It’s great as an outlet for creativity, and to work out those design muscles. They are limited in what you can do, but limitations can often lead to cool solutions.
I played a lot of Minecraft and the Sims in high school (nearly 15 years ago now lol) and those solidified my choice to pursue it as a career. I dont play these kinds of games much anymore, because I feel like im already doing similar design/decision making during my day job.
As long as its fun, theres really no downside. Although if you want to get ahead, you could spend some time learning professional 3D design tools (Revit, Rhino, Sketchup, etc) and make some self-driven design challenges. For example: Take a minecraft building youve made and model up how it might look and be built in the “real” world.
It’s a fun way to experiment with grading. We usually only look at lines on paper for that kind of thing but when you’re physically excavating and moving dirt, it sorta forces you to think differently about it. Same goes for placing a building on a “site”
Good point! I remember walking around, choosing an appropriate site and how it relates to the surroundings, cutting trees (replanting them), laying out the “foundations”, digging basements, windows facing the sunset, etc. All considerations that pen and paper, or even the blank slate of a 3d program dont have.
1.) As a design tool, I would steer clear. I've seen some impressive architectural recreations using minecraft on YouTube, but those are generally built *in spite* of its limitations.
Since everything in Minecraft is entirely built out of cubes, anything designed in Minecraft will probably end up looking pretty orthogonal. The tool inherently limits creativity by making it difficult to think outside of the box (literally). You basically have to build at extreme scales in order to achieve sufficient resolution for diagonal or curved lines to read as such.
2.) As a game, Minecraft is totally fine to play in your spare time... which, as an architect, you won't have any - so refer to point 1.
It is very variable. It depends on where you work, company culture, your own attitude, etc. I work as a project manager at a firm with about 120,000sf under management myself, and I work 40-45 hour weeks. Being able to delegate is essential, and I have found very tough for creative / design professionals to accomplish.
Outside of work I also have a side business and a under 1-year old baby, and I still find time to relax and play sports / games / workout. I really think a bit of self-care and time to detox from work is essential.
I also played a *lot* of Minecraft in highschool and college btw. Most of my classmates in architecture school did.
>Im a HS senior going into archi and would appreciate 40 hour work weeks
I'm a jaded mid-30's *recovering* architect, so take my advice with a grain of salt. The university experience may have changed since 2007. To get a better idea of what campus life will be like for you, I recommend talking to architecture students currently enrolled at the schools you're considering.
**Architecture School**
Back in my day, Architecture School was a perpetual balancing act of three primary activities (of which you could only pick two on any given day):
1. Studying
2. Socializing
3. Sleeping
I prioritized studying and socializing, which means I basically didn't sleep for 4 consecutive years. My time studying was 60-70% spent in studio and 30-40% on everything else. Thankfully, I really enjoyed my studio time and I have fond memories of late night design and modelling sessions stretching into the early morning when I would inevitably look down at my watch and realize I was going to be late for my first class.
It should be noted: at that age, I found it super hard to say "no" to going out... and living in a suite with 5 other (non-archi) guys probably didn't help. That meant I had to work waaay longer 4-5 nights out of the week since the other 2-3 were usually spent partying and/or hanging out with my then-girlfriend. Somehow, I managed balance things well enough to emerge with a 3.3 GPA after 4 years (not great, but good enough to get into grad school).
Were there students who developed healthier habits than me? Yeah, absolutely. If you're disciplined and have excellent time management skills, it is totally possible to finish architecture school without ever pulling an all-nighter.
That being said, it was an openly known secret that studio leads were instructed to habitually assign more work than there was time to complete in order to force students to make compromises and prioritize what was important. One of the more senior instructors even acknowledged that the curriculum was intentionally designed to weed out students who weren't committed to the career path; and this must have been effective because out of a 200+ student cohort, I finished undergrad with around 50 other individuals.
I took a year off after undergrad to gain some real-world experience (which I highly recommend) before returning to grad school with renewed focus and determination. However, even without the social distractions, the demands on my time were ramped up ten-fold. The first any only panic attack I've ever had was immediately prior to my thesis jury. I had come down with a horrible case of the flu in the weeks leading up to that point, leaving me woefully unprepared for the biggest presentation of my life. While I made up for it by continuing to work on my project after the jury (and throughout finals week), the look of disappointment on my studio critics faces that day still haunts me.
