So you’ve completed your architecture degree, worked in a small firm and completed a few projects, and used an HDR software (check out www.aurorahdr.com) to take great photos of your work. But now you want to take your career to the next level by joining a larger company.

The first step you need to take is to create a compelling portfolio. Here are some tips:

  • Think of a Theme

A portfolio, before anything else, is a visual medium. If it doesn’t look cohesive, if the information is not presented in a well laid-out manner, people likely won’t be impressed by the work you include in it either. So before anything, think of a theme to tie the multiple pages of your portfolio together. Think of the color palette you want to use, which font will look best, and at what size.

  • Images, with a Sprinkle of Text

Your portfolio should mainly consist of images that showcase your work at its best. Visual mediums are much better received by people than something laden with text. Text, however, is very important in an architectural portfolio simply because there’s not a lot of it that should be added. So the text you add has to explain the gist of your project. Write about the problem, the solution, and the concept to provide readers with the relevant context.

  • Less is More

Mies wasn’t lying when he said these words. Keep your overall design and layout simple, precise, and to the point. No one likes a portfolio to look more like a magazine with multiple images crammed into a page with text looking like it came straight from a novel. So keep things simple, and let your images speak. Your work is likely to have a much bigger impact on people if it is made the hero of each page.

 

Your portfolio is the best way to showcase your work to people who don’t know you, so don’t rush it. Take your time to think carefully about how it looks and what it represents, and let people be impressed with all you’ve accomplished.

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There is no better feeling for an architect than seeing one of his or her designs come to life. Seeing a building that you’ve designed with your very eyes is something you can never forget as an architect.

However, while you know every inch of your design, your prospective clients don’t. This is why documenting these designs of yours is crucial, and knowing how to best take photos of your buildings helps in this process.

  • Find the Right Time

One of the best times to take photos of your designs is when they’ve just been completed. This is because at this time, the building will be empty, it’ll be brand new, and just as you intended it to be. However, you may also want to take photos of your design when it’s actually being used to showcase how successful it is. For that, make sure you have proper permission from the people who actually own the building so that you don’t run into any issues.

  • Get the Right Lens

If you’re taking photos of the structure yourself, you should take them with a capable camera, preferably one with interchangeable lenses. The lenses best for most architectural photography are wide angle ones. These ensure that you get everything in your frame without having to stand a mile back. If you have designed an interior and want to take photos of that, then try to use a lens with a wide aperture to get more light into your camera’s sensor and avoid increasing the ISO to a point where your photos are full of noise.

  • Shoot in RAW

Shooting in RAW will allow you to capture all the detail you can from your scene. This helps a lot in post processing your photos, a process through which you can easily adjust exposure, clarity, white balance, noise, and much more about your image without destroying the overall quality.

  • Shoot HDR

RAW images will also help you a great deal if you are trying to take HDR photos. HDR photography is very popular among architectural photographers as it allows them to get a balanced exposure for their image even in badly lit situations. If the sun is shining too bright, causing parts of your image to be overexposed or casting dark shadows over others, then you should try and take multiple exposures of your photo and merge them into an HDR image. This can be done with the help of a software like Aurora HDR. Head on to https://aurorahdr.com to learn more.

So be sure that you take plenty of photos the next time a design of yours is being actually built. This not only helps you pitch yourself to new clients but also is vital for creating your portfolio for job interviews and/or further studies.

 

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Many people don’t quite understand what urban design really means. It’s an integral part of the overall design of cities and towns and is something we interact with every single day whether we realize it or not.

It’s not the same as Urban Planning

The first thing to get straight is that urban design and urban planning are two different things. Urban planning deals with the overall layout of a city. This includes the road network, street network, differentiation between residential and commercial areas etc. Urban design, on the other hand, deals more with the ways the public environment can be improved physically. It has more to do with how different elements of a city, like the buildings, roads, streets, landmarks, all combine to form the essence of a place.

Why is it Important?

The design of a city is important because it gives it a sense of place. Little elements, like a small corner where two streets meet with a couple of small benches, make different places not only memorable but also turn them into focal points for people. Landmarks and nodes are crucial in making a city easy to navigate for people who are new.

There are many historic cities that have modeled a lot of the urban design around their historic buildings to give the whole place a cohesive and unique look. Some of the world’s best-designed cities see lesser cars on the roads because of excellent transit systems, lesser carbon emissions, and generally happier people. Urban design, therefore, is more than just deciding what goes where in the master plan of a city; it actually affects how a city performs and how its residents live their lives over the decades and centuries to come.

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A question many young architects battle with is whether they should join a big firm or a smaller one to develop their career. In this guide, we will discuss both options and the pros and cons each option has.

