Lately it seems as though I have been in a lot of conversations about what skills are required to be an architect. Inevitably the conversation ends up with you being in one of two groups, either you have to know how to sketch…
or you have to be a computer whiz…
I’ve met Architects that are firmly planted in one camp or the other, vigorously defending their point of view at the expense of the other. I’ve struggled with this argument ever since I was in school. Can I sketch pretty good, I think so (good enough to get my idea across to someone) just don’t ask me to enter the Ken Roberts Memorial Delineation Competition. Eeeek, that would be scary. I have also typically been pretty adapt to whatever computer program is thrown at me. I think I covered that pretty well here… Me? A Geek? Well… That basically puts me smack dab in the middle. Oh great, here come all those middle child syndrome symptoms again. Recently, ok today, it finally donned on me…. You’re both wrong! and you’re both right.
Architecture is a profession and a lifestyle, it takes people of all sorts to make it as interesting and varied as it possibly can be. Let’s stop bickering amongst ourselves about what tool in the toolbox is the most defining of a true Architect, and instead see that all these different tools are what make all of these different types of Architecture possible.
The Emerging Architect 