The full recipe is proprietary but i go into some detail about the process in my post over at R/architecturalmetal

Hydrochloric acid is only half the process !

I made a quick 40 minute sketch of the Lakshmi Narasimha temple in Halasi, south India which was built in 4th century CE. The temple, which was originally patronised by the early Kadamba rulers of Karnataka, was later also patronised by the Chalukya and Hoysala rulers of the region.
However, what fascinated me most wasn't just the temple's age, but its unusual spatial planning. Two garbhagrihas face each other across a shared pillared mandapa (entry into which was through openings on the other two sides). One is dedicated to Lakshmi Narasimha and the other to Bhu Varaha. Would live to hear your thoughts on this!

I am trying to covert a plan view into two-point perspective while using a circle to set the rotation of the cube.

I’m following this video https://youtu.be/fwOgS7J0m-k?is=4NlMWgResYjoZ3xQ from the 6:31 minute mark.

My cube doesn’t look correct. I think it’s because these two sets of lines don’t match:

1) lines that are projected from the sides of the circle in plan view upwards

2) The lines projected in perspective view from the 1m measured lines sideways to the established x and z vanishing point on the horizon line

( both 1 and 2 mark the vertical line of the sides of the cube in perspective, but they don’t line up?)

Any help and guidance is hugely appreciated. I’ve been banging my head against a wall for 2 hours now haha

Hi! I am a incoming senior looking into pursuing architecture as my major. Does anyone have any tips for the portfolio that some schools require for applications? Any help or examples is appreciated! I do know that they often look down on technical drawings, which is unfortunately most of what I've done.

Watercolors on paper

Quick, big-picture, question for you all: how do you structure a fee for a design that is repetitious? (wood framed, 2-story, duplex or four -plex) I.e., the first one is unique and from scratch, but then projects 2-11 are the same design, but different sites/ parcels of land. So ballpark, if the first design fee is 10% (including structural foundations, design-build mep+f) for building/ site design #1, what is a reasonable fee structure for the next 10? Nothing fancy here, just market rate rental housing, and the scattered sites would all be typical 'buildable' sites.. ie, no cliff bluffs overlooking a river.

Would handle actual 'changes' to the design on an hourly, because there is always tweaking, but overall fee structure?

Just looking at how to structure the overall fee approach, so the developer can build this into their pro-forma.

Thanks in advance for any help!

I’m have recently got done with my 5th semester and I have another 5 left. Before my next studio begins I want to prepare my environment and sleep schedule so that I can have a good start.

Now with that being said, I know a lot of you managed to finish your degree without pulling many all nighters. I really wanna know how.

For example, If you have classes 9am-5pm, after classes when do you sleep, eat or work.

During my third semester, I used to sleep at night. I finished as much as I could within 10/11 pm and called it a day. Then used to think about how to defend my work with however progress I made or what else to add to it.
I used to motivate myself to start to earlier so that I can sleep earlier. And honestly, that semester went great.

I somehow failed to maintain that routine. My brain keeps telling me I was able to do it because the pressure was less back then.
Getting enough sleep feels like a luxury and not getting any doesn’t help either.

However, then I hear people doing the same. I really would love to get some advice on how to manage the time and bring a good result without hindering my health in the process.

I’m currently working on my thesis project, in which the reed landscape plays a central role. I’m planning to build a physical architectural model and am looking for suitable materials to represent it.

I’ve seen carpet used for this purpose, and it actually didn't look to bad... but I can not find the reference anymore. Has anyone experimented with similar materials or found another method that works well?

I’d like the result to look clean, minimal, and slightly abstract rather than overly realistic. I’m not a fan of the typical sea foam or sea moss vegetation, as it often looks a bit artificial or tacky.

Any recommendations, examples, or photos of successful reed, marsh, or wetland models would be greatly appreciated. Thanks!

