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Going Green: Architects in 21st Century
Hsiang-Chung (Nick) Cheng
April 18, 2012.
ENGL205
“Fact and…”
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Abstract
The entirety includes the brief introduction of architect, and furthermore covers the information that people need to know before become an architect. The paper not only describe the advantages of the job, but also mention the disadvantages of becoming an architect. Moreover, the paper briefly introduces of related jobs of architect, and includes the case study and interviews of the experts from related occupations, such as interior designer and landscape architect. The paper also mentions the essential skill sets of an architect, and the demonstrate the reality by interview the current student in the University of Washington and LEED certificated architect.
Author Biography
Author Hsiang-Chung Cheng has spent 16 years living in Taiwan; as a bilingual speaker of Mandarin and English, he is able to understand the cultural difference between American culture and Asian culture. Moreover, as a current math at the Highline Community College, Hsiang-Chung deeply understands the importance of communication skill and Globalism by tutoring the students from diverse countries.
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Burj Khalifa [Burj Dubai], the tallest building in the world since 2010. According to the
official website of the Burj Khalifa, the architecture stands 2,716.5 feet upon the ground
level. The significant of the impressive skyscraper is not only the height of the building but
also the design. Definitely, the biggest obstacle that all the skyscrapers have to face during
the designing process is wind. However, the Burj Khalifa has successfully overcome the
impediment and renews the Guinness Book of World Records in the areas of the tallest
building in the world and the tallest free-standing structure in the world (“Fact and…”). The
most important person who involved in the constructional and designing process is called
architect.
Architects not only design buildings but broadly design and plan all kind of structures,
such as bridges and tunnels.
Architect is not a modern job, it
has been practicing from the
ancient time. For example, the
Great Wall of China was built by
the first Emperor of China Qin Shi
Huang between 220-206 BC, and
it is still stands after 2-thousand
year. Moreover, architects not
only design the buildings, but also
involve in all types of structures, such as bridges.
(JinShanLing Great Wall)
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Needs and Trends of the Job
Every human being needs refuge; people need somewhere to chill, this is the reason why
we need architects. According to the CIA (Central Intelligence Agency), the world population
has been growing in a rapid speed, from 1 billion in 1820 to 7 billion in 2012 (“The
World…”). As the population grows, more and more architectures have to be built; more
architectures demanded, more architects needed. In addition, nowadays architects sometime
involve in the other designs beside buildings and structures. For example, some of them apply
their architectural creativity on designing automobiles and ships, or furniture. However,
architect is a super adjustable job, and is not limited on single subject. In addition, the
environmental issues are arising in a rapid speed, most of the countries are looking for the
architects who are able to design sustainable.
Nowadays, the environmental issues arise, more and more architecture firms value
sustainable design more than the past. In order to adjust to the trends of the markets, the idea
of Green Buildings has been pumping up. In these days, not only the environmental scientists
but also the architects concern with the environmental issues. According to The World is Flat
by Thomas Friedman, there are now more and more people from the big countries, such as
China and India, don’t have the sense of environmental issues (Friedman). Those people can
only discern what they want right now, but they are not able to see the big picture in terms of
the environment problems for the next generation. However, the educated people realized the
issues and start combined their jobs with the specific words “sustainable” and “renewable.”
Those terms are also be wildly used in the architectural field. According to the Green
Building Practices Around the World by Frank Mills, who is the technical director at Sinlair
Knight Merz in Leyland, U.K. the voluntary Green Buildings design has been trending
toward mandatory.
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The recession is a big problem in the early 21st century. The Economist has recently
states in the article “Working the figures” on 2011 September 10th that the Gallup
Unemployment Index is currently stands at 19% (“Working the…”). The problem also
impacts the architectural world, graduates with a B.Arch. degree cannot survive in the
competitive market, in order to success, must to be unique. The Architecture Record has
pointed out some interesting changes among young architects. C.J. Hughes, who is the author
of the article, has interviewed some current graduates who just earned the B.Arch. degree
(“The Graduates…”). 3% of the graduates pursue an advanced degree other than architecture
after the graduation, and 18% of students pursue the M.Arch. degree (“America’s Top…”).
