5 ways to practice patience in architecture
In five years of study at architecture school (or more!), you do a lot of projects - probably at least one, and up to three per semester, until your final year when you’ll usually have the luxury of completing a year-long project. That adds up to 2 to 6 projects a year, or 9 to 25 projects over the course of your study!
Working this way, you get very used to quickly bringing ideas from concept to completion, and to communicating project ideas. The speed of these projects helps these skills become ingrained, the intensity helps to force your hand at decision making. And then, as quickly as you started, you move on to a new brief, a new set of parameters, a new tutor, and new ideas.
But so many projects is a lot of churn. The timeframes for university projects do not often match up with the reality of architecture projects in business. Study sets you up to work at pace, to expect feedback at every step, and near-immediate results. In an office environment, this only happens in rare bursts near a deadline.
The reality is that while architecture is fast-paced, busy, and intense, architecture is also a really slow profession.
What do I mean `architecture is a slow profession`?
I mean that buildings take time. People and relationships take time. And projects take time.
This was probably the key learning for me, as I transitioned from study into a professional environment.
Even seemingly simple buildings require moving from the general to the specific, incorporating many viewpoints and ideas, and manoeuvring through permits, protocols and paperwork. Some projects, after years of work, dissolve and remain incomplete. Some barely get off the sketchpad.
Working in an architecture office, you will undoubtedly be busy, but somehow, at the same time, it can feel as if nothing happens. You can work on the same project for month after month, even year after year. And so this means that, for the first few years working in an office, you need to get used to what I call practicing patience.
5 WAYS TO PRACTICE Patience IN ARCHITECTURE
Figure out how to get your 'quick fix' - how to achieve things and have a sense of satisfaction on a daily, weekly, or monthly basis
Learn to love the process, not rely on the outcome
Reconceptualise your role as a guide for clients on their journey through a project, rather than as an individual creator
Invest in learning and growing with your projects
Make your own things happen
Have you noticed a change in pace as you transitioned from study to the office environment? Have you seen many - or any - of your projects reach completion? How have your goals and motivations changed in response to this?
Join the conversation in the comments below - I would love to hear your experiences!