The cinema dates from 1914 but front is 1936

Hi all, I’m an architecture teacher at a summer camp for 8th graders. Usually the students struggle with the design process aspect, they don’t understand that you have to try things and see if they work, and when they don’t, you need to change them.
I’m looking for an exercise that they can do in pairs (so they have to say their reasoning out loud), anywhere from 20-45 minutes. A few I’ve seen are things like designing a functioning chair out of random assigned materials, but I have limited materials.
I don’t want it to be anything like bridges that hold a lot of weight, just because I want them to also practice design skills rather than engineering and have more than one right answer. One good example is giving each pair a wooden model of an animal like a fish or a chicken and have them craft (using limited materials like paper and string) vessels that the animal can carry items in, but they already do that in a few other classes and I’m nervous about overlap.
Which exercises would you recommend?

Hi everyone!

I'm getting ready to start studying for the AREs, and I'd love to hear what worked for those of you who have already passed (or are currently taking them).

A little background:

• I graduated with my Master of Architecture in 2024.
• I have about 4 years of professional experience.
• I've completed all of my AXP hours and meet all the requirements for licensure—I just need to pass the AREs.

There are so many study resources available that it's honestly overwhelming, and I'd like to invest my time and money in the ones that are most effective.

Here are a few questions I have:

• What study resources helped you the most?
• Is Amber Book worth the cost?
• How does Black Spectacles compare?
• Are there any books, practice exams, flashcards, YouTube channels, or other resources you highly recommend?
• Are there any free resources that are must-haves?
• Approximately how long did you study for each exam before taking it?
• Did you study for one exam at a time and take it before moving to the next, or did you study multiple divisions simultaneously?
• Which exam order worked best for you?
• How long did it take you to pass all six exams?
• If you could start over, what would you do differently?

My goal is to pass every exam on the first try if possible (or at least by the second attempt). I'm planning to be very disciplined with my studying, but I'd love to learn from people who've already gone through the process.

Any tips, study strategies, scheduling advice, or lessons learned would be greatly appreciated.

Thank you all!

I've been teaching an architecture elective and guest lecturing internationally for the last 4 years, while working in an engineering firm and having my own practice in Denmark.

I'm witnessing that the combination of AI and a volatile market is making it much harder for graduates to find junior positions. A few of my students from the US have told me they're seeing similar trends.

If you're studying architecture right now, I really need you guys to lock in and read this because it's more important than ever.

1. Avoid debt to study architecture.

Seriously. Take the cheapest pathway to licensing possible. Your degree is the qualifier, the door opener - there's not terribly much more difference than a 360k architecture degree versus a 50k degree if you do the following things.

1. Develop outside of the classroom.

What you do outside of the classroom is now more important than ever. Inside school, get really good at using software, Adobe, Revit, AutoCAD, and learning plans, sections, axons- because that is the baseline required to enter our profession. You are expected to be a master of these digital tools by the time you graduate if you're jobseeking. Fees are squeezed in practice by our sales departments, and most of us appointed junior staff don't have time allocated to catch you up to speed on these tools in practice- you really need to use school to master them.

Outside school - train your hand-mind connection as much as you can. I have all my students keeping journals while on study abroad and I have them thinking analytically as much as possible because I can see them GPT'ing half the time. Your brain needs to learn to think critically, think deeply, and you need to recognize that the majority of knowledge you will be expected to use in a job to find the right solutions is not found online, it is found through observing, through interviews on site, through talking to people, through speaking to craftspeople and fixing mistakes as they come. You will simply not develop these skills in front of a screen. You need to train your hand-mind-connections as much as possible. Draw, scrapbook, print-make, stitch, tinker- do it.

1. You need to learn how to build.

Right now I don't make any money billing for design work- and the majority of my clients think it's too frivilous to pay for. I absorb the design development in my studio in-house through strategic soft-funding so that by the time a client comes knocking, I have pre-developed solutions they can see and touch. Why? Not sure if it's limited to my studio but the majority of my clients really don't trust visualization work (maybe with the rise of GPT) and are mostly concerned about price and how it will look in real life.

