We all drowned in knowledge at architecture school. Sometimes the details came so much that we even felt we couldn’t do this job. However, the good works we dreamed of doing after graduation gave us the motivation to finish school. So what happened after I graduated? We realized that they taught nothing about that at school. We have already given you five details that nobody taught us in architecture school for you not to experience the same shock.
1-Material Knowledge
Architecture schools, of course, give their students a basic knowledge of materials. Some experienced instructors often express how necessary material knowledge is throughout their undergraduate education. However, with the content knowledge given to you in the architecture school, you quickly realize that it is very different from real life. So, if you have the opportunity, learn as much as you can about materials that are ‘really’ frequently used in projects before you graduate.
2-Customer Communication
The school of architecture has enabled many students to overcome the phobia of public speaking. Because in schools, students make project presentations in the form of an open jury. You need to convince them by presenting your project that you have been working on during the entire semester to your instructors and sometimes guest instructors. While people often say that open juries are equal to convince your customers in real life. In reality, that’s not the case. The good news is that sometimes it’s easier to convince customers than to the instructors on the jury. But the bad news is that you may find it difficult at first, as no one teaches you in one-to-one communication or marketing communications in architecture school.
3-Cost Account
Many architecture schools have been teaching cost calculation to their students in recent years. Thus, they aim to send them to the industry in the readiest manner. However, the problem is not that the students take this course for one year. During the term project, regarded as the most critical course, we have the opportunity to act freely on material and design choices for four years. While designing, we do not consider the difficulties or costs of producing them. The situation of the month also applies to our material preferences.
Because there is not much design and aesthetics focus in the sector, the instructors do not speak out in architecture schools since they want students to get this opportunity. But let’s warn you right now, the freedom gained during the training period can be misleading. Because in real life, everything but everything is about money.
4-Problems Experienced in the Implementation Project
The school of architecture prepares us for the challenging business life by giving us many practical lessons. However, no matter how successful a school is, there are situations where it cannot fully prepare its students. As an example, we can show the problems that arise during the application project.
It is easy to imagine that our projects, which we drew under the school of architecture’s safe wings, will be built without any problems. Unfortunately, in reality, many minor issues occur during implementation. You, as the designer and architect, are the person who needs to find solutions to those. Practicality and the ability to adapt to the situation are vital here.
5-Site Communication
If you remember, we mentioned above about customer communication. Here, there is something more meaningful in architecture than contact with the customer; it communicates with the construction site team.
Although it is not mentioned very often in architecture schools, construction sites are full of mistakes. No project area is perfect, or no building process goes smoothly. It may also be impossible to progress. However, as an architect, you can minimize the confusion that may occur with your guidance.
While explaining the details to the implementation teams, you should be clear about what you want and express yourself clearly. You should also be ready to make small doodles on the walls, the ground, and the columns at any time because you may need to support what you tell with drawings. Finally, you should have the plan and render visuals on the site to guarantee the right applications. Thus, they do not have to call you even for straightforward measurements.