Going Green: Architects in 21st Century Hsiang-Chung (Nick) Cheng
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- Case Study-sustainable design
- Capitalism-Advantages and Disadvantages
- NAAB-National Architecture Accrediting Board
- From Graduation until Working as Architect
- Internship-Case Study
- Related Jobs
- Case study-Current Student in the University of Washington, Seattle
| Needs and Trends of the Job
Every human being needs refuge; people need somewhere to chill, this is the reason why we need architects. According to the CIA (Central Intelligence Agency), the world population has been growing in a rapid speed, from 1 billion in 1820 to 7 billion in 2012 (“The World…”). As the population grows, more and more architectures have to be built; more architectures demanded, more architects needed. In addition, nowadays architects sometime involve in the other designs beside buildings and structures. For example, some of them apply their architectural creativity on designing automobiles and ships, or furniture. However, architect is a super adjustable job, and is not limited on single subject. In addition, the environmental issues are arising in a rapid speed, most of the countries are looking for the architects who are able to design sustainable. Nowadays, the environmental issues arise, more and more architecture firms value sustainable design more than the past. In order to adjust to the trends of the markets, the idea of Green Buildings has been pumping up. In these days, not only the environmental scientists but also the architects concern with the environmental issues. According to The World is Flat by Thomas Friedman, there are now more and more people from the big countries, such as China and India, don’t have the sense of environmental issues (Friedman). Those people can only discern what they want right now, but they are not able to see the big picture in terms of the environment problems for the next generation. However, the educated people realized the issues and start combined their jobs with the specific words “sustainable” and “renewable.” Those terms are also be wildly used in the architectural field. According to the Green Building Practices Around the World by Frank Mills, who is the technical director at Sinlair Knight Merz in Leyland, U.K. the voluntary Green Buildings design has been trending toward mandatory. The recession is a big problem in the early 21st century. The Economist has recently states in the article “Working the figures” on 2011 September 10th that the Gallup Unemployment Index is currently stands at 19% (“Working the…”). The problem also impacts the architectural world, graduates with a B.Arch. degree cannot survive in the competitive market, in order to success, must to be unique. The Architecture Record has pointed out some interesting changes among young architects. C.J. Hughes, who is the author of the article, has interviewed some current graduates who just earned the B.Arch. degree (“The Graduates…”). 3% of the graduates pursue an advanced degree other than architecture after the graduation, and 18% of students pursue the M.Arch. degree (“America’s Top…”). So what are the advanced degrees those graduates aim at? According to the Architecture Record, Some of the students pursue a master’s in geology, and some others pursue a MBA (Master of Business Administration). Students claim that the recession has greatly impact the chances to get the architect job, so they think earning an advanced degree in other field can improve their job chances generally. However, the trends in the architectural industry is moving toward sustainable design, and more architects are working on become a more valuable employee, as drafting instructor Jennifer Weddermann discusses.
Jennifer Weddermann, the drafting instructor at the Highline Community College, agrees with the trends in the previously paragraph. Jennifer has a B.Arch. degree and has the certification from the LEED AP (Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design). Architects with the LEED certification means that the architects have the knowledge and design buildings on the target of environmental health (“What LEED is”). However, Miss. Weddermann claims that sustainable design is playing a big role in the architectural industry; she states that to get the LEED certification is really important these days because most of the architectural firms value the employee who knows how to design sustainably more than an architect who is not accredited by the program. In additional, Miss. Weddermann admits that to pursue a MBA is brilliant decision. Miss. Weddermann has her own firm now, and she says the MBA will help the architects who want to start their own business (Weddermann). Miss. Weddermann has been involved in the architectural field for more than 15 years, and she loves her job so much; nonetheless, she claim the job is not easy and does have some disadvantages (Weddermann).
The wages of architects are very high, according to the WOIS (Washington Occupational Information System) the medium wages in the United States are 72,550 per year. Moreover, according to the Architectural Record, the starting salaries can be 40,000 yearly (“The Graduates…”). The job of architects is a good looking job from the data, but, nevertheless, risks do exist. In the article “The Graduates Gripe” from the Architectural Record, the author claims that the demand of architectural programs is raising, which means more and more students are aiming to become Architects compare to the past (“The Graduates…”). According to the WOIS, the United States has currently 141,230 employed architects in the nation, and the growth of employees over 10 years is 16.2% (“Employment and…”). The world of architecture seems like more competitive than before. Surely, the growing competition in the architecture world is not the only problem that the students who majoring in Architecture should concern with, but also the tuitions. According to the DesignIntelligence, the least important undergraduate program is at Cooper Union with 1,650 US dollars, and the most expensive one is 43,570 US dollars at Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute. On the other hand, the least expensive graduate program is at  University of Louisiana at Lafayette with 13,664 US dollars, and most expensive program is 42,100 US dollars at University of Southern California. Additionally, the average in-state tuition of the undergraduate programs in the United States is 19,454 US dollars, and the out-of-state average is 25,725 US dollars. The average tuition of the graduate programs is 19,212 US dollars in-state, and 31,872 US dollars out-of-state (“Architecture School…”). For such an expensive pros, it is imperative that the schools by accredited.