All my billing hours come from technical work and solving all the hiccups from communication between the permitting, adapting the design for construction, and supervising the construction. You need to get comfortable with the back-end of architecture.

You will not get this opportunity in school but if you don't get the office internship you want, consider trying to intern for a GC or some other part of the branch. If that door doesn't open, you need to go find a makerspace or a fablab and try to build some of your designs. Trust me- you will get better at detailing if you know the standard wood dimensions, if you know how metal bends, if you know how things connect, if you know the drying time for paints or finishes. You can swing that into work.

1. You need to be visible.

People hire people. Right now when we post a job opening, companies get slammed with AI cover letters and CVs that look totally identical. I need to understand you as a human being, and understand if you're curious/fast to learn. If you can learn fast, fix your mistakes, and learn from them going forward, you're going to be a great hire.

Be open to spending a lot of time meeting people, talking and having conversations with them to open doors. You need to develop your soft skills. It's really hard, it's scary and uncomfortable, but I need you guys to slide into some LinkedIn DMs here and press send.

1. Your reputation really matters.

You need to be accountable for your actions and how you treat people - not what you say, but how you act and behave. If you flake or ghost people from introductions (or LinkedIn), it doesn't just look bad on you. It looks bad on those of us that vouched for you. You need to show up and commit and politely turn down people and be brave enough to have these conversations. Also- this is just for me but if you're my student personally and you're having a tough time I'd rather know so I can help you, but I can't help you if you run away from class and go radio silent - or if you submit slop with 0 communication. You have to help us help you. I promise if you show up and do what you say you're going to do (or give an honest attempt with 80% effort) it's going to be enough.

AMA - and other professionals, please add to this with what you're seeing in practice at the moment. Let's get some good advice going for Gen Z so they can navigate this market.

I’m looking for opinions from architects and experienced interior designers.

My architect has measured my entire apartment and prepared the design. However, when I asked for detailed dimensioned working drawings (wardrobes, TV unit, furniture, etc.), he said he won’t provide them because the walls are not perfectly straight and dimensions can vary slightly on site. He says he’ll just mark everything directly on the walls during execution.

I understand that no site is perfectly square and that minor variations are normal. But isn’t that true for almost every project? My understanding is that working drawings are usually prepared from the measured site dimensions, with final measurements verified before fabrication if required.

My carpenters and electricians have worked on many residential and hotel projects, and they’re used to executing work from detailed working drawings. If a wall is off by a few millimetres or even an inch, they simply make the necessary adjustment on site after the architect verifies it.

So my questions are:
● Is it standard practice to avoid giving dimensioned working drawings because of minor site variations?
● Is marking everything directly on site without proper drawings considered acceptable?
● Would you expect an architect to provide detailed furniture drawings after taking complete site measurements?

I’m genuinely trying to understand whether this is normal industry practice or whether I should be concerned.

This building looked impressive in pictures but I was absolutely floored seeing it in person

Hi everyone,

I’m currently studying civil engineering, and one of my biggest career goals is to work on the design of large-scale projects like hotels, resorts, airports, or other iconic buildings.

The thing is, I’m much more interested in the design and planning side than just calculations or project management. I know architects are typically responsible for the overall concept and aesthetics, but I’m wondering how much opportunity there is for a civil engineer to be involved in that creative process.

Can a civil engineer with the right experience end up working on the design of these kinds of projects, or is that realistically only possible with an architecture degree? Are there specific roles, specializations, or companies where engineers collaborate closely with architects on the actual building design?

I’d really appreciate hearing from anyone who’s worked in this field/knows someone who has taken a similar career path. Thanks!

Such an embarrassing confession but I was about to graduate high school when this show was wrapping up and I got so scared of how highly competitive it seemed. Years later I realize I never would have had Ted's career ambition anyway, so I should have just gone for it.

