The Single Most Important Skill for Architecture 

7:20 "Passion is not something you just find; it's a cultivated thing." I don't think this piece of wisdom has ever been articulated before. What a hugely helpful insight.

Honestly, I thought you were going to say "time management". What seems to get (forgotten... overlooked... misunderstood?) in undergrad is you can't manage your time well if the skills needed to perform the work are underdeveloped. You have absolutely hit the nail on the head on all fronts. Feeling all the feels! And thank you for the supplies company - definitely checking it out!

Facts. Drawing always come in clutch when your laptop or tablet fails. A good book to reference is "Architeture: Form, Space,& Order" by Francis D.K Ching. This book focuses on the basics in Architecture drawing. I highly recommend it.

Finally a series of very good advices for students. I particularly liked the warning about the "primal instinct" of jumping into 3D before to have a solid idea. It's a real Black hole and you are definitely not crazy at all! Or I've been crazy too. Thanks.

I'm a retired millwork detailer. I worked for a high architectural millwork company in R.I. I whole heartedly agree that sketching is GREAT. At job site meetings the best architects I worked with had their roll of yellow tracing paper where we could work out issues and I left with a sketch to put into my AutoCAD shop drawings. AND use a fine point sharpie, pen or pencil so the details actually show up. I hated getting marked drawings where I could not read the hand writing or make out the detail in the SK. At the end of the day you are telling a story. Your medium is pencil and paper, SketchUp, AutoCAD etc. I can't read your mind so if it is not on paper I can't detail it and it is not real.

I think everything boils down to having a good imagination skill.. the better your imagination is the better you can sketch and the faster you can communicate ideas and designs

Man I lost so many hours trying to find a concept in SKP. I 100% agree with your points in this video

Absolutely! I see so many colleagues start in 3D software. They then get too much time invested in a concept that may be bad & are hesitant to abandon it bc they’ve “already put so much time into it”. There’s also less experimentation. And 3D renderings give clients the false impression that an idea is 100% resolved. A looser sketch indicates that it is still a loose idea. Thanks for your content. So great!

Sketching was taught in the Landscape Architecture Extension program at UCLA by short Japanese man who used the "kleanex box" method for drawing basically anything. He was able to unable aspiring landscape designers to instantly sketch any structure by grouping such boxes into a composition easy to understand.

I absolutely agree. I'm not an architect, but I am in a design and fabrication industry. I sketch all the time in front of customers to confirm what they want. Great video, thank you.

My career was in Industrial Design or product design. The methods and skills are very similar. Sketching is vital and can become a conversational tool to move quickly through ideas while you interact with clients and team members. I am retired and during the growing pains of computer aided design I burned a lot of time trying to do conceptual design on primitive software. The engineers liked being able to convert it to parts produced by machines. Often I sketched on paper before hitting the workstation. It was high pressure being at the lead of a project. I used a design methodology to structure the process and find a solution that pleased the manufacturer and the end customer.

BTW, loving your videos, I am finding a renew pasion about architecture, and lots of inspiration in them. Please don't stop doing them, you are very good at it as well.

There was some interesting synchronicity here; as a programmer I've been considering ditching pen & pad for an ipad, one of the reasons being that my notepad is a dis-ogranised mess, so I find it difficult to use notes I make. A friend (who's an amazing programmer, and probably the smartest person I've ever met) said "I don't think they're substitutes. i use paper for developing ideas, not so much recording them." It seems that maybe the speed (as you've referenced) combined with a lack-of-expectation-of-perfection in sketching out ideas grants you a certain freedom that's hard to find with digital mediums - creativity requires a bunch of "meh" ideas before you find something great, so the quicker you can sketch out an idea to see if it's viable, the better.

