The best part of being an architect is helping a client make their vision a reality. I currently focus on handicap accessibility and as an architect it is still very rewarding to help my clients solve issues and assist them in creating a space they are both proud of and that serves the patrons that use it! Thanks for your post….It really is a great profession!

I found your site a week or so ago because of your top 10 lists, but your other posts are what I stayed for, so please consider staying around. Your posts are refreshing, entertaining, and inspiring to those of us out here plugging away in the profession. Architects have the potential to profoundly affect a person’s everyday experience. It’s fun! We get to draw things, and then watch them appear, and hopefully these things improve somebody’s ability to think/sleep/work/etc. All the crap we have to wade through sometimes make us forget the fun, that’s all.

Sally,
Thanks for commenting, I am glad to hear you think the other posts are worth your time. I had no idea how much effort it would take putting this together and while it has been rewarding, it has also been exhausting. To see that the list of reasons not to be an architect is the most viewed post ever, I started thinking what’s the point.

Your comment is very encouraging – thanks.

Marcy,
Thanks for your comment. I agree about helping clients with their vision (as long as they don’t demand glass block!!)

My reply to this question is probably more reflective of the fact that I am no longer a practicing architect, as I have decided to pursue my career in the world of construction. The education of an architect is priceless, and when we think about it applies to all aspects of our lives. Even though I do not practice architecture at the moment, my life has been and will always be affected by the education/training that I received. We see the world in a different way, and it is our responsibility (or gift!) to share this vision with others. This can never be taken from us, and it will constantly be with us in our journey through life. The best part about being an architect is the way that it has changed our own lives and our ability to share this passion/vision with our family, friends, coworkers, and most importantly clients!

Tim,
Thanks for chiming in, I was wondering if I had architects that had moved on to other fields reading these posts. I think your comment is insightful but I am really interested in why you moved into construction. Did you discover that the construction industry suited your skill set better or was it driven by the market, or salary, etc. Considering so many people are interested in the reason why not to be an architect, maybe understanding why those who were architects moved into other fields would be of interest?

The best parts about being an architect in training are the late nights, new friends (who become closer than your family), unreal projects (that jurors always remind us that we’ll miss when we start practicing in real life) and fixitive. I believe we “hate” something as much as we love it. It’s like how people say “I hope I’m not like my parents when I get older”…30 years later, you become the very thing you thought you didn’t want to be, but you love. So all the reasons NOT to be an architect could very well equate to reasons to BECOMING an architect (although I haven’t read your list yet). So far, the absolute remarkable part about training in this field is realizing how your mind changes. I go into a building and marvel at the structure, while normal people look for something to sit on. Different strokes for different folks.

Janice,
Very interesting comment that the list of reasons NOT to become an architect could change into the reasons why you WOULD. I had this very same conversation with another architect right after I originally wrote the list. The thing that I find most intriguing is that the list of reasons why not to be an architect are so generic that this could be a list for any profession. I thought that it would be fun to compare this list to what would happen if you went to a fortune teller – that they would tell you things that would resonate with everyone but you hear the message as being specific to you (your going to do some traveling in the near future…).
Maybe that’s why this list is connecting with so many people?
Thanks for your comments and for reading the blog, and feel free to post anytime – the dialog is great.

I also found your blog through the lists, but read on and added it to my reader because of the rest of your posts. So I’d say to you: consider your lists a good hook, but trust the quality of your other posts to keep readership. Write on

As an architect who actually wishes she could stop being an architect (to pursue full time my work as a silversmith / jewelery designer), I can say in all honesty that one reason I like being an architect relates to a point on your list: the feeling of being part of a respected profession; that approving exclamation one often gets from strangers when you reveal what you do, when you know you are being thought of as someone creative and artistic.

True or not, the aura that architecture has is always pleasant to bask in. Sometimes my ego needs it after a soul-killing meeting with a particularly difficult client.

I’ll also echo Tim’s comment and acknowledge that what my training as an architect gave me, is probably what I value most. I am always glad of how it shaped the way I see the world, my hobbies and even my friends. The comforting part is that practicing architect or not, this I take with me always.

Mynta,
It is amusing that so few people really understand what we do (including architects who are in or just out of school) but yet they all want to do what we do. As soon as I tell people that I am an architect, everyone (and I mean everyone) tells me that they wanted to be an architect or at least thought about being an architect. It’s nice to be a part of something larger – particularly on the soul-sucking days which for the record – everyone has those, they aren’t unique to us – so we look for the good to help define our own perception of what we do. At least I do.
Thanks for your comment, I hope to hear more from you.

