Me an Architect?

Wow! An Architect (huh!)

Hmm....Last weekend when I spent 24 hours at the office finishing up drawings....I was greeted by "uh!oh! poor you!" by my friends and alike.

Well it is paradoxical! Architects start off as 'poor' ones, in sense of wisdom, architectural capabilities(no matter which school one went to) and the precision for detailing. Its one hard and a long way.....Those nights of burning the mid-night oil, not seeming to get enough of your input, at times your 'innovative' idea being rebuked. It makes you tough and cold maybe....

Let me start with the very beginning. After getting a degree in architecture from an accredited school in the US, one has to gather 700 units from different categories to satisfy the IDP training requirement. Best part is one training unit equals eight hours of work in one particular category;-)
So that makes 5600 hours in total. Going by the assumption that you are 'always' employed fulltime which is 2000 hours per year; one would need 2.8 years approximately 3 years to get the architecture license. Whoah!

For people like me there might be glitch which may be beneficial, it says that "maximum credit allowed for foreign experience in architecture is 235 trainings units if under the supervision of an architect not registered in the U.S. or Canada." So that means 1880 hours of work from a foreign country (ie approx a year's experience from one's home-country if applicable). Also, for people who are more experienced there could be an alternative to the IDP Training Requirement.

So this is about long way....now about the hard one....
Frank O' Gehry derives his building concepts from 'Carp-Fish'. Well, realization of that concept, into a sketch, then a model and a building is something that is rare and he is blessed with it.

Many such pioneers of one or the other style of architecture are made of sheer and utmost dedication to their work. Work for them literally comes before them before anything or anyone else does. They know their pulse and they know what keeps it alive. This is the hard part I was talking about. Pursuit of that dedication and that desire to find the pulse and keep it alive is something which takes it toll on many mortals.

posted by Unknown @ 9:45 AM