Architecture used to include all the aspects related designing a building and not much beyond that. The field has grown and expanded so as to be literally a hundred times more than what it was when it first began.

Innovations in buildings and the field itself lend it now to programs and designing schemes where it once was not used for anything other than the building of structures such as homes and apartments.

Architecture is among one of the most exciting fields available for study and when your studies are completed you will be called on to do such incredible feats as design a zoological park to provide for the security of the people and animals as well as to afford ready viewing of them and offer them their natural habitat in which to live. Another position that is becoming more valued and valuable in today’s market is the position of landscape architect. Everyone loves to visit an enjoyable and attractive area such as a park or playground. College campuses are famous for their use of landscaping in an effort to provide a warm welcoming atmosphere to their students.

Architects design these areas so that they are functional, beautiful and fully at ease with the natural environment around them. The landscape architect will plan the exact location of each roadway, walkway and how the flowers and trees as well as the buildings are arranged within the campus unit as a whole.

A landscape architect may work for any number of groups or organizations from developers of real estate to municipal areas such as a small town to a larger city. Working side by side with the architect, the surveyor and engineer together decide the best arrangement for roads, buildings and pathways in everything from a campus to a housing community to an entire city mall or complex.

The landscape architect is required today to affiliate and collaborate with many other persons such as conservationist, foresters, environmental sciences and natural resource companies to make decisions necessary to carry out the project to its completion.

Once the major decisions such as buildings are out of the way, the addition of such things as fountains and other decorative items comes into play as well. When planning a site or building, an architect needs to consider the nature and purpose of the site he/she will plan, and the funding available to him/her to complete the project.

With that in mind, the educational requirements for each type of architect will be stringent and varied. Mathematics will play an important role as well as arts and artistry. Other aspects of learning a solid amount of common sense is required of an architect in that he/she must also analyze and provide for certain natural aspects of their project such as climate, moisture, soil drainage and natural vegetation that exists there.

Typically companies today pay architects vast sums of money for the design of buildings and complexes. Those which work for a single firm and make their home there over a long period of time may expect reasonably a six figure salary from about the third year on particularly if they display a high level of competency at their job.

The market for such services in Canada and the United States is very good and the reasonably good architect can expect that his services will be greatly in demand over the course of his career. Freelance architects are far more common today than those which sign on with a firm, given the higher rate of flexibility in their jobs and the greater satisfaction at being able to choose their own projects. Read more… »