As a student with some work experience, I identified with many of your top ten reasons to be an architect. Many family members and friends have asked me countless times why I want to be an architect, given the many years of school and long hours. But I honestly couldn’t imagine studying anything else.

This may sound navie, but I’m excited about the possibility of improving lives through design. Regardless of the scale of a project, architecture impacts how people interact, and the better the design, the more positive that interaction can become. Externally, I’m also very interested in how architecture can affect wider society and the natural environment.

Also, I enjoy being able to express my ideas in so many different ways – through drawings, physical models, verbal communication, etc. There are so many means through which architects can be literate.

Finally, I agree with earlier comments concerning this blog in particular. I recently found the lists, but I’ve enjoyed reading the rest of your posts these past few weeks. When I was first considering architecture as a career, I met a lot of really cynical architects, so reading this blog is both encouraging and educational for me.

Jennifer-
simply and beautifully stated. I can’t imagine doing anything else either. Cheers!

The top reason why I am an architect is that I can’t imagine anything else would so successfully satisfy both my craving to make and my craving to organize. Sigh. I am now a consultant, so I miss the designing part desperately and have slid back into redoing my personal surroundings AGAIN to satisfy that craving.

I also read your blog because I stumbled on a recent post where you mentioned Michael Malone – coincidentally a former co-worker and longtime pal of mine. I had no idea he’d written a book until I read it on your blog. Thanks for the connection (it’s a small world, huh!)

I can’t recall how I found your site a few weeks ago…maybe Daily Dose of Arch? What brought me back though, was your post on the house numbers, if you can believe it. I crave practical information about good design that I can apply to my work. I also appreciate when you talk about the profession as it relates to your family. But mostly, I enjoy your ‘voice’… it’s real, humorous, and relatable.

I just went back to read the top 10 and I must say they were dead on, the good and the bad. The profession has turned out for me just as I had hoped back in 1991 when I got into architecture school. First, it’s a productive creative outlet that is based in pragmatic thought. I get to use both sides of my brain everyday in every thing I do. And secondly, I’ve managed to keep my career moving forward while having a family. I’m a better architect today juggling kids and work than I was 6 years ago working full time at a big firm in NYC.

The worst for me is what you said about your house depressing you. My husband is an architect too (oh yeah, that was #1 on the bad list!)… and we are constantly looking at how we can improve our less than ideal living situation and contemplating another move. Fortunately, we are like minded and get through it together.

Congrats on such a successful blog. Keep it coming!

JM

http://www.mowerymarsh.com
http://www.mowerymarsh.blogspot.com

Bob-
There were quite a few reasons why I chose to pursue a career in construction rather than architecture. First and foremost was instinct. While I loved design, and wanted to be an architect from an early age, I found myself wanting to be the one who figured out how to build a project rather than design it. To me it was a challenging model to figure out how each nut and bolt of a great design came together in “the real world”. Also, the ability to bring an architect’s knowledge and sensitivity to the world of construction is a great asset. It is certainly easier for me to relate and understand what an architect is trying to accomplish.

I have also learned that I am not the type of person to sit behind a drawing board all day (I would make a terrible production architect). The ability to touch and feel the job sites, interact with the skilled tradesman, negotiate deals, manage multimillion dollar budgets, and see a tangible result in the form of a completed project is incredibly exhilarating.

Unfortunately I have to also admit that financial reasons also come into play. It has always amazed me how most architects are severely under-compensated for what they do. This was always a struggle for me, and I found early in my career that I could provide a better living for myself in the field of construction. Don’t mistake this as my reason to change, but rather an added benefit. It is an entirely other subject, but hopefully architects will take more responsibility (legal) for what they do, and as a result will hold a stronger position in the market that will result in larger fees and compensation.

The beauty of being an architect is versatility. There are many avenues in the world of project development that this training can serve, and many opportunities for an architect to be a contributing force in completing a project and bettering our world.

As an Interior Design student what I think is the best thing about architecture and design is the intersection of so many ideas that occurs. From lighting, furniture, and materials to the environmental, emotional or sociological impact of design, a whole world of details is there to be considered and it can be inspiring to see how these different facets coalesce.

Plus, we get to look at all the pretty stuff out there. My family doesn’t understand why I sigh over Ann Sacks tile but my Interiors buddies do, haha!

Erica,
I like that you have referenced theemotional and sociological impact of design – these are things that you don’t necessarily think about when you are first starting out. The longer you go on working, and the more you discover your own sense and how that impacts how you work, you can’t help but become emotionaly tied to your work and that something that I didn’t put on the “to” list as compared to other professions but I should have.
Thanks for commenting, it’s good to hear from you.

