What is the reality of majoring in architecture? In the past, many people sought additional learning opportunities or aimed to retake the architecture major, including graduates wanting to enter the architecture field. With the rise of Building Information Modeling (BIM), many non-professionals noticed its promising growth and wanted to work in related areas. However, it’s important to understand that such aspirations often lead to confusion and unrealistic expectations.
Reason One: Most Architecture Graduates Don’t Engage in Conceptual Design
Many believe that after graduation, architecture students will primarily focus on conceptual design. The truth is quite the opposite. Five years post-graduation, most architecture majors are working on construction drawings rather than conceptual schemes. After ten years, only a small fraction continue with project design. The attrition rate in conceptual design is typically around 90%.
Why is this the case? Scheme design is highly competitive and demanding. For any given project, the outcome is binary: you either win or lose. Even winning proposals face ongoing revisions and adjustments based on client feedback.
Unfortunately, architectural education often fails to prepare students for this reality. In school, assignments are graded, categorizing work as high, medium, or low quality. In professional practice, however, a proposal is either accepted or rejected. Unlike schoolwork, designs must be repeatedly modified to satisfy client demands.
Because of this, many architecture graduates, unable to handle repeated design failures and endless revisions, shift away from conceptual design toward the relatively lower-risk field of construction drawing development.
The bidding process intensifies this pressure. The success or failure of each bid heavily impacts the designer’s reputation, visibility, and career prospects.
There are various bidding types—internal bidding, multi-unit bidding, invitation bidding, and more. Regardless of the type, scheme designers face relentless competition, with high stakes every time.
No matter one’s background or prior successes, losing a bid can trigger significant backlash. The reason is simple: the costs involved are substantial.
For example, city-level bids typically cost between 10,000 and 100,000 yuan; provincial-level bids range from 100,000 to 500,000 yuan; and national-level bids can reach 500,000 to 2 million yuan.
A designer’s incompetence or stubbornness causing a bid failure can deeply disappoint their firm. Moreover, a failed bid halts subsequent work in related specialties like structural engineering, plumbing, HVAC, electrical, and budgeting. The resulting psychological pressure on the designer is immense.
I once took part in a bidding process where my proposal narrowly won. The runner-up company produced nearly 100 renderings but ultimately received no compensation. While I won, I felt deep sympathy for the competing designers who invested so much effort.
Typically, if a designer loses three bids consecutively or is repeatedly bypassed by clients, their firm will exclude them from future scheme design or bidding due to the high costs involved.
In less developed regions, design firms often hesitate to invest in nurturing designers, knowing they will likely leave once trained. In more developed areas, firms have a surplus of talent and thus pay less attention to individual training.
Consequently, designers who suffer repeated failures rarely persevere. Many leave their hometowns, pursue postgraduate studies, or move abroad, still reluctant to commit to construction drawing roles long-term.
The impact on client relationships is even more severe. A designer’s reputation depends heavily on client feedback. A failed project can tarnish a designer’s standing, as dissatisfied clients tend to spread negative word-of-mouth, damaging future opportunities.
Imagine attending a project meeting alongside the winning designer, who is treated like royalty by the client, while you are ignored. Such experiences are difficult to endure.
The design industry is like walking a tightrope—one failure can feel devastating. The repercussions typically linger for at least three years within the local industry. Only those who persist with resilience and maintain a high winning rate can ultimately gain recognition as scheme designers, facing even fiercer competition in the process.
Most people lack the comprehensive skill set required to thrive: strong fundamentals, rigorous work habits, competitive spirit, interpersonal skills, self-learning, empathy for clients, market and cost awareness, presentation skills, leadership, and teamwork. Designers with such a broad range of abilities are rare.
Scheme design itself is multifaceted, including conceptual, planning, design, and construction drawing schemes. Unfortunately, neither academic institutions nor society provide a clear, scientific understanding of these distinctions.
Many newcomers don’t realize that very few bids include a base price to cover costs. Most bids require designers to purchase bid documents—non-refundable fees ranging from 5,000 to 20,000 yuan. Only winning bidders are compensated.
