august948 Posted September 11, 2013 Share Posted September 11, 2013 One of my sons wants to be an architect and I was wondering if some of the architects/arch students out there could give opinions on the pros and cons of our local schools at uh and rice as well as elsewhere. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Slick Vik Posted September 12, 2013 Share Posted September 12, 2013 Rice and UT are very good within state. Other good ones are Cornell, Southern California Institute of Architecture, Syracuse, Cal Tech, Virginia Tech, Auburn, Iowa State, Rhode Island School of Design. I don't think I would consider UH. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Naviguessor Posted September 12, 2013 Share Posted September 12, 2013 And why is that, Slick? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
strickn Posted September 15, 2013 Share Posted September 15, 2013 august, most parents spring for music lessons. I'd recommend budgeting for architecture lessons. Having an hour or two a week with a local practitioner and then doing his practice exercises at home until the next drill would be a profoundly good thing. Most kids who take music lessons don't develop any real philosophy of music, and so I assume the same would be true with basic architectural discipline, but if you are skilled in paying attention to your son and asking him leading questions you could with effort build a philosophical sense in him that would be a great gift to him. For one thing, all great architects are guided by philosophical findings more than aesthetic ones, I think, and formal collegiate arch. education does bring in the biases of the teachers without teaching the students to discriminate between them. But architecture is a great humanity, a great way of seeing oneself and the world, if you have time to approach it as a liberal art and not only a way of making a living one day. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
august948 Posted September 16, 2013 Author Share Posted September 16, 2013 august, most parents spring for music lessons. I'd recommend budgeting for architecture lessons. Having an hour or two a week with a local practitioner and then doing his practice exercises at home until the next drill would be a profoundly good thing. Most kids who take music lessons don't develop any real philosophy of music, and so I assume the same would be true with basic architectural discipline, but if you are skilled in paying attention to your son and asking him leading questions you could with effort build a philosophical sense in him that would be a great gift to him. For one thing, all great architects are guided by philosophical findings more than aesthetic ones, I think, and formal collegiate arch. education does bring in the biases of the teachers without teaching the students to discriminate between them. But architecture is a great humanity, a great way of seeing oneself and the world, if you have time to approach it as a liberal art and not only a way of making a living one day.That's a very interesting idea. Is it common for architects to give lessons like that? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Slick Vik Posted September 18, 2013 Share Posted September 18, 2013 And why is that, Slick? Only based on the rankings I found. Nothing else. So take that for what it is. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Specwriter Posted September 22, 2013 Share Posted September 22, 2013 I can't comment on the pro's and con's of any architecture school. I only attending one and that was over 20 years ago. Having worked with scores of architecture school graduates in the past 20+ years I can say those that seemed best prepared to function successfully in an architecture office earned their degrees from Texas Tech and Texas A&M. That is not to say people from other schools did not function well. I can cite at least one example from each school in Texas and several from out of state including Iowa State and Kansas. There are some schools in Texas that tend to be overlooked but from which I have seen very well prepared graduates: in particular the University of Texas at Arlington, the University of Texas at San Antonio (which has had an accredited program for several years now), and Prairie View A&M University. Commenting as an architect who has recently felt the full brunt of the recent economic "difficulties" I suggest current and future architecture students combine with the traditional architecture curriculum aspects of engineering and construction technology or construction management. Architecture has always been a profession subject to the vagaries of the economy. Anything an aspiring architect can do to improve his or her marketability or expand his or her capability will pay off over the long haul. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rhansanuwat Posted October 3, 2013 Share Posted October 3, 2013 While I can't speak specifically about UH or Rice, I know one thing to keep in mind is finding out whether the school is accredited by the National Architectural Accrediting Board (NAAB). In order to become licensed in Texas we have to have an accredited degree, which currently only UT, UT Arlington, Rice, Texas A&M, Prairie View A&M, Texas Tech, UH and UTSA are accredited. You can find out which schools are accredited nationwide on the NAAB website and I also have a post on my website about how to select the best schools. Hope this helps! Best of luck! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Specwriter Posted October 4, 2013 Share Posted October 4, 2013 Ryan, welcome to the HAIF. That is very good input and the links are useful as well. I noticed from your website you have a degree in building science. As you saw in my previous post I recommend something like that as a adjunct to the traditional architecture curriculum. You probably have more to say about that on your web site but for the sake of expedience please comment specifically on the benefit of adding courses in building science or construction technology. Just for the record, some of the most successful architects I know have an MBA in addition to their architecture degrees. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
august948 Posted October 4, 2013 Author Share Posted October 4, 2013 Just for the record, some of the most successful architects I know have an MBA in addition to their architecture degrees. That's what I was thinking as well, though I don't know any architects so for my part it was just spectulation. I do know some engineers who went on to get MBA's and did well as a result. What about a masters in engineering after a bachelor's in architeture? Is that possible and/or desirable? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Specwriter Posted October 4, 2013 Share Posted October 4, 2013 What about a masters in engineering after a bachelor's in architeture? Is that possible and/or desirable? I know one of those as well. In fact, I'm expecting a call from him any minute. He is a very busy person. This man has an architecture degree from Rice and an architectural engineering degree (structural) from UT. His scope of work is more broad than that of a traditional architect. He not only designs buildings but does forensic investigations when there are failures. He is also sought for expert witness testimony in construction litigation. The architect of today (and of the future) would do well to have a few more arrows in his or her quiver. More and more architects are acting as their own developers. This business model has existed for decades (think John Portman and the Hyatt hotels his firm designed) but is becoming increasingly popular in this extremely competitive economy. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rhansanuwat Posted October 21, 2013 Share Posted October 21, 2013 Specwriter/August: That is actually a post I have scheduled for the future, but I don't mind sharing it here. I am completely in agreement that supplemental education beyond traditional architecture is extremely important to be successful. Many Architects today only go through school learning how to design and nothing about how the building really works as a complete system or more importantly, how to run a design business. I am in no way discrediting the education you receive in architecture school, but I think it is important to look beyond that as well. When I received my BArch (professional degree). I didn't need to go out and get my Master's degree in Architecture so I was left with a choice, did I want to expand my knowledge, or be content with what I had learned. Obviously I went further and chose building science and have been thankful for it. A few colleagues decided to get their MArch and I don't know how much more they learned than they already had getting their B.Arch. My choices for me personally were to get an MBS or MBA, but since I came from a business background prior to architecture, I felt the MBS would round me out more, and it really has. I can see the building as much more of a cohesive system and not just a cool form. I would recommend anybody who has the desire to get a Master's degree to do either a B.Arch w/ something else as a Master's, or a Bachelor's with an M.Arch. degree. Just my two cents... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Specwriter Posted November 3, 2013 Share Posted November 3, 2013 Just for the record my Bachelor's is in biology. I got my Master's in Architecture through the University of Houston's Part III program - for those who have a B.A. or B.S. in another discipline I don't believe I was presented with anything more in the six semesters of the Part III program than those who earned a B. Arch (five-year professional degree) from the same institution. That said there are some Master's programs which may add one year to a five-year degree or two to a four-year degree that usually have a special focus, e.g. urban planning. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Recommended Posts
Archived
This topic is now archived and is closed to further replies.