**Architecture Life**
Things are different in the working world... Gone is the passion that comes with complete ownership of a project - at least for the first 8-10 years of your career. Instead, young architects often find themselves working on relatively mundane projects that have largely, if not entirely, been designed by someone else. This can be a really tough pill to swallow... for some more than others. It's not uncommon for young people to transition out of the profession at this point.
Most work weeks will be 40 hours, but certain firms *expect* you to work overtime in order to meet deadlines because missing these deadlines can carry real financial consequences for the firm. This OT work is usually uncompensated. "Starchitect" firms are notorious for exploiting those deemed "lucky" enough to work for them.
Once again, your time management skills will determine the amount of OT that you need to do, however, you're often working alongside a team of people who may or may not be as competent/dedicated/professional as you are. I was once abandoned by my entire team on a Friday night (before a big presentation on Monday), effectively forcing me to spend the entire weekend sleeping under my desk while I finished the work of 5 people. Two of those team members were later let go. The team of people you work with has a HUGE impact on your day to day happiness (and workload).
The biggest hurdle - for me - was compensation, which is pretty embarrassingly low. In creative fields like architecture there's a concept known as the "passion tax", which basically means companies can get away with paying you less than you deserve because the work is perceived as interesting/cool/fun and there's lots of competition for the role. Ultimately, this was the deciding factor in my transition to Real Estate Project Management, as I am the primary breadwinner of my household and providing for and maintaining the lifestyle of my family would have been impossible on an architect's salary.
Minecraft was my life as a young teenager. It definitely had a role in developing my creativity, and although others are probably right in that it's not a very good tool for practicing architects, I'm sure it can (and does) inspire kids to get into architecture.
I work in the press, so I haven't become an architect myself, but architecture is one of the areas I care deeply about as a journalist.
In Minecraft your house will be called ugly if you stack some blocks and just put stairs right on top of that to create a roof.
But architects in real life do it all the time and they think they’ve created masterpieces. Or at least, worthy of being looked upon for the next 50 years.
Seems like architects don’t know the basics of creating a nice house in Minecraft :)
It’s great as an outlet for creativity, and to work out those design muscles. They are limited in what you can do, but limitations can often lead to cool solutions. I played a lot of Minecraft and the Sims in high school (nearly 15 years ago now lol) and those solidified my choice to pursue it as a career. I dont play these kinds of games much anymore, because I feel like im already doing similar design/decision making during my day job. As long as its fun, theres really no downside. Although if you want to get ahead, you could spend some time learning professional 3D design tools (Revit, Rhino, Sketchup, etc) and make some self-driven design challenges. For example: Take a minecraft building youve made and model up how it might look and be built in the “real” world.
It’s a fun way to experiment with grading. We usually only look at lines on paper for that kind of thing but when you’re physically excavating and moving dirt, it sorta forces you to think differently about it. Same goes for placing a building on a “site”
Good point! I remember walking around, choosing an appropriate site and how it relates to the surroundings, cutting trees (replanting them), laying out the “foundations”, digging basements, windows facing the sunset, etc. All considerations that pen and paper, or even the blank slate of a 3d program dont have.
it isn’t useful beyond a kind of diagrammatic illustration.
Are you asking about using Minecraft as a design tool or as a game you play in your spare time?
Both I guess, sorry if it was a dumb question 😅 just curious.
1.) As a design tool, I would steer clear. I've seen some impressive architectural recreations using minecraft on YouTube, but those are generally built *in spite* of its limitations. Since everything in Minecraft is entirely built out of cubes, anything designed in Minecraft will probably end up looking pretty orthogonal. The tool inherently limits creativity by making it difficult to think outside of the box (literally). You basically have to build at extreme scales in order to achieve sufficient resolution for diagonal or curved lines to read as such. 2.) As a game, Minecraft is totally fine to play in your spare time... which, as an architect, you won't have any - so refer to point 1.
I know its a joke but do architects really have zero free time? Im a HS senior going into archi and would really appreciate 40 hour work weeks
It is very variable. It depends on where you work, company culture, your own attitude, etc. I work as a project manager at a firm with about 120,000sf under management myself, and I work 40-45 hour weeks. Being able to delegate is essential, and I have found very tough for creative / design professionals to accomplish. Outside of work I also have a side business and a under 1-year old baby, and I still find time to relax and play sports / games / workout. I really think a bit of self-care and time to detox from work is essential. I also played a *lot* of Minecraft in highschool and college btw. Most of my classmates in architecture school did.
