Why architecture?
Architects sit at a crossroads of art, science, technology and environmental awareness. Through the practice of architecture, architects have the ability to influence the look and feel of the built environment, to enrich lives physically, psychologically and spiritually.
By meeting the highest standards of practice, architects leave a positive legacy for future generations. Architects devise the ways our buildings and civic spaces fit into the public realm. It is a great challenge, but architects, catalysed by new technologies and innovation, and with social awareness and a strong sense of conviction, are ideally placed to improve the way we live in the future.
Living or working in a well-designed building can change the way we think and feel; it can inspire, uplift, bring us together in new ways and promote well-being. Great architecture does more than simply meet its brief. It works in relationship with the landscape, enhancing our appreciation of the physical environment it occupies.
Great architecture works in a sustainable relationship with the environment and touches the land lightly.
We have a responsibility to recognise that what we build today should endure and enhance the lives of those who come after us.
A career in architecture will most likely combine equal parts inspiration, frustration, perspiration and elation. But, if you are inquisitive and think about how things might be improved, worry about the city and sustainability, are obsessed with beauty and need to draw to effectively explain something, then architecture might be right for you.
Visit Portico
For more information about studying architecture, Portico.Space. Set up by architecture graduate Sophie Hamer, Portico provides useful advice on a wide range of subjects, such as choosing subjects at secondary school that might be advantageous in the study of architecture, the schools of architecture in New Zealand, the experience of actual study, drawing, thinking and ‘doing’ architecture.
Career interviews
People from all sorts of backgrounds and with different academic strengths choose to study architecture. Find out how and why these recent graduates made their way into the architecture profession.
Gabrielle Luong
Architecture graduate, Malcolm Walker Architects
With architecture, you’re creating something that isn’t limited to the surface of a page. You’re involved with a diverse range of people until you see it built, inhabited, experienced and enjoyed every day. It’s a fantastic feeling to see the project finished, people using it and knowing that you’ve made something good.