Experience Architecture at UTS

Studying a Bachelor of Architecture and Master of Architecture at UTS helped me to get my first industry job. It also provided me with a good portfolio of work to use for the future.

I believe that the best way to study architecture is a mix of technical understanding and excellent visual communication to convey your ideas and experience of the real world with industry partners.

My time at UTS definitely helped me build these skills to help me land my first role in the industry after graduating.

Overall, starting at UTS is an enjoyable experience that becomes unforgettable if you take on everything that's on offer.

I chose to study both the Master of Architecture and Bachelor of Design in Architecture at UTS because I'm passionate about creating sustainable, innovative and functional spaces that drive lasting, meaningful change.

Studying at UTS while immersed in the heart of Sydney provided daily exposure to a vibrant urban environment rich in culture and direct industry connections.

One of the most memorable moments was early in my first semester when a tutor's passion completely transformed my perspective on architecture.

Their energy inspired me to see design not just as creating buildings, but as a powerful tool for driving meaningful systemic change.

My time at UTS fundamentally shaped my perspective on my future career by teaching me that adaptability is essential to navigating complex design challenges.

I would highly recommend the UTS Bachelor of Design in Architecture and Master of Architecture to anyone who values a rigorous blend of concept, critique, and creativity.

I am a registered Architect in NSW with over five years experience in the architecture sector.

My decision to study at UTS was influenced by their distinctive approach compared to other universities, from innovative educational models to unique opportunities such as international travel studios, and fostering a strong supportive architecture community that encourages growth, individuality and excellence.

During my architectural degree, having my work showcased at end of year exhibitions and presented at the NSW Student Architecture Awards open doors to connect with industry partners and collaborate closely with tutors in their own practices.

UTS is a leader in architectural education with a forward thinking approach that challenges conventional ideas.

My experience at UTS instilled in me empathy, focus, and a deep drive to create architecture that makes a meaningful impact through design.

Zoe: I always knew I wanted to go into the design field and then kind of scrolling through the UTS website, I was just looking through their architecture options when I was kind of reading up on Landscape Architecture it was like a perfect balance between the structural elements of architecture, but also involving ecology, the environment.

I think the environment is such an important issue at the moment and to nurture it and protect it and to be able to do that through design is pretty amazing.

Mark: Landscape Architecture has a huge role in shaping the human experience of the city.

Landscape Architecture is really about designing that setting where people live out their lives.

I'd say it's one of the best kept secrets, because people assume that it is about landscaping or changing landscape on a small level when really it's about life.

It's about culture. The public domain is always important, because it's that place that brings people together.

Zoe: I've been working at TYRRELLSTUDIO for seven months.

When I started working here, it was like everything, the past three years had just clicked into place.

Hayley: Being able to work in practice while still at uni and having the two going at once, it makes you faster at doing little things and you get into the groove of it a lot more.

The Western Sydney Parklands Project, it's a huge project and something that really interested me when I applied for the job here.

Mark: So it's a vast and beautiful tract of land, a 1500 hectare park, which is five times the size of Central Park in New York, put aside as the greenbelt to limit the growth of Sydney in 1968 and since then, the city has leapt across that greenbelt and into western

Sydney and more and more people will be living in western Sydney in the next 30 years, another one million people. So, there'll be a city three times the size of Canberra out there.

So, a piece of greenbelt becomes a Central Park for these people.

Some of the things we're doing to address the challenges of heat in that landscape are looking at the farm dam structure of water in that landscape.

We're trying to take people into the coolest parts of the landscape and create these small areas where lots of people can gather and be in a more comfortable microclimate.

Hayley: So what's different about working in design is that you're not stressing, typically, for exams and taking notes and trying to cram information.

You're actually working in the practical world and designing things that you're interested in.

For now, doing honours year, you're given a lot more freedom as well as you progress in the course. So, that's kind of excited me, and now I think I will be coming back for something in postgrad as well.

Hello, I'm Anthony Burke, a professor of architecture, a television presenter, and academic at UTS. Have you ever wondered what it takes to be an architect? Today, I'll be answering your questions. Let's get started.

What do I need to study to become an architect?  

Well, the the main thing is that you enroll in an architecture degree, and
that's quite a long degree. It takes about 5 years, a three-year bachelor's and a two-year masters before you can then leave and go and work in industry, and then finally become registered as an architect.

It takes a long time because there's a lot of studio work, which is the best part of it. So, it's not a typical kind of degree where you're sitting in lecture theaters all the time or doing written exams. You're spending a lot of time actually designing,  talking about your designs with your tutors, with your peers, with your professors, and you're really hands-on with making and drawing and doing those kinds of things.

