Th Reasons to Become a Professional Architect - Research Paper Example

? Why I Want to become a Professional Architect Why I want to become a Professional Architect Introduction Architecture is the art and science applied in designing and putting up of buildings and other physical structures. Architectural in relation to building involves intensive planning, designing, form construction, and ambience that replicate the various fictional, social, technical, and any other artistic works. The famous buildings in the world like the former world trade centre, white house, and other buildings in the world are constructed under architectural world. In the contraction of these buildings, creating thinking and manipulation in required. Material, light technology, and shadow have to be coordinated in order to give the house its expected design, and physical look. I was specifically inspired with the manner in which the former world trade centre was contracted which made me aspire to become and architecture. This paper will explore extensive reasons why I want to become a professional architect. It will also look at the work of my inspirational architect Minoru Yakmasaki in constructing the famous world Trade Centre and Pruit-Igoe. Inspirational Architect / Designer Minoru Yakmasaki My inspirational is Minoru Yakmasaki a Japanese-American architect. He is famous for his design of the twin towers of the World Trade Centre. Minoru Yakmasaki was born in December 1912 but later passed on in February 1986. He is considered one of the most famous architects of the 20th century. He grew up mainly in Washington DC where he joined his high school. Minoru Yakmasaki later proceeded to University of Washington where he pursued a program in architecture in 1929 and graduated five years later with a Bachelor of Architecture. He tirelessly worked and later joined a master’s program at New York University. He is credited with many architectural designs as an employee of various companies (Killen 2007 p.212). Minoru Yakmasaki’s Architectural works Pruitt–Igoe Pruit-Igoe was an urban housing project built in St. Louis, Missouri in the United States in 1954 with the design done by Minoru Yakmasaki (Killen 2007 p.212). It is notably one of Minoru Yakmasaki’s first major assignments as architecture. The project as proposal by Yakmasaki was to include a mix of high-rise, mid-rise, and walk-up parts as noted by Trancik (1986). However, there were counter proposals to have the building built uniformly. Several architects, however, later jointly considered that Minoru Yakmasaki’s proposal was the best for the project and was therefore worth being adopted. The building was put up on a slum, which required the ground level to be raised in order to save on ground flow space for the sake of daily social activities. The building stood on about 57 acres of land within the slum. The building had about 2,870 apartments, their kitchens being relatively. Since the building was a storied building, it had elevators but the elevators could only serve certain floors. This meant that occupants of the floors not having elevators had to use stairs to climb. The floors were generally equipped with large communal corridors, garbage sites, laundries and the living rooms. The houses had poor ventilation, and dark corridors (Trancik 1986). All this were attributed to poor planning, and the fact that the materials used were of poor quality. The World Trade Centre The famous World Trade centre is another building designed by Minoru Yakmasaki. It was composed of a complex seven buildings with landmark twin towers in New York, United States. The construction of the building was designed in 1960s but was officially opened in 1973. The building was however brought down by terrorist attacks in September 11, 2001. The building had 110 story towers, which was designed using a tube frame structure. The building had to be fitted with elevators to allow ease of movement, as the building was too tall to use stairs. However, Minoru Yakmasaki did not find fixing the elevators easy, which he considered as one the limiting factor to his design, as so many elevators were needed. To counter this problem, as a professional architecture, Yakmasaki decided to adopt the use of sky lobbies, in which people could move from a large elevator to a local elevator that passed through all the sections of the floor, this increased efficiency. The windows were made narrow, a reflection of the designers fear for height and make the occupants feel secure. He also used the gothic artistic work in his design and decorations (Killen 2007 p.213). Killen (2007) observed that the plan of building the World trade Centre at a busy commercial centre faced many criticisms from the public and business owners as its construction was going to lead to massive reallocation of people. The design of the building also raised questions regarding its aesthetic value. It was only seen as a glass and metal, which could easily scramble. The narrow window design also faced criticisms as they those who used the building complained that it impaired visibility form the building. The location of the building was also seen by some critics that it interfered with the traffic flows. Literature Review Architecture is a profession that deals with many of the society’s issues today. It is one way by which an individual can explore the modern way of life and come up with new technologies, and best materials that will ensures environmental sustainability. Indeed, architects contribute a lot to the happiness and comfort of people as they come up with beautiful designs. The architectural career is one of the careers that do not only equip people in one line of skills only. Instead, it equips people with a wide range of skills as noted by Kier (2007). This makes the career one of the most demanding in the world. These skills cut across art and science. The career therefore equips people to enter a wide range of different careers. These include planning, designing, artistic applications among others, as was the case with Minoru Yakmasaki. He did not only design the World Trade Centre and Pruit-Igoe but also participated in planning