The Life of an Architecture Student

The Life of an Architecture Student

Mangalore Today News Network

By Tanisha shetty

Mangaluru, Dec 30, 2017: What is architecture? To some it may be buildings, to some it may be interiors, to some it may be just any other topic, but to me it’s a journey. A journey so long that I hope it never ends.  Architecture  to me  isn’t  just a job or a subject, it’s a movement, a movement  that exposes its  followers  to see and  experience the world in a way no ordinary being can.

Statistics suggest that architecture has been considered the most challenging profession of late, even beating the field of medicine. I completely agree! As a student of architecture,the knowledge of the subject comes with a complimentary side of probably the weirdest experiences one can even hear of, let alone see and experience. And we architects consider ourselves fortunate enough to have actually experienced it while the others tend to refer to us as potential nutcases!!

It might seem a little weird but it is in fact  true , that  before architecture, every building was just any other building that you saw as you passed by, but after architecture not one building goes unnoticed. To an architect a building becomes a piece of art and slowly even a part of himself!

I bet all you architects  out there have a big smile of agreement on your faces as you read this!

THE DAILY ROUTINE
The life of an architecture student is definitely the most  chaotic  one, from pulling off the  infamous all-nighters’ , to the next-to-impossible submissions, to the ever so taxing model making where one ends up sticking his or her own hands together more often than the model itself. We have no finger prints anymore.   And of course the many many cups of coffee consumed, where caffeine  itself stops showing its effects at one point.

Here’s a list of some of the things we architects have to deal with

• Having to work every day, every minute.
• When your other friends complain about having to sleep for only 7 hours and all you got  is an entire  night ahead of you and of course  a  whole load of coffee to survive on.
• The pain felt when a professor sketches on your perfectly drafted design sheets.
• When you realise how softwares aren’t   fun anymore when one can’t find the computer mouse.
• When the professors themselves don’t know what they want from the design project.

Well, the list goes on……..

The most important part of an architect’s life is his or her design work, something that he /she strives for day and night.

After all those sleepless nights comes that one day that every architect fears; the day of the jury; where work has to be displayed before a panel of jurors sitting, ready to tear it’s weakest prey apart. In other words, this is a day where everyone hopes for an apocalypse, or basically anything that could possibly stop the jury from happening.

BUT ….Every story has two sides to it, and so does mine...

THERE’S ALWAYS A HAPPIER SIDE TO THE STORY
Much exaggeration aside, even under so much chaos and pressure, the happiness of a successful outcome at the end of a submission can account for any amount of pain, starvation or sleepless nights nevertheless.

No matter how bad or good a jury goes, once it gets over with, a person’s mind is more like a soldier who’s back from war. You either consider yourself  a martyr for a failed but well attempted design or a hero for a successful one. All of it calls for an evening full of food and drink and of course the ever so precious sleep that we architects consider more valuable than money.

The models that we stick our hands together for ultimately become a reason for immense joy, when you see the structure come alive.What a set of hands, some material and glue can do is sometimes just pure genius.

The all-nighters’ turn out to be more of bonding sessions between fellow students , where everyone gets together, drinks coffee and laughs over all the latest gossip happening on campus, discuss the future, current events, basically everything else except architecture, because who needs more of that, right? Ultimately turning us into a BROTHERHOOOD.

THE BEST PART FOR THE LAST
One huge advantage for an architecture student over any other student would be the part where we get to travel.  From the Heart of Incredible India - Madhya Pradesh with its mysterious caves and Buddhist Stupas, to the land of the maharajas – The Oh ! so beautiful Rajasthan,to God’s very own country – homely Kerala. You name it and we’ve been there!

In all my 3 years of architecture , this exploring and travelling has posed to be  a complete  learning experience for me, thereby making me  realise the true meaning and beauty that beholds the many structures in architecture. Along with this came along a whole load of memories, the happy moments, the sad ones, the funny ones, these are the ones that are cherished the most, and will always be a huge part of you, something that no one can ever take away from you . Travelling to so many places also lets you meet people from different walks of life, thereby exposing a student to reality and broadening one’s horizons.

Ultimately architecture can be considered a good blend of sugar, some spice and everything nice. From academics to life skills, you could say, an architect turns to be an expert at everything!

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Tanish Shetty is pursuing her B.Arch at Mysore School of Architecture