Agreed whole heartedly! No mater the direction you follow, sketching is really important. Architecture, Engineering, or Design Studio…all facets of sketching to share ideas and concepts is critical in business. You never know where you’ll end up in business. Architectural Mill Work was so much fun for me. I guess I liked the creative aspect of the work. Ultimately, do to a down turn in the architectural industry in the 80’s, I ended up in Mechanical Engineering. And now Electrical Engineering. But by far, the creative aspect of Architectural Millwork design was the most fun I ever had. And sketching was a huge part of that! And that ability helped me tremendously in the Automotive world as well. Well done Dami. This rings SO TRUE! I like this one a lot. Thanks for your efforts.

Studying Architecture is stressful when your trying to keep up with the class work and work a job in construction management. I am still trying to find balance and happiness

Oh with me it's the opposite! I wish I could draw every single project, beginning to end! Unfortunately to get a job in the industry we need to know so many softwares now that we need to include 3D models in most of our projects.... but it is 100% a really important skill that is being forgotten rather quickly. As always I love your videos, Dami! ❤🥰

7:19 this is the quote i needed to hear and I shall write this down EVERYWHERE thank you

I am 14yo and since I was a kid architecture have been my ambition/dream job. IK I still have time to prepare but I love learning about it and your vids are really helpful. Plus I would love for to see some of my sketches (they may be bad but I am still training :))

I found myself explaining to the new engineers cad view scales. I had to tell them in the old days, the scale was the ruler used to measure your design. And the scale only came in certain sizes. They had no idea.

Thank you very much. I like your madness. I follow you from Cameroon🥰🥰

Watching your videos, it brings to mind that being a website designer (that's what I do) is much like being an architect. When developing a web page, I draw out what the page should look like by hand. As I draw out the page, I make notes of any special functionality required. Once the drawing is complete, then I'll copy it to a designing software to provide a cleaner view of what I want. Keep putting out the great videos!

So true! My sketches have landed me more jobs and/or interviews than most other parts of my portfolio... And I wouldn't consider myself an amazingly well sketcher ; )

the little jokes and funny edits in between make these good videos even more entertaining👌👌

Totally agree. I work as a technician in a architecture school and i have noticed over the years (won't say how many) a decline in sketching by students and allso model making by hand. Students are now pretty much on their laptops 8 +hrs a day. Sketching is a very powerfull communication tool which is invaluable when students are out in industry.

tab drawing or paper drawings is the future of sketching in architecture

Thank-you for highlighting this in your vids. I’ve been pushing a need, yes need, for our designers, and even our technicians, to be able to sketch. It’s how we communicate with each other, without clients, our consultants, even our contractors. Computers are very accurate, yes. However, they command a high level of accuracy and information before you can start laying out a plan or elevation. If you start on the computer too soon, you end up with the computer’s functions driving your design. One of my university professors said to us that our creativity flows easier when the tool is easier to use. A felt pen or a pencil will let the ideas flow much easier that typing, moving a mouse, or struggling with a particular command to get what you want. It blocks the brain’s idea making. Improve your sketching and you will improve your designs and your communication skills.

as an artist , an oil painter, and illustration isn't as important as the expressive and the illustration aspects of a painting, but it is important and I agree with your advice about practicing

congrats for 100k!! you deserve all the hard work to help us. thank you so much!! much love from us.

Really needed to hear that, thanks a bunch Mam’. Every single word just talked straight to me. What you shared about your own experience at school really encourage me to keep trying. I’m not yet in an Architecture school but just kinda self-taught lady thanks to internet ressources! Thanks again 😊

Thanks for going over this. I'd love to see more architecture content directed at hobbyist and people who might like to learn how to go from construction to architecture. I'd maybe like to design my own home one day, and I'd love to learn architecture on my own time until then. I always get a lot out of your videos, so thank you for making them.

Great video, I am first year student and it gave me idea to start practicing sketching. Congrats on reaching 100k subs! Offtopic: Is that normal that after half-year I still feel like I am on the basic level of understanding the architecture and what defines a good architecture? The only thing that I learned is how to express the idea on the paper.

YES! Thank you for explaining why this is such an important exploration and communication tool! And thank you saying that it doesn’t have to always be pretty. I do all kinds of scratchy figuring out on trace or a sketchbook to work out thoughts floating around in my head - sometimes they are beautiful, often they are not, but they always move the design forward.

