School vs. Practice

16 Jul School vs. Practice

As a young professional working in the architecture industry, I’ve noticed some discrepancies between the design world of school and the real world…

In school, I was often criticized for my firm grasp on reality.  There was this giant push to design the craziest, most outlandish architecture that we could find in the recesses of our brains.  While I would try to push boundaries, I still had this nagging thought in the back of my mind…”What if this project were actually built…”  Now, it’s definitely the exception for a student’s design to actually make it to the stages of construction.  I am aware.  However, I found it incredibly frustrating when I would try to design around everyday design obstacles, such as building codes, ADA compliance, and budget, that I would be told to forget that ‘stuff’ and move on.  I was literally told to ignore ADA since I was only a “first year student”.  It really bothered me that anyone who used a wheel chair would barely make it past the lobby.  I thought that was an obvious flaw in this project that I should’ve been able to explore and solve.

As I progressed through school, I learned to play their game.  Yes…I was told in a studio review that my synagogue resembled…um…well…a bong.  That was not my intention, but I was pushing myself with areas of design that I’m drawn to…complex geometry, material manipulation and surface patterns.  It was freeing to work on my little pet projects without consequence.  So, I do see the benefits of this type of design.  It is helpful for pushing our own personal design agendas forward…while we wait for the right client to put it into practice.

Do you see a bong?

Now that I’m working in the real world, I had to revert back to my early design days.  I can no longer just ignore those practical and necessary components of design.  I can’t just tell a client that it’s nice they came up with a budget for their project, but I’m going to just do something really cool instead…regardless of cost.  That just doesn’t work.  Sure, it was nice being able to have the option to ‘ignore’ design constraints in school, but isn’t it true that the best designers are the ones that can have the best of both worlds?!  Isn’t it these solutions to design obstacles that can make us great?  While the solutions to these design issues satisfy the clients’ needs, they aren’t necessarily concerned with the process and how we got to that point.  For me, it’s not the destination, but the journey that is the most satisfying.  I enjoy solving the design puzzles that we encounter every day.  So all I have to say is…bring on the design constraints…you’ll be amazed with our results.

-wew