The first architecture site analysis mistake I see students make is that their site analysis is done with no clear purpose in mind. There is no clear intention behind their analysis. In order to have a successful site analysis, you need to be decisive as to what you’re trying to show and why. The big mistake is that architecture student’s site analyses are showing too much irrelevant information. For example, your site analysis might be showing which way the wind is coming from. However, if you’re not doing anything with that information, then what’s the point in showing it? Unless you’re making architectural design moves from your site analysis, there is no point showing it. If you’re showing the wind direction and strength, make sure your architectural design responds to that. Demonstrate to the client or your architecture teacher that you’ve understood the limitation, that the wind is coming from a certain direction at a certain speed, and propose an architectural solution to that constraint.

Don’t show a wind rose for the sake of showing a wind rose. Have a clear intention behind what you’re showing in your site analysis and use that information to make your initial design site moves.

1. Need to have a purpose for what you’re showing.
2. Your site analysis is showing irrelevant information
3. If you’re showing which direction the wind is coming from, also show how this influences your design, have you used that information to orient your building or add windows on certain facades?
4. Think, if you’re coming to a client with a site analysis with all this information, they’re going to be sitting there thinking “why have I paid x amount of money to be told something I already know”.
5. People show where noise is coming from, how do you respond to that? Do you put audial barriers up in that direction? Have you zoned your quiet spaces away from the noise?
6. Only show what is necessary and indicate how you’ve used that to create design moves.

The second architecture site analysis mistake I see students get caught up doing, is that they are not graphically communicating their site analysis in a thoughtful manner. Site analysis may seem like a pointless task that you do just to “tick the box”. Because of this, students often research general site information, overlay it on their site plan and call it a “site analysis”, when really all they’ve done is overlay some information from google, something a 7-year-old kid could do.

Make sure you’re taking only what’s necessary for your site analysis, as explained above, and organise this information thoughtfully and concisely. Utilise line weights and opacity to create a hierarchy in your architecture site analysis. Consider what is important in your analysis and use line weights and opacity to give that priority. Hierarchy is key for any architectural drawing, not just a site analysis. Use a simple colour scheme, often 2-3 colours is suffice, and use different shades or opacities of these colours to create depth in your analysis. Experiment with diagrams, sketches and drawings to show what you’re thinking and have researched, rather than using blocks of text.

1. Choose a simple colour scheme.
2. Use diagrams, sketches and drawings
3. You might have great information, but it can often get jumbled and disorganised if you let it. Choose 2-3 colours and consider the hierarchy of what you’re trying to show based on its importance. Use headings and minimal text.

The third architecture site analysis mistake I see architecture students make is that your site analysis is being done as a preliminary task and shortly after being completed is being forgotten. Your site analysis can give you so much information to work with, but often we do it as a task that “has to be done” to tick the boxes and forget about it. Let the site analysis carry through the entire design phase, not just being a preliminary task to do before designing. Let the site analysis influence your design.

The final mistake I see architecture students make when creating site analyses is that they limit their site analysis to a site plan.

Lots can be shown in section, plans, perspective, sketches, diagrams, and other modes of communication such as animation or temporal media. Again, consider what you’re showing and pick the best mode of communication. You might notice which way the wind is coming from, then sketch a passive design sketch showing how your design will utilise it. A site plan can be effective for a site analysis, but there are many other modes of communication that can tell a different story.

Thanks for watching my site analysis architecture video. If you’d like to check out some of my online courses to learn architecture, feel free to check out my website! https://successfularchistudent.com/courses-for-architecture-students/

Timestamps:

0:21 Keep it simple.

3:24 Use diagrams and illustrations

4:43 Ideas and reasoning before visualisation

6:03 Tell a story

8:08 Put in more effort

9:50 Bonus tip

10:11 About the book

1. Keep your architecture concepts simple.

You can have a complex architectural project, but don’t overcomplicate your architecture concept. If you cannot explain your architectural ideas and concept so that your audience can understand it, it’s pointless. You architecture concept needs clarity and simplicity from which your architectural design decisions can branch off of. A word my teacher told me in my second year of architecture school was ‘parsimonious’. This words means ‘RESTRAINED’, ‘SPARING’ OR ‘FRUGAL’. If you architecture concept is parsimonious, it has restraint to the complexity of it. You are being sparing with your ideas and not letting it get too complicated. Keep your architecture concepts simple.