Here goes my response Bob…

Confirmed architecte with my own office for the past 10 years… Went through the same initial training as you Bob! (UT SOA-BArch ’91)

What I like about this profession… long list strangely enough. Considering that almost every day I ask myself WHY??? I want to be an architect… The answer is always the same – “I cant imagine doing anything else for the rest of my life”. Nothing else gives me such a sense of passion, challenge, of being alive and actually doing something that is important and that I love. Everything is a project to be discovered, thought about, looked into in its globality. Every time that I think that an answer is obvious… I end up looking deeper… and the farther I look in to the probleme – the less obvious it is. I discover more and more about my own humanity, which is something amazing in itself.

We Architectes are destined to continually ask the question WHY? Where? What? When? How? Like Philosophe/maçons! Building answers only to test them again. Looking into every aspect of our lives, in order to understand, heal, and make things better… hopefully. Jack of all trades and master of none. We just cant help ourselves. We never really “KNOW” – we just try to “BELIEVE” – we HAVE to continually question ourselves.

I think that anyone that wants to have all the answers is not intended to go into this profession. I would like to use words from Louis Kahn… ‘From “Essential Texts” – Silence and Light – ed. Robert Twombly – NORTON)

“The essential quality which I admire most in Einstein is that he was a fiddler. From this he derived much of his sense of the universal – or rather, you might say universal order was something that came to him from his sense of eternity, not from just his mathematical knowledge or the knowledge of science. Why didn’t it reach the other fellow if knowledge was there, because it filters through everybody? Knowledge is avalable. It just happened to be in him, the knowledge of something else, and so it is in every one of us. Knowledge is very specifically something that belongs to each individual in his own way. The book of knowledge has never been written, nor will it ever be written for man. …
Going bact to the university, then this was a center; it was something about the humanities that was really the university. Another part of it was that of the professions. This was the engagement of man in the various avenues of expression be he a doctor, or a lawyer, or a bookkeeper, or a nurse because you want to, you have something that tells you to be a nurse, or something that tells you to be an architect. And the university position has nothing to do with the marketplace. The marketplace has to do with the way that which personifies this profession is practiced by the individual; this is something the university should not be concerned with, except to inspire him in the nature of the profession, and in what way he will, in the end, be the happiest in the exercise of this expression. Problems of the marketplace really do not belong there, because no matter how much you teach it, the tendancy will be for the person to find his own way, because a man does not really learn anthing that’s not a part of himself. He might try very hard. He may even pass examinatins, but he’ll nver really be a chemist, even if he studies chemistry, unless he’s a chemist from the very very start. …”
This is just a part of it… the rest is far too long.

Bottom line – if you are passionate and it is your nature – you have all the reasons in the world to be an architecte despite ANY agravations you might encounter. If you are not – well, lets just say that you can find TOO MANY reasons not to.

Julie Howard
Architecte DESA – BArch UTSOA Austin
Paris, France
http://www.vongdc.com

I just came across your blog this past Sunday, it was via a sidebar link on Archidose (been reading that for years now) to [the belly of an architect] (clicked it only because the name intrigued me) scrolled his site briefly and saw Life of an Architect was linked up because of your Top 10 posts. Again, just because I was curious about the name – did not follow the Top 10 link and still have not read them, but I got to your site and was immediately captivated because of your Arkansas/Blackwell post. Why? Because I can relate to it. The same reason I clicked the links mentioned above – searching for something I think I can relate to, which in turn may give me new insights, thoughts and ideas.

That said, yes I think you should turn off the para-metrics. If the majority of people are only coming to your blog for the “Evil List”, so what, maybe it is the 10% of people like me who only found you because of the list that count. I am excited to continue the Arkansas story. You have to remember that our culture has been reduced to the bumper sticker slogan, which is unfortunate, but true for a host of reasons. It is senseless to fight it, but if you embrace it and try to make it better you may get somewhere, and that in a sense is what I imagine your Top 10 lists may be – larger thoughts with substance boiled to their essence for easy consumption.

