Being an architect. What's it like? | 'A Choice to Make' - Short Film

As A child I knew I wanted to be an architect, but I didn't just play with Legos and build Matchbox cities I was the kid who bought plan books with my lawn-mowing money, and I'd redesign the floor plans To my eight-year-old self this was being an architect drawing and cutting paper building models There were miniature versions of big things I could hold them in my hands. I was making Then I went to architecture school and realized there was so much more: history, theory, materials, engineering, and construction details, and I devoured all of it There was so much to learn to take in and I loved it school inspired and fed my interests but the reality of practice only diminished them as An intern I sat at a CAD workstation for 12 hours stretches drafting the most mundane elements of buildings All the things that led me to architecture they were missing in practice When I passed my licensing exams I convinced myself Professional life would be different For a time it was as I went to work for a small residential firm there were interesting clients and projects Beautiful locations and larger budgets to work with and importantly I was making I Was working on house plans as if I were eight again playing architect but soon these partners were forced by recession to focus on making ends meet and when I was making The credit for award-winning work went only to the namesakes on the door I was commuting 72 miles each day. I felt like a cog in someone else's vision of an architecture practice This wasn't my childhood vision of architecture of a creative life I'd always been trained that there was one way to practice architecture: a client equals a project and so you find clients and serve them Finish this job search for another client time worked is fee earned, but when I started out on my own I had this realization That time is a fixed asset The ultimate constraint which means that whatever we do that's linked to time is limited in the same way When I was young I didn't think about this as much But as I got older I started to feel this press of time And so I experimented with as many things as I could to subvert this relationship I wrote I designed on spec I developed products and accepted every project that came my way with each new experiment I was finding this awakened and rekindled creative drive. I Catalogued the results. What worked what didn't and the catalogue became a sort of Handbook a field guide at first it was just for me, but the more I learned the more I wanted to share it and There were others in fact many others experiencing the same Dissatisfaction that I'd experienced in my early career they too had followed all the rules and were highly trained for a profession where the luxury and the rewards of creativity were only available to an elite view and the rest just Trading time for dollars. This field guide I was writing was for them and it became my first product I Packaged it up as a book and sold it online and then in print I Followed it up with the second volume describing my attempts some successful some not to reinvent the traditional practice of architecture Each new product became a small revenue stream and with each new stream I earned a little more freedom Soon I didn't have to accept every commission. I could be more selective I had the freedom to pursue interests like filmmaking and video editing and to use these new skills To create more products I developed short courses and taught on my YouTube channel The videos began to earn ad revenue above all making became a part of my life again When I decided to build the studio it was simply a place for me to make and manage that was separate from Domestic life But like any creative work in the design process it became much more it became the avatar for the life I was designing the one I was trying to figure out I needed it to validate the choices I made to prove that I could support my family doing something creative Doing what I loved: making. So I set out to construct a simple monument to my design philosophies and aesthetics I envisioned the project as I had everything else a series of experiments new construction techniques the use of humble materials a place to test new details It had to be small so an experiment and changeable and multi-use space More than just a work of architecture I wanted it to serve as an educational tool for clients to understand and experience my work But also for students and viewers online it became a workshop for sharing the process behind the making drawing inspiration from simple farm buildings its form is an archetypal barn which historically served many functions and created a large sheltering space with little money in A barn everything has a purpose and its means of construction the way it's put together the hand of the maker is present plain to see The materials were chosen for durability, but also to show how humble Inexpensive resources can feel tailored and precious the large glazed areas are for sketching on with chalkboard pens The wood storage area facing our home is the seasonal revolving calendar of Sorts filling up in the winter and emptying towards spring There's a quote by the author Annie Dillard that stuck with me she says, "How we spend our days is, of course, how we spend our lives." Every day I walk 17 paces to my studio and I make things In the morning, it's writing, video scripting, recording, drawing, sketching. There's no email no text no client meetings. That's followed by an hour or two away from the studio where I get outside Usually a hike or a bike ride helps me to recalibrate This ritual is as much a part of my creative process as drawing or model making this time away from the studio helps incubate thoughts There's a point where the ideas coalesce where the right wires find each other And there's this clarity I never know when it will happen or even how this works But it does and I rely on I use this time as a transition to managing my afternoon is then given over to email Texts all the urgent demands of the business that can't be ignored placing the making ahead of the managing was intentional And people ask me about the practicality the rigor of this like it's impossible to ignore email but the funny thing is once I started this routine It didn't take very long for the people I work with to Accept and respect the idea that this is a calculated part of my creative process Each day I return here each week a new experiment in making made me feel more alive and more purposeful What keeps me interested, is the idea that I don't have it all figured out The studio is like a creative cage I keep myself in after a 17 pace commute each morning My schedule for making is designed to keep me focused on the work that makes me most happy The studio is a container for an ever evolving creative life One where I can decide what I work on each week Not the one thing I was told I should be doing but the many I choose to do

Channel: 30X40 Design Workshop

Views: 701,290

Rating: 4.9689288 out of 5

Keywords: being an architect, whats it like to be an architect, alternative architecture career, be an architect, architect, architecture, architecture documentary, architecture film, architecture doc, architect career advice, difficult choices, career, drawing, what an architect does, architecture school, architecture students, architect draw, architectural drawing technique, architects drawing, architect drawing, how to architect

Id: nLUU6wcA3qE

Length: 8min 35sec (515 seconds)

Published: Thu Jul 27 2017