So what are the advanced degrees those graduates aim at? According to the Architecture
Record, Some of the students pursue a master’s in geology, and some others pursue a MBA
(Master of Business Administration). Students claim that the recession has greatly impact the
chances to get the architect job, so they think earning an advanced degree in other field can
improve their job chances generally.
However, the trends in the architectural industry is moving toward sustainable design,
and more architects are working on become a more valuable employee, as drafting instructor
Jennifer Weddermann discusses.
Case Study-sustainable design
Jennifer Weddermann, the drafting instructor at the Highline Community College,
agrees with the trends in the previously paragraph. Jennifer has a B.Arch. degree and has the
certification from the LEED AP (Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design).
Architects with the LEED certification means that the architects have the knowledge and
design buildings on the target of environmental health (“What LEED is”). However, Miss.
Weddermann claims that sustainable design is playing a big role in the architectural industry;
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she states that to get the LEED certification is really important these days because most of the
architectural firms value the employee who knows how to design sustainably more than an
architect who is not accredited by the program. In additional, Miss. Weddermann admits that
to pursue a MBA is brilliant decision. Miss. Weddermann has her own firm now, and she
says the MBA will help the architects who want to start their own business (Weddermann).
Miss. Weddermann has been involved in the architectural field for more than 15 years,
and she loves her job so much; nonetheless, she claim the job is not easy and does have some
disadvantages (Weddermann).
Capitalism-Advantages and Disadvantages
The wages of architects are very high, according to the WOIS (Washington
Occupational Information System) the medium wages in the United States are 72,550 per
year. Moreover, according to the Architectural Record, the starting salaries can be 40,000
yearly (“The Graduates…”). The job of architects is a good looking job from the data, but,
nevertheless, risks do exist. In the article “The Graduates Gripe” from the Architectural
Record, the author claims that the demand of architectural programs is raising, which means
more and more students are aiming to become Architects compare to the past (“The
Graduates…”). According to the WOIS, the United States has currently 141,230 employed
architects in the nation, and the growth of employees over 10 years is 16.2% (“Employment
and…”). The world of architecture seems like more competitive than before.
Surely, the growing competition in the architecture world is not the only problem that
the students who majoring in Architecture should concern with, but also the tuitions.
According to the DesignIntelligence, the least important undergraduate program is at Cooper
Union with 1,650 US dollars, and the most expensive one is 43,570 US dollars at Rensselaer
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Polytechnic Institute. On
the other hand, the least
expensive graduate
program is at University of
Louisiana at Lafayette with
13,664 US dollars, and
most expensive program is
42,100 US dollars at
University of Southern California. Additionally, the average in-state tuition of the
undergraduate programs in the United States is 19,454 US dollars, and the out-of-state
average is 25,725 US dollars. The average tuition of the graduate programs is 19,212 US
dollars in-state, and 31,872 US dollars out-of-state (“Architecture School…”). For such an
expensive pros, it is imperative that the schools by accredited.
NAAB-National Architecture Accrediting Board
According to the NAAB (National Architecture Accrediting Board), there are five
different degrees in the architectural field, which are the B.Arch., BA/BS (Bachelor of Arts in
Architectural Studies/ Bachelor of Sciences in Architectural Studies), M.Arch., MA/MS
(Master of Arts in Architectural Studies/Master of Sciences in Architectural Studies), D.Arch.
(“About The…”). However, those degrees are classified into two parts, which are
Professional and Pre-professional programs. The Professional program is also known as
NAAB-Accredited Program, which includes B.Arch., M.Arch, and D.Arch. The BA/BS and
MA/MS are classified as Pre-professional programs.
So what is the difference between Professional and Pre-professional programs?
According to the NAAB, most of the architectural firms require the workers have to graduate
B.Arch M.Arch05,000
10,00015,00020,00025,00030,00035,00040,00045,00050,000
1,650
13,664
43,570 42,100
19,454 19,21225,725
31,872
Least Expensive Most ExpensiveIn-state average Out-of-state average
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from at least one NAAB-Accredited Programs (“Accreditation”). Therefore, the architect
who has completed the professional program is more likely to find the job compare to the
architect who is graduated from the Pre-professional program. Even all of the Master degree
in Architecture programs is NAAB-Accredited programs, but the B.Arch. programs and the
D.Arch. programs are not always accredited by the NAAB. According to the “NAAB-
Accredited Architecture Program in the United States,” the United States has 51 universities
have accredited Bachelor of Architecture program, 104 universities provide accredited
Master of Architecture program. However, 18 universities provide Doctor in Architecture
degree in the United States, but the University of Hawaii at Manoa is the only NAAB-
accredited program in the United States of America (“NAAB-Accredited…”).
