We had the rare opportunity to hear from two architects and an interior designer at our last lunchtime lecture. The three professionals, participating in the American Institute of Architecture's public outreach program as a part of national architecture week, came to talk to us about their careers.
I was excited for the lecture because I have always been fascinated with architecture and design. When I was little, I even went through a phase of telling people "I want to be an architect when I grow up!" Just the other day, I came across some of my old drawings of imaginative dream homes--little adobe houses with gardens on the roofs, "eco-friendly" bamboo huts and tree-houses. I suppose that the life goal of becoming an architect faded away as I advanced through art classes and began learning "the right way" to design a structure. I'll admit, learning perspective was fun at first, but after a while I lost the patience to be precise and became bored with drawing straight lines. While this, coupled with my fear of numbers, caused me to reconsider early ideas about my career path, my interest in the fields of architecture and design has never wavered.
That said, it was nice to hear from the architects about how architecture was less of a "hard science" than most people assume. According to one of the representatives while it still requires thinking analytically it is about thinking about the whole or the final product. Both architects and interior designers have the opportunity to come up with creative ideas and oversee the process of construction as their designs on screen and paper turn into the real deal. I can't imagine how satisfying it would be able to enjoy (or see others enjoy and benefit from) a practical and beautiful space that I helped to design.
I feel the most important take away from the lecture is the design process that they shared with us. The steps are as follows:
Empathize, Define, Explore, Generate, and Test
The fact that the designers claimed that this was not necessarily a linear process, but more "iterative" in nature showed their ability to be flexible, accommodating, and compassionate. Where the above process and aforementioned traits would be beneficial for any creative person to exhibit, I'm sure working to address the needs and wants of others requires designers to exhibit such traits daily in order to be successful.
You see, it's not always the straight path that leads you forward.
I was excited for the lecture because I have always been fascinated with architecture and design. When I was little, I even went through a phase of telling people "I want to be an architect when I grow up!" Just the other day, I came across some of my old drawings of imaginative dream homes--little adobe houses with gardens on the roofs, "eco-friendly" bamboo huts and tree-houses. I suppose that the life goal of becoming an architect faded away as I advanced through art classes and began learning "the right way" to design a structure. I'll admit, learning perspective was fun at first, but after a while I lost the patience to be precise and became bored with drawing straight lines. While this, coupled with my fear of numbers, caused me to reconsider early ideas about my career path, my interest in the fields of architecture and design has never wavered.
That said, it was nice to hear from the architects about how architecture was less of a "hard science" than most people assume. According to one of the representatives while it still requires thinking analytically it is about thinking about the whole or the final product. Both architects and interior designers have the opportunity to come up with creative ideas and oversee the process of construction as their designs on screen and paper turn into the real deal. I can't imagine how satisfying it would be able to enjoy (or see others enjoy and benefit from) a practical and beautiful space that I helped to design.
I feel the most important take away from the lecture is the design process that they shared with us. The steps are as follows:
Empathize, Define, Explore, Generate, and Test
The fact that the designers claimed that this was not necessarily a linear process, but more "iterative" in nature showed their ability to be flexible, accommodating, and compassionate. Where the above process and aforementioned traits would be beneficial for any creative person to exhibit, I'm sure working to address the needs and wants of others requires designers to exhibit such traits daily in order to be successful.
You see, it's not always the straight path that leads you forward.
