What I did before Studying Architecture?
It’s easy to fall into the trap of believing that the only way into the world of work is to go to school, then something along the lines of sixth form or college, then straight into university; especially when this framework is drilled into your mind for the majority of your academic life.
This week, we’ve brought you a guest post with Sajda, who’s taken a slightly different route into studying architecture. If you’re considering studying architecture, we hope this post will give you some insight into some non-linear paths into the discipline that show you don’t have to take the classic route.
Hello everyone! My name is Sajda and I am now a second-year architecture student at the University of Cambridge. My most recent architecture projects explore the fragmentation of realities amongst citizens of an abandoned town in Cyprus called Varosha. My latest sporadic and hopefully not as short-lived as usual :”) interests have been: learning animation, swimming, going down endless research loopholes into spicy architecture projects/studios, learning the blessing and curse that is Rhino and playing the ukulele. Thank you Archidabble for the invite!
Throughout secondary school, I was driven towards art as a subject but also as a personal investigative tool to reflect and explore myself. During sixth form, alongside Art, I studied Physics, Chemistry and Arabic. Physics and Chemistry were a pain. Chemistry especially. But I made it my mission to force myself to like them in order to do well; I would often research side topics outside the scope of the curriculum in order to keep myself intrigued. I spent many hours in libraries, trying to follow countless study plans and schedules I set but never really sticking to them. Eventually, I realised that not sticking to plans but getting work done nonetheless is just as effective at improving academic performance, and started to be more forgiving with myself for not completing every task on my to-do list on time.
When thinking about future studies, I wanted my options to be as open as possible hence why I picked a mix of creative and science subjects. At some point, I even considered pursuing animation, civil engineering and even medicine! Towards the end of year 12, I even started teaching myself A-level maths outside school, when I realised it's a required subject for many fields in which I had a slight interest. It was towards the end of year 13, whilst working on an art project, that I had started to have more conviction that architecture could be the right pathway. The project was about the destruction of the Syrian village where I was born and raised.
I had the privilege of being part of an incredible art department during sixth-form from which I discovered the foundation year at the Royal Drawing School. My decision to take a year out was partly due to my inability to juggle applying to university and studying at the same time :”) and also, considering how messy my working habits were during A-levels, I knew I needed a transition year to develop more self-discipline in order to prepare myself for independent study at university. I went into the foundation year with a few goals in mind, some of which were: to improve work ethic, escape my comfort zone as well as surround myself with inspiring people who are just as passionate as I was about art and possibly confirm my decision to pursue architecture later. Most importantly, I wanted to enhance my drawing and analytical skills for whatever was coming ahead.
The foundation year was a thrilling experience of letting go of all restraints I put on my creative work and I learnt the importance of honesty when making art. I learnt how to better analyze and critique drawings, images, videos, spaces, sculptures and much more. An integral part of the foundation year was the daily journaling which had to be monitored by tutors weekly. A demanded daily entry might sound daunting at first (and yes it actually was at the beginning) but reflection at the end of each working day was crucial to my development that year. I tried my best to carry such skills into my first year of architecture at Cambridge. During a stressful hand-in week, I would journal cluttered thoughts, especially before and during crits. What’s out of sight is out of mind! Doing so often helped develop my ideas coherently and gave layers of meaning to my projects. Having also engaged in weekly one-on-one tutorials during my foundation year gave me confidence in my weekly supervisions at Cambridge, which are known to be at the heart of the learning experience at the university. A fundamental segment of the foundation year course was the weekly life drawing which lasted around 5 hours. Over time we had to learn how to manage that time effectively to produce resolved drawings at the end of the day for a productive crit. Time management skills and gaining a better sense of how long things take to complete definitely helped when working on architecture projects, especially when trying to meet a deadline.
If you are thinking of applying to study architecture, you may want to consider carrying out a long term self-led project/investigation. This doesn't have to be related to your subjects and doesn't necessarily have to account for grades or UCAS points. The point is that it will ease you into working independently on lengthy projects at university. With regards to the application processes (personal statement, portfolio, interview prep etc) I would say the best advice I received is to be as YOU as possible. The key to a good portfolio is to make it personal. When it’s truly personal it’s unique and stands out. In order to strengthen an application, invest a good amount of time in developing niche interests around architecture. For example, it’s not sufficient to read a single book about psychology and architecture and end up with interesting yet vague ideas about it. Instead, try to research further into the specifics of the subject, various theoretical discussions and key projects that explore this subject etc. You'll then naturally begin to develop your own opinions on the subject, which you can then potentially include in your personal statement, explore in your portfolio or discuss during interviews. During my Cambridge application process, I used to research the mundanity and neglect of British suburbia as well as how destruction in wars leads to the erasure of identities and communities. Both topics were what resonated with me most at the time; having moved from Syria to the UK as a child. You might have too many areas of interest within architecture and that’s okay, just remember to thoroughly explore at least one of them. The one which you feel is most attached to your identity and somehow illustrate that interest in your portfolio. Finally, trust that every piece of art you create has/will have meaning, and the meaning doesn’t have to be architectural, not everything has to be systematic and well-intentioned, sometimes you just have to let loose and go wild with experimentation and let the magic unfold by itself.
If you have any questions or need further advice/guidance feel free to contact me via email or Instagram.. I will be more than happy to help!
Email: sajdaalhajhamad@gmail.com
Instagram: @sajda_al_haj_hamad
This has been quite a personal and characteristic post from Sajda, which hopefully you all enjoyed! Taking some time out before you move on to the next stage of your life can be much needed as much as it can be well spent: and our guest for today’s post has proven just that.
We know that it’s currently UCAS/application season, so feel free to check out our other content on our site that might help inform your decision on where to take your future! We’ve got blog posts comparing student experiences of different universities and subjects, advice for interviews which we summarised in an Instagram post last month, as well as our own experiences applying to university.
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