Why we decided to study Architecture
Choosing a career path or degree to study at university can be a challenging for some and a much simpler decision for others, and whilst we may all have studied architecture, everyone’s journey is to their own. This post is an insight into our decisions that we made to lead us to where we are today, in the efforts to explain why we decided to study architecture.
Sude
My relationship with architecture and the journey to picking it as my university degree goes way back. It’s the cliche story of an ambitious secondary school student who settled their eyes on a career that unites the arts with the sciences… just not as simple.
I was always someone who enjoyed art & design in school and I was pretty decent in mathematics and the sciences. But before architecture, there were multiple other career choice phases that I had; a vet, school teacher, paediatrician, photographer, interior designer. I realised around year 8-ish (13/14 years old) that I didn’t want to be limited to just the inside of a building which is why my interests of becoming an interior designer switched to an architect. I said to myself, “why do the inside, when I could do both?”. I also thought I would get more money that way… let’s not even dwell on how wrong I was. That’s more or less it, a very naive mindset into wanting to do a subject that I only thought consisted of drawing and designing buildings. Nothing more that I could expect from a child.
So, my subject choices from then on were directed in the course of knowing that I wanted to pursue architecture at university. It was very bold considering I had absolutely no idea what it meant to be an architect but I stuck with my gut feeling and here we are. I ended up additionally picking Spanish, Art & Design and Geography for my GCSEs and then followed it up with Fine Art, Mathematics and Sociology for my A-levels.
During the A-level period was when I realised that architecture was more than just buildings. I wanted to be the reason for people to look at a certain space and associate a moment of happiness in something that I had designed. I envisioned, and still envision, walking past a completed project of my own and not mentioning that I was the architect behind it and eavesdropping into people’s conversations about how much they love spending time within the space. Not in a creepy way, obviously. I may be overexaggerating what the feeling is going to be like but I’m sure I’ll feel a great sense of joy. I still strive to meet that satisfaction today and potentially as a Part 1 architectural assistant, I may get a glimpse of what it’ll be like soon. All in all, for me architecture holds a great satisfaction factor… the end result that everyone talks about. I think the process going into the career journey takes a lot of dedication but it will genuinely be worth it in the end.
It’s also relevant to mention that this is only the beginning and there’s always initiatives that I never expected to begin, like ArchiDabble. I could always see myself as having a hobby on the side but never set in stone what I would want it to be. Turns out it’s to have a resource platform to help you all and I don’t regret a single moment. It’s lovely being able to share our journeys as we progress and there’s so much behind the scenes which you guys don’t know about. Both in the context of ArchiDabble and our career routes and dreams that we want to fulfil and share the process as we tackle all the obstacles but in the meantime let's continue growing this family of ours.
A bit of an emotional vent but returning back to what we were talking about, let's continue with the reasons why the remaining two co-founders chose to study architecture.
Elif
I think my route into architecture was a bit irregular in the sense that I didn’t decide on studying it until late year 12/ early year 13. I always enjoyed design and as a result was always involved with practical subjects like textiles and DT (deisign & technology) at secondary. One of the subjects I choose at GCSE level was textiles as I was keen on the idea of creating new designs, working off of concepts and bringing what’s in my mind onto paper and into real life. Completing a design based module made me realise how much I liked the idea of creating and drawing, which then encouraged me to start picking up sketching as a hobby in my spare time. It was at this point where I really started getting into doing graphite sketches and as a result started exploring other design outlets.
Going into A-levels, I wanted to keep my subject choice broad but enjoyable as I didn’t have a distinct career path in mind. I ended up choosing geography, biology, maths and art & design. Initially I had wanted to take a different design based class instead of art, however they stopped offering it as not enough people wanted to join the module. This threw me off course a little bit, as the little career direction I had started to form was now thrown off course, but it actually worked out for the better by the end of my sixth form experience. By the end of year 12, I realised how much I loved two of my subjects, geography and art. In this time I started having conversations with my family and friends on what I might want to study at university and I had narrowed it down to geography, with no job initiative in mind but at least I enjoyed it, or architecture, a subject which was practical enough to let me be creative but I could also bring in other topics that I enjoyed into the subject.
