So What Do Architects Do?

A few weeks back, one of the interns in office came to my cars rescue when I had a flat tire on my way to meet someone. An intern from the last batch was so good at communicating with Tata Docomo (our work connections) that he was entrusted with all dealing with them! This is an amazing feat because none have been successful in getting being able to get the basics sorted so far! Making sure the office jeeps and bikes are in running condition is also an interns job.

Most of our interns deal with the workers on site - everything from assigning jobs daily (think 7am calls) to carting them from site to site and getting materials for them other than explaining the jobs to them and making sure things are done right. Many have become adept at vendor management and office administration. 

We've discovered latent talents like blogging and web design and graphic design. Some interns discover that client management is their forte whilst others love being at site supervising work all day long. All architects and interns are of course photographers and I usually have someone enthusiastically accompanying me on shoots. Night or day, I always have volunteers :-) 

So what do architects and interns do in an architectural office? This thought was put into my head by an intern who was doing 'non-architectural' work and wondering aloud if this was part of his training or not ..... that set me thinking of the unconventional office that we are and the varied things we do as part of work.

Well, I think its awesome that you get to do so many things! So many different things! Facets of yourself that you would not have thought of exploring in college or school. Things very different from what you had expected (I am sure helping change tyres was not part of anyone agenda at all but it is a life skill I tell you!!) But these are all things that teach you. Teach you more about the process, the idea, the methodology, team work and in turn architecture. 

Sai has a habit of assigning certain jobs to people most unlikely to enjoy, much less, like them!! But I've seen them come through shining from work that they never would have thought they would enjoy or want to do. Of course, not everyone is able to succeed but that teaches you as well. A lot of times you need to improve yourself as a person before you are able to improve and hone your design skills and that can come more easily from varied sources. 

I'm not sure what architects should really be doing but I do know that I love the fact that I can explore as many things as I can here. So let loose, enjoy the process, find fun in everything .... from changing tyres and material calculations to detailing and designing beautiful spaces. Open your eyes, grow, enjoy and be ever ready to learn. That works the best ..... always.