NAAB-National Architecture Accrediting Board According to the NAAB (National Architecture Accrediting Board), there are five different degrees in the architectural field, which are the B.Arch., BA/BS (Bachelor of Arts in Architectural Studies/ Bachelor of Sciences in Architectural Studies), M.Arch., MA/MS (Master of Arts in Architectural Studies/Master of Sciences in Architectural Studies), D.Arch. (“About The…”). However, those degrees are classified into two parts, which are Professional and Pre-professional programs. The Professional program is also known as NAAB-Accredited Program, which includes B.Arch., M.Arch, and D.Arch. The BA/BS and MA/MS are classified as Pre-professional programs. So what is the difference between Professional and Pre-professional programs? According to the NAAB, most of the architectural firms require the workers have to graduate from at least one NAAB-Accredited Programs (“Accreditation”). Therefore, the architect who has completed the professional program is more likely to find the job compare to the architect who is graduated from the Pre-professional program. Even all of the Master degree in Architecture programs is NAAB-Accredited programs, but the B.Arch. programs and the D.Arch. programs are not always accredited by the NAAB. According to the “NAAB-Accredited Architecture Program in the United States,” the United States has 51 universities have accredited Bachelor of Architecture program, 104 universities provide accredited Master of Architecture program. However, 18 universities provide Doctor in Architecture degree in the United States, but the University of Hawaii at Manoa is the only NAAB-accredited program in the United States of America (“NAAB-Accredited…”).
There are mainly two options that the students can choose after graduated from an undergraduate program, and it is based on the type of degrees that students have earned. That is only one option for the students who graduated from a Pre-professional program, which is continue their education and aim at the Master or Doctor degree. On the other hand, the students who have earned the Bachelor degree have more options than the students who are graduated from a Pre-professional program. They can either get into a graduate program or working on the prerequisites of becoming the licensed architect. According to the NCARB (National Council of Architectural Registration Boards), students must to meet the following materials in order to become a licensed Architect. First, students must to earn at least one Professional Program (Programs which are accredited by the NAAB). Second, students required to complete a certain hours of internship. Lastly, students are compelled to take the ARE (Architect Registration Examination) test (“The Basics”). However, if the students graduated from a Pre-professional program, which is not accredited by the NAAB, then the students must earn the Master in Architecture degree before they start an internship. Nevertheless, the picture from the WOIS shows the education level of architects. As the picture presents, 52% of architects have B.Arch., in contrast, about 28% of architects have M.Arch., and 9% with Ph.D (“Architects”). Drafting instructor Jennifer Weddermann expands on the point further. Miss. Weddermann is graduated from a 5-year professional program with B.Arch., she claims more and more universities make the programs 4-year even the programs are good enough to be accredited by the NAAB. Miss. Weddermann explains the reason why those universities don’t want their programs accredited by the NAAB on the view point of capitalism. She says “They [universities] can't make their 4 year programs accredited because the government won't allow it, so they offer additional 2 year Master’s degree programs in addition, and then they get more tuition.” (Weddermann). As the recession deepens, the states’ governments need money, and the way they earn money is to raise the tuition higher. 
Internship-Case Study Sandi Gruberg, who graduated from the University of Washington with a B.Arch. in 1999 shared her experience for internship. Mrs. Gruberg mentions via the email conversation that the internship experience helps her a lot in her career, Mrs. Gruberg interned for a local design firm which focused on residential clients, and dealing with the economic problems between the firm and clients. However, after she has interned and work in the landscape architectural field, she decided to quit the landscape architecture industry and concentrate in different field. Mrs. Gruberg now has a Master’s in Writing degree from National University of California, and is currently working as a writing instructor at the Central Washington University (Gruberg). However, Mrs. Gruberg claims that she sometimes work with people from different fields, especially architects and construction managers, which are closely related to the job of architects.