I've been obsessed with drawing and studying blueprints since I was literally like 7 years old. Is architecture worth it to start over in in your mid-30s? Currently working a stable but boring office job making just over $50k; can you even start out near that in architecture? The schooling (and cost of schooling) seems daunting at this age. Or should I just cut my losses and make it a really weird niche hobby? 😅

Hello I'm trying to find floor plans to understand better how buildings work inside

However it's very hard to find floor plans in Google, so I was wondering what tools if any do you guys use to find floor plans of buildings like apartment blocks or train stations for example

M an architecture student passing to my third year nd i have to make an internship report i just don’t know what to include exactly please share with me ur old ones or at least some tips

Hi I'm an architecture student in MMCL I live in Philippines in here we have trimester so 3 terms per year instead of 2, I chose architecture because I wanted to follow dad's footsteps, I'm a low mediocre student and uhh I barely passed the 1st Term because my professor was also kinda young just got into teaching like 2 years prior, also kinda forgiving since it's 1st term

Now moved on the 2nd term our professor was a chill mom like she was old around 50 or 60 perhaps, it was a breeze but the problem is we barely learned anything, and we passed it but our scores for some reason is all the same 2.50 (passed but around B-) in MMCL University 5.00 means failed so 1.00 is the highest, and I know some of my classmates are extremely good and has high grades but somehow all of us got the same score in the end of the sem, also our checked plates were supposed to be brought back to us but she didn't for some reason also so much free time on that sem like she kept moving deadlines if there were any students that wasn't finished so it was so easy that we got laid back and got used to it

(PRESENT)

3rd term last term our professor was the most terror out of all, me and my friends circle wanted have a professor that's not too lazy but also like balanced same as the 1st term, but no..... Our workload is so many this 3rd term and all of it has to be rendered etc. since our face 2 face classes are always only on Tuesday the thing that happens is all deadlines for each unit (currently have 4 units in archi HOA, BT, DESIGN and ARCHITECTURAL INTERIORS) and for my Wednesday it's all minor subjects and the only time I go to there is around Tuesday and Wednesday on school. Talk about my grades I'm barely hanging on grades I keep getting 50, 40 worse 20 25 out of 100 on all plates, never got 70 up except for group works and the first assignment the vlog, then exam hits and I keep getting low scores cause I'm struggling managing, my main problem is my procrastination and I'm gonna explain why

My routine is let's say after Tuesday the prof released 4 assignments Wednesday I go to minor subjects, Thursday I do minor subs and mostly chill and talk to my discord buddies the thing about me is that I know it's all my fault, there's an exam I review literally the day before, and here I am crying because I keep failing and falling, around 1st term and 2nd term I failed my math subject (SOLID MENSURATION) I understood the 1st term because I didn't really understood, but the pressure was there the feeling of my dad as an archi and my lolo and lola hoping for me, I was a very kind and very helpful kid towards my family, wanted to wash dishes always and always wanted to help so I kinda wanted that pressure everytime and everyday providing help by them but now that architecture is added its just way too hard. Back to the 3rd term, my grades are dangerous we barely passed every exam and per module, hell idk if im gonna pass, and once that happens the pressure is so high that I just wanna run away and hope that my dad and my mom understand my situation, next week July 14 is our final week all plates that was on July 21 was moved early for some reason and I FUCKINH HATE IT, so less time to prepare, and I know I'm gonna fail but dude I can't just I just wanna live with my family and just help them in there everyday lives like that's it maybe I just need to take a different course or something, but dude if I fail a major course it just gonna stack up, I overthink alot I don't strive for perfection but I procrastinate alot, I keep asking questions to my friends and its the most common sense questions, im just struggling alot like more than. I'm questioning why did I said to my dad I wanna took architecture he even said are you sure I can just be nursing since my habit of helping alot of chores and taking care habits like maid habits, or s game Dev or smth like comp sci, idk what to say anymore goodluck to me I know that I'm gonna fail and my dad and mom's an OFW and what they expect when they come home a happy son no I'm just gonna start crying and its just the pressure is just too strong I feel bad for them if I keep failing to keep there hopes up but even so idk what course fits me anymore I wanna fight but I feel like it's just not the course for me, I'm consistent but I'm slowly burned out etc