Becoming an Architect (Guide to Careers in Design)

I have to disagree with another Amazon vine reviewer who low-scored this book because it was not visual enough in it's presentation of architecture. That view completely misses the point of this book.This book is about giving someone an idea of what courses and kind of jobs there are available pursuing a career in architecture. It has case studies/profiles of architects along with photos of what they have worked on. It outlines important skills that are listed from working architects themselves. It goes from concepts, interviews of architects, course strategies, getting an internship, and so on.Although perhaps not as helpful as a video on the subject, this book does a fine job of conveying what being an architect is really like and has many tips and guidelines for getting there.What I do agree with the other review is that this book is overpriced by about 40-50%. Should be under $24.Recommended.

Was thinking about going for degree; this gave me some direction to work with.

I got the book for a class. It's extremely repetitive. It's got great advice but it all starts to sound the same.

The book itself is fine. My problem is with the author who teaches at U of ILL and makes all his students buy his book. I think there is a conflict of interest there. He should provide his book free of charge to all his students.

This book is aimed at the young person who is thinking of maybe pursuing architecture, or perhaps for the student who is completing liberal arts courses and is wondering about what it would take to major in architecture. This book will take you from the very basic questions, like "What does an architect do?" and "Is architecture for me?", to questions of different educational paths and classes that are part of an architecture education, to how to pursue licensing and a career in architecture. Peppered throughout the book are interview Q&As with architecture students and with licensed architects pertinent to each step of the process. I think these are very helpful, because you get a personal experience and opinion from someone who is going through the process now or has graduated and become successful in the field.My son is interested in architecture and is currently attending community college for required courses. This book will help him determine the path he needs to take to complete his training, with advice and guidance from those who have already been there.

This is a really neat book if you're interested in becoming an architect or learning more about what architects do. It's most interesting feature is that around half the book consists of Q&A interviews with architects asking about why they got into it, how they decided where to go to school, what they do in their current job, etc.It does a relatively complete job of giving an overview of the stages of an architect's career from education through later professional development.It's written from the pro-architecture viewpoint, and as such is generally positive about the profession. You can see though the interviews that not everyone who enters architecture ends up doing original building design on a day to day basis (in fact very few do) and some end up as "facilities managers" and the like, positions that they might have been able to reach more simply than by taking the route through architecture school.If you're considering architecture, then I think this will be a very useful book. I found it interesting and informative and well written (which one can't say about too many architecture related works from my experience).G.

This book is an overview of how to prepare for a career in architecture, written for high school students or undergraduates early in their studies. Waldrep is an author who has served in three university architectural programs and was the associate executive director of the National Architectural Accrediting Board. In this book, he explains some of the paths that a student might take to begin a career in architecture. The book consists of 5 chapters: definition of an architect, education, experience, careers, and the future of architecture. Each chapter consists of a short bit of text discussing the topic at hand, supplemented with numerous interviews with various architects. Many of the chapters also have pages of quips on the topic by a large number of architects. The book is illustrated throughout with black and white photographs of notable buildings, mainly exteriors. End matter consists of an annotated list of contact information for various architectural organizations, an annotated list of architecture and related associations with their web addresses and phone numbers, an annotated list of recommended readings (books and websites), a list of architectural programs offering US degrees, and a list of contributors to the book with their affiliations.I found this book somewhat informative, but rather unengaging and dry. While the interviews and quips could have added interest and exemplified or expanded on points made in the text, their sheer volume bogged down the message. All of the interviews begin with exactly the same 2 questions: “Why did you become an architect?” and “Why did you choose the schools you did?”. The remaining questions are often similar from interview to interview, and soon become dreadfully similar as the list of interviews drags on. Often, the information in the interviews does not directly pertain to the topic of each chapter, so the interviews can distract from, rather than exemplify the points made in the main text. The short quips are similarly overly numerous and often contradictory to each other or to the points in the main text—for example, are math skills important for an architect? The quips suggest that it depends on who you ask, even though the main text instructs you to “pursue the highest-level math course your high school offers.” Advice about planning a career seems simplistic and trite, with its emphasis on the imperative of proceeding with careful plans. As becomes clear all too quickly to college graduates, “life is what happens when you're busy making other plans,” so the best way to plan for the unexpected may not be to plan too carefully but to get the best broad general education possible so that any and every opportunity can be recognized and made the most of. Indeed, the importance of being flexible about one's career ambitions is mentioned by a number of the interviewees. Overall, this book offers a bit of information explaining educational and licensing requirements for architectural aspirants. I don't think I would appreciate it much if it were assigned reading, however.

A must have for Architects