Architects not only sit in front of the computers and work along, but also cooperate with people from related fields, such as engineers and construction manager. However, most of the industries that architects will work with are usually related to the architectural industry. According to the WOIS, the related jobs of architects include Landscape Architects, Civil Engineers, Interior Designers, and Construction Manager…etc. The civil engineers work on the big picture of the plans, such as assuring the buildings or the bridges that designed by the architects will stand (“Civil Engineers”). Landscape architects are closely related to the civil engineers, they design and plan the city, and are familiar with plants (“Landscape Architects”). Compare to the civil engineers and landscape architects, the interior designers concentrate on the beauty of the decorations and furniture inside the house. The interior designers work more with the architects and construction managers more than working with the landscape architects (“Interior Designers”). Construction managers are in charge of all the construction plans, also are the head of all the related occupations. Construction managers have to hire experts from diverse fields, and have to deal with the clients and all kind of business issues (“Construction Managers”). Because of these client issues, communication skill is paramount. However, all of the occupations in the cluster of Architecture and Construction have their specific talents, and skill sets as well.
In order to become an architect, skill sets are very important. According to the University of Idaho, an architect must be not only creative and good in art, but also required the knowledge in the science area. In additional, it also mentions “Architecture requires imagination, creativity, and the ability to visualize, conceptualize and apply highly technical information” (Architecture). In most of the university programs, students will learn the basic knowledge of Architecture, and during the internship, students will learn more deeply in how to apply the concepts on the job. Tamara Hilton, the instructor of interior design at Highline Community College says skill sets for becoming architects are variety. Miss. Hilton claims the skills sets of architects include art skill, knowledge of geology and physics, awareness of environmental issues; nevertheless, the most important two skills are creativity and communication. As an architect, the ability to design architecture is driven by the creativity, which is considered as the springhead of the job (Hilton). Another important skill that Miss. Hilton mentioned during the conversation is communication skill. She claims architects are usually compelled to interact with the others from fields, and also are forced to discuss with the clients. For example, the clients will tell the architects what they want the building be structured up, and the jobs for architects are to combined the evidences from the clients, and design a building that satisfies the customers (Hilton).
Luna Cheng, a current student who studying Landscape Architecture at the University of Washington at Seattle states that the process to become a landscape architect is not simple, and very competitive with the others. Miss. Cheng is an international student from Taiwan, with her complex cultural background, she can able to apply Globalism into the field. Luna states “In order to be competitive, you must to be unique” (Cheng). As I mentioned previously in the paper, more and more students major in architecture and the growth of employees over 10 years is 16.2%. The picture on the right is called Ren Buildin which located at Shanghai, China. The Ren Building is designed in the figure of Chinese symbol, which means human in Chinese. The architect Julien De Smedt successfully harmonized Chinese culture in his design, and perfectly emerge the important of globalism in architecture. Anyway, Luna Cheng, a girl from Taiwan has great ideas on the mixture of architectures and globalism. Miss. Cheng also thinks the ability to manage time is very important, as a student who studies landscape architecture and working part-time at the same time, Miss. Cheng realized that she doesn’t have enough time for her tasks. Moreover, Miss. Cheng claims that communication skill is as important as the time management ability. Miss. Cheng mentions the demography in the Landscape undergraduate program is variety, students are from everywhere, and different student has diverse cultural norms. Miss. Cheng thinks to understand every student from diverse countries is nearly impossible, but she says to respect different cultures is the most important thing (Cheng). However, in the United States of America, a big melting pot of cultures, people are surrounded by diverse cultural norms, and are compelled to interact with different people from variety backgrounds, therefore, the abilities to communicate, to apply Globalism in the design, and the attitude to respect different cultural norms are playing a big role in the architectural world. 