2. Use diagrams and illustrations to demonstrate your architecture concepts in words.

Even really simple drawings. By illustrating your architectural ideas and concepts into quick sketches, diagrams and drawings, it allows you to further simplify the complexity of your concept. Drawing diagrams and sketches enables you to articulate your own thoughts and architectural ideas from words to drawings (the aim of an architect) and makes it easier for your audience to understand it. Even the sketchiest of sketches should be used as diagrams or drawings to convey your architecture concept. Parsimonious articulation of your ideas is the key for a strong architecture concept.

3. Set the foundations of your concept first before visualising them in final form.

Your ideas and reasoning behind your projects come first. The architectural concept phase is a phase that once you finish and move on, you cannot reverse. Especially in the real world, once you finish the concept, the further you bury into documenting that concept, the harder it is to return to those original ideas and change them and the more costly to the client doing so would be. All architectural projects require a strong foundational concept before progressing. Spend the time to develop an architecture concept that works.

4. Tell a story through your articulation of your architecture concept.

Share a story of how you got your project to where it is. Get those you’re trying to convince (the teacher, client) to become emotionally invested in your architectural ideas. By telling a story through your architecture concept, you can bring the client/teacher along a journey and get them on the same page as you. A lot of students go straight to explaining their ideas in functional terms. Consider telling a narrative through your architecture to explain your concept.

5. Put in more effort to your architectural concepts.

This one seems silly. Put in more effort. However, that is the key theme I found across all the successful projects with strong architecture concepts. More effort produces better results. What I’ve noticed over my last 4 years studying architecture is that it is difficult to put effort into something you are not passionate about or invested in. To get invested in your architecture projects – your concepts – you need to make it yours. Take advice from others, look at inspiration from pinterest or Instagram. But, at the end of the day, your architecture concepts need to run on what fires you up. Your passion will result in more effort and time invested in your projects, and that shows. The best bit is that your passion rubs off on others. Teachers in architecture school aren’t looking for talent or skill, they’re looking for passion and effort. The students who have put in the work and have pushed themselves are the ones who get the best grades.

1. Finding a balance.
2. Some projects just suck.
3. Beginners do not know everything.
4. Keeping the clients happy.
5. The volume of admin work.
6. Finding work as a graduate
7. Cannot be biased – even outside of your work.
8. It does not give you the skills to run a business.
9. Unrealistic deadlines.
10. Communication – you can have the best ideas but if you cannot express them, they’re worthless.
11. Difference between school and practice
12. It takes a lot.
13. There is an enormous responsibility.
14. Deadlines. Again.

This video will give you an insight into the challenges of architecture and offer advice for making the most of the opportunities they give you.

You do not always work on the things you want. But you have to own them. Show up to those things and do them the best you can. It is not until you can prove that the menial tasks your given are done well that you are given something with my responsibility.

Your education will not give you the skills you need for practice. And that is fine. What it will give you are the skills necessary to progress constantly in your career. It teaches you methods of problem solving and learning that will allow you to mould yourself and adapt to whatever path you choose to go down next. Gabrielle says architects are “jack of all trades, master of none.” That is right, you cannot be a master at everything. And you are going to have to deal with many different aspects. The ability to quickly pick up new skills, to solve problems when a new project gets put in front of you, how do you move forward? To be able to think problems through independently and think for yourself, that is what architecture school prepares you for.

Kyrstyan says you need to be passionate. Unfortunately, that does not come straight away. It is developed over time through exploring new things. We often go through ups and downs of motivation, as Marianno says, “you have your good days and bad days. But on the whole…” – by trying new things you’ll find something that lights you up.

Make the most out of your peers and teachers. This shifted my perspective quite a lot. I am very much about efficiency and getting shit done, and often skip classes if I feel there’s nothing to gain from it, but this semester I’ve noticed that just by sitting down and listening to your peers, talking with others, you learn so much and gain so much from doing so. It is not wasted time investing in relationships with people. That is what I’ve come to learn.