Many Architects hate this fact. I love it!! I must confess that I'm not an architect. . . . . .never been to that school. . . . . . .but I've loved drawing spaces, recreating existing spaces, criticising spaces, buildings or structures and creating, in thought or rough sketch, using whatever is available. . . . .drawing on the back of receipts, on the soil, my achy arm (spontaneous). .etc That was before I walked into a bespoke furniture shop at lunchtime and had to wait for the staff to get back from lunch. As I waited, I saw a bunch of magazines and of the lot I picked an Architectural Digest Magazine (I had never had the opportunity to hold one let alone flip through one, so you can imagine how happy I was) As I went through it I came across a page that had a very rough sketch and it's final product. I can't explain my shock, wonder and amazement to you. Was this page telling me that what I had been doing in a few pockets of my life was legitimate? . . . . . .of value. . . . . .and not just a thing to pass or fill idol time? It's at this point that the proprietors son walked back into the shop from lunch and he noticed how taken I was by what I was reading. He asked about my interest in the magazine and I showed him what I thought I had just discovered. He affirmed my find and asked me into his office where he showed me a very, very rough sketch he was working on pointing out that once he got satisfied with his sketch, he would hire an architecture student from campus to translate his drawing (render). To this day I still remember how I responded "Your Joking!!" With a smile on his face he said, "No" I told him the countless times I had sketched and didn't pay further attention to it. . . .and he said "my friend, that a career. . . .it's money. . . . . .ever heard of Architectural Designers? I said. . . ."No" Long story short, he asked me to take serious interest in it. A few weeks later I visited a former high school mate of mine who's a registered architect and he on seeing some of the sketches I had done for that visit, asked me to register myself in a nearby college and learn how to use AchiCard. "I did!!". . . . . .and a whole, new, unbelievable, world opened up!! Many Architects hate people like me. . . . . . .many take our drawings in the guise that they will look for clients only, never to hear anything positive from them. . . . ..at some point I get tired of asking. They also love calling me in to help them change or add to complete drawings (add a room here, move the staircase here, extend the kitchen. . . . .etc all for peanuts) I could go on and on but suffice it to say that, my experience with Architects is that it all starts and depends on the creation. . . . . .it's the product without which none of the other architecture fields get employed. Apart from specific sought after concepts that start with, either, championing beliefs like global warming or better resource management. . . . and idealism by wealthy clients, everything else get's employed by the sketcher. Thank You for starting this channel. . . . ."Keep FLYING, like kit!!"

So true and good advice. I start all my projects on grid paper. It is the first sketch that gives the project form. Sizing can be accomplished when the often strict parameters to build within can be taken into consideration on the first draft

Very interesting. It sounds like a sketch minimizes the visual noises and draws out the center piece. Everything else can hang around the center piece.

Have you ever seen hand sketches of Koolhaas ..? They have the visual clarity of a Jackson Pollock and the conceptual clarity of a Rorschach - i.e. intentionally misleading and confusing.

U don't even know how much u help us! Thank you sm for this info ❤️

I love this, simply because it a subjects I teach, I start by asking a student to communicate to me a design for a building, and I then tell them I can not understand their language sketching is the only means of communication. This came from my experiences when I was working for a large building materials manufacturer, I travelled the world sorting out problems and mentoring staff, some days I would be on a site where no one spoke English or French, my only other language or very basic German, So I would get out my pencil and sketchbook and start drawing the problem, and how we might solve a specific detail, instantly the operative was asking to interact, drawing his version of the problem, yes and no are universal, but so are the pencil paper and a few ink pens, "Words Fail See Sketch"

I am glad to hear you say this! I have been in this industry since 1980 (way before computers) and have always said computers will never replace hand sketching/rendering. Another approach is Frank Gehry.

what is lost today is having the pencil in your hand ! so many today only have experience with a computer and that is not even close to what the connection is between sketching and your hand with a pencil ! It should be the number one thing that is taught !

