Architects - Social network / forum

Myself and a good friend of mine are soon to qualify as Architects, we are looking to in the futures set up a practice together, in the mean time we both work in practices but are trying to branch out and find clients and do small projects before going it alone and leaving our jobs.

We both have 4-5 years of working in Architectural Practices and running jobs from designing, through to planning, producing tender and construction packages and overseeing projects onsite.

I am wondering that if anyone (or knows of anyone) on here needs someone to work on a small scale project a loft extension/rear extension/side extension etc. We'd be willing to do the work for a reasonable fee.

We are more than happy to supply a portfolio to demonstrate out abilities.

Jazzy

Good luck. Me and my girlfirend set up our own practice last year, it's hard work with a full time job.

Out of interest, is your experience in small scale residential projects?

Unfortunately it is not, which is where the problem may be, however I have a small garden studio being built now and a couple of bathrooms too.

From little acorns!

@jazzythumper Right, its time to start planning the next phase of works....I am looking for ideas, drawings and eventually plans etc

3 bed semi in Bexley, looking to build the 4th & 5th bedrooms (5th will be loft conversion) + convert the garage into a play room and build a new garage filling up the side access. Corner plot overlooking allotments. Prob a good 9 months away from having the money to do it but we have a tendency to rush into things and forget / miss important bit (like not installing underfloor heating in the whole ground floor last time we did the place up)

Bit of a dredge but welcome any advice from architect-y types...

Son #1 is (currently) interested in going into architecture and now has GCSE choices coming up. Is it important to have Art GSCE (and a protfolio subsequently)? Early days, but we want to keep options open at this stage. Do GCSE choices matter in the long run?

He'll probably be doing a Design & Technology option, Maths, Physics etc anyway.

Ta.

Most (maybe all? haven't checked lately) do not specifically require Art as a subject at GCSE or A-level, but all do require a portfolio.
He can make his own portfolio in his own time (if D&T involves making a portfolio, this is unlikely to be sufficient - he should add to it with his own work) and it will be looked at accordingly. By that I mean, they will understand the difference between a self-taught portolio and one that's been produced as part of an A-level. In the distant past, I recall my conditional offer being that I had to get an A in A-level Art because I was taking it - but that you didn't have to do Art at all. Does that make sense?
Some schools may require maths at A-level - haven't checked lately but I think Bath did, as they are quite engineering-heavy.

This is where it gets very much IMO -
GCSE choices only matter in as much as they lead to A-level/GNVQ/HND/BTEC etc subject choices. All Architecture courses will require Maths and English at least Grade C at GCSE (and quite a lot of jobs in general) so how well you do in core subjects does matter.

I think Art A-level is really valuable because it is intellectually/conceptually quite different from other subjects at school - including other makey/practical stuff like D&T - and can be an important foundation for Architecture at university. All science plus pragmatic subjects doesn't prepare you very well for the theory/concept/critical onslaught in first year.

When I was 18 I thought I was going to be doing something which I now realise would have been called something like Architectural Technology and Technical Drawing. I was very wrong.

The wider usefulness of Art A-level is very much dependent on how Art is taught at your son's school - although all should result in substantial portfolios, put together with the benefit of support and feedback from teachers. It's easier than doing it by yourself. But sure you could also do Art GCSE to get a grounding and then just put your own portfolio together for university applications. Amongst my peers most but not all had done art - maybe 8 out of 10. For the other subjects I was at the sciencey end (double maths, physics, art) and some others had done all humanities and not science/maths at all. Pros and cons. I do sometimes wonder whether I'd have fared better for doing English or Philosophy or something like that at A-level, but I chose the subjects I enjoyed and probably did better because of it.

TL:DR

Do GCSE choices matter in the long run?

Not greatly, but a bit. Make sure you get A-C in Maths and English.

My dad's an architect. He's mentioned in the past that the only secondary school qualifications he looks for when hiring are top grades in maths and further maths.

I'm not an architect, I studied engineering/geology at uni, but my advice would be to take a foreign language (maybe two at GCSE) if you can. I took sciences at A-level and regret it now. A foreign language opens up your options, whereas all the useful bits of my science A-levels could have been covered in a month and were re-taught at uni anyway. Architecture especially seems to be a global profession and there are more opportunities to travel and work abroad than most other lines of work, and the domestic architecture market seems pretty crowded.

I chose the subjects I enjoyed and probably did better because of it.

Thanks for the feedback. From my (dim and distant) experience ^ this is spot on.

Core subjects should be fine (as long as he gets his arse in gear) - your point about the different thinking involved in more creative subjects is good though.

Poor kid is not even 14 and already seeing his future mapped out...will probably end up teaching yoga in a commune instead at this rate!

Huh, interesting. Not my experience at all! Thereby illustrating the breadth and variety in architecture...
(I've been involved in hiring for jobs as well as admissions for university and for both generally good marks in any subject, decent degree class etc is a good thing, but portfolio is key).

Expectation of Good Maths is more true in Europe, however, and the advice re. languages is good.

four years and still no social network/forum?