Nelize says she wanted to quit in her 2^nd year of uni. I get messages like this daily – “I want to quit, it’s not for me.” We struggle in uncomfortable situations. If we do not have clear instructions, or we are not sure how to do something- it can cause doubt and depression. She says, she now knows how to use the software, she now flourishes in her work at Northern Edge Studio – she rocks up to work excited because she initially put herself in the uncomfortable situation of trying something new. Constantly push yourself outside your comfort zone, don’t rely on others to push you and experiment – have fun. Do not take it so seriously. Revise things often. Come back to old ideas and keep going.

Your education is what you make of it. You only get out as much as you put in. Take ownership of what you do. Own it. If you do not do so well at a project, we like to shift that blame on others. I still do this to this day, “the teachers were clueless, I got too distracted by my friends, I couldn’t work from home…” take the blame and move forward. It is the best piece of advice.

What was prevalent across the more experienced architects, they wish they had a wider range of experience in earlier years. Taking opportunities to go on study trips, constructions tours, networking events, working at different practices, trying their own thing. Do what you are really passionate about and not care about the salary.

Architecture concepts are what drive your projects forward. Your concept is the key item underpinning every studio project in architecture school and plays an important role in determining whether your project is successful or not. Without

Concepts are what drive your architecture projects forward. They are the fundamental items underpinned to every studio project in architecture school and play an important role in determining if your architecture project is successful or not. Without a concept, your project has no legs. With a concept, you can get passionate for your project to take it to much higher levels.

For studio 4 I was given a brief to design something having a key focus on the design concept. There was little focus on budget, structure, sustainability, detailing. Rather, we were able to immerse ourselves in the purity of architectural creativity. I’ll be going over my studio 4 project which has been my most successful concept and project to date to explain how you can develop successful architecture concepts in architecture school. Stick around to the end of this video to hear my best advice for developing concepts and to also see some examples of incredible architectural concepts.

There is a lot that goes into an architecture concept. And I’m going to go over an exact strategy plan for you to follow to come up with your own successful concepts, But if there was one thing I’d like for you to take away from this video, it’s this – the most important thing to know is that a concept takes time to develop. It’s not something you can pump out in 20 minutes. It’s not a word you pick from the air, or a diagram you sketched, it’s an idea. It’s a multitude of ideas. It is not something that is chosen but formed and developed over time. Think of the forming of the Earth. The mountains and valleys weren’t just placed there, scientifically speaking, but moulded from external elements, volcanic eruptions, wind, water, temperature, climate, natural events that formed the rocks over millions of years.

Your architecture concept is an idea that is moulded over time from external elements. Just by working on your project and spending time on it. It needs time to stew and ferment.

This doesn’t just mean waiting patiently at your desk. Here’s the process for stewing up the perfect concept.

Step 1 – distilling the brief.

All studio projects begin with the briefing. In architecture school, you’re given a brief. A document stating what is being asked of you for this project. In real life, you’ll need to talk with the client to understand what it is they want so that you can form this brief yourself.

This is fundamentally where projects rise, and other projects fall. It’s overlooked how important understanding the brief is. I would spend a whole day underlining, highlighting and trying to debunk the brief. Understand what is being asked of you. This is where your first ideas will start to cook up. Really, the key for step 1 is to sum up the brief in your own words. Don’t underestimate the power of who, what, where why, how. List everything you can.

You want to try and distil the brief down to a couple of key words. Through a filtration process you want to filter out the unimportant and focus on the key information.

A lot of people become so overwhelmed with their projects that they start to get stuck. They stagnate and lose motivation. This is often caused by looking at the brief as this huge document, and the brief ends up becoming a wall from stopping you moving forward.

You need to distil it down to a couple of important key words. That filtration process happens by reading it over and over, understanding it by highlighting keywords, underlining important information and rewriting it in your own words. Formulate a brief of your own that is succinct and easy to digest. Find the parts that fire you up and go with that. We’re looking for 2-3 key words that will drive your project forward

Step 2 – visualising the brief diagrammatically

Once you’ve filtered the brief into 2-3 key words, you want to visualise this diagrammatically.

