Embrace the Mundane
You’ve just graduated with a multi-year degree in Architecture. You can’t wait to design the kinds of buildings you’ve drooled over in the magazines all your life. Next thing you know, you start working at a real-life firm and everything you thought your job would be is different. It’s boring. It’s repetitive. It’s mundane. It’s not what you signed up for.
Q: Does the early experience of a recently-graduated Architect need to be boring? How can we adapt a positive mindset to navigate through the repetition?
When we first leave school and enter into our work lives, we want to change the world. We want to do the things we just learned, the amazing, wondrous things that we read stories of.
The world has a different vision for your first days, weeks, and years in your new job. It’s not what you’re expecting, but don’t worry, it will be ok.
The First Few Years
I'm not going to lie, most seasoned veterans assume that new hires are incapable of most tasks in an architecture firm.
This doesn't mean that you're invaluable, it just means that it will take a while for someone to train you how to draw, create, and function in a professional office.
I’m sorry, but the ways you operated in school don't jive with the 9-to-5 setting.
In school, you were essentially working for yourself. You may have had an intended “client” for your studio projects, but in the real world, architecture firms are running businesses and you're on their time.
Architecture school provides you with basic skills in order to understand space and concept. It’s about helping you see the world in a different way.
However, it very rarely provides you with an understanding of how to write a spec, how to use a firm's given software (regardless of what fancy 3D algorithms you generated for your amoebic studio project in Rhino), or how to assemble a proper set of drawings that must be buildable.
Embrace the Mundane Like Daniel LaRusso
When you first walk into a professional office, every task given to you may seem mundane, or even beneath you.
Some people think they're stuck when they've designed 12 toilet rooms in a row, laid out ceiling grids until their fingers bled (they don't really bleed—it's not that kind of torture), or drawn interior elevations until they couldn't see straight.
The reality is quite the opposite. You need to embrace the mundane and here's why.
Think “Karate Kid.”
In the 1984 classic film, “Karate Kid,” our protagonist is Daniel LaRusso—a headstrong, teenage kid.
He recently moved across the country with his mom to start a new life in California. After a few run-ins with a gang of bullies (that of course also know Karate), a wise, old maintenance man at their building, Mr. Miyagi, agrees reluctantly to teach Daniel karate to defend himself. Daniel has one goal—to stand up to the relentless, karate-wielding Cobra Kai!
Wax On, Wax Off.
On the first day of his training, Daniel arrived at Mr. Miyagi's home to eagerly get down and fight.
Well, that's not what Mr. Miyagi had in store for Daniel-San. Instead, Dan is instructed to wax all of Mr. Miyagi's classic cars in a very specific way. “Wax On” - Outward, radiating circle with right hand. “Wax Off” - Outward, radiating circle with left hand.
As you can imagine, Dan was a bit lost for words. He was anticipating some kind of whirling, roundhouse flurry or a super-charged Bruce Lee punch attack. And yet, here he was, washing and waxing some really nice cars instead.
Womp. Womp.
Dan tirelessly waxed all of the cars. Any time he began to waiver, Mr. Miyagi would run over and correct his form.
Sand the Floor. Paint the Fence. Paint the House.
After waxing all of the cars, Dan arrived another day and eagerly awaited the secret to the world of Karate back flips and hits.
Instead, Mr. Miyagi had Dan sand the wooden deck in his garden.
This time, Miyagi told Daniel to “Sand the Floor” by using a very specific method, the opposite way of “Wax On, Wax Off.” Here, Dan would use inward, radiating circles with his right and then left hand, repeating the process as he went.
Miyagi then asked Daniel-San to “Paint the Fence” around his yard. With each stroke, Daniel was asked to use sweeping motions up and down, bending at the wrist.
The final task was to “Paint the House”—Mr. Miyagi's house to be exact.
Now at this point, Dan was getting irritated. He was starting to resent all of these chores for Mr. Miyagi without seeing a single minute of karate practice time. He reluctantly painted Miyagi's house using the side-to-side motion.
But it was clear from his expression that he had had just about enough.
Patience Pays Off
After Daniel washed and waxed Miyagi's cars, sanded Miyagi's floor, painted Miyagi's fence, and painted Miyagi's house, Daniel was frustrated, tired, and fed up. He approached Miyagi and told him that he was done with the whole thing and going home.
As Daniel walked away, Miyagi turned to Daniel and asked him to show him each of the chores one by one.
As Daniel motioned 'Wax On, Wax Off,' Miyagi helped him lock in his form.
With each new move, Daniel could see the pieces fall into place.
He had been learning karate the ...entire ...time.
Miyagi signaled Daniel to prepare himself and then unleashed a flurry of karate onto his student. With each punch, Daniel blocked the oncoming onslaught with grace and poise. His hands diverted every jab, every kick.
Daniel had learned over the course of four days what it could take others months or years to comprehend. Miyagi had used the mundane chores as a way to create effective muscle memory for Daniel.
Be a Sponge
When you get your first job in an architecture office after school you need to be a sponge.
Take in everything you can because you don't have the experience yet to know why you're being given the tasks presented to you. Just because you're drawing your 12th toilet room, doesn't mean that you need to resent it.
Architecture isn't just pretty pictures you see in magazines. Architecture is functional. Architecture is real. You need to treat every space you design with respect equally.
As you prove to others that you are willing and able to complete one task, they will give you another that may build your skill set in a completely different way. If you simply resent what you're doing all of the time though, you may just find yourself stuck in the same place.
Everyone Starts Somewhere
Thom Mayne designed several bathrooms. Zaha Hadid designed lots of drop ceilings. Renzo Piano designed many interior elevations.
We don't become successful in architecture because you know how to create overall concepts like we did in studio.
We need to understand all of the functions and reasons of why a building is the way it is first before we can iterate and improve upon its other, more enjoyable qualities.
Final Thoughts
If you keep an open mind to the tasks that are given to you and do them to the best of your abilities, you may just be rewarded with tasks other than just bathrooms.
Consider the following:
When you're first starting out, listening can be a powerful skill to push your career forward.
Give your mentors some time to guide you through the profession.
Everyone starts somewhere.
You may not realize why the “mundane” tasks of the profession are so important to your success until much later.
But one day you’ll wake up and realize how far you’ve come, how much has become second nature to you.
Additional Resources
(Film) The Karate Kid // Ralph Macchio, Pat Morita
(Film) The Karate Kid: Part II // Ralph Macchio, Pat Morita
(Website) Emerging Professionals Career Center // The American Institute of Architects
(Website) AXP Experience Requirements // NCARB
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