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Careers: Architect 210 Views
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Transcript
- 00:00
smell architect a la shmoop Elizabeth lives here right [woman on front door of a large house next to a sky scraper]
- 00:07
next door to her is a 55 storey skyscraper
- 00:11
okay so the urban design planner assigned to her Street and a little
- 00:15
haywire well but let's take a look for a second Elizabeth and her next-door
- 00:19
neighbor well they couldn't be more different really Elizabeth just one [wide view of house and sky scraper]
Full Transcript
- 00:22
person while the skyscraper houses over 200 companies and thousands of employees
- 00:28
Elizabeth lives at her place everyone in the skyscraper merely works at theirs [people working in offices]
- 00:33
well Elizabeth doesn't really have to worry about low-flying aircraft in the
- 00:38
skyscraper does and yet they have one thing very much in common both of their
- 00:43
structures were designed by who's that poker players neurosurgeons lawyers
- 00:48
architects yeah that well yeah granted they were [architects at sunset]
- 00:51
designed by two very different types of architects the architect who designs a
- 00:55
single-family dwelling and the one who designs a high-rise building have about
- 00:59
as much in common as a neurosurgeon and a pediatrician but yeah whether we're
- 01:03
talking a single-story residential abode a towering skyscraper a large industrial [pictures of different structures]
- 01:09
complex a football stadium or some over-the-top artsy concert hall well it
- 01:14
originated in the mind of an architect which if we're talking about the guy who
- 01:17
designed this monstrosity is probably a scary place well then you can break each [hammer breaks screen]
- 01:22
of these things down even further there are two major elements to Architecture
- 01:27
functionality and artistry well you may have heard about the whole left brain
- 01:31
right thing yeah well where the left side of your brain controls all your [brain in space]
- 01:35
cognitive thought language logic all that good stuff the right side handles
- 01:39
all the emotions and creative thought well for most careers you really just
- 01:44
need to excel at one of those if you're a doctor your brains left hemisphere had
- 01:48
better be firing on all cylinders and if you're a pianist well it's the right
- 01:51
hemisphere that should be you know hitting all the high notes but an
- 01:54
architect well they need to use their entire brain when it comes to designing [architect using both sides of brain]
- 01:59
a building there's a staggering amount of math needed
- 02:01
aside from merely having all the dimensions of the walls ceilings and
- 02:04
floors determined within fractions of an inch [modern building]
- 02:06
you'll also have to know enough about physics to decide whether this structure
- 02:09
of yours is gonna sway too much in the wind or buckle in earth
- 02:13
but at the same time architecture is art visit the Duomo in st. Mark's Square in
- 02:17
Italy or the Taj Mahal in India and try telling yourself that these are just
- 02:21
places people can go to you know hang out from the rain entering one of these
- 02:25
magnificent structures can be aw inspiring and even life-changing and it
- 02:29
doesn't need to be some wonder of the ancient world to blow you away either
- 02:33
the Sydney Opera House finished construction in 1973 the Lotus Temple in [Sydney Opera House]
- 02:38
New Delhi was finished in 1986 even this place has a you know certain charm to it
- 02:43
because yeah even a modest privately owned home can be a work of art like [modern home]
- 02:47
look what a difference crown molding can make check out what a difference it can
- 02:51
make having an open-concept kitchen as
- 02:54
opposed to one that's you know small and closed off like backroom and McDonald's [comparison of a large and small kitchen]
- 02:58
well this might be an unusual place to put bookshelves but it must work for
- 03:03
somebody know whenever there are creative choices to be made art can be [man contemplating tiny house toy]
- 03:07
created long story short you've got to be a particular type of person to excel
- 03:11
as an architect you have to have a lot going on upstairs you know in both
- 03:15
bedrooms okay so why let's move on what's involved ie how do you become one
- 03:19
of these architect people well assuming you've got both the creativity and brain
- 03:24
power required you'll need to put in a lot of time in order to get where you
- 03:27
want to be you'll need to start by getting your Bachelor of architecture [diploma framed on wall]
- 03:30
degree usually a five-year program less than you'd need to become a neurosurgeon
- 03:34
but more than you'd need to run a Waffle House and keep in mind if you're set on
- 03:39
designing big important commercial buildings rather than just sticking to [modern city scape]
- 03:43
residential you can plan on at least another three to four years of school
- 03:46
you'll have to spend time learning the craft learning how to convey depth
- 03:50
learning how to you know sharpen a pencil how to draw in both physical and
- 03:54
virtual mediums and yeah you'll need to master CAD or computer-aided drafting [virtual mediums for architecture]
- 03:58
software so that you won't actually need that pencil very much all right and then
- 04:02
you'll need to master newer design software where you can practically see
- 04:06
the finished product in all its glory in 3D before it's even built then you'll [house in 3D]
- 04:11
