“The goal of Archinect is to make architecture more connected and open-minded, and bring together designers from around the world to introduce new ideas from all disciplines.” One of Archinect’s features is its Discussion Forums, several of which address, in one way or another, the question, “Why become an architect?” Two that avoid devolving into gripe sessions are:
“Why did YOU become (or will become) an Architect?” (Feb 19, 2005)
“why did you choose architecture?” (Sep 8, 2005)
A few examples from these two threads:
Donna Sink
I liked making the houses for my Barbies, but once the house project was done I had no interest in the dolls. The dolls were just an excuse to do a project* – the design of the house being the game I wanted to play, not the game the doll commercials told me to play.
*I have a much better attitude towards my clients now.
paper tiger
i didn’t start talking or walking till i was four. between the ages of four and seven all i would eat was milk and chicken. my mom would take me from doctor to doctor and they all basically said i was retarded. some here would certainly agree.
my mom would put me in our backyard, and in costa rica, where i spent my early life, you only have to dig several inches before hitting some beautiful red clays….wet and absolutely giving to the imagination. and i built and sculpted with my hands, castles, dinosaurs, whatever my mind could come up with, it kinda became my voice and soon people started saying i was going to be an architect, i had no idea what the word meant, so they told me, and it made sense, so i said yeah, that’s who i am.
c.k.
actually, i think it was this experience
I must’ve been 5 or 6 and I had this big mirror that I was looking into.
Initially I was looking at myself but then I started walking with the mirror in my hands and observing the space upside down while navigating it.
Strange, it was the same apartment but since I was seeing the ceiling and no objects I had my first epiphany of “space”
I would see the header above doors and thinking in my upside down world that it’s a bit inconvenient to jump over the header in order to enter the room.
the rest is history.
liberty bell
Liked to draw but too scared/embarrassed to take art classes – so I took a drafting class instead.
As Dave Hickey said, (many) architects are artists who want to make their mothers happy.
newstreamlinedmodel
Didn’t like world. Figured I’d try to rig up a new one out of some of this stuff we’ve got laying around.
Can’t sleep anyway.
swisscardlite
i just hated the fact that 2+2 had to be 4.
From arcCA DIGEST Season 5, “Motivation.”
