your aim in architecture is to improve the lives of people through design you need to see the problems for yourself. If you don’t, you’ll trick yourself into thinking about solutions to problems that already exist and that already have solutions. One way to look at it is that you'll be manufacturing the world you live in (if we can even say that you’ve lived) based upon what already exists that we don’t need any more designs for.
You can’t expect to have ideas if you haven’t worked hard to find them.
Ever noticed that when you’ve been working on something for so long that you encounter a creative block all it would take is for you to walk away from that task take a break and come back for you to find the solution looking at you as if it had been there all this time? When you do set out for time of deep work and then break away often more times than not, your head is still with the problem. Don’t assume that because you aren’t physically doing anything that your brain isn’t doing some hidden work behind closed doors that don’t take a strain on you in a physical sense. Your brain is constantly working for you, so the least you can do is give if the time for you to be passive and you’ll see just how important breaks are for mental clarity and focus. Creativity is a muscle and it needs some rest.
So as you can probably tell by now, inspiration isn’t as spontaneous as you imagined it to be. Hoping that if you truly dedicate yourself to old fashioned moments of true deep focus, on regular basis you will be better at being creative because you have a system in place. Habits are far more reliable in manufacturing some of your best work, don’t underestimate what being consistent does, it is one of those things that in foresight you will reap the rewards.