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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