How to... Survive your first year at Architecture School

After finishing my first year at Architecture School, I wanted to share some advice on preparing anybody starting their architecture course possibly in September. Obviously, this may differ from universities due to the specific course you might be doing, some more computer based and other more drawing but I have included a checklist to help you prepare!

I literally started my first day with a basic sketch pad and a pencil case. Unfortunately, my school didn't think to give us a heads up of what we might need to buy during summer, so it was a last might purchases in over priced store where if I knew before what I need, I could have save some money by ordering online. The checklist includes some of the things that helped me get through the first year of archi-torture!

Electronic needs:

1.  Laptop, either Mac or PC. Its always better to use your savings and invest in a laptop that will take you through your whole course. Don't settle for anything on the cheap as you might find yourself re-purchasing a new laptop sooner than you thought.

2. External Hard drive, I cannot recommend one enough. Storing all your files on here makes your Laptop run like its brand new.. It also helps programs such as Photoshop run faster!

LaCie 1TB Rugged Portable Hard drive - Thunderbolt and USB 3.0

3. A mouse.. I bought one at the beginning of the year as it was advised by tutors, supposedly making your auto cad life 100x easier, I found my trackpad on my laptop did me just fine. However, some of my friends swear by it and can't use these programs without it!

Magic Mouse 2

Model Making needs:

4. Desk Lamp
5. Cutting Mat
6. Scaled Ruler
7. T-Square 
8. Cutting Knife 
9. Super Glue 
10. Mechanical Pencils 
11. Measuring Tape 
12. UHU
13. Set Squares 
14. Adjustable Set Square 

Portfolios: 

15. Moleskine Sketchbook 
16. Daler Rowney Layout Paper 
17. Daler Rowney Heavyweight Cartridge Pad
18. Telescope Tube 
19. A2 Portfolio 

Reading: 

Many universities will give you some sort of reading list before you start. Here are some that were on mine.
20. Delirious New York: A Retroactive Manifesto for Manhattan 
21. Case Study Houses
22. Thomas Heatherwick Making
23. 101 things I learned in Architecture School
24. S,M,L,XL
25. Zaha Hadid completed works 
26. Modern Architecture: A critical history 
27. Complexity and Contradiction in Architecture 

Programs:

Programs such as Photoshop be a pretty pricey subscription so make sure you get a good student bundle that includes what you need!
28. Adobe Illustrator 
29. Adobe InDesign 
30. Adobe Photoshop 
31. AutoCad
32. Rhino 

I hope this helps anybody preparing for University in September...Let me know if you have any other suggestions I might have missed.. Good luck! 

Ellie