So, studying architecture is a very different kind of degree. It's very creative. There's a lot of his history and technical background to onboard as well. But most importantly, it's a very social degree.

You really are kind of socializing your learning and your knowledge as you get more and more proficient at architecture uh as you go up sort of through the year groups. So doing an architecture degree is the way to become an architect. Uh you have to do that in Australia and you have to do that if you're going to work overseas as an architect as well. 

What different roles are there in architecture?

This is a great question because there are many ways that you can be an architect or start with architecture and then move on to into a different kind of career path.

So within architecture itself, yes, there's that practicing architect who runs a practice and designs houses and buildings for people. There are also architects who move into academia like myself, uh who do the work to set up things like policy advice or to set up things like um town planning advisories and those kinds of things.

There are those kinds of architects who don't design so much but might be maybe writing or advocating for certain kinds of positions about the built environment as a whole. So there's a really broad sort of um sway of ideas about how one can be an architect today.

What kind of workplaces do architects work in and what kinds of projects do they work on?

Most architects work in a studio and it's a different kind of situation to the normal office space.

So a studio isn't just cubicles with a computer. Usually studios are open. They're generally creative spaces. It's spaces where you can talk with your peers and your colleagues about the kinds of projects you're working on. And even though you might be working very hard and doing long hours, you're still in a very social kind of situation in the architecture studio.

The other thing about um what kinds of projects do you work on really as an architect you can work on any kind of built project from furniture design really or smallcale design to very large scale urban planning. So within that spectrum any job that comes into an architect's office might have a relationship to any of those scales. 

What does an architect do in their day-to-day work?

Well, you might think it's all design. Actually that's not the case. I'd say probably about 10 - 15% of your day would be just doing design work. A lot of the time that an architect spends is spent in client and people management. So you're really trying to listen to the the clients, to the councils, to the builders, to the engineers, to all the consultants that you'd be talking to in any given day to make a project come to life.

Another thing is just sort of organizing the workflow because there's a lot of work to get done even in a simple design. Everything from the engineering and the landscape to the actual building fabric itself requires different types of outputs for different types of people. So there's quite a lot of production work that's required. But the thing that's nice about that is the drawing and the representation that goes on.

There's a lot of design work that just happens naturally through that kind of process. You're always thinking as you draw. So if you're like me and you love design, then that drawing is not a task to do. It's a real joy to kind of keep thinking about how do I design and keep designing even as I'm working on just the next set of floor plans. 

What skills are important for an architect to have? 

You might think here that I would say drawing and maths. That's what most people think of when they think of what an architect does. I think actually not so at all. You can learn to draw and you can definitely learn the math. So that's not a problem.

But I think the real things you have to have as an architect is you have to have curiosity and you [clears throat] have to have empathy. Those two traits together, if you're both curious and empathetic, you will be a great architect because you're listening to what the clients want. you're understanding what's happening around you. You can put yourself in someone else's situation and design something fantastic for them.

I think the curiosity is something as well because architecture is a very fastm moving discipline. Things are changing all the time and you've got to be curious enough to chase those changes and be interested in what's happening around the world.

What challenges do architects usually face in their work?

This is a really interesting question. I think one of the hardest things to appreciate about an architectural practice is that it's quite responsive to where is the work coming from. So on one week it might be residential work, the next week it might be small scale public work or the next week it might be government scale work.

Being an architect means you need to be able to move fairly efficiently across all of those spaces. And that's something that's a bit challenging for people to get their head around. But I think being an architect that's
interested, that's curious, um, that sees themselves as always upgrading their skills, which is something that we all do, means that you're tapped into those conversations all the time. So, it's actually not as hard as you think. If you're the kind of person that's happy to lean forward into the conversation and get involved. 

What do you love most about being an architect?

The thing that I love the most is the idea that you are always on guard for uh where things are happening, where the new design ideas are coming from, where new examples are for fabulous buildings to go and visit. It's that translation of the world around you into a proposal for something that will hopefully make someone's life fabulous. That's the part I love the most about, you know, being involved with architecture.

What's your top tip or best piece of advice for someone who wants to become an architect?

I think the best thing you can do if you want to be an architect is go and visit some architecture. What I mean is don't just sit at home behind your computer looking at stuff on the screen. Don't just spend your time with the online magazines. Go and actually walk around in really good architecture. And there is tons around to see.

So being amongst it, sort of learning how to read the architecture as you walk through it and understand the materials and the spatial effects and all of those things, how people use the spaces that are designed for them. That's how you sort of tune in to what architecture is all about and that'll be the best thing you can do because that'll set you up to ask the right questions and it'll already start your design brain ticking over. That's the best thing you can do to get to architecture. 

I think that's all the questions for today. If this got you interested, check out the UTS website and search architecture to learn more about working in this field.