From Graduation until Working as Architect
There are mainly two options that the students can choose after graduated from an
undergraduate program, and it is based on the type of degrees that students have earned. That
is only one option for the students who graduated from a Pre-professional program, which is
continue their education and aim at the Master or Doctor degree. On the other hand, the
students who have earned the Bachelor degree have more options than the students who are
graduated from a Pre-professional program. They can either get into a graduate program or
working on the prerequisites of becoming the licensed architect.
According to the NCARB (National Council of Architectural Registration Boards),
students must to meet the following materials in order to become a licensed Architect. First,
students must to earn at least one Professional Program (Programs which are accredited by
the NAAB). Second, students required to complete a certain hours of internship. Lastly,
students are compelled to take the ARE (Architect Registration Examination) test (“The
Basics”). However, if the students graduated from a Pre-professional program, which is not
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accredited by the NAAB, then
the students must earn the
Master in Architecture degree
before they start an internship.
Nevertheless, the picture from
the WOIS shows the education
level of architects. As the
picture presents, 52% of architects have B.Arch., in contrast, about 28% of architects have
M.Arch., and 9% with Ph.D (“Architects”).
Drafting instructor Jennifer Weddermann expands on the point further. Miss.
Weddermann is graduated from a 5-year professional program with B.Arch., she claims more
and more universities make the programs 4-year even the programs are good enough to be
accredited by the NAAB. Miss. Weddermann explains the reason why those universities
don’t want their programs accredited by the NAAB on the view point of capitalism. She says
“They [universities] can't make their 4 year programs accredited because the government
won't allow it, so they offer additional 2 year Master’s degree programs in addition, and then
they get more tuition.” (Weddermann). As the recession deepens, the states’ governments
need money, and the way they earn money is to raise the tuition higher.
Internship-Case Study
Sandi Gruberg, who graduated from the University of Washington with a B.Arch. in
1999 shared her experience for internship. Mrs. Gruberg mentions via the email conversation
that the internship experience helps her a lot in her career, Mrs. Gruberg interned for a local
design firm which focused on residential clients, and dealing with the economic problems
between the firm and clients. However, after she has interned and work in the landscape
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architectural field, she decided to quit the landscape architecture industry and concentrate in
different field. Mrs. Gruberg now has a Master’s in Writing degree from National University
of California, and is currently working as a writing instructor at the Central Washington
University (Gruberg).
However, Mrs. Gruberg claims that she sometimes work with people from different
fields, especially architects and construction managers, which are closely related to the job of
architects.
Related Jobs
Architects not only sit in front of the computers and work along, but also cooperate with
people from related fields, such as engineers and construction manager. However, most of the
industries that architects will work with are usually related to the architectural industry.
According to the WOIS, the related jobs of architects include Landscape Architects,
Civil Engineers, Interior Designers, and Construction Manager…etc. The civil engineers
work on the big picture of the plans, such as assuring the buildings or the bridges that
designed by the architects will stand (“Civil Engineers”). Landscape architects are closely
related to the civil engineers, they design and plan the city, and are familiar with plants
(“Landscape Architects”). Compare to the civil engineers and landscape architects, the
interior designers concentrate on the beauty of the decorations and furniture inside the house.
The interior designers work more with the architects and construction managers more than
working with the landscape architects (“Interior Designers”). Construction managers are in
charge of all the construction plans, also are the head of all the related occupations.
Construction managers have to hire experts from diverse fields, and have to deal with the
clients and all kind of business issues (“Construction Managers”). Because of these client
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issues, communication skill is paramount. However, all of the occupations in the cluster of
Architecture and Construction have their specific talents, and skill sets as well.
