Working in architecture is always a challenging experience in which you just never know what might happen next. That said, there are a number of things we can collectively relate to as a part of this industry. Here we've created a list of things we're all too familiar with—whether that relates to finishing projects, working with clients, or just dealing with people that totally don't even know what goes on in architecture. Which ones did we miss?
1. Sometimes, there's nothing quite as relaxing as putting on your headphones, listening to your favorite music, and working on a drawing or model.
2. That geeky, incredible feeling of traveling to see a building you've always wanted to see.
3. Still qualifying for student discounts on software.
4. When you’re sure that your model is about to break from too much handling but the professor/client insists on holding it up at a strange angle.
5. That feeling when you send a drawing to the plotter and hope that a) it's working b) you're printing on the right kind of paper and c) the drawing is oriented correctly.
6a. That inner sense of victory when your printing bill comes out much cheaper than you anticipated.
6b. That inner sense of failure when your printing bills comes out way more expensive than anticipated.
6c. That inner sense of dread when you are about to look at your printing bill because let’s face it... you have NO CONTROL over this.
7. When you’re feeling a bit too good about a project, that’s when you know something bad is about to happen.
8. Splurging on books that you don’t have time to read... because you like them as "objects."
9. Spending the first hour of an all-nighter cursing your situation and promising to make it the last... but you somehow never follow through afterwards.
10. That inner feeling of zen when you're effortlessly reloading all your files after a computer crash because you backed up on a cloud.
11. Similarly, that sense of accomplishment when you find a good use for a little sketch that you decided to scan for “record-keeping."
12. When you’re doing something completely unrelated to architecture but inspiration suddenly hits you and you just have to drop everything to draw it on any flat surface.
13. Walking around the studio/office and asking people to close programs they aren’t using because there’s only a limited number of software licences available.
14. If you’re having a conversation with a non-architect about architecture, you pretty much assume that the non-architect will (only) mention Frank Gehry, Frank Lloyd Wright or Zaha Hadid. If you’re lucky, you might even get Mies van der Rohe.
15. That cringe-worthy moment when some non-design professional uses an overused cliché like “Less is More”... as if they understood the actual context of that line.
16. When you hit the hay after a massive deadline and don't come back to life until at least 12 hours later.
17. Explaining how to do something on BIM takes a lot longer than doing it yourself--but you’re too stubborn and explain it anyway in the vain hope that one day you won't have to explain it again.
18. The perplexed sense of joy when the guest critics/clients are unexpectedly enthusiastic about your project.
19. If in doubt, throw the blade out! Nothing feels better than having 10 fingers intact because you always worked with fresh blades and a metal ruler.
20. When you’re learning new software, and you try a command from a different program and it does exactly what you want it to do.
21. The bliss of discovering a shortcut for a tedious task when you’re watching somebody else work.
22. The first stroke of an X-acto blade on foam core...and it feels like slicing butter.
23. Having to make peace with the past version of yourself that was too lazy and/or incompetent to correctly document professional experience for the registration exam.
24. When your napkin sketch is actually on point.
25a. Knowing all too well that last minute changes rarely do a project any good but you still go ahead and make a final tweak… and your project falls apart.
25b. Knowing all too well that last minute changes rarely do a project any good but you still go ahead and make a final tweak… and your project has never looked better.
26. And finally...that enormously satisfying feeling of leaving the studio at 5 pm on a Friday with a finished project/to do list.
All images via Shutterstock.com
