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Becoming an Architect
The intent of this brief article is twofold: to educate clients/consumers of architectural services of the tremendous amounts of time and money it takes to become a licensed architect; and second, to be a general guide for kids who have an interest in pursuing architecture as a career but don’t know where to begin.
I had no one educate me on the steps necessary to become an architect. All I knew is I wanted to be one. As a result, I made a lot of mistakes early in my architectural pursuit. Eventually, I got on track and have since enjoyed the successes of a budding career in architecture and urban design. The intent here is two-fold. First, to educate consumers of architectural services on the effort, money and time it takes to become an architect. Secondly, to provide a general guide for kids who have interests in pursuing a career in architecture - especially kids in black and minority communities where architecture does not receive enough promotion as a viable career path.
Three stages of becoming an architect.
Before steeping into a design studio and diving into the details of becoming an architect, there are few prerequisites that potential architecture students and practicioners should become familiar with. Start reading about the subject. Introduce yourself to some of the "gods of architecture". Learn about the tools of the trade. Architecture is an intense profession. The more you can prepare yourself before formal study the better. Now. Let's get into it!
Becoming an architect requires a candidate to complete three vetting phases: Education, Apprenticeship, and Testing. As a disclaimer, know that these three phases only represent the institutional requirements potential architects must meet. But more importantly, becoming an architect requires a mental and emotional toughness, something that needs to be found within the individual. This essential personal attribute is what most new architecture candidates are completely unprepared for. It is absolutely paramount. I’ll touch on this topic at the end. First, there are a few organizations to be familiar with.
Organizations to Know
NCARB (National Council of Architectural Registration Boards) - NCARB’s mission is to ensure architects uphold their legal duty to protect the health, safety, and welfare of the public through ethical and competent design. They test aspiring architects on required skills, award architectural licences, and keep record of an architect’s professional status.
NAAB (National Architectural Accrediting Board) - sets the requirements that schools of architecture must meet in order to receive and retain accreditation status.
AIA (The American Institute of Architects) - The primary professional membership association for licensed and aspiring architects. Its focus is to support the profession of the architecture through advocacy, education and fellowship.
Education
NCARB requires that candidates for licensure hold a professional degree in architecture from an NAAB accredited program. There are three types of acceptable NAAB professional degrees...
Bachelors of Architecture (B.Arch) - This is a 5 year undergraduate program
Masters of Architecture (M.Arch) - 2 year or 3 ½ year program
Doctorate of Architecture (D.Arch) - 3 years+
There are also pre-professional degrees like the four year Bachelor of Science (or Arts) in Architecture and the 1-2 year post-professional Master of Science (or Arts) in Architecture. These are NOT accredited degrees but schools of architecture will often combine these programs with accredited degrees they do offer. This allows students the opportunity to get their professional degree or simply focus on a specific aspect of architectural study. For example, a school that has an accredited M.Arch graduate program will often offer an undergraduate pre-professional B.Sc.Arch degree.
If you’re absolutely sure that your end goal is to become an architect, there are a few degrees to steer clear from. Degrees in Architectural Technology, Architectural Engineering, Architectural Studies, and Architectural History. These are noble degrees. But they are incomprehensive in educating future architects on all the things they need to know. Recipients of these degrees find respectable careers as draftsmen, building systems experts, tradesmen, construction managers, historians, inspectors and professional builders, but not as architects. Obtaining one of these degrees will still require one to receive an accredited degree and potentially additional courses to compenstate for gaps in previous education. As college tuition costs continue to escalate, this can be a very expensive path to take.
For those that do commit to architecture late, there is the “Path B” or “+3 Master of Architecture” option. This option is for individuals holding any type of degree in a non pre-professional architectural field or a completely different field altogether. Essentially it’s an accredited ‘crash course’ M.Arch degree that takes about 3 ½ years to complete.
Apprenticeship
Apprenticeship is the second phase of becoming an architect.
Before architecture became a field of study in universities, it was taught exclusively through apprenticeship. Apprenticeship still exists, but has been formalized as a prerequisite for attaining licensure. AXP (Architectural Experience Program) is the official architectural apprenticeship program managed by NCARB. It’s a completely digital system where aspiring architects can log and track of their training hours.