Skill Sets
In order to become an architect, skill sets are very important. According to the
University of Idaho, an architect must be not only creative and good in art, but also required
the knowledge in the science area. In additional, it also mentions “Architecture requires
imagination, creativity, and the ability to visualize, conceptualize and apply highly technical
information” (Architecture). In most of the university programs, students will learn the basic
knowledge of Architecture, and during the internship, students will learn more deeply in how
to apply the concepts on the job.
Tamara Hilton, the instructor of interior design at Highline Community College says
skill sets for becoming architects are variety. Miss. Hilton claims the skills sets of architects
include art skill, knowledge of geology and physics, awareness of environmental issues;
nevertheless, the most important two skills are creativity and communication. As an architect,
the ability to design architecture is driven by the creativity, which is considered as the
springhead of the job (Hilton). Another important skill that Miss. Hilton mentioned during
the conversation is communication skill. She claims architects are usually compelled to
interact with the others from fields, and also are forced to discuss with the clients. For
example, the clients will tell the architects what they want the building be structured up, and
the jobs for architects are to combined the evidences from the clients, and design a building
that satisfies the customers (Hilton).
Case study-Current Student in the University of Washington, Seattle
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Luna Cheng, a current student who studying Landscape Architecture at the University of
Washington at Seattle states that the process to become a landscape architect is not simple,
and very competitive with the others. Miss. Cheng is an international student from Taiwan,
with her complex cultural background, she can able to apply Globalism into the field. Luna
states “In order to be competitive, you must to be unique” (Cheng). As I mentioned
previously in the paper, more and more students major in architecture and the growth of
employees over 10 years is 16.2%.
The picture on the right is called
Ren Buildin which located at
Shanghai, China. The Ren Building
is designed in the figure of Chinese
symbol, which means human in
Chinese. The architect Julien De
Smedt successfully harmonized
Chinese culture in his design, and
perfectly emerge the important of globalism in architecture. Anyway, Luna Cheng, a girl
from Taiwan has great ideas on the mixture of architectures and globalism. Miss. Cheng also
thinks the ability to manage time is very important, as a student who studies landscape
architecture and working part-time at the same time, Miss. Cheng realized that she doesn’t
have enough time for her tasks. Moreover, Miss. Cheng claims that communication skill is as
important as the time management ability. Miss. Cheng mentions the demography in the
Landscape undergraduate program is variety, students are from everywhere, and different
student has diverse cultural norms. Miss. Cheng thinks to understand every student from
diverse countries is nearly impossible, but she says to respect different cultures is the most
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important thing (Cheng). However, in the United States of America, a big melting pot of
cultures, people are surrounded by diverse cultural norms, and are compelled to interact with
different people from variety backgrounds, therefore, the abilities to communicate, to apply
Globalism in the design, and the attitude to respect different cultural norms are playing a big
role in the architectural world.
As what I am learning currently.
Conclusion
As the research getting closer and closer to consummation, I am getting more confident
and more confident with my decision on majoring in architecture. I recognize I have qualified
some of the skills, and have the aptitude to become an architect.
Benton Tonya, the director of the Institutional Research Department at Highline
Community College claims that the HCC has 68% students of color, which is the largest
percentage in the state of Washington. Moreover, respects to diverse cultures, 138 languages
are spoken around the campus, which enhances the diversity of HCC more deeply (Tonya,
Benton). As a current math tutor at the Math Resource Center at the Highline Community
College, my life is surrounded by the Globalism and cultural norms. Math Resource Center is
visited by diverse students from variety countries, and my job is to tutor those students. Base
on my experience, even students are from the same class with same instructor, but the ways
that students understand the concepts and the methods to solve problems are different. After
the first week past, I realized that the math skill is important for a valuable tutor, but,
however, the ability to communicate with diverse foreign students is more essential. For
instance, different to the U.S culture, stereotype of Asian students don’t look in to instructor’s
eyes because it is not respectful; on contrast, American think eyes contact represents respect
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in any kind of situations. However, after I realized that the globalism and cultural norms do
exist at the Center, I start to figure out the technique to adjust myself in order to interact with
the tutees.
Writing this paper helped me to understand the job of architects more than before, and I
now know that I have more options beside become an architect, such as landscape architect or
urban planner. Moreover I now understand my advantages and disadvantages on major in
architecture, and can start working on my weakness. In additional, I know that the
architecture field is trending toward sustainable design, and that is what I should concentrate
on.
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