Many people are afraid of taking up architecture because they think you have to be a wizard at Math or a Van Gogh in the art to succeed. While you should be good in both, you don’t have to be genius or a prodigy. Your Architect skills list should include the usual set of competencies but the most important one is something you develop throughout your entire life: Problem Solving. Architects should know how to calculate square footages but not structural load balances. That is the engineer’s job.

Our opportunity, as designers, is to learn how to handle the complexity, rather than shy away from it, and to realize that the big art of design is to make complicated things simple.

But Architects are hired to solve problems. They have to build a structure that meets a specific function. How will you put all the component parts together? And of course, it must fit the budget.

That is why Architects spend nearly a lifetime of learning. Not only do courses take 4 or 5 years but there are various programs you have to undertake and a licensing exam to hurdle