AXP is broken into six main categories that contain subcategories representing the skills architects must gain experience in. Each main category has a prescribed amount of hours required for completion, totalling 3,740 hours between them. These hours are then divided among the sub-divisions skill sets. Below are the main categories and their hourly requirements...
The six apprenticeship categories for training architects under the NCARB (AXP) program.
Practice Management - skills required to run, manage, and market an architectural firm: 160 hours total
Project Management- skills relating to completing projects according to contractual requirements including budgets and scheduling: 360 hours total
Programming & Analysis - skills relating to the analysis and research into the client, legal, and regulatory implications of a project : 260 hours
Project Planning & Design - skills relating to the schematic design and layout of a building: 1,080 hours
Project Development & Documentation - skills relating to the refining of schematic plans, coordination with consultants, the creation of technical construction documentation and specifications, and refining project cost and time estimates 1,520 hours
Construction & Evaluation - skills relating to the post design phases of a project like meeting on construction site with contractors, responding to submittals, check completed work of the builder, and making field reports, and accepting the finished project: 360 hours.
It is important to note that AXP hours are baseline requirements. Some state jurisdictions require more hours, experience and/or testing before granting a license to practice. The architectural licensing board of Michigan requires 1,900 more apprenticeship hours in addition to the 3,740. Virginia’s board requires more hours and 3 years minimum working experience. California requires additional testing because of seismic conditions unique to the state. Be sure to research specific state requirements for states you’re seeking licensure in.
There are several ways to gain these hours. Visit NCARB’s website if you’d like to familiarize yourself with all of them. However, the primary method is to work in the office of a licensed architect who will oversee your work and validate your apprenticeship hours. An efficient benefit to this process is being able to log apprenticeship hours while taking your ARE exams. They can be completed in parallel.
Testing
Testing is the third phase of becoming an archtiect.
The completion of APX hours is not required to begin testing. But aspiring architects must hold one of the three acceptable professional degrees (B.Arch, M.Arch, D.Arch) before their first exam.
The ARE (Architect Registration Exam) is a set of exams that test candidate architects on the basic knowledge, skills and abilities required to successfully provide architectural services. In November of 2016, NCARB released ARE 5.0 which will phase out the previous version 4.0. This version will have six exams corresponding to the six APX apprenticeship categories. Here are the exams and there durations.
The six exams of the ARE (Architectural Registration Exams). Each test is at a minimum four hours long.
Practice Management Exam: 80 Questions - 3 hours and 30 minutes
Project Management Exam: 95 questions - 4 hours
Programming and Analysis Exam: 95 questions - 4 hours
Project Planning and Design Exam: 120 questions - 5 hours
Project Development and Documentation Exam: 120 questions - 5 hours
Construction and Evaluation: 95 questions - 4 hours
NCARB changes the testing format around every ten years to insure exams reflect current developments in the architectural profession. ARE 5.0 exams will cost $210 and will escalate to $235 in 2018 when version 4.0 is completely phased out. There is no specific order the exams must be completed in. But a popular strategy is to test according to the apprenticeship hours you are gaining through working.
A few housekeeping notes about ARE testing. If a test is failed, one can re-test after 60 days. However, you can only take the same test three times in one year. There is also a Rolling Clock rule which states that upon passing an exam you have five years to pass the rest of them. If you don’t you will lose credit for that exam and will have to re-test all over again. Lastly, there are a few study guides to help examinees prepare. The two most common study guides are published byBallast and Kaplan.
Once all three phases are complete, one will legally be able to call themselves an architect.
