How Should I Become an Architect?
- Gareth Price
- May 7, 2023
- 2 min read
Architects have an important role in society designing the world we live in, therefore, their education is of national importance. The current UK system has been in place since 1958 being taught through universities with the recent addition of an apprenticeship route. Starting with a 3-year undergraduate architecture course (Part 1) followed by a year working at an architectural practice before returning to university for a 2-year postgraduate course (Part 2). After another year in an architectural practice, the Part 3 course can be completed and you can become qualified as an architect. It's understandable why parts of the profession especially recently qualified architects having spent a minimum of 7 years would like to shorten or perhaps simplify the process.
First, we must understand why we are making changes, the Architects Registration Board has a consultation on their education and training reforms. After two years of consultation, they believe a “fundamental” overhaul of the regulatory framework is needed. Their main reason is that it is “inflexible” and “hasn’t changed in over fifty years” with it creating significant barriers to “some” people from less affluent backgrounds or without existing networks in the profession. Sharing both those backgrounds and having qualified as an architect you could say I am in a prime position to comment. The current system is not perfect but it’s far from needing a “fundamental” overhaul, especially to benefit a few people. That said, a few adjustments are needed, here is what I would change.
Maintain a 3-year degree then complete a 1-year Masters to finish your full-time education, followed by 2 years of gaining practical experience to qualify as an architect through a Part 3 course. These two years of experience should be guided by a Part 3 university-driven mentoring system ensuring students are having a balanced learning experience and employers are provided structured support in teaching students every aspect of the job. Through monthly meetings with your university mentor a log book can be used to record all work stages, submitted to demonstrate their experience at the end. During this period the industry should call students architectural designers not assistants.
New entry points to becoming an architect are needed, however, this needs to be restricted to relevant courses to ensure the highest standards are maintained. Being an architect is a very complex job and requires multiple years of education/experience which cannot be replaced by other degrees.
Evolving and improving our industry is healthy, however, we need to be careful we are not reducing standards for the sake of change. These changes feel like they are not being driven by architects or the profession in turn disregarding the benefits of the system we already have in place. The changes may only benefit a tiny amount of people but the scale of potential damage to the profession could be large, therefore, as a profession we should lobby for more time to find a better solution than what the ARB is proposing to implement.
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