how to train to be an architect

Le Corbusier's Maison Blanche
photo by Moira

Training to be an architect in the uk takes 7 years minimum

It takes five gruelling years at art school/university to become an architect in the uk. Yet Le Corbusier and the architects of his generation had very little architecture training and it didn't seem to harm them; it didn't stop them being let loose on the built environment.

My reasons for writing the book, BRICK WALL is to alert potential architecture students to the dangers of the architecture course. I also campaign for the change in how the architecture schools operate.

Recently I wrote to Will Hunter, founder of Alternative Routes for Architecture (ARFA), a committee set up to explore different models for architecture education. In the email I sent to him I wrote, 

"My suggestion is to do away with the first degree as it exists as it is far too specific a degree from the outset. I believe that a pure architecture course (focusing so entirely on design) should be taught only at post-graduate level (two years). Perhaps students studying engineering or some related degree could take an architecture module to find out if they are suited to it. And then, once they safely have their degree, they can think about become architects." 

Since writing this I've changed my mind as the yearly university fees in England have now jumped to £9,000 a year. So, really a better/simpler idea would be to scrap the 4th and 5th year as these gruelling years are just more or the same - designing and drawing up buildings that will never be built. This would also get round the problem of students not being able to get a job in their year out.

Will Hunter (mentioned above) is employed at the Royal College of Art in the School of Architecture. I did not receive a reply to my email. The current system suits those who "teach" in it, it does not act in the best interests of the students who are getting into serious debt, in the often vain attempt to become qualified architects.