need to learn about building codes like all of them and [building code books on table]
- 04:14
then maybe you can get your license and then you can wait
- 04:17
usually for quite a few years as you in turn then work your way up from the
- 04:20
bottom kind of like one of those elevators you'll be designing because
- 04:24
yeah this isn't the kind of thing where you can jump in on day one scribble some
- 04:28
rough plans and get a construction company to well you know make your [baby on a conference table]
- 04:31
vision a reality as with the film industry and the Mafia
- 04:34
you'll need to put in your time well once your ship finally comes in though
- 04:38
you can make some awfully nice Bank the average salary for an architect is
- 04:42
around seventy three K but there are opportunities to make vastly more money
- 04:46
than that if you can survive the lean years when you're trying to survive on
- 04:50
ramen noodles and 35 grand or less you can make in the 60 grand range as an
- 04:55
associate and then into six figures once you've mastered the craft and built
- 04:58
yourself a book of clients and you can make millions after that if you end up
- 05:02
being really really good well in general a firm will receive 10% of whatever the
- 05:07
build cost is for providing architecture services it was just you
- 05:11
well you'll keep that 10% but if you split the work with four other
- 05:14
architects while you'll split the pay - leaving you just a skosh over two
- 05:19
percent of the build cost but yeah if you're designing a $500,000 construction
- 05:23
project and you're the sole architect well you'll pocket 50 grand roughly for
- 05:28
whether that work and it's worthwhile to note that many architects also hire an
- 05:31
interior design firm to handle things like lighting placement color schemes
- 05:35
flooring materials and so on and their fees come out of that 50k but their hope
- 05:40
is to upsell the owner into buying furniture through them as an interior [architects on construction site]
- 05:43
decorator where you know they can make some serious money commissions and all
- 05:47
that all right well are you joining an architectural firm or going it alone
- 05:50
because yeah that makes a difference if you're building homes that are part of a
- 05:54
large new development it might be you and a team of 11 other architects
- 05:58
banging out the plans for 150 residences and then just moving on to the next
- 06:02
project if it's custom home it'll take longer to design require more creativity
- 06:07
and ingenuity and mean more money in your pocket than what you'd make for one
- 06:10
of those hundred fifty cookie cutter houses or you might be designing bridges [arial of suburbia]
- 06:14
or military buildings or airports or nuclear holocaust bunkers for paranoid
- 06:20
Wall Street investment bankers yeah the range of projects and potential income
- 06:24
is design a premier high-rise in New York
- 06:26
City well you'll be getting a fat check for millions just don't expect to retire
- 06:30
on what you make from designing this thing there are a couple other reasons [run-down shack]
- 06:34
you might want to go the architect route aside from dollar signs the one thing [money falling down]
- 06:37
you're helping to create something of value
- 06:39
someone will live work and play in the building you design ever moved out of a [family hugging]
- 06:43
home and felt genuinely sentimental about leaving it behind and we're
- 06:47
talking just a pile of wood and drywall and get a home can burrow its way into
- 06:51
your heart so in a sense you're not just building housing you're building
- 06:55
memories also the artist half of you is gonna feel an incredible sense of [people on construction site]
- 06:58
achievement every time you get to watch something go from blue lines on a piece
- 07:01
of paper to a structure that towers over people's head most other artists can't
- 07:06
say the same their work can you know hang on a wall or fit on a shelf but
- 07:10
yours would need a literal wrecking ball to take it down as for the actual
- 07:14
process of architecting well you'll generally start by being commissioned to
- 07:18
design a specific project either by an individual or by the firm you work for
- 07:22
you'll work closely with the client to make sure the plans fit their needs
- 07:25
probably less closely if your name is Frank Gehry and you've already
- 07:28
established yourself as a genius whose train of thought shouldn't be
- 07:31
interrupted but yeah you'll have to kiss some derriere the client is boss you
- 07:36
might have a vision for the most butt-kicking building in the world but
- 07:39
if the client doesn't want a gazebo on top of their jewelry shop well then
- 07:43
you'll have to go back to the drawing board
- 07:44
then once construction begins you'll work just as closely with a construction
- 07:48
team to ensure that everything is going according to plan
- 07:50
and that they haven't decided to you know do something weird like put
- 07:54
plumbing in a clothing closet as automation and Technology chug ahead you [closet opens]
- 07:57
might find yourself losing out on some jobs like well it might only be robots
- 08:02
designing boring tract housing in the coming years but for anything that
- 08:05
requires creativity the human brain both the right and left side of it still
- 08:09
reign supreme so good architects will be in demand for a long time to come put in
- 08:13
time vote yourself passionately to the craft and you should have the blueprint
- 08:17
for a promising future
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