The gap between architecture school and the profession
It has been over four years since I started working, since the inception of my professional career, since I started working in the field I love. For me, architecture was a a small boat in a vast ocean. I couldn't have had two legs in two boats. I did not have a backup. There was no second career option. And after five years of architecture school, yes five, in India the undergrad program is five years, I understood what architecture is. It was beyond drawing fancy sketches and lines (something you only later realize is post production). You learn design, form and function, culture, history; derive your ideas from nature, music, dance; are motivated to deeply care about society, its people, learn to be sensitive towards who you are designing for, the context, understand that it isn't merely a problem-solving agenda but it could be self expression, a statement, a movement, a symbol. Every fresher right out of college is the most enthusiastic, energetic, ambitious person you meet...