Being an architect

Take a while, and think for a minute. All the important decisions you took in your life; Career School College Football team (Marriage) Friends Clients .......... .......... Do you regret about any decisions? Do you regret of not being brave enough to take the right decision instead of the easy one? If you are given a chance to redo all, will you be doing the same again? You may be able to retrieve the lost opportunities, build up the lost relationships, avoid dead ends, start doing what u love and are still passionate about... Now, fast forward to 20 years ahead. What are we doing now to not regret then? Are we taking right and brave  decisions or are we flowing with the tide avoiding hard act?

   as an architect?    as an employee?    as an artist?    as an employer?    as a manager?    as a mother?    as a husband? If so, most likely you will get replaced in near future (maybe except for the personal relationships.!!). And you have no right to complain! For a client an architect may not only be the designer; but also a mentor, friend, technical and financial adviser, negotiator, innovator, artist and also one who care to share the journey. Her role becomes irreplaceable once client find real value other than the mundane details. Though design quality is still the single most differentiator, it is unfortunate that more often, client may not be equipped to fairly judge the quality of design alone.  " A PHILOSOPHY OF 'CAVEAT EMPTOR' HAS NEVER BEEN MORE INEPT " 

well, in almost all cases..! Client is right even though he is wrong... At one point of time every design professional realize that arguing with a client is not the way to prove a point. You may win over logic, but most of the times client will not take the advice. The case stands strong when the client in question has a very strong ego. The subjective issues gets harder to get convinced as the fine line between logic and aesthetics mostly is a matter of better taste. History teaches us that there is no any constant right . An absolute right today can be (and most surely) be wrong tomorrow. Your right choices are way different from the ones made a hundred years ago. A right choice in one geographic area/social fabric may not be right in another; examples galore. The glass boxes may be the right choice in a cold climate but can bring disastrous results in a hotter climate if not thoughtfully detailed. Similar is the case with different movements in art and architecture follo...

Masters of any art form has been invariably connoisseurs of their field. A connoisseur is defined by dictionary as a person with special knowledge or appreciation of a field, esp in the arts . You can find many analogies for the observation. Take the field of music, photography, fine art, motion pictures or wine tasting for that matter. Being a connoisseur automatically equip the creator to critically judge her work during the process itself. She thus knows where the work stands in comparison to the works of masters and most importantly, under varying contexts. She can appreciate the subtleties without getting carried away.  " THERE IS A GREAT CHANCE THAT A CONNOISSEUR WHO PRACTICES HER ART BECOMES AN 'OTAKU' WHO INFLUENCES MANY."  A connoisseur in the field of architecture need not be a great architect. But without failing, all great architects are famously connoisseurs of their craft. They could easily differentiate between a quality sp...

Architects are associated with sketching long before the profession has evolved. One automatically expects an architect to sketch and explain his point. Architectural career choices are still majorly influenced by the candidate’s proficiency in sketching . Is the skill heavily overrated? Or does it deserve the hype? The problem starts when one confuses sketching with ‘art’. Definitely, creativity (and thus similar tastes) has its own part in shaping an architect’s career. But what one forgets in the debate is the potential of a ‘ skill’ as basic as sketching which can help the professional in a long way throughout his career. It is a skill which can be learnt and mastered. A very powerful ‘tool’ - sometimes the most powerful - which if used with care, can simplify many a process. It’s also a skill which is very enjoyable. "STRIPPING INFORMATION INTO THE VERY BASICS HAS HUGE ADVANTAGES."

Accept it. Student architects are always confused about choosing the right career path. It gets all the more complicated with myriad options (and specializations) available today. Though the scene has changed a lot, I think the speech by Charles Correa more than a decade ago ( Convocation Address at the School of Planning and Architecture, New Delhi, 1996 ) still is very relevant. I want to share his thoughts as a continuation of my post  'architecture as a profession' . His observations are sharp, as usual, and I am sure that any architect at any stage of his career will get useful (if not motivating) insights from the speech. Extracts from his talk are given below.     “How much we grow depends on the issues we have the good fortune to address. This brings to mind a story told to me by Arvind Talati, a young Indian architect who followed Doshi at Corbusier's office in Paris. After working for two years or so, when Talati decided to return to ln...