Architecture A levels & Requirements/Aptitude?

[teta]

I’m posting this on behalf of dd2 currently in year 10. And I’m generally looking for advice from anyone with experience or knowledge. She’s expected to do well in her GCSEs and attends a very academic school. Good at Art and Maths and has always been highly creative and interested in design from a very young age. Also very astute and I suspect would be very good in business.
She’s not sure what she wants to do and her school is very much into professional jobs based on Maths and Sciences. I’ve been thinking about Architecture for her but know absolutely nothing about it. Would she be the right sort of person for a career in this?

[BubblesBuddy]

Please ignore the rubbish about portfolios being hand drawn!

Kent suggests portfolios based on the following:

It must reflect creative and presentation skills. It can include different types and styles of work. It may include freehand drawings and sketches, paintings, ceramics, textiles, photography and animation etc.

They want evidence of being able to record a scene accurately such as life drawing and urban scenes.

They want to see a design process from start to end.

They do want freehand or observational drawing. They don’t want portfolios which are 100 per cent 3D or design technology.

Therefore sketch book is good advice but there is a lot to include and projects are necessary. Variety and explanation of thought processes is key and just sketches is absolutely not good enough!

Please read advice given by each university rather than following rubbish posted on here!

[MariaNovella]

Can you not understand what you have just copied and pasted, Bubbles?

[SofiaAmes]

All I know is that in the last 15 years or so, the 3 offices I have worked in (both in the USA and the UK) have rarely if ever produced hand drawn drawings for a client. In fact our last interview for a library the potential client (government municipality) would have required us to produce computer generated 3d models of everything before approving a design. If the universities in the UK are valuing hand drawn portfolios for entry and treating CAD as a sideline, they are doing students a disservice.

[MariaNovella]

Sofia - I think you are missing the point. Clients might require CAD but hand drawing skills are a prerequisite for the spatial awareness and observation skills that universities select on.

[BubblesBuddy]

The info from Kent is clear! They don’t want it all hand drawn or all CAD! It should include examples of both but not be exclusively one or the other! God - it’s not that difficult to understand. They want some evidence of hand drawing but as they mention ceramics, textiles, photography and animation as well as 3D, how can this be construed as requiring a hand drawn portfolio?! Of course they don’t! They don’t want all 3D either. Please read it for yourselves if you think I’ve not reported the advice accurately.

[BubblesBuddy]

Architecture programme right now on bbc 2! Yay!

[justasking111]

@SofiaAmes not many schools have CAD as a course even if they do it is a vocational City and Guilds course which the university do not give you points for. So you need A level points to even get into uni. My DS was lucky to be able to produce CAD drawings at interview. He still has to do three A levels as well as the CAD course he is taking.

Bragging a bit here, he got an A for his course work in Design Technology which could be adjusted to A* he found out today. He is a bit dazed but very happy with that result.

[Optisight]

Gosh you are all getting your knickers in a twist here!
All I know is from firsthand experience...yes if you want Bartlett Bath, Sheffield Cambridge probably they are looking for Maths Phsics Art etc because they have plenty of students applying and a lot will be overseas..you only have to stalk Student Room to find that out. For UK students getting into UCL etc is a bit like getting into Oxbridge you need A*'s or your wasting your time...but if you are at that level then fine go for it!

For the rest they honestly don't care really what A levels you have obviously it helps if they are relevant and a few 'facilitating' subjects...English Geog etc not all art based and diffeerent Uni will be looking for different standards...as we know at the end of the day it's bums on seats!!

Portfolio is key as is PS...it needs to show your range of skills whether its Art DT ceramics Textiles etc
They want to see a range of skills....as someone said who is an Architect..they want to see spatial awareness and developing a project from beginning to end

In first year at DS Uni they did not use any computer programmes they want them to get used to hand drawing! Of course in real life they know its all computer based and now they are all fluent in CAD Revit photoshop etc etc

Part 1 is only the beginning!! Of course by Part 2 it's a lot more detailed and technical but at initial degree you learn building regulations etc and the technical drawing and some physics and Maths may be involved but DS got a U in Physics AS level so dropped it despite A at GCSE it's hard Physics A level totally different to GCSE so not for the faint hearted...but it hasn't held him back and he has had no problem at uni

So portfolio he submitted included...work he did on CAD at work experience,
Model he built from cardboard showing development of project he did in DT and a few hand drawn pictures he did...despite never doing Art as such..but you generally find creative people can draw naturally

