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When you are an architect…

On January 20, 2011, in Do you want to be an Architect?, by Bob Borson

I love what I do. There is no question in my mind that I made the right decision when I was 5 years old to become an architect. Sure there have been some bumps along the way and there is uncertainty in my future. Despite having been at this for a while, some things you just have to discover for yourself. I collected these off twitter a few weeks ago, thinking that I might find use for them.

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When you’re an architect …

· you have probably heard all 1,000 songs off your ipod in just one night

· you spend hours looking at & buying arch books but never have the time to actually read them

· you can’t afford your own taste

· you hate the shelter magazines your clients love

· CAD is your co-pilot

· your closet is mostly full of black clothing

· there are no people in your travel photos

· you don’t think twice about taking notes on your lunch napkin

· instead of scissors, you use an x-acto knife to cut everything

· you turn impossibilities into possibilities

· folks want free design advice during dinner parties

· you help communities improve their quality of life

· every project has budget challenges

· you will only drive a black, gray, or silver car

· you’ve paid too much for your education, but don’t get paid enough in your job

· CD’s don’t mean money or music

· obsessive compulsive disorder is not a disorder at all… it’s your way of life

· you will go into an off-limit area to look at a construction detail

· you have carpet sample doormats and tile sample coasters

· you will die an architect, there is no retirement

· you go to the theater and look at the ceiling

· you can buy glossy coffee table books and claim them as a work-related tax expense

· you can live without human contact, sunlight, water or real food for days … but if you can’t plot, that’s bad

· the most important date in your calendar is your next deadline

· paying $200 for a paper lamp seems perfectly normal

· if someone asks “can you model that?” is not because you are attractive

· your vacations always become research.

· you stare more at the buildings than the people gathered around them

· you draw, write, sketch and plan on a Moleskine

· you like to complain about other’s work

· you hate the font ‘times new roman’

· you see the sun rise… and set… and rise…

· the statement “It’s only 1 A.M.” seems perfectly reasonable

· you visit an art museum and take pictures of the building

· everybody at parties will tell you “I thought about being an architect but I couldn’t do the math”

· when you go to a restaurant, you look at the walls, roof, and structure  before you check the menu

· you slice your finger and the first thing you think is “don’t bleed on the model”

· you know CAD, REVIT, Sketch up, 3dmax, Corel, Illustrator, and Photoshop … but struggle with Microsoft Excel

· you will be kick-ass and admired as much as you are unappreciated and misunderstood

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Feel free to add your own, I’m sure there a many others worth adding to the list. Cheers.

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About the author

Bob Borson

Dallas architect who specializes in modern design. I'm AIA, Leed AP, NCARB certified, and previous Dallas AIA Young Architect of the Year (2009).

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  • http://www.architangent.com Brinn Miracle

    Yikes! I’m always a little skittish when I’m on someone else’s site, but like you, I just HAVE to see it! (probably not the best excuse to trespass)

    I have had a few awkward moments around the neighborhood when my husband and I will be ‘contemplating the merits’ of a particular home’s design and the owner happens to be hiding behind a bush or overlooking the street from their balcony above us…we’ve started talking in much more hushed tones since those encounters. Nothing like hearing a couple asking “why on earth did they design it that way? That is a crime against architecture!”. Not that I can help it, especially when some of the houses look like the ones described in my post here: http://bit.ly/kRMT1U

    Carry on – carefully! ;)

  • Dear Polia

    I totally agree! and one client recently said “I’d never seen one before, it SO CUUUUUTE!”

  • Dear Polia

    Great post! I can relate to soooooo many of those it’s scary, the travel pics, the free advice, checking out the place before the menu (clothes, people, you name it)…but guys, the all black has to stop. We are creative people, let’s express ourselves. Every now and then is ok, but not all the time, it sends the wrong message. And the glasses? It all started because Corbu did it and then Johnson, and then the NY times wrote that article and everyone started jumping off the same bridge. The glasses dont make the architect…I will have my glasses frameless, or even better, i will laser corrective surgery, thank you very much! Now the moleskin thing is fine, but nothing says sophistication like an Italian handmade leather-bound sketchbook filled with handmade paper (carta di Amalfi) Michelangelo and Bernini drew on carta di Amalfi…once you’ve drawn on that paper there’s no going back…my two cents.

  • Scott Arch

    Just found you…  I’m killing time until the sun goes down.  Then I can really concentrate on my 9am deadline!  Thanks for the laugh!

  • Scott Arch

    Just found you…  I’m killing time until the sun goes down.  Then I can really concentrate on my 9am deadline!  Thanks for the laugh!

  • http://www.lifeofanarchitect.com Bob Borson

    Glad to have you here – and thanks for taking the time to comment.

