14 Alternative careers worth Pursuing with an Architecture Degree

April 11, 2021 nisha parikh

Architecture is the art or practice of designing and constructing buildings. The degree in Architecture has a glimpse of everything from a creative standpoint to practical working, giving a broad perspective to empower you with the decision to choose your field. Many discover themselves through this journey and many end up being more lost in its realm of wonder. The five-year course branches out plenty of career options for the graduates exploring their passion within architecture.

Here is a list of 14 careers worth pursuing with a degree in architecture and a few architects who have made a significant contribution in those fields, which may help some overcome the daunting task of beginning to think about and plan for the professional life that awaits.

1. Landscape Architecture

Landscape work is a viable career if you enjoy working in the natural environment. A landscape architect creates landscapes, ideas, plans, designs, and implements spaces in the natural and built environment. Designing outdoor landscapes, including infrastructure, public areas, agriculture, and forestry is vital for constructing the webs that bind our urban and rural spaces, moreover, it’s essential for responding to globalization and climate change. Landscape works are involved in stormwater management, environmental restoration, and recreational areas among other things. To name a few famous architects who have made significant contributions to Landscape Architecture are: Ravindra Bhan and Associates and Prabhakar Bhagwat

2. Architectural Journalism

Explore your inner writer by creatively expressing architecture without getting on the field for long hours; learn to articulate yourselves using (mostly) descriptive language and rhetorics, in order to communicate our complex projects/ideas to teachers and critics. Despite the print being two-dimensional, stories are multi-dimensional. This sector majorly entails articles related to architecture - describing projects, latest architecture news, or profiling interviews for architecture and construction magazines, newspapers, and media platforms in print or digital formats. Architecture Journalism is an emerging field and a handful of architects have made a significant contribution to it namely Apurva Bose Dutta and Mrinalini Ghadiok.

3. Urban Planning

Due to the mass influx of our population moving into urban areas, the conditions of urbanism are in a constant state of disarray. The dynamic state of the urban environment makes it an exciting path to take as an architect, covering everything from economic and demographic changes to sustainable development. It is beneficial for the bold and adventurous architects looking to develop and design land use and the built environment. It covers areas such as transportation, communications, distribution, management systems, and other infrastructure. countless architects have made a contribution to Urban Planning: Bimal Patel (HCP) and Morphogenesis among many others stand strong in proving that architects can do many things simultaneously.

4. Restoration and Conservation

If you are interested in the history of architecture and maintaining the cultural heritage of our country, this field is suitable for you. India is home to one of the world's wealthiest temples monetarily, culturally, and architecturally. Restoration and Conservation is an art form that would require the architect to study the architectural aspects of vernacular times and find ways to restore and preserve them for the future.it covers areas such as art restoration; jobs in museums, conservation architects, archaeological surveys, development, and refurbishment of heritage structures, and many more. Aishwarya Tipnis and Abha Narain Lambah Associates are the two prominent firms working on Restoration and Conservation works.

5. Project Management

A project manager inculcates and nurtures the project throughout its cycle, from planning, execution, monitoring, control, and completion. They are a key part of the whole construction process and make sure that the project runs and development is done efficiently. Their Tasks have a broad spectrum of managing time, risks, budgets, staff, distributing resources, management tools, marketing, design, and project update. It requires immense experience and knowledge of the field. Sijcon and A N Prakash Construction Project Management Consultants Pvt. Ltd are the two firms working in this sector.

6. Interior Design

Architects have to go through the nitty-gritty details in the planning phase on every operable level. Interior design comes after major planning is done and it paves a path to creative responsibility and important procedures in the building process. Interior Architecture focuses on designing the interior space. Shaped by aspects of psychology to structure, to furniture design. It is an engaging and spell-binding profession that could catch the curious vision of a keen architect. Aamir & Hameeda Design Studio and Studio Lotus are notable firms practicing Interior Design with Architecture.

7. Product Design

As the name suggests, the practice focuses on the mass production of products on small-scale design. Innovative products in the industry have proven to show great interest among people. Product design looks at solving user’s problems by finding and developing creative solutions. Understanding the customer, product and identifying market opportunities with product management and design are important aspects of a product designer's key tasks. Interestingly, product designers' also have an alternative career option to design creative and innovative toys. Studio Kassa, Metallurgy, Futuring Design are some leading firms of Product Design.

8. Furniture Design

Even more so than product design, furniture design can be seen as architecture’s little sister. This one is apt for the compulsive architect who wants to enjoy playing with the architectural psyche of his masterpiece. Countless famous architects have made significant contributions to furniture design: proving that architects can design many things simultaneously. Charles and Ray Eames, Josmo Studio Woodcrafting Studio

9. Graphic Design

An architect who dives deep into the aesthetics of his project could hardly resist Graphic Designing. The world of graphic design is exciting, varied, and fulfilling. A graphic designer is a professional who visually communicates information regarding the design aesthetics of a project. Taking a short course in graphic design to supplement a degree in architecture can open up a range of possibilities to still work within the field, but take charge of tasks that are more suited to your interests in communication. They can work on anything from branding, advertising, brochures, magazines, websites, packaging, logos and so much more. Akshar Pathak and Sujata Keshavan are just a few examples of those who practice Graphic Design.

10. Architectural Photography

With an eye for detail and design, an architecture graduate would be a great fit to move over to photography. Architecture photography is becoming increasingly popular, due to the beautiful geometry that emerges by compressing the vista within a lens. Photography concerns itself more with the aesthetic, the object, and the composition within the specific frame at the exact moment. Architectural photographers will focus on photographing completed buildings, their exterior & interior; with an aim to promote the project in architectural magazines and other publications for its marketing and online record. Sebastian Zachariah, Prashant Bhat, and Ishita Sitwala (TheFishyProject) are few influential Architects practicing Architectural Photography.

11. An Educator

Teaching is a two-way street, especially at such a young age, which provides you with an excellent method to learn from your students and reflect on your view of architecture. Young teachers at architecture schools are becoming more common, as it also enables intricate learning of the chosen field, so a year or two as an educator could nurture a holistic perspective in your architectural mindset providing fresh and innovative ideas. A lot of famous architects like Yatin Pandya, Chitra Vishwanath, B.V Doshi

12. Architectural History and Criticism

An architectural historian expert in the history of architecture. They research and write about it. They can be lecturers, work in historic preservation, museums or they could try their hands as a critic for media outlets, and even become authors in this field divulging intricate architectural details of an establishment Mrinalini Rajagopalan Kaiwan Mehta are two prominent names in the field of Architectural History and Criticism.

13. Video-Game Design

The near-limitless boundaries that come with designing a virtual world may be one of the most fun things a newly graduated architect could think of doing with their education. Constructing the architecture of a video game is a way of letting your imagination roam free, but could also add more depth to your spatial reasoning. Video game designers work in pre-production designing the entire atmosphere and materials of the game keeping in mind the genre and story of the games. This is suitable for the free-spirited architects who take note of their solid imaginative learning curve. Dan Van Buren and Maria Elisa Navarro are architect turned Game Designers.

14. Set/Production Design

Although a set or a stage is a far smaller platform than a virtual planet, a set allows for just as much creative flow. It lifts the pressure of traditional spatial design and expression, allowing for experiences that may be more evocative, sensuous, and story-driven, while still utilizing all the knowledge and skills one gains from an education in architecture: time pressures, conceptual environments, and collaborative creativity. A production designer works in the film industry ensuring the preparation of locations that are cohesive with the directors, writers, and producers. The role requires organization, creativity, and project management skills, all of which you nurture during your architecture degree, Sabu Cyril and Sharmishta Roy are two famous Set designers.