"Don't be fooled/[this] game is Mental"
For those thinking about pursuing architecture as a career, I urge you first to ask yourself, “Why?” It may not be what you think. For most it won’t be. For me it wasn’t. Whatever your answer is, I pray it touches you at the core of your soul. The answer to this simple question will need to have enough substance to motivate you through some very trying and frustrating times. This profession is not forthe faint of heart. I mean that with sincerity, not to discourage but to be honest and transparent. Being an architect is tremendously rewarding. I can’t think of anything else I’d rather be doing. The process it takes to become an architect is an arduous one. Architecture school in particular requires a certain mental resolve. At the core of any architectural education is the infamous studio course; a series of 6-7 credit, 5-6 hour long classes where students apply theory to a design problem. It will test your emotions. You might experience succesive all-nighters. You will face blunt and vulgar criticism from professors and peers. You will need tough skin. You will struggle with ideas. You will fail. Failure is good though. Get used to it. You might cry. You will need to control your feelings. It will demand a certain level of sacrifice of self, family, and friends and it will be up to you to manage that. Does this all sound loathsome and unwelcoming. Well it is. Like I said before, architecture isn’t for everyone. This 25 minute documentary, “Archiculture”, gives a good summary of what architecture students endure on the regular. And it’s pretty entertaining.
Most architects would say all the stress and struggle was worth it. Afterall, architects are responsible for the successful execution and beauty of the built world. We have the ability to shape lifestyles. We should endure rigorous vetting. I remember asking myself the “Why?” question for the first time right after my worst project presentation ever. After some slices of college cafeteria pizza, a few rounds of Rock Band, some serious thought, and some sleep I answered myself. Why? Because I love it. To those future architects, you will too.
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What is an Architect, Really?
Lawyers. Doctors. Therapists. Engineers. When thinking of these occupations, most have a good idea what each does. But when thinking of an architect that’s when things become of bit ambiguous. An architect is a generalist; a polymath; a “jack of all trades” so to speak. The architect is responsible for both the artistry and science of creating space and constructing the form of society. They do more than “draw pretty pictures”. For thousands of years they have been tasked with creating the vision for civilization and managing the complexities associated with designing and constructing the man-made environment.
In all honesty it’s a fair question. Of the major professions that require a licensure, architecture is the most unclear. Lawyers. Doctors. Therapists. Engineers. When thinking of these occupations most have a pretty good idea what each does.When thinking of an architect, that’s when things become a bit ambiguous. Begin to think of your own pre-conceived assumptions of what an architect is. Almost certainly it would be either a person who “draws” buildings or a person who “builds” buildings. Both descriptions are equal parts true and incorrect. But I’ll save that argument for later. In any case it’s best we start by detailing what an architect is,...for real.
“Players wanna play/Ballers wanna ball/ Rollers wanna roll/...”
The word ‘Architect’ originated in the Greek language as 'Arkhitekton'. Arkhi- meaning ‘chief’ and Tekton meaning ‘builder’, translates to “a chief builder”. The Latin progression of the word, 'Architectus', means “master builder” or a “director of works”. Notice there is no mention of anything relating to drawings. This suggests that architects have ancestral roots in building things rather than drawing them. For millenia this was the universal understanding of an architect’s role in bringing physical form to a society.
The monuments of antiquity were built from a combination of skilled and slave labor. This painting shows skilled Egyptian craftsmen quarrying, shaping, and transporting stones as well as making mud bricks. These ancient tradesmen were some of the first 'architects'.
Ancient monuments were often the visions of rulers and their "master builders". What we would call drawings today, did not exist in the time of the ancients. The masterpieces they left behind are the result of trail and error. Architects in these days were infact builders and coordinators of skilled tradesmen.
Today, architecture can be very difficult to grasp by most people because it is a convoluted and subjective profession. Unlike other professions, architecture is not a precise endeavour. There is never one concise answer. There are always many possibilities. It is an artistic expression, but it is also a scientific investigation. It is practical, but it is also allegorical.
Merriam-Webster defines 'Architect' as “a person who designs buildings and advises in its construction.” But, even this definition is a bit vague. Interpretations like this fuel the stereotype that all architects do is “draw pretty pictures" which could not be further from the truth. The aesthetics of a building are indeed the most enjoyable part of the job. But beauty is just one of many things architects must consider when designing space. It is often subordinate to other matters more functional, economic, sustainable and regulatory.
Design of any kind is the cyclical process used to solve a problem. It consists of two primary streams of thought: Analysis and Execution. Analysis is a cognitive process where information relating to a problem is discovered and collected. Execution is the act of making educated decisions based on the analysis. It is the process of doing and testing possible solutions. In order to refine solution(s), proposals are thrown back into the design loop and analyzed again. The process repeats itself until the designer feels a sufficient solution is reached that satisfies all defined analytical criteria.