    Cheers

  • Pingback: When you’re an architect… | willemgeorges

  • iLiketravelling

    one time a friend visit my studio and said “what’s so hard about it, its just line”, when I was spending a few alnighter working on that “line”. ouch!

  • Newgirlontheblock

    I’ve been an architecture student for just 4 months now, and I can already relate to so much on your blog! Can not forget being told on my orientation day at school, “architecture is not a profession, it’s a way of life that you’ll adapt to very soon”
    Love reading your writings :)

  • Architects Anonymous

    Lovely post that brought a smile to my face… because it’s all just so true.  The funny thing is, I’ve had 4 years “out” and looking objectively at it, there’s a lot of that truth that’s just so tragic… there really is more to life than architecture – just make sure you make the time to find it while you’re still young enough to enjoy it (and no, that’s not just after-works drinks!)

  • Toro

    · you know CAD, REVIT, Sketch up, 3dmax, Corel, Illustrator, and Photoshop … but struggle with Microsoft Excel
    I really love this one…hahaha!

  • http://twitter.com/hardikpala Hardik Pala

    You don’t like your drawings (CD’s) folded the other way. It hurts. :)

  • Kerrie

    OMG! Im a 15 year old girl, and you just put me off my dream :( Is it really so bad ?

  • http://www.lifeofanarchitect.com Bob Borson

    Kerrie -

    It’s not bad, it’s just not easy. I love being an architect and think that even if I won the lottery, I would still practice architect (but this time I would be the client!)

  • Julia Robb

    Very true…i’m a frustrated architect thou…still feel what it’s like…

  • http://www.facebook.com/elladomeki Ella Domeki

    you know CAD, REVIT, Sketch up, 3dmax, Corel, Illustrator, and Photoshop … but struggle with Microsoft Excel…haha ha so true

  • Bailey Brown

    when architecture is your passion these aren’t bad things. i look on all of these with a smile and a memory. 

  • Anonymous Me7

    OMGGGGGGGGGGGGG….
    the whole of it is ssoooooooo true….
    um ssooo freakd out…
    ahhahhahaah…
    bing an architect is sooooo hard…
    n i guess every1 goes thru da same thng…
    wwoowwwwww AMAZING….

  • Carl_titus73

    AWESOME! I specifically liked the last part. Sad yet so true.

  • Lackofforesight

    oh my god, the accuracy hurts

  • Calrista Grey

    I can do without the obsessive compulsive disorder. I am a free spirit that hasn’t yet found……anything, except for architecture.

  • zam

    hahahah this is so funny and accurate, it’s awesome! I was building my final model for the semester and cut my thumb with the x-acto knife pretty badly. First thought: DON’T GET BLOOD ON THE MODEL!

  • Fouad Zein

    I LOVE ARCHITECTURE!!!

    Get’s addictive at some point!

  • Brian Boatright

    Oh man… great stuff: “you slice your finger and the first thing you think…” In college I had the record for most days without sleep (at least 5… it’s fuzzy). Inking a mylar aerial perspective of a design, I felt my nose running. When I wiped, it was blood (nose bleed).  First thought:  somebody get my mylar away form me!.  Dude.  I can relate.

  • ali

    Wat about sketchup :P

  • http://twitter.com/Kitchen_Sync Kelly Morisseau

    “…when you go to a restaurant, you look at the walls, roof, and structure  before you check the menu.”  
    Designer variation: soffits, lighting, layout, materials. Every single time.

  • http://www.facebook.com/stevenaia Steven Glickman

    Let’s not forget when your friends and relatives who did not ask you to design their home or addition but want your opinion after it’s done!

  • jimi p

    here, here!

  • Eva Ppp

    When the deadline come you always think “If I had just one more day…. ”

  • rajanbhatt

    ” you never have a client who understands your ideas……”

  • http://www.facebook.com/gracebelen Grace Belen

    It’s like having a baby.  It’s a lot of work but you won’t notice it because of how much you love it.

  • http://www.facebook.com/gracebelen Grace Belen

    HA!  Love “… you can’t afford your own taste.”  I often find myself putting off purchasing a lamp or table even when I need it because it has to be certain design, and the designs I like are too expensive so I end up not buying anything at all  :)

  • Stefan-bodo

    Give me a
    second chance and i would choose the same way!                                                                            

  • MJ

    When at a social function someone asks what you do…you say ‘I am an Architect,’ and they reply, “Is this room made well?” Haha. 

  • MJ

    And they say, “Is this room made well?” Haha

  • Simpleman

    Architect Loved Lived Smiled
    His Spirit is in Family Now
    Above two lines I must choose one for my brother’s grave marker, a 37 year Architect who died.
    He was all and more in this post by Bob.

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