I liked the aspect of human geography, learning about the relationships between communities, social, economic and environmental impacts and how the built environment can change and affect demographics and more specifically people's lives. However, after being lucky enough to do a short one week placement at a small firm, where I got to see what the deal really is with architecture, what it consists of, how it translates into the working world and even talk with a part 2, I decided to continue into university with architecture. Whilst I was always fond of the thought of architecture, being a branch in the design industry, at the start it was unpredictable, having not studied it as a module before. It gave me a purpose, an opportunity to prove to myself what I can achieve, but as the three years progressed and I changed as a person, it evolved into being so much more than what I imagined. It's now such a huge part of my life that I love and have so many aspirations, goals and plans associated with, its rewarded me in more ways that I can imagine to the extent which I can confidently say that studying architecture was of the most uncertain yet unregretful decision I’ve ever made. Despite all of the difficulties and growing that I had to do along the way, it goes to show that life always has a funny way of working out in the end and if I had to go back and choose again I would still choose architecture, even with all it’s downfalls.
Linda
Deciding to study architecture was definitely a rocky road for me. Admittedly, it wasn’t always a long-lasting dream of mine from childhood to become an architect at some point in my life. I’ve never had that one career path in mind that I had my heart set on from day one, and as a result I spent a lot of my school years questioning what I wanted to do with my life.
First and foremost, I’ve always had a passion for creativity, having spent my free time as a child in artistic endeavours like drawing and painting. Whilst my academic strengths lied in various areas that didn’t seem to align whatsoever (I was good at languages, but maths and science as well), I knew that I wouldn’t be satisfied with a career that had no creative or artistic elements to them. At the same time, I didn’t want to solely pursue something like fine art or photography, where I’d be eliminating the possibility of being able to bring in my other strengths into my work. So, I began to research careers that would allow me to be a logical problem-solver and a creative thinker too.
Eventually, I found myself at the intersection of art and science: design.
The field of design encompasses so many different things at various scales. I started to explore the depths and breadths of all careers that fit into this category: fashion design, interior design, video games design, graphic design. Throughout my school years, my interests and hobbies evolved, and whilst I had the opportunity to explore different skill sets and expand my knowledge in different areas, I definitely reached a point where I realised I was struggling to narrow down my interests into one single career. I knew I didn’t want to limit myself early on in terms of my career options. This led to my next reason for choosing to study architecture. From what I had gathered when looking into architecture, there were so many transferable skills I would gain that would apply to any of these alternative careers as much as they would if I chose to specialise somewhere in the architecture industry.
Now, the closer I got to UCAS application season, the more I started to question whether it was worth pursuing this difficult, intense career that on paper, I don’t exactly seem suited for. I didn’t formally study any creative subjects like Art or Design and Technology - my A-Levels consisted of Maths, French and Psychology, whilst the most relevant GCSE option to architecture that I chose was Geography. This meant that whilst Art and Design students had most of their artwork from school to contribute to their portfolios, I produced my entire portfolio on my own, unguided, while juggling my other A-Level subjects. During this time, I remembered doubting my skills, abilities and chances of getting into architecture school. Was it worth all the extra stress trying to prove my creative abilities at interviews with my little black A3 portfolio, where other candidates were bringing A2 or A1 art pieces and even physical models that were probably way more developed than what I could create, because of their formal art education? I could just make things easier for myself and opt for something I know I’m already good at, like languages or social sciences.
This brought me to my final, and probably most important reason why, after all the questioning and indecisiveness, I decided to pursue architecture. No matter what I choose to do in life, no matter how good I am or how profitable my job is, if I am not doing something that I consider meaningful to the world or to others, I know that deep down, I’ll never be satisfied with my career. And to me, architecture was the most fulfilling career option I had come across. To help people realise their dream homes, to make spaces that contribute to people’s wellbeing and happiness on a massive scale, and to be equipped with the knowledge and skills to challenge the industry that has a massive environmental impact on the world and actually be in a position to make it more sustainable: that to me was inspiring. When I’ve gone through periods of doubt as to whether or not I made the right decision after struggling in architecture school, it’s always the positive impact I know that I’ll have on the world and on people one day that has brought me back, and reminded me of a life purpose I know I can’t find anywhere else but in architecture.
I always knew that if I choose to study architecture at university, regardless of where it takes me, I’m guaranteed to leave with more than just an architecture degree. The amount of software skills, graphic design knowledge and perceptive and analytical skills that you gain along the way are insane. This degree has only opened endless doors for me, and connected me with individuals like my fellow co-founders who are inspirational, supportive and just as ambitious as I am with their goals and aspirations. I’m really grateful for the opportunity to do so many amazing things and be surrounded by so many awesome peers; I can’t see myself being as satisfied with any other subject other than architecture.
So, these were the reasons that brought us to where we are today, having chosen to enter the world of architecture above all else. We hope that this was an interesting and insightful read that, for those of you who may be new to us, helped you to get to know us a little bit better.
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