the building site. The world is not complete without architecture. Kier (2007) argues that planning, and designing of buildings is something that continues in everyday life. For example, for an industry to be put up that requires heavy equipment and vibration involved, an architect must be involved in planning the building so that the building can meet the standards for which it is being put up. Without architectural planning and design, the industry may scramble in a matter of days. World Trade Centre had to be thoroughly planned and designed for it to be strong enough to withstand the weight following the fact that it was so tall and stood at a commercial area where there was a lot of movements and vibrations (Killen 2007). However, due to good architectural planning and designing, the building stood the test of time as one of the most stable and tallest buildings in the. This is remains a motivating factor behind my studying architecture. Town planning is a major concern to the people around the world as was witnesses when many protests were staged at the time the World Trade Centre was being built. I am motivated to join architecture so that I can ensure that buildings in the cities are well planned taking into account not only the beauty of the building but also human concerns even as emphasized by Trancik (1986 p.48). Despite the fact that World Trade Centre was credited as one of the major achievements made by work of architecture, it faced criticism from many residents of New York City and business people as they claim that such a big building was not supposed to be built where it was built. The reasons they gave was that it increased traffic jams in the city and was a threat to other businesses that were adjacent to it. These kinds of human concerns came true when terrorists struck the building leading to many deaths and destruction of properties. Beyond doubt, several adjacent buildings were affected by the destruction of the building. Survey results and Findings Architects are charged with the responsibility of designing build environments including houses, shops, offices, sports pavilions, social centres, and worship centres among countless others. They mainly develop concepts for structures and transform these into plans and images. In the course of their work, architects are expected to design safe and functional structures which are also economical. The architects need to be knowledgeable in the building codes that apply in their areas of jurisdiction so as to comply with the law and to enhance safety. They may engage in all the phases of a project and therefore need to learn engineering, management, supervisory, communication and design skills. In most cases, architects work in the office environment consulting with clients and developing plans and reports for their customers’ projects. They also visit work sites with an aim of reviewing progress. In order to become an architect, one needs to obtain a university degree in architecture, usually taking five academic years. One also needs to have work experience in the form of internships and attain the necessary license from the registration board that operate in the country. A survey conducted in 2008 revealed that 20% of architects usually work at night, and during the weekends with over 50 hours of work every week (Bureau of Labour Statistics, 2012). Another survey conducted in 2008 revealed that in 2008, architects held over 141,100 jobs (Bureau of Labour Statistics, 2012). Of these jobs, about 68% involved architectural, engineering or related industries. In the same year, it was noted that the median yearly wage of architects were 70,321 USD. The lowest 10% earned below 41,320USD while the highest 10% earned over 119200 USD. In the US, slightly over 20 % of architects are self employed. My Professional Motivation The architectural work used in building the World Trade Centre is a motivation that I cannot wish away. I `about the genius that was behind the design of the building which stood as a complex landmark featuring the twin towers before they came down in 2001 after it was attacked by terrorists. The building was professionally designed to contain 110 stories and 10,000,000 square feet of office space. This shows how important planning is crucial in determining the size of the building to put up. This kind of planning strategy applied by Minoru Yakmasaki is so inspirational and needs to be adopted in architectural work. What also makes me want to pursue the architectural profession is the fact that I am much perturbed by the high increase in shanties across the country. I consider this as a failure in the line of architects as they have failed to educate people on the dangers of putting up shanties, which put their lives in danger. I believe that by becoming architecture, I will be able to liaise with the government so that we can come up with a slum up gradation program that will see good and modern buildings built and the shanties removed so that the lives of the slum dwellers can be changed (Trancik 1986 p. 56-184). It is evident that Pruit-Igoe’s building at the heart of slum helped a lot in changing the plight of the slum dwellers. By upgrading the slums, the appearance of the towns and cities will totally be changed and will become attractive and comfortable to live in. This is one of the motivating factors in my joining the architectural field. Money is one of the motivating factors that drive people towards pursing a given career. By studying architecture, I hope to get a good job and later engage in private practice so as to earn a decent living. The profession is good in my view considering that it has many opportunities as its demand in the market outweighs the supply. This is evident from the fact that after Yakmasaki attained his degree in architecture, he did not take long looking for a job. This factor has also been influential in my decision to pursue architecture (Unwin 2003, p.42). This is a factor that has motivated me a lot taking a look at the comfort that the World Trade Centre offered to the people who operated in the building before being destroyed by the terrorists. Many professions are associated