Take out your pencil and an abundance of sketch paper and write these key words. Begin drawing what you think these key words look like. Don’t hold back. Draw anything that comes to mind and don’t throw it out. For my studio 4 project I began by layering a3 sheets. I drew all over them, drew over other drawings and scribbled all over it. When the page was full, I’d layer another sheet on top and continue. I ended up with a 100-page folio showing my concept development through sketch designs to more detailed plans and sections. This wasn’t apart of the project, but it was something extra I handed up with my project that was just something cool to look at to see my process. Unfortunately, my professor wanted to keep my project as an example for future years so I don’t have that anymore, but I encourage you to do this.

The key part of step 2 – Draw a lot and don’t throw out any of the old work.

What this step is telling us is that a concept isn’t necessarily just 1 thing or 1 drawing. It is a multitude of different ideas that ultimately form your “concept”. It is a process.

Step 3 – stay inspired

As you’re sketching your 3 key words into diagrammatic forms, keep yourself inspired. Get on google images or Pinterest and search for projects or art or other designs that follow a similar theme. How do these key ideas look architecturally? Just like keeping all my sketch drawings, I create a folder with all my inspiring projects. I keep this inspiration folder and add to it over the course of my project. Having precedents is key.

It’s great to have lots of sketches and keywords, but there comes a time where you need to start creating architecture. If you find that you’re starting to stagnate or get stuck in one place, move on. Constantly think about how you can push the process forward, there’s always opportunities to come back to what you’ve previously worked on.

Step 4 – consider the site

Neighbouring buildings, solar orientation, prevailing winds and so forth. All buildings should be designed with passive principles in mind. I always have a look in google maps and google earth. I’ll float around the site and take screenshots. I’ll look at the site slope and important features. I’ll add these to a folder and refer back to it.

Step 5 – revision

Each step of developing a successful concept should be revisited over the course of your project. They happen in order but are constantly referred back to and revised as your ideas progress. Don’t be afraid to return to step 1. Don’t be afraid to explore a new key word or a new theme for your project. In fact, your first idea is never going to be your final idea. Developing a concept is a process that happens over time through filtering, refinement. It’s a journey of experimentation.

Preparation:

The first question I would ask myself is, why am I considering architecture as a career? Do you have a clear reason why you’re thinking about it or are you parents forcing you into it? Are you doing it because a friend is doing it? Are you thinking about the money (if you are I would be thinking about something else)? Or, are you considering it because of the freedom of location it can provide by working remotely? Do you have a passion for buildings? Do you have a passion for design and creative pursuit? What are the reasons you’re considering architecture as a career? This question alone should solve a lot of concerns for you.

The second question I would ask myself is, what do I think architecture would involve? Write down what you think being an architect would mean for you. Visualise it – see yourself doing it. Can you see yourself doing it every single day? Do you even know what an architect does? If not, that’s ok, now you can research about it. Visualisation is so powerful, if you can visualize yourself 10 years in the future, being an architect, do you see yourself enjoying what you’re doing?

Skillset:

Are you creative? – you don’t necessarily have to be good at drawing, painting, or that – but do you have a creative mindset? Do you think outside the box, do you enjoy problem solving, which stems from creativity? Architecture is a field of design, ultimately it’s a job that requires you to solve problems for a client. Are you creative? Are you a good problem solver?

Are you a people person? – if not, that’s ok. In fact, I’m a pretty big introvert. There’s such a wide scope to the profession that there’s a place for everyone. However, architecture has never been a sole person profession. The idea of the “head architect”, managing a team below them, controlling every decision is no longer relevant. Architecture is now a team game. It’s unavoidable that you’ll have to work with people and be able to do it effectively. It’s a service-based industry. You are a servant to the people you work with and to the client. In both situations, with the “head architect”, and the “team architect”, you are dealing with people.

I don’t mention having to be good at maths or science because I don’t believe you need them to study architecture. Any mathematical or scientific equations or methods you need to know, which are very minimal, will be learnt once you start your architecture education.

The final question to ask yourself is, do you think you’ll be willing to not only put in 110% effort into your education and career, but sustain that effort of the course of your education and career?

A job shouldn’t just be something you do 5 days a week to pay the bills. You can get paid to do anything you want, anything you’re passionate about. If you’re choosing architecture because it’s a safe career and pays well, you might want to reconsider why you’re doing it.

It’s when you get paid to do what you love that it isn’t regarded to as work. That’s when you can sustain a 110% effort for the next 50 years, because you wake up, fired up to do what you’re getting paid to do. That’s much more rewarding than doing something to pay the bills, go home, wake up, and start again.

