So you want to be an Architect?
What Should I Study?
There is myth out there that you need to be a maths genius to become an architect. You don't. Architecture sits right in the wonderful middle ground between art and science. While some universities require a foundational Maths subject, they are looking for creative thinkers above all else.
The Creatives: Art subjects are very valuable as they teach you how to express your ideas visually and physically. Architects are professional communicators so building skills and a solid foundation in visual and verbal communication is incredibly valuable.
The Storytellers: English, History, Geography, and Sociology are secretly amazing for architects. Our job is about people, places, and storytelling. Understanding how societies live and function is just as important as knowing how to draw.
What is the Pathway to become a Registered Architect?
Becoming a registered architect is a marathon, not a sprint. In Victoria, the timeline to registration is anywhere from 7-10 years.
The Bachelor Degree (3 Years): You’ll start with an undergraduate degree in Architectural Design or Built Environment. Victorian universities all have different approaches and are known for different styles of teaching. RMIT is known for being highly conceptual and design-focused, Melbourne Uni offers a broad "Melbourne Model" approach, while Monash, Deakin, and Swinburne have fantastic, practical, hands-on programs.
The Master of Architecture (2 Years): To become an architect, you need to complete your Masters. This is where you really hone your specific design voice.
Registration: After graduating, you enter the workforce and you need log a certain amount of practical hours on real projects. The number of hours required will generally take a minimum of 2 years in practice to complete. Once you have the logged the requisite number of hours in your log book, you will need to and pass an exam with the Architects Registration Board of Victoria (ARBV). Once you pass the exam you need to attend and interview with the ARBV and THEN, you get the official title of Registered Architect.
How can I get some Work Experience &/ or What You Can Do Right Now?
Want to get a head start? Here is what you can do right now:
Year 10 Work Experience: Many studios host Year 10 students when capacity allows. A polite email request to an architecture studio is the best way to initiate a discussion. This should come from you personally, not your parents. If there are forms that require filling out, you can help the process immensely by having this prefilled and prepared.
Can't get a studio placement? Don’t worry, there are lots of other great ways to gain general experience that will assist you with a career in design. A part time job at a hardware store can teach you about materials. Retail and hospitality work are both great industries to start working on your people and customer services skills. You can download SketchUp (it's free!) and try building your bedroom in 3D. Or simply go for a walk around your city or other place, look around, and start taking photos or sketching the buildings and space you love - and try figure out why you love them and write that down, or better still show it in a drawing!
Fun Facts about Architects
They have special legal powers in Victoria: Believe it or not, if you are a registered architect in Victoria, you are officially an "authorised witness". This means you are legally permitted to witness and certify statutory declarations, alongside police officers, pharmacists, and doctors.
Architecture used to be an Olympic sport: From 1912 to 1948, the Olympic Games included competitions for the Fine Arts. Medals were awarded for architecture, painting, sculpture, literature, and music, provided the works were inspired by sports.
An Architect invented the Rubik’s Cube: Ernő Rubik, the inventor of the world’s most famous puzzle toy, was a Hungarian professor of architecture. He invented the cube in 1974 as a teaching tool to help his architecture students understand 3D geometry and spatial relationships.
The word literally means "Chief Builder": The word architect comes from ancient Greek. Arkhi means "chief" or "master," and tekton means "builder" or "carpenter."
They design for extreme environments: Architects don't just design for Earth. "Space Architects" work with agencies like NASA to design habitats for the Moon and Mars, focusing on how humans can survive (and stay sane) in extreme, zero-gravity environments using 3D-printed regolith (moon dust).
You don't legally need a degree to be famous (historically speaking): Some of the most famous and influential architects in history, including Frank Lloyd Wright, Le Corbusier, and Tadao Ando, never actually completed a formal university degree in architecture! (Though today, to call yourself an architect in places like Victoria, you absolutely must be registered and qualified).
Maybe you’re fascinated with how spaces look and feel, maybe you’re a creative who loves drawing, or maybe you just want to design and build better, greener cities for the future. Whatever your reason, this guide may help answer some questions that you have in considering a career in the built environment.
At Austin Maynard Architects, we believe architecture should be joyful, sustainable, healthy and human. If you’re a student and you’re wondering how to get from the classroom to the studio, here are some hints and resources to help.
How do I prepare a Portfolio?
To get into most architecture courses, you’ll need an ATAR, but you’ll also need a portfolio. A lot of students stress about this, thinking they need to present a booklet of perfectly drawn and resolved building projects, that is not the case.
Universities do not expect you to know how to design a building yet - that’s what they are going to teach you.
What they want to see: How your brain works. How you solve problems. How you experiment and how you can communicate all of this.
What to include: Your folio can include a variety of creative elements and media. This might include photography, ceramics, woodworking, life drawing, digital art, or a messy sketchbook of your own drawings. Show them your process, your mistakes, and your quirky, brilliant ideas.
What does a typical day look like AM.A?
Forget the myth of the lone genius architect sketching in a dark room, architecture is a team sport.
A normal day at our studio is a mix of quiet processing and collaborative energetic discussion. You’ll find us:
Meeting in the morning to review the work ahead of us.
Clicking our way through a documentation package in CAD software.
On the phone to builders working through a solution to a problem on a construction site.
In a client meeting excited presenting an amazing new concept design or the developed design of their project.
Putting on Personal Protective Equipment (PPE) to visit construction to check progress on a project.
Meeting with other consultants, such as engineers, who assist us in refining our design ideas to be built.
Editing video content to be able to show the world some of the amazing work we do as a team.
3D printing models of our projects.
We work with a lot of different people every single day. In Architecture you need to enjoy picking up the phone and working with people just as much as you love design.
Frequently Asked Questions
What is the difference between an architect and a registered architect?
In Victoria, there is legally no difference. By law, you cannot call yourself an "architect" or say you offer "architectural services" unless you are officially registered with the Architects Registration Board of Victoria (ARBV).
If you have finished your five years of university but haven't yet logged your required two years of practical experience and passed the big final ARBV exam, you are legally known as a "Graduate of Architecture," not an architect. It’s a protected title, kind of like a doctor or a lawyer!
What is the difference between an architect and a draftsperson or building designer?
It comes down to education, registration, and scope. Architects complete a minimum of five years at university, plus two years of industry practice, and must pass a board exam to get registered. This extensive training allows us to legally design and certify any type of building, from small homes to massive skyscrapers, with a heavy focus on complex design, sustainability, and conceptual thinking. Building designers and drafts people are also highly skilled (and registered through different bodies), but they typically undertake different educational pathways and often focus on residential or smaller commercial projects.
What software should I start learning right now?
Don't stress too much about software yet—that is exactly what university is for. However, if you really want to get a head start, SketchUp is free, relatively easy to learn, and incredibly fun for building 3D models of your bedroom or dream house. And yes, building elaborate structures in Minecraft or The Sims secretly counts as practicing your spatial design skills!