I find History of Art to be of no importance as a requirement they can learn about different columns and iconic buildings from looking at some decent Architecture books and they learn all about that at Uni anyway
Creativity, love of design, how people inhabit spaces, spatial awareness, logical thought, PS, work experience and PORTFOLIO are all that is needed to get on undergraduate Architecture course
You will NOT be working for Norman Foster at the end of the day realistically
ohhhh and just choose the course and university that suits you and your philosophy....ie go visit them!
At some we went to the students clearly didn't even like each other and lecturers were uninspiring and departments dull and yet others you felt just at home and students clearly had enjoyed their experience

ps don't think we do History of Art in the North :-)

[SofiaAmes]

I'm just saying that it seems like the universities are selecting for attributes that are not actually related to the skills needed to be a successful architect in most employment settings. The OP asked what skills one needed to be an architect. It seems that what the schools and universities in the UK are saying they are looking for is not in alignment with my own experience of the skills architecture offices are looking for in the working world. None of the firms that I have worked for in either the UK or the USA would have hired me if I did not have proficient CAD skills. I can't hand draw at all and so far nobody has noticed or cared.

[BubblesBuddy]

Sofia: you cannot have worked in most architectural settings though, can you? Like most degrees, there is a pecking order. Not everyone can aim for the top but attaining skills whilst training is completely different to having them in entry and in Y1. There is time to learn and nature. Using CAD surely comes after you have some idea of creative design or it’s a skill with no outcome.

[BubblesBuddy]

Learn and mature!

[justasking111]

Creative design, imagination are needed when dealing with clients, you do not sell your product by CAD drawings alone. You need the client to feel you are simpatico with their ideas. It is a wooing process because you will not be the only dance partner on the floor vying for their attention.

[SofiaAmes]

CAD is simply a means of expressing creative design, just like hand drawing. In this day and age, CAD is the most common, efficient and accepted means of expressing creative design. Again I am simply describing my experience over 25 years in the business. No, I have not "worked" in most architectural settings, but I have worked for: small and medium size firms and had my own practice and worked on residential (low income and very high end), ultra contemporary and historical, urban planning, commercial and municipal/government projects. Not once have I been requested to present a hand drawn drawing vs. a computer generated one to anyone.
I just want to point out that I appear to be the only actual architect in this conversation....

[SofiaAmes]

It was also my experience that the most artistically inclined of the architectural students that I have known over the years ended up going into creative areas that were NOT architecture, because they found that there was a distinct lack of creative freedom in the field of straight architecture.

[MariaNovella]

Sofia - the thread is about admissions to architecture degrees. And, in the U.K., well regarded courses currently require a portfolio of creative work that includes hand drawing skills.

[SofiaAmes]

No, actually this thread was started with a question about careers: She’s not sure what she wants to do and her school is very much into professional jobs based on Maths and Sciences. I’ve been thinking about Architecture for her but know absolutely nothing about it. Would she be the right sort of person for a career in this?
and everyone turned it into a thread about degrees.

[justasking111]

I might not be an architect, but eldest DS is, he worked in the States, caribbean, and the UK. Has a very successful practice in the UK now. He accompanied youngest DS to some unis. and enjoyed a good look around. He would tell you the same as Maria has.

As Maria has said in the UK .....

"the thread is about admissions to architecture degrees. And, in the U.K., well regarded courses currently require a portfolio of creative work that includes hand drawing skills."

[MariaNovella]

Sofia - read the thread title!

[SofiaAmes]

just to repeat... the original questions was not about degrees but rathan about "careers."
justasking111 how often does your ds have to do hand drawings as part of his professional practice? And how often does he require his employees to do them? Or to demonstrate that they are good at them as part of his hiring process?

[SofiaAmes]

Hopefully the OP has gotten the information that she needs from this thread. The disparity between architecture education and the realities of the skills required in the profession are an ongoing topic of conversation that was being discussed back when I was in school and is clearly a topic of controversy today.

[justasking111]

Sofia, he does still do hand drawings, loose sketches as do his employees to bait the hook so to speak. Anyway that is irrelevant it is about uni. students, not established architects. You may not think it right but it is what the university today are asking for. DS says he is out of date now compared to what he did at uni. and what his youngest brother is going to be doing. He was very impressed with some of the unis. he visited in the last few months.

You have been in practice for a quarter of a century. Why dont you ask to visit some unis. and see what the students are turning out now, you may well be impressed by todays intake. Green design is particularly exciting.

[MariaNovella]

We were on holiday last summer and struck up a friendship with a woman who heads up her own architecture practice. She was sketching constantly in a sketch book - that was where her ideas were developed.

[justasking111]

And those ideas give structural engineers many a sleepless night

[MariaNovella]

I’m sure they do - hence the need for a better understanding of engineering by architects! And, as you point out, of ecological concerns.

[SofiaAmes]

As I said earlier, I have made a niche for myself by knowing construction and codes better than most architects so continue to be in demand despite being old and not being available full time and/or to work in someone else's office (I work from home).