Living the Life of an Architecture Student

Do you want to be an architect? Or just feel like one?

For six weeks every summer at the Graduate School of Design (GSD), more than 250 students get the chance to see what the world of architecture is like from the inside.

Through the GSD's Career Discovery program, students get the chance to work with graduate students on studio projects in all areas of design. And every week, their work is reviewed by professional architects.

"When they finish with this program they really have an understanding of what it is to be an architect," says Hope Cohn, the GSD's staff coordinator for Career Discovery.

The Career Discovery program was started in 1972 by John A. Seiler '51. Seiler says he taught at the Business School for 17 years before coming to a disturbing realization: he hated it.

What he really wanted to do, Seiler says, is to be an architect. And thus was born the Career Discovery program.

For some, the six-week program is a chance to see whether they are interested in architecture. Others see it as a transition to graduate school. And others use the program as an opportunity to build a portfolio and further their careers.

When students enroll in the program they commit themselves to at least 10 hours of work each day. And most students say they spend much more time working on the five problems they are given over the course of the summer.

In addition, students attend a series of lectures and seminars designed to teach them about architecture and design. Lecture topics range from "Graphic and Modelmaking" to "Use of Computers in Design" to "Preparing a Portfolio."

But students say that while these lectures are interesting, their most important time is spent in the studio, working on design projects.

Each of the three concentrations--architecture, landscape and urban design--has different projects for most of the summer, but all of the students participate in the first problem: to build a wall.

"On the wall project, you would be amazed, there were 120 different walls--no two were identical," says Shoaib N. Ahmad, a student in the architecture program, which is the largest of Career Discovery's three sections, attracting 80 percent of the students and nearly 75 percent of the instructors.

Ahmad's other projects for the summer included making a collage based on the film Do the Right Thing, designing a beach house, analyzing a building, making rough sketches and redesigning a bookstore which, in the program's scenario, had burned down.

The actual bookstore--untouched by fire--stands in Boston, and students say they spent much of their time at the site, measuring and taking photographs so that their designs would be realistic.

"We try to give them projects that are in the Boston area so that they can see the site, measure it and get a good feeling for it," Cohn says.

Urban design projects include analysis of city plans and development of urban areas in foreign countries. For one project, students were presented with an elaborate scenario in Nepal and asked to build housing for Tibetan refugees, taking into consideration the various needs of the population, the different materials available for building and the cultural attitudes in Nepal.

The landscape architecture program--the smallest of the three--has another group of projects which includes analysis of sites and designs.

All three sections are taught entirely by graduate students at the GSD.

"Graduate students love to do the teaching. They get to do for the students whatever was or wasn't done for them," says Betty Lou Marple, the program's director. "They are still close enough to their own experience as students."

Career Discovery does not give the students much exposure to GSD faculty members, focusing instead on individual attention from the instructors and student interaction for learning.

"You don't only learn from the instructors, you learn from your peers," says Ahmad, who is already planning to enter a school in industrial design in the fall. "You get into the atmosphere of the profession."

But students do get advice from professional architects in the reviews at the end of each project. Students present their work individually and respond to criticism from three outside professionals. The review process is open to give students a chance to make their own comments, as well as to hear the professional critiques.

Students say that nearly every night this summer the Gund Hall design space was being used until 3 or 4 a.m., as students worked on their weekly projects.

"The first time is hell," says Eugene Lye of the reviews. "But everyone is pretty much used to it now. No one here slept last night."

"It's not really hard, but it is a lot of work. You have the opportunity to put in a lot of hours, and you have the option not to put in as many," says Michael Roche.

Many students leave Career Discovery certain that they are not interested in a design career. But even those who decide that architecture is not for them often say they find the program rewarding.

"One thing is for sure, if you take this course you will know whether you are up to being an architect or not," says Eduardo Antonetti, an architecture student.

"It is fun, it is challenging and it is a lot of work," said Sarah Hamilton, adding that even though Career Discovery convinced her that she did not want to be a landscape architect, she enjoyed the program.

A little experience, she says, can be valuable for students who are interested in pursuing a career in architecture--especially if they decide they don't like it.

"I still don't understand why the Law School doesn't run one, or the Medical School," Marple says. "Parents are willing to pay if it will get their offspring thinking about their careers."