Moreover, due to the high costs of large-scale bidding (100,000 to 2 million yuan) and the emphasis on comprehensive qualifications (usually requiring A-level or special qualifications), most Chinese designers find it difficult to participate in major bids, making a “Road to Mastery” virtually inaccessible.
In addition, the government does not restrict the title of “designer” to scheme designers alone. Construction drawing designers and even drafters are called designers. Since registered architects are not assessed on their proposal skills, many naturally gravitate toward construction drawing work, which, while competitive, is less intense than scheme design.
Reason Two: Construction Drawing Design is Crucial
Accurate and rigorous construction drawing is essential. Without it, conceptual designs are just castles in the air. This necessity explains the high demand for construction drawing designers in architecture.
Registered architects are not required to demonstrate scheme design abilities because safety and functionality take precedence over aesthetics. A building might not look beautiful, but if it collapses, serious consequences follow.
Thus, architecture is not mainly about creating plans; 90% of the work involves preparing detailed construction drawings.
Reason Three: Architectural Design Serves Others, Not Personal Glory
Architectural design is like making a wedding dress for someone else—it’s not about erecting a monument to oneself.
For example, if you hired a designer for your home and they insisted you must fully implement their design or else they won’t work with you, would you be happy to comply? Probably not, unless the designer is very famous.
If your renovation budget is 100,000 yuan and the designer’s plan requires 500,000 yuan—including a 100,000 yuan design fee—would you accept it? If the designer then belittles you for your budget, how would you react?
Similarly, imagine going to a restaurant and the chef insists on serving spicy Sichuan food because that’s their preference, even though you can’t eat spicy food. You’d likely leave in frustration.
Or consider an entrepreneur who’s built a conglomerate after numerous battles. If a designer insists their design must be followed regardless of the company’s needs, would the entrepreneur trust them with a multimillion-dollar building?
Many aspiring architecture students mistakenly believe the field allows them to realize their own ideals by designing buildings they personally like. This is unrealistic.
Using millions of other people’s funds to realize personal preferences is impractical. If a building isn’t functional, sellable, or accepted by the client, the designer must move on. Remember, it’s the owners who bear the risks—not the designers—so clients must have decision-making power.
Unlike painters, who create art for themselves, designers create for clients’ needs. Only after becoming famous can a designer enjoy some creative freedom, as their reputation precedes them.
Famous architects are extremely rare—fewer than the number of world leaders combined. Becoming a master in architecture requires not just skill, but also favorable circumstances and opportunity.
Getting into university is relatively straightforward with hard work, but becoming a design master demands comprehensive development and perseverance.
Therefore, architecture is a profession for 99% of practitioners, and despite its prestige, it is a challenging and demanding field.
We often say that architecture students who neglect basic skills face a tough road ahead, while those full of lofty theories but lacking practice have shallow roots and fragile foundations.
Practical experience is essential—without it, theoretical knowledge remains untested and incomplete.
To those from other professions who envy architecture, we can only smile wryly: even if your field is practical and profitable, why choose to endure this complex and competitive mess?
Reason Four: Design Competitions and Bidding Are Separate Professions
Many famous architects gain recognition through design competitions, leading to admiration and assumptions that they are superior to designers in firms.
In reality, design competitions and bidding are entirely different realms. Competitions award multiple prizes, allowing many to shine, while bidding is a zero-sum game—only the winner gets the contract, and second place is essentially a loss.
Some bidding invitations offer cost compensation to the top few, but often dozens of firms compete and only one wins, leaving others to bear the costs.
If you admire architecture because of competition winners, understand that competitions and real-world bidding are fundamentally different, requiring different skills and mindsets.
Reason Five: Clear Practical Goals Are Essential for Success
For architecture students: don’t set the daunting goal of becoming a design master as your main objective. Masters are rare and formed through extensive experience and opportunity. The profession needs many responsible, dedicated designers to serve society by producing quality plans and construction drawings.
For those switching careers: if you lack design foundations (like painting, calligraphy, or photography), have only a layman’s understanding of architecture, dislike intense competition, and aim solely to work in construction drawing, reconsider whether relearning architecture is worthwhile.
Like other fields, architecture demands rigorous training, acceptance of failure, and practical experience. Only a few persevere through fierce competition to succeed.
Must log in before commenting!
Sign Up