Do you want to be an Architect? Understanding what Architecture School is.

The reason I got into Architecture wasn't because I didn't want to pursue engineering, trust me when I say that was the case for more than half of my classmates, I choose architecture because it fascinated me, and the more I read and learned about the field the more it intrigued me.

Of course it was never the first thing I dreamt of doing, but there was point, where I stood determined that this is what I want to do.

For starters, vacations have always been a huge part of my life. My parents always say, we earn to spend and the best way of doing it is seeing places. We have seen quite a lot of the country and while we were at it, the sightseeing, the buildings fascinated me. The Taj had a major impact on me. I was in the 9th standard when I first saw the Taj mahal. I knew it would be wonderful, the pictures were always pretty but being there I realized how majestic it was.

It was huge and I was so thrilled about it. We then went on touristing around the famous monuments in Delhi and I was so certain that I wanted to be an archaeologist, Indiana Jones maybe and find everything about those forts and the people who lived in there. Things took a change when I read more about archelogy and the civilizations of the old world and figured, I was more interested in knowing how they were built, then especially. I wanted to build something that will be as interesting as Fatehpur Sikri was to me. More research, the unwillingness to pursue pure history and the lure of someday being a restoration architect was what got me into architecture.

I knew very little about what architecture school would be like, what will I be taught and especially that surviving those 5 years would be torturous in ways unimageable. What I knew was I wanted to do it, I wanted to be an Architect.

Now, to answer the question of weather you have what it takes to be an Architect.

It takes a lot of commitment, all nighters and sacrifices to be an architect, and it doesn't end with college. If you think it sounds cool and you like to draw, rather, you are an excellent artist, go pursue arts, cause that is where you excel. Joining architecture wont leave you with enough time to draw, unless that is what you really want. Architecture is a mixture of many things, art, science, creativity, social skills, time management, logic and what not. So, considering it is a five years long course, giving it enough thoughts and getting to know more about it before investing any real time is much advisable. This article is not meant to dishearten or scare you, but to let you know beforehand what you might be getting yourself into, which I had no idea beforehand.

If I am to list down the various things to look into, the main focus should be on the subjects-

• Design- the most important, basic and toughest, to design, one must understand the user and the space, one will learn logic and aesthetics merged together to create spaces, compositions or even artwork.

• Building Construction, Materials and Services- the basic as well as the in depth study of how. How will your design stand, what materials will you use, what suits the climatic conditions, what and how services will be provided, from the basics like water and electricity, to in depths of elevators and structural systems.

• Graphics, Photography, Communication and History- the basics of all these will be taught during the initial semesters of the degree.

• Village study and Measured drawings- in depth study of an entire village considering all aspects that goes into the working of a community and in depth measurements of any structure of historic importance to be drawn in sheets, accurately.

• Climatology, Landscape, Interiors - these are subjects which aids in our design and make it more functional. These are also taught in detail and are taken into consideration during any project you are working on.

• Vernacular architecture, Disaster management- these are subjects which focuses on certain part, region of the country/world and are usually elective.

• Urban design and Urban planning- these are again, highly specific but large scale subjects dealing with urban design, which is basically a huge chunk of an urban area, maybe a street or a recreational center and urban planning, is, large scale planning and study of workable strategies to be implemented to an entire town or city.

Other than these subjects, the course has workshops, model making, building prototypes, numerous case studies, market surveys, site visits and a lot of extra curricular which although are optional but a fest or two never hurt. In the same 5 years, there will be an Internship for 6 months, which I believe is tougher than finding a real job and your thesis too (too close to death).

These subjects and the curriculum are tough in ways and quite time consuming, but, if you are really into them, are interesting beyond question.

If the subjects and architecture as a whole is still luring you and you think this all sounds fancy, well, Reality check, you will have to go without sleep for maybe a week in between submission, all that you work at/for will be presented, displayed in form of sheets and a jury, not that into listening will always be there criticizing you. You will have to face numerous redos, because well, you are a student, learning, and you learn by making mistakes. Studio hours will be crazy, you wont have time for yourself, personal life is a myth in between classes. Weekends will go into the extra curricular, weekdays into classes and nights, completing your submissions. You will most definitely cut your finger, eat glue, ink, and cry like a baby once in a while. I did.

I am being completely honest when I say the work load is exhausting, the patience required is enormous but I also know that I am happy that I went for it. I may sound like I hated it, but I enjoyed it the exact amount. I loved it when my designed was appreciated, when the jury smiled once in a while, when I worked in groups with my friends and had numerous trips to some unknown village, to various buildings and places I never even knew existed. I loved working in that office during my internship, where I made friends and dealt with clients, learned more than I did in three years of college. I love creating, the designs, the software, the final renders of projects, all these small joys were worth all the pain and lost sleep.

In time, I grew out of wanting to be a restoration architect, I realized its not as fancy and delightful as it was in my head. I also realized that I didn't want to work at any random office, with no time constraints, below average pay and no creativity expected by a fresher. I worked hard, I love Architecture, I want people to love architecture. People either take architecture to be a branch of Engineering or Art, which it is not. I want people to know what we, as architects do, like they know about doctors and pilots.

There are a lot of career options you can opt for after your bachelors, there are plenty of architectural masters degree in various fields, there are jobs if you don't want to practice architecture anymore and then there are options like Architectural Journalism, which does not have any masters programme as of 2021, but there are alternative like masters in journalism or creative writing which can aid to the career path.

Considering, I enjoy writing, doesn't want to cut terms with architecture, have a love for designing and catching up/reading about the various architectural trends has always been a hobby, I have been looking into the field of Architectural journalism and I am quite positive about it being my calling, if people still call it that.

I couldn't have reached to these conclusions if it wasn't for the 5 years in Architectural school, there have been various highs and lows, frustrated nights, tiresome days but at the end I am glad that I am an Architect, that I went through all of that and made it.

If you still want to be an architect, go for it, if you are still confused, read more about it, dont just get in for the sake of it. Its five years of your life afterall. And if you do get into Architecture, welcome aboard my friend, its quite the journey.