I am in my 6th and final year studying architecture.
6th.
(well including 2 years working in the field then 8)
It baffles me of what 6 years in this field can do to you. Just the other day I was asked of why i took this field: was it passion or just because I wanted a job? The question startled me at one point, as I stood there with a blank expression; blank, because I forgot how that passion felt when I first started my uni life in 2008. I was so burning with passion then. They said you needed 2 degrees to complete your studies, I said who cares I have what it takes! with a very determined face.
Well, that passion sort of died along the way, I'll have to admit.
Not until my 5th year, during the readings for my research proposals have I realised that architects are actually really crazy people who imagine too much, that they claim to hold responsible to society's everyday life. Why, architects? Why the burden? Why result to such powerful claim???.... is what I'd ask.
But I guess, while I'm still figuring out why I took this field, I will always come back to one answer: We are just programmed this way. If you want an exhibition centre to generate money, then we will build you an exhibition centre to accommodate tens and thousands of attendees. If you want an iconic tower to show power, then we will build you the highest skyscraper smacked in the middle of your already congested city.
This is how we're programmed to function in society, but then I ask myself, is this what I'm trained for? I hope I get the answer one day. No more the immature "i took architecture because I love to draw" type of answer. No. That was the 18-year-old-idiot-me who has the knowledge in the field the size of a pea.
It would be a downright lie if I told you I never regretted taking architecture, yet here I am in my final year. Just that one.. final... agonizing... push.
