The Masters Dilemma - Choosing Masters in Architecture

Are you an architecture graduate or a student thinking of pursuing a master's in architecture? Facing the same dilemma I faced. Here is my story from being a student to a working professional, to now a master's student in Germany.

A graduation day celebration

Like most aspiring students, I too wanted to become the best architect all my peers talk about, whose work is recognized all over, and one who gets to do projects he loves. Getting there took some time too from barely scraping through the early semesters to finding the knack of how things work in college. Early morning corridors of jury days with zombie-eyed classmates starting their bullshitting speaker engine in front of the jurors. Caffeine and nicotine replaced sleep and tiredness. Redo sheets and discarded models piled in the hostel rooms. 

It was not until 4th-semester housing design that I started finding my grove. It gives you an added boost when the teachers recognize it too! Fast forward to 8th sem Urban Design, I'd become the annoying guy who always engages in non-stop conversations with teachers about the nitty-gritty of what they taught, questioning its logic, and irritating, well, because I didn't let them leave the class soon after they're done.

The urban design semester hit a nerve in me - why design just buildings when you can plan cities and create a bigger impact?

Noticing patterns in urban design works worldwide, a way with words and a knack for research seems key. The final two semesters ended with our internship and thesis, both of which didn't go according to my plan. While the office that I interned in wasn't suited to my working style, the pandemic hit during my thesis.

Plan of action - Masters in Architecture, But which one?

What most people get their strings tangled with is when it comes to picking a master's course to pursue. While I had my eyes set on Urban design ever since when it was taught in college, my ridiculous number of conversations about finding my best interests with faculties and seniors helped me create the best plan of action.

Analyzing multiple options to figure out the best plan of action.

Working in the practical field would enhance my knowledge and give me clarity, I was persistent about wanting to work in the field I wanted to do my masters in. My countless job applications to get a taste of what an urban designer did were futile for most parts until I bagged an internship - as an Urban design intern. During my tenure of 6 months, I soon realized that while it had its perks, it was not what I wanted to keep doing throughout my career. The long span it took for projects to materialize, and the ridiculous amounts of research. Some of which were so boring that they put me to sleep. Even after 4 cups of coffee! After another year of working in a proper architecture studio and another year of doing my work as an architect, I soon began to find my rhythm.

The elephant in the room.

For people wondering how doing a master's would help you in the long run, I'll give you an answer, a brutally honest one. If you think it would help you become the next B.V Doshi or even the next Vinu Daniel, I'm sorry to tell you that I probably won't. While neither of them had completed a master's degree, they coupled their interest with the experience they bagged under the likes of Le Corbusier and the Auroville Earth Institute respectively.

Be it urban design, urban planning, landscape design, or even heritage and cultural conservation courses, if you are aiming to be another employee who does this for the government or a company, it would make sense. There are very hardly people who have created their mark in the field of their masters in their private practice. 

I'm not telling you that doing a master's course is worthless, but analyzing and comparing the time you spend studying in India or abroad to networking or shaping your skills as an individual practitioner is worth doing. While doing a master's would improve your knowledge base, and doing that abroad may give you a worldwide perspective on architecture, it would give you more clients to do your designs. 

Warm regards,

Darsan B