I agree. The sketching is extremely important for design activity.

You’re amazing!! Thank you so much for creating this content 😊

Dami, you are my senpai. I have learned essential lessons I needed to know about architecture literally in just a matter of hours in contrast to my 5 years in architecture school. Yes, I have been watching your vids for hours and I could never get tired of listening to you speak. Thanks for being an inspiration and please don’t stop creating! You have played a major role in creating a spark in me to fall in love with architecture again.

And the most important skill for an Architect, is verbal communication

Thank you for the inspiration!

This and the messy space video are incredibly helpful for getting creative! These are much appreciated! Thanks!

Also can recommend practice doodling. To be able to doodle anything - characters and their emotions, certain movements and actions. Arrows. Doodling help give character to sketches, make them more alive and to communicate better

One skill that I developed (maybe innately) was not only sketching upside down to communicate solutions towards the principal’s or client’s perspective but hand lettering upside down as well! I’ll never forget the startling reactions that I always received in return.. 😲👽😂

Knowing how to build for real is the great single most important skill for an architect. If you don't know how to build something, you'll never know how to sketch it.

I would say, also knowing when to stop iterating thru the design process and figuring out when it is good enough, perfection requires infinite amount of time.

I love your content, the way you approach architecture and I have request, please make a video on how to convince a client to approve a good design please

Your iterations are improving my iterations Thank you :)

1:35 :D among all the videos I watched today this moment put a smile on my face.

5:00 3d modelling definitely looks cooler in the head but sketching is more fun and more fitting to the idea we had

I really love what you said about passion at the end of your video!

Love this video. I’m off with an injury and am learning auto cad! It’s been great!

Congrats on 100k subs, and thanks for all the useful information

Off topic question: do you find yourself judging fictional architecture (such as in movies, TV, or games)? For example, spaces or layouts that make no sense in terms of function or which have omissions that stand out as immediate problems to an architect but which most people wouldn’t notice

The most important thing in architecture is structural integrity. Which is something that can be a complex calculation between many factors. While trying to strike a balance between functionality, durability and artistic expression. Passion is irrelevant next to the shear willpower and dedication it takes. To see every project through to completion. No matter how big your passion is for architecture. Eventually you’ll reach a place of redundancy and fatigue. Endurance and fortitude however are not equal to aptitude or talent. Some of the greatest architect are known for just one project. Which more often came down to fortitude or endurance more than their passion for the project.

I'm in first year and things are going well because of you so thank you.

totally agree... dont claim that you are architect without superb drawing skill

I love your channel I learned some new things being an Architect the only down side is sometime it's hard to focus on listening, a lot of time find my self starring in your beautiful face.

The same way as I have the concept in my mind and start it directly in 3Ds Max... And my manager said, u're a revese brainstorming. :D

I somehow guessed the skill right...giving myself a pat on the back for that one. As an aspiring architect, I've been binge watching videos and researching so, I'll give myself the credit.

I am a software architect and your video is also applicable for my profession! I am buying your sketching kit!

Thanks for another informative video, Architect Dami! Advance congrats for nearing the 100k subs!

You are correct, this skill is lost, especially in Industrial design, they lean to hard into computer aided drawing/drafting and forget how valuable the naturally gift of sketching is worth. Such a great way to communicate and brainstorm ideas.

So Amazing, GREAT EPISODE! Thanks Dami

Aaaaaand im still wating for that video ! Installing revit 22/21 on M1 MacBook Pro 2021😁🙏🏻

I love sketching. I even sketch out my Excel spreadsheets.

Spot on with 3D software being a black hole of sorts. I had an idea the other day and decided to just throw it into Archicad after hours to check how the light falls. Next I check the clock it’s four o‘clock in the morning… Should have just made a few sketches.

One of my mentors once said that the truly most important skill for an architect is the ability to sit for 12-16 hours without sore bum. Everything else will come around with practice.

The most important SKILL is to be able to the give of the gap to communicate, ie ability the skill to sell you ideas. The rest are only consequential of ability to " Sell you dream/concept ".