Now, to get to your original request with this post – state one reason why to be an architect – I need to tell a story:
In 1991 during my last year of architecture school, I told my studio professor I was looking for a movie to watch that related to architecture, could he recommend any? He said sure, watch “The Name of the Rose”. So being the eager student, that night I rented it and started watching. The whole time I’m sitting there watching, thinking Architecture, Architecture and as the movie progresses I start thinking How does this relate to Architecture? I don’t get it, did I get the wrong movie? I double check – Umberto Eco’s Name of the Rose, nope this is what he said, so I keep watching. So after the movie I reflect on the story and how it could relate to architecture and came up with a few ideas: mystery, self-doubt, questioning the rules, temptation, secrecy, discovery. I never asked him why he recommended that movie because I was unsure if I had really understood what he meant and was embarrassed that maybe I missed the point. But I kept thinking about it for months and one day it dawned on me, his point was that you can think about ANYTHING in terms of architecture, the importance is how YOU relate the two. This was an epiphany, and in retrospect was a guiding force on my path to become an Architect.

I once heard someone say: “If you find a job you love, you will never work a day in your life.”
That’s why I am an architect and practicing architecture:
Architecture is a life-force, it is not confined to time or space – it can be with you whenever and wherever YOU want it to be.
　
to give you a brief context for my ramblings above, here is a little bit about me:

- studied at Virginia Tech
- 17 years practical experience in Architecture in both Europe and USA
- currently in Denver, Colorado

Key quotes I relate to daily:

“for every expert, there is an equal but opposite expert”

“I don’t know the key to success, but the key to failure is trying to please everybody.” –Bill Cosby
　
Looking forward to keeping up with your Blog.

Patrick

Patrick,
I graduated from the University of Texas at Austin and went on the London/Lugano travel Scholarship with VT in 1990 (great program) did you get to do that? The only name that immediately comes to mind is Lesley Paiva (at least that’s her name now). I can go bcak and look through my “memorabilia” and see what I dig up.
Small world.

Bob,

That is an excellent program and glad you got a chance to experience it. While in school I did not get to take part in that, but after VT while working in Hamburg around 1993 or 94, i did get to meet up with a couple of groups as they came through Berlin and Eichstadt, which was rewarding in itself. I graduated in 1991, but don’t recall a Lesley.
Speaking of small world, the reason I said I related to your Arkansas post is that I was just there in January and went to look at Marlon Blackwell’s library renovation in Gentry and also to Fayetteville to check out the Fulbright Building renovation. I enjoy his work too and looking forward to seeing more of it.

So you got to work in Hamburg – our trip didn’t go through there but I made a personal trip afterwards for awhile and got to look and see some really interesting “floating houses”. I think the architecture in Germany is underrated – at least I can’t recall spending any appreciable time on it while in school and found all sorts of buildings and spaces I enjoyed. Although I didn’t enjoy my one night in the hostel in Munich after drinking 3 liters of beer, I still don’t know how we navigated the medieval streets to find our way home.

I didn’t make it down to Gentry to see the renovation but was able to explore all over in the Fulbright building during my visit with Marlon, the available photos don’t do it justice. There is the Blessings Golf Club building Marlon designed in Johnson, it’s private and he didn’t have the time to bring me out there but it is definitely something to look up. Marlon is also working on a large addition to the building that the College of Architecture is in. I don’t know if you knew this or not but the University of Arkansas changed the name of the College of Architecture to the Fay Jones College of Architecture and they named Marlon as the Head of Architecture (not the dean). Marlon also is designing the new Fayetteville High School which looked amazing – I didn’t publish any of those things here because of their status in the process and they are still somewhat hot potatoes.

I am glad you found my blog, I hope to stay in touch.

I’m going to reply to your request by describing why I am trying to remain an employed architect even when the odds are so against most of us right now. I like people. I like the differences among us. As an architect, particularly one that has been blessed to have often been in the project initiation phase where folks are excitied about a project and dreaming and thinking big, I like to listen and gather all that energy from those individauls. Then – when I do my job well – I get the pleasure of squishing it all around and presenting it back to them as a program and conceptual idea that honors their individual needs but works for and nurtures the whole community! That’s the part that I like best; being the assimilator and consensus builder.

Nell,
What a great response, I really enjoyed reading it. I have talked about feeding off the excitement and the energy of my clients but I haven’t heard too many others mention that. Based on your list, I would gather (hope) that we would be good friends.

Changing how people experience the world is the most common reason I received thus far (that is a good one). I hope you will read some of posts here and leave additional comments.

I wouldn't sweat that you contributed to the “trashing” of architecture. all the architects understand–we learned to be critical didn't we? how would we not be critical of the profession itself? i think the popularity of your top ten post is a reflection of it's inanity: it's a top ten list. it will fit in quite easily as a sidebar in a design magazine somewhere. it's been RSS-ed, but for print. it's good to be self conscious about what you write, and to your credit it is a reflection that you care.