Hello friends! I’ve just recently completed my second year of pursuing a bachelors degree in architecture & thought I would like to share some tips if you are interested in architecture or in any design fields in general :) I’ll make sure to update this list as I keep learning and coming across new design experiences. Please feel free to contribute!
Think abstractly. If you stick to your preconceptions of how things should look/feel/function, you will not be able to stretch the possibilities of your design. Learn to think of things in terms of how they could be, rather than what they should be.
Find theory/ideas/inspiration & record your thoughts in a journal. Keep tabs on what resonates with you and what you think defines “good architecture.” You have a unique voice and contribution to the field as a designer, so you should know what it is and let it be known to the world! One of my favorite places to go to for this is ArchDaily. Some notable articles/pages:
Buildings to browse and study as precedents
Unified Architectural Theory
Architecture I follow on social media:
Architectural Drawings: Patri Navarro | Pinterest
@life-of-an-architecture-student
Also check out Francis D.K. Ching’s works. He writes lots of great stuff
Building Construction Illustrated
Architecture: Form, Space, Order
A Visual Dictionary of Architecture
Interior Design Illustrated
Building Structures Illustrated: Patterns, Systems, and Design
Understand the design process. Everyone’s process is different, but the aim is to create as clear a timeline as possible of how your project went from a concept, point A, to a fully developed design, point B. Some red flags I’ve observed to keep in mind that can derail you from your process:
Not being open to criticism: Embrace different angles that people have to offer you on your project so that you can grow as a designer.
Taking huge leaps with each iteration. Each step of your design should be a small change from the last. Don’t try to solve so many problems at once. It will overwhelm you and bring more design problems into the picture. Pace yourself & fight the temptation to start all over.
Not Defining the Problem. A design can be thought of as a response to a problem. You need to create something that doesn’t exist yet that appropriately responds to its context. Don’t create problems just to solve them. Address pre-existing conditions and try to solve them using design moves you feel are essential.
Not including diagrams of your design to convey key ideas and decisions. It will help you mentally break down and process the main elements of your design and help you communicate what you are trying to accomplish/your approach with your project.
Understand jargon that is used in the industry. It will help you understand and convey concepts precisely and professionally. It also helps make your ideas sound as strong as they are in your head. Sources that explain common architectural vocabulary:
150 Weird Words That Only Architects Use | ArchDaily
Words that Architects use | Life of an Architect (This one formatted the list of words as bingo cards, how cute)
Visual communication is important. Your drawings should aim to
contain relevant information.
Drawings aren’t just there to look pretty. They need to be useful in helping your client/professor/reviewer understand what your design is about.
Understand the pros and cons of digital and analog/manual tools & learn to use them together. They do not have to be mutually exclusive in your design process. Use lots & lots of trace paper!!!
3D modelling tools to consider:
Revit is an industry standard. Modelling through Revit features built-in components (called families) like windows, walls, furniture etc. Revit also allows you to annotate 2D drafting elements, so creating plan, section, elevation, and perspective drawings digitally are easy through Revit.
Rhino is a popular 3D modelling program that uses “Non-uniform rational Basis spline (NURBS)” modelling, which allows it to be more flexible for making abstracted forms. Rhino is compatible with many plug-ins/apps such as Grasshopper (to make shapes based on algorithms) and many more that can be found at Food4Rhino. It’s a good tool for creating laser cutting files and 3D printing.
AutoCad is a very intuitive program for modelling both in 3D and 2D. Creating laser cutting files with AutoCAD is straightforward and is easy to use in conjunction with Adobe Illustrator, since it utilizes vectors and layers.
3DS Max is mostly used by animators to create 3D motion graphics, but is useful to architects because of its rendering capabilities, especially for its compatibility with VRay rendering engine.
SketchUp is a good program if you are just learning 3D modelling. The controls are straightforward, and 3D Warehouse offers many downloadable models for you to utilize in SketchUp.
Downloadable 3D Model Resources:
Post production digital tools to consider:
Photoshop is an invaluable program for rendering drawings. It uses raster graphics, meaning it displays pixels. Make sure when using Photoshop, to print your drawings at 300 dpi so the resolution is presentation quality.
Illustrator is great for creating digital drawings that you would otherwise draft by hand, because it uses vector graphics. This means it uses polygons to represent images, so you can scale your drawings without worrying about the resolution. Illustrator makes it easy to control line-weights and arrange your objects.
InDesign is the best program to use for creating templates/layouts for your drawings when you are ready to format them for presentation.
Tutorials on Architectural Visualization:
Alex Hogrefe Visualizing Architecture
Entourage and Textures Resources:
5 Places to Download Free, Ethnically Diverse Render People
Analog Techniques to consider:
Linescapes: How to draw a tree & Groups of trees
Linescapes: One-Point Perspective
Linescapes: Analytical Section in landscape
Linescapes: Creating Depth in sketch
Life of an Architect: Sketching
Choose clean, minimalist fonts.
Always have a north arrow in your plan drawings, so the orientation of your design is evident.
Use a graphic scale instead of a numerical scale in your drawings, so that when you re-scale the size of your images to fit your portfolio/website, it will still be applicable to the image.
Make sure that when you print your drawings out, the ink is dark enough to be seen clearly at 10 feet away from your presentation.
Useful vectors/fonts/other graphic resources:
UCreative: Minimalist Fonts
Don’t stress if you are not a jack of all trades. Given the amount of time you have before deadlines, some areas of your project will be weak, some will be strong. It’s ok. Not everything can be 100% resolved. When you go out into the field as a professional, you will work in teams and you can capitalize on your strengths. For now, just learn as much as you can as a student.
Places to create a portfolio:
Issuu is an incredibly popular site for creating publications and makes for very professional architecture portfolios.
Behance is owned by Adobe and offers many tools for sharing your work through their creative network.
SquareSpace allows you to make your own website and offers templates that are suitable for an online portfolio.
CarbonMade is great for artists and other creatives to display their work and connect them with employers.
Observe your surroundings. Go ahead & people-watch. Observe how people use what is around them. Research psychology and sociology. Architects are the ones in charge of creating places/experiences for people, so you should try your best to understand them.
