7 Reasons Why You Should Learn Architecture
Education provides us with valuable skills that help us in contributing towards society and attain fulfillment. These skills should be taught and learnt in-depth in order to master them. Architecture is one such field of education that teaches you numerous and diverse skills that you can use in a wide variety of ways. It involves elements of both arts and sciences, and helps you hone both those skills. It teaches you to design creative structures, and also teaches you the methods and scientific tools needed to bring them to life.
Architects help create designs and blueprints for various construction projects such as homes, hospitals, cities, etc. Architects are often confused with interior designers. They are involved in creating the external structure and design of a house, whereas interior designers devise a plan to light up and accentuate the interiors of a home.
This article will tell you about the seven reasons you should study architecture, the career benefits, and the other opportunities this field of study holds.
1. Creative and scientific
Most career options and educational courses can be divided into two types: creative and scientific/theoretical. Designers, writers, artists, and musicians work in fields that are all creativity-oriented, whereas lawyers, doctors, engineers work in scientific/academic areas. However, the field of architecture provides you with the best of both worlds. Since architecture requires you to build beautiful spaces, buildings, and structures, you must be creative and unique in your style and apply mathematical and scientific calculations to build those structures.
Studying architecture will get you to learn about art, history, society, mathematics, data analysis, etc. You will also understand how these diverse fields interact with each other to contribute to human development.
Even as an architect, your opportunities and day-to-day activities will require you to do various things such as calculating floor space, designing, constructing, etc. You will rarely have a fixed routine office day as an architect. This ensures that the profession does not become monotonous and you enjoy every workday.
Even if you do not wish to become a professional architect, the skills you learn while studying architecture are valuable in a wide variety of professions. Studying architecture widens your skill sets in various fields, thus making you fit for different occupations.
2. Travel
Studying architecture requires you to see and visit places to understand the structures fully. Architecture is not something you can learn from textbooks. You cannot understand the effect of the dome structure in the Taj Mahal without actually visiting it, which is why studying architecture will allow you to fulfill your travel goals while learning at the same time. Many universities and courses have trips to various locations as part of their coursework, and they organize the same.
Travelling is an excellent source of inspiration and education for architects, as it helps in understanding the correlation between a building, history, lifestyle of people, weather, etc. Studying architecture also makes you aware of the history and culture of a particular place better; hence, this would also enhance your everyday travel experiences due to the acquired knowledge. You will gain better insights and fulfillment from travel because of your expertise.
Since your work as an architect requires you to build different projects, you will be required to travel for your work. Thus, the profession will allow you to travel the world and create a life that feels like a vacation.
3. Variety of career options
Studying architecture will teach you various skills that can help you in many different careers. Even within the architecture field, there are so many things that you can do and specialize in. Thus, the options are endless. Some of these fields are:
Research: Love to read, write and have new ideas? Research can be a great career option for you. Architecture is a constantly evolving field, with new designs and technology coming in every day. The people behind these innovations are research architects.
Town planning: Town planning requires numerous architects working on various levels. As a town planner, you would be involved in creating city or village plans. It would require you to understand the town’s needs, the population, aesthetics, history, etc., and then design accordingly.
Building inspector: Architects are often hired to inspect and examine the quality of buildings, especially historic buildings, to keep a check on maintenance, redesigning and preservation.
Film production designer: Films extensively work on their sets and need architects to build those. Building sets for sci-fi and historical films is often challenging yet rewarding.
Education: If you are passionate about passing on your skills, you can become an educator in architecture schools, and contribute your knowledge by teaching students. Many architects practice in the profession for several years, gain practical insights, and then switch to a teaching career. This makes their teaching filled with real-life experiences, which in turn ensures an exciting experience for students.
Apart from these, you can also work with real estate and interior design companies. This is one of the most popular choices among architects, and you get to design buildings, houses, etc. Even within this, the variety of projects and specializations differ, and you can choose according to your interests and expertise.
4. Contribute to the society
Architects look into the requirements of people, economy, environment, beauty and weather before creating a structure. They provide cities and houses to people that they can comfortably and peacefully live in. Towns and buildings have a lot of aesthetic value attached to them. All towns have their uniqueness, and that comes through the contribution of architects. If not, we would be living in similar-looking cities all around the world.
Thus, architects provide significant value to cities and people’s homes, and their contribution to society is immense. You can be a part of this too by studying architecture.
5. Financial stability
Studying and learning architecture, along with gaining the practical skills, takes years of effort and training. However, this is rewarded with financial security. As an architect, no matter what field you choose, the job market is vast, and therefore finding a job with good pay is not very difficult. You can either work for a company as a part of their team or work independently. However, in the latter, your income would depend on the number of clients you are working with. But overall, the field offers immense financial stability. With years of practice, you will be able to grow more as you develop expertise.
6. Constant Learning
Architecture is a creative field and has a broad learning scope because you can constantly learn from other people’s creativity, which is unique to them. However, even on the technical side, technology and research are continually evolving. It is essential to stay up to date with upcoming technologies to up-skill yourself. For example, now AI tools have been built for designing purposes to get an authentic life-like design. These tools are becoming a preferred choice among architects today. However, learning these tools requires some training and practice.
Thus, the learning never stops in this profession. In every project you work on, you will face new challenges and demands that will need you to learn and push yourself. While it may sound complicated and challenging, it is equally rewarding and satisfying. Thus, if you are curious and love learning about new things, architecture is the best pick for you.
7. Contribute towards a sustainable future
Environmental concerns are rising globally. Either by choice or governmental pressure, all industries are shifting to sustainable alternatives to run their business. Construction is one of the biggest polluters on the planet. It leads to deforestation, air and water pollution. Thus many architects are now also shifting to sustainable architecture. Sustainable architecture keeps three aspects in mind: people, planet, and profit. It analyses every new construction through that lens. Rainwater harvesting, solar energy management, native landscaping, and green buildings are a few ways in which sustainable architecture is evolving today.
Building sustainable cities and buildings can contribute significantly towards protecting the environment, wildlife, and the planet. As an architect, you can be a part of this process and contribute to the earth’s sustainable development.
Even though it may not be an actively pursued choice today, it will be in high demand in the coming years due to environmental risks.
Conclusion
These reasons for learning architecture should have given you a good idea of what it is like to be an architect. The field of architecture is filled with various opportunities, and the learning experience is also one of the best. While it provides you with many challenges, it also gives you the satisfaction and fulfillment of completing them and learning through each of them.
To know more about architecture education, visit our website. You will find a lot more information on architectural trends, educational opportunities, free workshops, etc.