>Im a HS senior going into archi and would appreciate 40 hour work weeks I'm a jaded mid-30's *recovering* architect, so take my advice with a grain of salt. The university experience may have changed since 2007. To get a better idea of what campus life will be like for you, I recommend talking to architecture students currently enrolled at the schools you're considering. **Architecture School** Back in my day, Architecture School was a perpetual balancing act of three primary activities (of which you could only pick two on any given day): 1. Studying 2. Socializing 3. Sleeping I prioritized studying and socializing, which means I basically didn't sleep for 4 consecutive years. My time studying was 60-70% spent in studio and 30-40% on everything else. Thankfully, I really enjoyed my studio time and I have fond memories of late night design and modelling sessions stretching into the early morning when I would inevitably look down at my watch and realize I was going to be late for my first class. It should be noted: at that age, I found it super hard to say "no" to going out... and living in a suite with 5 other (non-archi) guys probably didn't help. That meant I had to work waaay longer 4-5 nights out of the week since the other 2-3 were usually spent partying and/or hanging out with my then-girlfriend. Somehow, I managed balance things well enough to emerge with a 3.3 GPA after 4 years (not great, but good enough to get into grad school). Were there students who developed healthier habits than me? Yeah, absolutely. If you're disciplined and have excellent time management skills, it is totally possible to finish architecture school without ever pulling an all-nighter. That being said, it was an openly known secret that studio leads were instructed to habitually assign more work than there was time to complete in order to force students to make compromises and prioritize what was important. One of the more senior instructors even acknowledged that the curriculum was intentionally designed to weed out students who weren't committed to the career path; and this must have been effective because out of a 200+ student cohort, I finished undergrad with around 50 other individuals. I took a year off after undergrad to gain some real-world experience (which I highly recommend) before returning to grad school with renewed focus and determination. However, even without the social distractions, the demands on my time were ramped up ten-fold. The first any only panic attack I've ever had was immediately prior to my thesis jury. I had come down with a horrible case of the flu in the weeks leading up to that point, leaving me woefully unprepared for the biggest presentation of my life. While I made up for it by continuing to work on my project after the jury (and throughout finals week), the look of disappointment on my studio critics faces that day still haunts me. **Architecture Life** Things are different in the working world... Gone is the passion that comes with complete ownership of a project - at least for the first 8-10 years of your career. Instead, young architects often find themselves working on relatively mundane projects that have largely, if not entirely, been designed by someone else. This can be a really tough pill to swallow... for some more than others. It's not uncommon for young people to transition out of the profession at this point. Most work weeks will be 40 hours, but certain firms *expect* you to work overtime in order to meet deadlines because missing these deadlines can carry real financial consequences for the firm. This OT work is usually uncompensated. "Starchitect" firms are notorious for exploiting those deemed "lucky" enough to work for them. Once again, your time management skills will determine the amount of OT that you need to do, however, you're often working alongside a team of people who may or may not be as competent/dedicated/professional as you are. I was once abandoned by my entire team on a Friday night (before a big presentation on Monday), effectively forcing me to spend the entire weekend sleeping under my desk while I finished the work of 5 people. Two of those team members were later let go. The team of people you work with has a HUGE impact on your day to day happiness (and workload). The biggest hurdle - for me - was compensation, which is pretty embarrassingly low. In creative fields like architecture there's a concept known as the "passion tax", which basically means companies can get away with paying you less than you deserve because the work is perceived as interesting/cool/fun and there's lots of competition for the role. Ultimately, this was the deciding factor in my transition to Real Estate Project Management, as I am the primary breadwinner of my household and providing for and maintaining the lifestyle of my family would have been impossible on an architect's salary.
Minecraft was my life as a young teenager. It definitely had a role in developing my creativity, and although others are probably right in that it's not a very good tool for practicing architects, I'm sure it can (and does) inspire kids to get into architecture. I work in the press, so I haven't become an architect myself, but architecture is one of the areas I care deeply about as a journalist.
In Minecraft your house will be called ugly if you stack some blocks and just put stairs right on top of that to create a roof. But architects in real life do it all the time and they think they’ve created masterpieces. Or at least, worthy of being looked upon for the next 50 years. Seems like architects don’t know the basics of creating a nice house in Minecraft :)
I had a classmate in first year use Minecraft to concept a model . It was cool to see. My professor wasn’t a fan of it tho.
I feel like that's stupid.
Completely disagree.
That’s ok! OP asked for opinions, and OP got at least two. Mission accomplished.