Nice ideas. As a cabinet maker, I think design software has become almost too easy. I often get fancy digital renderings from designers that make no sense. If they would take the time to think it through and sketch it out first then there would be far fewer problems in the long run.

Using the pen makes your unconscious aktive and it makes miracles. Using 3d modeling pc for designing blocks that.

Good video Dami, I am going to make this mandatory viewing to all my students that think pencil and paper are archaic.

Tips on books on learning to sketch? Not an architect or student, I'm just interested in it as a hobby

I am also from Vancouver! I am still in high school, so I wanted to ask you where you studied architecture and what you can advise?

Thanks for the advice!

I love your channel! I've literally been watching it for days straight while doing work and outside of school after I recently discovered your channel. Ive Literally watched the same video three times sometimes😅...its also my dream to become an architect and you've been so helpful in showing what it's really like and how to make a portfolio. Also one of your videos was very useful for when I was trying to find inpiration for research for a project for school

Well this is how I did it also on my 1st job, sketching is important, but today not as much. Personally I love Rhino, and experimenting Parametria on it, rather on sketching, as of wich there were a loot of good sketches on that company, the important thing is to find your place, more than anything.

I really want to go in this field.After watching your videos.Your videos are so good.

Thanks Dami for this inspiring piece.

Thank you sister that explains by fluency ❤❤

nice retention techniques

My life has nothing to do with architecture I just enjoy hearing you talk about it :)

True, that's why on 2 years of study in University we focus on hand sketch even we already use 3D. no need a pretty drawing as long people can understand it. On real job it still the most powerfull skill, for example you are on a project meeting and try to solve a problem, sketch take a few second. At the end all the drawing will be done by the draft person.

Not lying but I honestly guessed that you were gonna say sketching and even some of your reasons such as communication. IMO: in most scenarios, not just in architecture, sketching is a very important skill. You don't have to be really that good in drawing but being able to at least convey them well will be good enough.

I usually think of sketching as the most direct and fast brain-to-reality method if realising and searching for ideas. Yes it is even faster inside the head but. I think aside from sketching the best skill for architect and any creative person would be an ability to see his work from outside. To see it with the eyes of different group of people and to imagine how it works. Not only it saves time by killing useless mediocre ideas but also make process less linear and more fun. Kinda grows brain too,

Thanks Dami ❤

Thanks for the advise. Very appreciate.

Thanks, keep on what your doing. But pen and paper is the strongest in all areas. As a systems designer , super important 😊

You are perfect teacher and student Thank you very much

You are so right Dami about sketching!! The reason sketching works so much better than anything on the computer is because your mind doesn't have to deal with the "how to draw" issue when you are sketching! Your hands are the innate interface you have been using since birth and they require no thought when it comes to "how to draw" when using a pencil or anything similar! Even an Apple Pencil is no contest to a regular one, for that same reason! But the balance of "when" to start using the computer is an elusive point, because sketching tends to skew the dimensions to suit your imagination and I found that I have to frequently go back and check. My solutions often do not work in a measured drawing and that is disillusioning. The "Brilliant idea" turned out to be pretty foolish, so "back to the drawing board"!! 🙂

Already congratulations for 100k subs ❤️❤️

The ability to communicate effectively and powerfully. sketches are one powerful tool, but not the only one nor the most important one which is actually Language. Take out the words of your video, then take out the sketches. You will quickly see that the Word is far more powerful than the sketch.

.... is to be able to visualize what you've created! Most architects are super bad in visualizing their own creations. I am 3D generalist with over 35 of experience in 3D and rendering, lighting, modelling etc. and I should learn sketchup and learn how to read 2D plans, to pull up a complex building. Or is it the architect who should be able to do that? ^^ I lost a lot of projects, money, and the architects their desired visualizations quality, exactly because of that issue.And no one talks about that.

Imagine using Sketch up or CAD to design!!! Always use paper , CAD and BIM software are used only when NEEDED.

Great video!

I just love to watch this person talking