As what I am learning currently. Conclusion As the research getting closer and closer to consummation, I am getting more confident and more confident with my decision on majoring in architecture. I recognize I have qualified some of the skills, and have the aptitude to become an architect. Benton Tonya, the director of the Institutional Research Department at Highline Community College claims that the HCC has 68% students of color, which is the largest percentage in the state of Washington. Moreover, respects to diverse cultures, 138 languages are spoken around the campus, which enhances the diversity of HCC more deeply (Tonya, Benton). As a current math tutor at the Math Resource Center at the Highline Community College, my life is surrounded by the Globalism and cultural norms. Math Resource Center is visited by diverse students from variety countries, and my job is to tutor those students. Base on my experience, even students are from the same class with same instructor, but the ways that students understand the concepts and the methods to solve problems are different. After the first week past, I realized that the math skill is important for a valuable tutor, but, however, the ability to communicate with diverse foreign students is more essential. For instance, different to the U.S culture, stereotype of Asian students don’t look in to instructor’s eyes because it is not respectful; on contrast, American think eyes contact represents respect in any kind of situations. However, after I realized that the globalism and cultural norms do exist at the Center, I start to figure out the technique to adjust myself in order to interact with the tutees. Writing this paper helped me to understand the job of architects more than before, and I now know that I have more options beside become an architect, such as landscape architect or urban planner. Moreover I now understand my advantages and disadvantages on major in architecture, and can start working on my weakness. In additional, I know that the architecture field is trending toward sustainable design, and that is what I should concentrate on. Works Cited “About The NAAB.” National Architecture Accrediting Board. n.d. Web. 12 Apr. 2012. “Accreditation.” National Architecture Accrediting Board. n.d. Web. 12 Apr. 2012. “Architects.” WOIS/The Career Information System. WOIS- Washington Occupational Information System. 2012. Web. 14 Apr. 2012. “Architecture School Tuition Report Published by DesignIntelligence.” DesignIntelligence. 4 Mar. 2011. Web. 20 Apr. 2012. “Architecture.” University of Idaho-College of Art and Architecture. Web. 17 Apr. 2012. “B.Arch. Professional Degree Program.” Cornell University College of Architecture, Art,, and Planning. 2012. Web. 15 Apr. 2012. “Bachelor of Arts In Architectural Studies.” University of Washington Department of Architecture. n.d. Web. 15 Apr. 2012. “Civil Engineers.”WOIS/The Career Information System. WOIS- Washington Occupational Information System. 2012. Web. 14 Apr. 2012. “Construction Managers.” WOIS/The Career Information System. WOIS- Washington Occupational Information System. 2012. Web. 14 Apr. 2012 “Employment and Outlook.” WOIS. “Architects.”WOIS/The Career Information System. WOIS- Washington Occupational Information System. n.d. Web. 14 Apr. 2012. Friedman, Thomas. “The Great Synthesizers.” The world is flat. Print. New York: Farrar, Strauss & Giroux, 2006: 282-297. Print. Friedman, Thomas. “The Green People.” The World is Flat. Print. New York: Farrar, Strauss & Giroux, 2006: 282-297. Print. Gruberg, Sandi. “Landscape Architecture.” Message to the author. 23 Apr. 2012. E-mail. Hilton, Tamara. Interview by Hsiang-Chung Cheng. Hsiang-Chung Cheng. 18 Apr. 2012. Hughes, C.J. “The Graduates Gripe-Getting an architecture degree is expensive. Is it worth it in a recession?” Architectural Record. Nov. 2011: 35. Print. “Interior Designers.” WOIS/The Career Information System. WOIS- Washington Occupational Information System. 2012. Web. 14 Apr. 2012. “JinShanLing Great Wall.” Great Wall of China near Beijing. Photograph. Web. 17 Apr. 2012. “Landscape Architects.” WOIS/The Career Information System. WOIS- Washington Occupational Information System. 2012. Web. 14 Apr. 2012. Mills, Frank, et al. "Green Building Practices Around the World." ASHRAE Journal 54.1 (2012): 48,52,54-55. ProQuest Research Library. Web. 18 Apr. 2012. “NAAB-Accredited Architecture Programs in the United States.” National Architectural Accrediting Board. Mar. 2011. Web. 20 Apr. 2012. Nai-Hsuan (Luna), Cheng. “Re: Landscape architecture.” Message to the author. 23 Apr. 2012. E-mail. “Real World Interview: Senior Associate Architect.” WOIS/The Career Information System. WOIS- Washington Occupational Information System. n.d. Web. 14 Apr. 2012. Sigler, Thomas J. "Transforming Markets in the Built Environment: Adapting to Climate Change." Canadian Journal of Urban Research 20.1 (2011): 158-9. ProQuest Research Library. Web. 14 Apr. 2012. “The Basics.” National Council of Architectural Registration Boards. 2009. Web. 17 Apr. 2012. Tonya, Benton. “Angi sends for a fact.” Message to the author. 25 Apr. 2012. E-mail. Weddermann, Jennifer. “interview questions.” Message to the author. 23 Apr. 2012. E-mail. WOIS. Level of Education. WOIS/ The Career Information System. Photograph. Web. “Special Report: The Future of Jobs.” The Economist. 10th Sep. 2011. 7. Print. Solt, Imre. BurjDubaiSkyscraper. 2011. Photograph. Web. 17 Apr. 2012. “The World Factbook.” Central Intelligence Agency. 14 Apr. 2012. Web. 21 Apr. 2012. “Fact and Figures.” Burj Khalifa. n.d. Web. 17 Apr. 2012. “What LEED is.” U.S. Green Building Council. 2011. Web. 23 Apr. 2012. Download 0.51 Mb. Share with your friends:
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