That’d be my advice and the final question – are you willing to sustain a 110% effort for the next 50 years to do architecture?

And I’m not going to claim that I’m like that. I definitely couldn’t answer this question with a yes before I started architecture. But over time, you can find that passion. You can build it up by actually doing it and finding what you like about it – running with the things you love and ignoring doing the things you don’t love. I always think it’s best to focus on your strengths, rather than your weaknesses. If you’re not good at maths and you hate it, but you’re good at art and you love it. Drop maths as a subject and double down on art. Don’t do what your teachers push you to do and let your passion for art drop off so that you can practice your maths and balance it out. Double down on what you love doing and you’ll become the best at it, you’ll find a way to make money doing it, and you’ll attract success.

Last night I posted a story on my Instagram explaining how I’ve discovered some magical solution to getting distracted. Let’s face it, we all get distracted and have our attention taken away from what we should be doing. Right now, in this century, the most important characteristic to have is focus.

It’s what employers are looking for, so it’ll make you more hireable, it’s what allows you to get more work done and get better grades, it’s what allows you to have clarity and comfort within your own life to get more done and achieve great things. Focus.

What’s this trick that I discovered last night that removes distractions?

Let me explain.

I remember in the midst of my studio 6 project thinking “right! I’ve got 8 days to go and have 6 weeks of work to catch up on. I’m going to leave my phone in another room, I’m closing all other programs and I’m not going to get distracted. But first… I should clean my desk. But first, I should check my university emails. I should take the trash out. I should have something to eat.” Yaddi yaddi yadda.

Even when we know we have to work without distraction – we sometimes just can’t pull ourselves to it.

What I did was this…

I said no – I’m not going to clean my desk. That’s the first step – to say no to the distraction. It’s very much a habit you need to develop over time from doing it more and more. Say no and your willpower will get stronger.

That’s something worth noting too – you need to know what you’re actually getting distracted from. We might know that we need to do our studio 6 project. But, what does that actually involve? It might be worth initially investing 5 minutes of your time to figure that out and create a plan for yourself before getting stuck into it. It’s like the analogy I often use where we tend to do busy work instead of what’s important. It’s like we’re running on a treadmill, when you need to step off of that and go run towards the finish line.

Know what you need to do by creating a plan and schedule.

Anyways, this is the trick I did.

I got my phone and set an alarm for 1 hour. I put that phone in the room next to me – on do not disturb mode of course – and got to work.

Quite often we say, “okay, no distractions, let’s go.” And we end up getting distracted like before. That’s because we don’t know how long we should be working without distraction for.

By setting an alarm for 1 hour, it constantly reminds me for that hour that I can’t get distracted until I hear that alarm go off.

What made me think of this was that I was cooking up some frozen chippies in the oven. I warmed up the oven and put the chips in to cook them. I knew that they’d take about 20-30 minutes, so I went upstairs to do some work.

I sat down and worked pretty unproductively for 6 minutes and thought “Hmm. I wonder if the chips are done?”

I ran downstairs, opened up the oven and saw that, they were still as cold as anything.

I ran back upstairs, continued to work… for 5 minutes. Then ran back downstairs to check them. Yup. You guessed it. Still bloody raw.

I went back upstairs, disheartened. And while I was working – all I could think about was, are the chips done?

It was taking my attention.

This went on for the next 30 minutes. Back and forth, getting no work done. I thought, “what am I doing? I’ve just wasted 30 minutes on a task that should have taken none of my attention”.

The next time I put some chippies in the oven, I set an alarm for 26 minutes. I went upstairs. And I worked for the next 26 minutes – in fact the alarm started going off and I was that focussed that I continued to work for another 2 minutes before running downstairs.

Long story short, by setting an alarm for 1 hour when you work, by knowing that you’re working towards an end, you can work undistracted for that entire hour as you know there’s nowhere else you need to be and nothing else you need to do. It’s just you and your work for 3600 seconds and no distractions. At the end of the hour, you can have a 5-minute break, and then set that alarm again.

I encourage you to give this a go. Let me know down in the comments that you’ll try it and then come back in an hour and let us know how it went. Did you successfully work for 1 hour? Maybe only 45 minutes? I guess there’s only one way to find out if it works.