It doesn’t matter if you are still a student or have progressed now to the ranks of a professional -there are certain things your professors have told you that you love to hate, and hate to hear. So, how many of these have you heard before?
1. REDO!
Redo tops the list – no surprises there!
All those sleepless nights spent drafting and rendering and making those beautiful sheets, with nothing but half cooked noodles and pirated movies to help you survive – and then your professor drops the ‘R’ bomb.
No students ever passed through the hallowed halls without at least one sheet sacrificed to this ‘R’itual.
2. No extensions, sorry! (no apology intended)
Your submission must be on the professor’s desk on time, no matter what happens.
You broke your elbow? You fingers aren’t wrapped in a cast, are they?
Your laptop exploded? Your backups are your responsibility!
The world is ending in a zombie apocalypse? Architects don’t sleep anyway – this is no excuse.
It’s your grandpa’s 101st birthday and your own marriage? Take care of it in the holidays!
Important life events can wait, this submission cannot.
3. Good work. Who did this for you?
Aah, that assumption that anybody else has the time and energy to even complete their own work, let alone yours as well!
Now this is the time you go and get chai from the canteen and come back a little braver – demanding requesting your professor to believe you and grade the submission you spilled actual blood, sweat and tears on.
4. Only hand-drafting allowed – no CAD or photoshop sheets will be accepted.
It doesn’t matter if we have reached a point where we can actually print 3D objects within minutes and offices don’t even stocks T-squares anymore – that parallel bar must never leave your side!
You can’t use your laptop before 4th year for anything except for Torrents and Slideshare (or at least, not get caught trying to hide the greyscale print by making deliberate mistakes with your Rottering pen.)
5. Didn’t you learn this in your first year?
If you did, you wouldn’t be asking – but your ignorance is your responsibility.
Now stand there awkwardly trying to figure out an escape plan while your professor asks you more questions about a topic you just confessed to knowing nothing about.
Bonus points if you hear this during your thesis jury!
6. You can attend the lecture, but you won’t get attendance
It doesn’t matter if you broke Usain Bolt’s record while you ran to the classroom. It doesn’t matter that half your stationary fell out your bag on the way and is being swept away by the cleaners as you sweat at the door. It doesn’t matter that the bell ran 3.4 seconds ago.
The only motivation you had for getting out of your bed today (which you did only 6 minutes ago, incidentally) has now been snatched away from you by five mere words.
7. Why are you doing architecture? Are you even interested?
Nothing hurts more – not even slicing your finger open at 3 am in the morning while trying to make the roof of your model – than hearing these words.
So what if you curse the curriculum and day-dream of sleeping 8 hours a day and tell your B.Tech boyfriend/girlfriend that you are doing archi-torture?
Of course you are interested – who else will be the next Frank Lloyd Wright or Zaha Hadid if not you?
8. Forget everything else – where is the toilet block?
Sure, your concept rocks. Sure, your design is unique and fantastic. Sure, you have managed to provide solutions to the most critical issues of humanity.
But why are you talking about the 300sq.m of built space when the layout of your toilet partitions will decide if you go home today without a Redo or not?
Did we miss anything? Then tell us about your ‘favourites’ in the comments below!
