Is Architecture as Expensive as it seems?
It’s Sude here and I’m back with a juicy topic for today's post! Will your bank account be drained whilst studying architecture? I’m here to discuss the answers.
“Is architecture as expensive as it seems?”. This is a big question that many upcoming architecture students ask themselves. To begin with, we all come from different backgrounds so everyone’s definition of the word ‘expensive’ is different, making this a very subjective question. In general, most architecture degrees are 100% coursework based. Coursework tends to consist of printing sheets, model-making, learning and using digital software. These do not come free. Printing sheets, buying materials and equipment for model-making and software subscriptions all costs money. Alongside these purchases you have travel expenses, books, food and entertainment. Long story short the total expenses can be daunting. Compared to less practical degrees, studying architecture is relatively more expensive. I listed earlier the main things that I spent my money on during my first year.
Printings sheets. This will differ depending on the university you attend. For the University of Westminster, in first year, prior to COVID, you were obliged to print your portfolio, that you’ve most likely formatted on Adobe Indesign, onto A2 sheets of paper These sheets were expected to be hung during crits whilst you present your project to your studio group and tutors. Although, this might not always be the case, as it can vary between universities and between year groups as there are different presentation formats. Having said this, during this pandemic, this is the one element of spending that has reduced significantly as crits have moved online and are done digitally. This eliminates the need to print, saving us money.
Materials & equipment. This is another self-explanatory expense, which with or without the presence of COVID-19, has remained pretty much the same . Model-making comes in handy as a part of the architecture degree when trying to visualise and capture your proposals in 3D. You can conveniently store all of your cardboard boxes for this very moment but we know you’ll feel the urge to buy some new card so the model turns out sleek. All in all, even if you are using leftover cardboard, you will be spending money on materials. Then we come onto equipment. Now this could suggest your cheap model-making pair of tweezers, which won’t cost much, or a laser cutter service, which… well… could add up to a couple of digits over the year. You could avoid the hassle of model-making by investing some time into learning software which enables you to model in 3D, but those don't tend to be free and model making is a good skill to have to create physical representations. I think getting away with not spending much money on software programs is possible whilst studying architecture. Those free trials will be your best friends. As of right now I pay for the Adobe Creative Cloud student subscription, since they only offer a 7 day free trial which would mean A LOT of new emails. Other than that, I use Rhino and AutoCAD on a free trial. Vectorworks can be free to use once you verify your student status. A free program I use for 3D work is Blender, which I have recently begun using. What I am trying to get at is, you can make software subscriptions less damaging to your budget by taking advantage of free trials.
Overall, I think the top 3 categories which can be a little draining are these but it doesn’t just stop there. You have your travel expenses which will vary a lot depending on what your journey is like going to and from university. Before we were struck by the pandemic, I roughly paid £1,200, in total, for travelcards in first year. Although this sounds quite pricey, this was the cheaper alternative as I was coming to university minimum 5 times a week. I take a bus and a train to get to university and the same to get back usually travelling during peak hours. Now that we are currently in lockdown, universities are closed and all forms of teaching are taking place online. This means I no longer spend anything near to what I used to in my first year. Possibly the only positive of a pandemic. However, closed universities does mean a closed library. Although many universities are making their library resources available online, there may be some of us out there who prefer having the physical book in their hands rather than looking at a PDF version on their computer screens. This could result in having to buy books which, under normal circumstances, you would have borrowed from the library. If you do buy your books you can opt for second hand ones rather than brand new copies. If the quality of the second hand book is close to new, there’s no harm in buying that one and saving money. One place that we suggest is ‘World of Books’.
So, to wrap up, studying architecture is definitely more demanding in resources as the majority of the time they are not provided for free. However, this shouldn’t be something to scare you from the degree or profession. You just have to be smarter with your spending habits and keep track.
That is it for today everyone! We hope you guys have gotten an idea on how expensive studying architecture can be. It was also nice to reflect on where my spending’s are going as an architecture student. Make sure to follow us on Instagram @archidabble and sign up to our mailing list at the bottom of our page.