The Architectural Design Problem is uniquely complex. Architects apply design methodology to each part of a building’s production, improving one issue at a time. There are many pieces of information that must be gathered before initial solutions can be proposed. The architect’s legal and moral duty to the general public is paramount. A licensed architect has a civil duty to ensure the health, safety and welfare of the general public and building users. This requires architects be knowledgeable and competent in a host of public health and safety restrictions: building codes, fire codes, energy codes, mechanical codes, ADA regulations (American Disabilities Act), FHA laws (Fair Housing Act requirements), sustainability codes and more. Regardless the project, architects are completely responsible for upholding this civic mandate.
One of the first things architects do is try to decipher what a client needs and wants. They question and interview the client, teasing out all important project requirements turning them into design guidelines. Then the analysis continues. In addition to life safety issues, architects must know private property and zoning statutes. Depending on the area the architect will often deal with special regions like historic districts which apply even more design constraints. Gathering information on surrounding ecology, climate, infrastructure and utilities is also an important task for the architect. This information will influence how a building fits and functions on a site. The architect is an estimator, economist, and time manager making sure projects can be built within budget & schedule. After all pertinent information is uncovered, design solutions of space and visual beauty can finally be proposed. But the aforementioned analysis remains the filters the design must constantly be tested against to produce a successful solution.
Arguably the most significant role of an architect during the design process is the task of coordinating consultants, engineers and contractors. Here is where the architect’s unique training is invaluable and irreplaceable. Why is it the architect’s job to coordinate and organize the work of other competent professionals? Because these are specialized disciplines that focus on one aspect of the whole work. Structural engineers concentrate on structural matters. Civil engineers are concerned with infrastructural matters. And so on and so forth. Their training is extremely valuable but one-dimensional. They are by definition “specialists”.
Note that this diagram is assuming a standard formal education and expereince as a baseline for criteria and is not relfective of the certain nuances that obviously exist between these disciplines.
The role of the architect is not that of a specialist. Their training consists of all the previously mentioned disciplines and more. They are trained to foresee the entire system rather than one individual part. This makes the architect better equipped to lead the development of the entire project. Architects coordinate all the separate building sciences into a comprehensive whole, directing how the disparate parts visually and physically fit into space. Space. This word gets to the real essence of architecture. The ability to visualize and think spatially is a trait deeply embedded in the psyche of an architect. Architects ‘create’ and move space around - as if it could be grasped - to accommodate all the different restraints and components associated with producing a building. Architects do all this while simultaneously crafting the subjectively aesthetic style and look of a building. This sort of spatial “wizardry” along with a multi-disciplinary training is what distinguishes architects from other designers, professionals and construction occupations.
So what is an architect you say? An architect is a generalist; aploymath; a “jack of all trades” so to speak. Architects are concerned with the artistry of a building, but also the science of a building. Architects are coordinators and orchestrators. Architects are creators. Architects have an innate ability to manifest buildings and spaces in the mind as concepts and metaphors first. Through the process of design these concepts become reality. Architects are leaders, galvanizing many entities to achieve a single goal.
Think of the architect as Doctor Richard Weber, from the TV drama, Grey’s Anatomy. Dr. Weber, is a general surgeon. That means he is very proficient in a variety of surgical procedures across many surgical fields. He can effectively participate in cardiological surgeries, neurological surgeries, cosmetic, trauma and orthopedic surgeries as well. This makes him extremely valuable to the surgical team and the hospital. It makes him indispensable. Which is why Dr.Weber is(was) the Chief of Surgery for the entire hospital. It is Dr. Weber’s duty to be concerned with all fields of surgery in order to ensure that the hospital as a whole thrives and succeeds. What better person to lead a comprehensive surgical program than the person who is most knowledgeable in all forms of surgical thought and procedure.
In the same way Dr. Weber directs the complex workings of a hospital, so too does an architect direct the vast complexities associated with designing, constructing and maintaining a building.