Join a Big Firm if you don’t mind grunt work

Joining a large architectural design firm seems like the obvious choice to many young architects. Not only may they seat their favorite architect but they also may have completed many of a graduate’s favorite projects. A bigger firm will give you the opportunity to work with more people, meet more clients, work on larger-scale projects, and long-term financial security. You might also get to work on projects that are abroad, giving you the chance to travel the world while doing your job. What could be better?

Well, you can have all of this but there is a high probability that you’ll have to do pretty insignificant work for years before you’re at that level. A bigger firm requires much more time on your part to give you the authority to design your own projects and take your own decisions. Most of the time in your earlier years you’ll be working on other architects’ projects and probably be paid very little. There is also a chance that you’ll be deemed invisible in the sea of people working at a large firm.

However, if you are willing to push through the ranks slowly and steadily and money is not a concern for you, then joining a firm that gives you the opportunity to work on massive projects is a great choice.

Join a Smaller Firm if you want more independence

A smaller design firm will give you much more authority and independence as a designer. You will be in direct contact with the clients, work on your own concepts and ideas, and lead a team of people through the project. You will have more hands-on work experience when it comes to your design’s construction phase. You’ll be made part of every meeting, and will have a say in the overall way the firm runs.

But of course, at a smaller firm, you may not have huge projects to work on. You’ll probably have to stick with residential and interior design at the start. There may not be a large influx of projects either, so you’ll to deal with slow days. A smaller firm might also not give you a reason to stay with it for a very long time, so in a couple of years, you might have to move to another company for fresher work or start a practice of your own if that is what you want.

 

So you can see that there are pros and cons to both kinds of jobs. What matters most in this decision is what your long-term goals are. If you want to be part of a large design firm and have a nice job with nice perks, join a bigger firm. But if you want to learn how to manage a project from the very start so you can develop your own practice in a couple of years, a smaller firm might suit you more.

 

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Do you feel like you need to have a career that demands creativity and critical thinking? Do you not want to be part of a profession that makes you sit behind a desk all day? Do you have an eye for design and feel the need to create physical spaces that people can live in and interact with?

If you said yes to all those questions, chances are you have an interest in studying architecture. But with all the negative hype you see about the course on the internet, should you actually take the decision?

The Course is Tough

There’s no denying the fact that architecture is a very tough course to study. It entails endless studio hours, later nights, manual labor, mental and physical stress, and a lot of defending when it comes to juries and critiques.

However, at the same time, the work can be very rewarding and fun if you’re really into architecture. Conceptualizing a building, visualizing it, drawing it, and presenting it to others is a great feeling. You’ll also get to work with a lot of other creative minds which will elevate your own ideas and designs.

The Work is Also Tough

Another con to being an architect that many people love to talk about is the lack of salary that a fresh graduate gets. However, this is true for many professions in today’s world and not just architecture. The problem arises when you couple this lack of income with a lack of design responsibility. Big firms don’t always hand out design projects to young architects. Instead, they get them to follow up on and support others’ designs.

But the fact is that this process of working on others’ designs, scrutinizing every detail and developing the drawings, is very important for young architects. Yes, it takes time and energy to stay with a company in this capacity, but it pays off after a few years quite handsomely.

 

So ultimately, the decision whether you want to be an architect or not depends on what you want from life. If you are very serious about architecture, then I say go for it. You’ll find a way to push through the rigorous course and make a name for yourself in the field. But if you’re not quite in love with the idea of architecture, then you probably shouldn’t get into it because you might just get sick of the hard work in a few years.

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Urban design is the multi disciplinary and collaborative process which is involved in the landscape architects, communities, urban designers, engineers, planners and architects. It is the process of arranging the physical setting for life in the villages, towns and cities especially use the urban public space. Our program welcomes the student to hold Bachelor degree in urban and architectural design. The field of architecture and urban design is mostly linked to most pressing environmental, societal and cultural challenges. It encompasses the huge range of the capability which starts from technology and design to critical thinking.

Our mater programme in the architecture and urban design is providing knowledge and skills required to practice professionally. We customize the programs to emphasize research oriented approach. There are more and more numbers of the research facilities are available in our program such as architecture library, studio spaces, cad-lab, robot lab, a centre for housing and Mistra urban futures.

The spatial morphology group is mostly engaged in the urban research within the field of urban morphology, design theory and space syntax. Mistra urban future is the center of sustainable urban development along with the ambition to become the world leader in field of residential housing. We have excellent A-workshop which is totally equipped architecture workshop with the metal, plastics and wood working equipment and it also consists of numerous numbers of the computer controlled machine for rapid prototyping, model building.

Our robot lab is the research facility which might investigate robotic technology in the architectural design and it is equipped with the three robotic arms. Cad-lab houses workstations with the software for 3d modeling, video editing, desktop publishing, CAD-drawing and GIS. Centre for healthcare architecture might conduct graduate studies, research and encourage the training within the field of physical environments. We are providing excellent facilities such as the center for housing and the national platform to transfer of knowledge, development, research and debate in the field of residential housing.

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