architect54

I left Schematic Design feeling cool and ok. I thought everything I did on that architectural registration exam was ok. I wasn’t leaving thinking it was perfect, just ok. No fatal errors anywhere as far as I could tell.

And that’s just it. “As far as I could tell.” Finished, I think back and say I really hope I didn’t have a fatal error.

Exit doors swung in the exit direction. No dead end corridors. Six foot clear corridor distance. Had the 60″ diameter circle in every room. 36″ clearance to all pieces of furniture, except some coffee tables placed in corners. Correct door clearances at both door sides of all doors. I mean those were the fatal errors that popped into my head.

Could I have missed something? Maybe. And that’s just a part of the after-exam-guessing torture some of us put ourselves through. Good luck on your exams!

…then again maybe not. I took the Schematic Design architectural registration exam on Sunday. I think I got everything right.

One problem was the ratio of some of the room sizes. I didn’t realize it until towards the end of the exam. My understanding (from maybe the AREforum) is that rooms should be somewhere close to a 2:1 ratio for room sizes. So a 200 square foot room should be close to 10 feet by 20 feet.

This is an example and I didn’t have any rooms exactly this size. Let’s say a room is 25 feet by 8 feet, which is 200 square feet but has a 3.125:1 ratio. That might be ok, but it’s my understanding closer to the 2:1 ratio is better. I think it also depends on how may rooms have an exaggerated ratio. One or two is not as bad as five or six.

I modified everything to as close to a 2:1 ratio as I could with time remaining. I was too committed to risk the amount of shifting it required to really feel comfortable. There was a good few feet of space I could have shifted my plan to make room to widen some skinny rooms. Matter fact that’s an easier way of saying it. Some rooms were too skinny. That’s how I noticed them in my head, while reviewing the plan. “Aren’t those rooms kind of skinny?”, I thought.

I think I made all the necessary corrections and have a passing result. I’ll let you know. Good luck on your exams!

If I don’t pass an architectural registration exam, I’ll just take it again. This is an attitude I like to encourage. It is easier to have this attitude after passing an exam or two.

Look at architects around you. After approaching a prospective client and not securing a project, a firm principal architect will do their best to approach another prospective client.

It is a cycle. This is something of the process to survive. In the process, try to adapt and find what brings the results you are seeking.