with many acts of unprofessionalism. However, architecture as a profession is credited with a lot of good reputation in so far as adhering to established standards is concerned (Kier 2007). The architectural profession has stood strong considering the care taken by architectural associations in ensuring that professionalism is observed. This fact has also motivated me a lot in pursuing studies in the field of architecture. It is also evident that there is no bad story that links Yakmasaki in his entire practice with unethical conduct. The architectural knowledge applied in constructing the lifts was also so amazing and motivating. After Yakmasaki realized that the fast elevators he wanted to use could not be efficient, he opted to use more efficient elevators, the sky lobbies, which he considered more appropriate for such tall buildings. Due to professional thinking, he was able to rectify the mistakes he made previously when designing elevators to be used in Pruit-Igoe building. This feature has motivated me to the extent that I feel I should also become a profession architect like Yakmasaki whose work saw the World Trade Centre solve the problem of using stairs to climb tall buildings through establishment of efficient elevators that are large and can accommodate a large number of people at a go. Another factor that motivates me to become an architect is to be able to solve various technological and constructional issues. As an architect, I will be able to apply logic and technology in solving practical problem related to design (Kier 2007 p.138-213). High buildings in the past were in most cases associated with collapse due to natural disasters like earthquakes. I believe that through in-depth study of architect I will be able to solve several practical problems related with high buildings. Yakmasaki is a motivating architect through his work of applying technological knowledge to come up with a plan that saw the construction of World Trade Centre, which stood for years before being brought down, by act of terrorist attacks. In his design, he made sure that the foundation of the building was deep so that stability could be maintained in tall building. He also ensured that the materials used to constract the building like steel aluminum, glasses are of good quality which gave the building its strength and exquisite look. From Pruit-Igoe’s design, it is beyond doubt that poor architectural design led to the housing apartments being fitted with poor ventilations and dark corridors as note by Trancik (1986). To solve this emerging issue, there is need to have a professional architect. I am inspired by this fact and consider that becoming a professional architect will help solve this kind of problem. The knowledge I will have acquired will also enable me tackle the issues of narrow windows that brought criticism of the World Trade Centre as observed by Angoti (2008). By becoming a professional architect, I would be able to design modern lifts for tall buildings. This would ease movement from one floor to the next without the need to climb using stairs which are old fashion, and do not take into consideration the vulnerable and the disabled. Modern lifts in building also ease communication from one department of the building to another. For example, if the World Trade Centre had no lifts, it would not have been easy for one to climb the stairs to the tenth floor. This consumes a lot of time and therefore man hours (Kulchin 1990). I am always pleased when I go into a building and find that it is richly covered with colored tiled floors. These tiles are supposed to be durable, sophisticated, and beautiful. All these are a product of the decisions made by the architect in ensuring that the beauty of a building is maintained (Waldrep 201). This fact was also present in the World Trade centre in which Yakmasaki ensured that the floor of the World Trade Centre was beautifully covered with decorated tiles. The World Trade Centre was professionally designed to have an asymmetrical appearance, which is so appealing. The symmetrical appearance gives the houses a high level of depth (Ching 2007 p.24-49)). The World Trade Centre was made of glasses and steel that gave it a very appealing look. From the look of the asymmetrical appearance, I got so inspired by the brains behind this kind of work. For this reason, I got interested in becoming a professional architect so that I can design more modern houses and structures. It is also evident that older houses that lacked the symmetrical appearances as was with the case of the old houses did not inspire people to join the architectural industry (Conway and Roenisch 2005). Conclusion and Reflection In conclusion, it is the work of Minoru Yakmasaki that has motivated to pursue architecture. Despite his earlier work (designing the Pruit-Igoe) being considered a poor design, he was able to come up with a more creative and better design in building the World Trade Centre. I believe that studying architecture at degree level and beyond will enable me have good knowledge in planning, designing, beautifying the environment with structures, and earn a decent income. I hope to become a professional architect so that I can be able to express my cultural, religious, and philosophical ideas in constructing building. This kind of motivation comes from the manner in which the ideas of designers were applied in building the famous Pyramid and obelisk of Egypt. In these structures, there are various artistic features such including emblems and ornaments embedded therein as expressions of the philosophy of the nation. Yakmasaki also applied cultural, religious, and philosophical ideas in designing the World Trade Centre and Pruit-Igoe. His love for the Japanese culture and artifacts were reflected by the Golith paintings References Ahlemann, F., Stettiner, E., Messerschmidt, M. (2011). Preparing the Enterprise Architecture for the Future, Dordrecht, NY: Springer Heidelberg. Alblow, L. W. (2006). The Architect. New York: Thorndike Press, Jan 6. American Institute of Architects (2008). The Architect's Handbook of Professional Practice. 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