One of the students at Berkeley kept appearing and disappearing over the
years. I eventually worked in the same office with him. I asked him about
it. He told me that he had to work to afford school. He said that he
would work in an office one year, and then he would work in school for the
next year. So, he said that I took him 10 years to complete his 5-year
degree. At that point in time, he was licensed, and an excellent practitioner.
Perhaps there is a lesson in this for those who want a degree, but who do
not have family support for one. Finally, the degree does not make the
architect. One must initially bring the talent with oneself.
But, the blending of practice and theory seemed to benefit this
person. Sometimes in academia there is a concern that practice can
detrimentally affect theory. Well, theory can affect practice as
well. And, when theory is basic research based, it can be a powerful asset
to those with the intellectual ability to apply it to design.
I have always felt that to be an artist, and architect, one had several
alternatives, as follows: (1) work at two jobs, one in art or
architecture, and one to support it, (2) have a patron, or (3) be born a
prince or princess. No matter what, many of us find ourselves in some
combination of these alternatives.
One of the sad things about youth is the immediate inability to apply all
that energy to practice. One of the other sad things about the aged is the
lack of energy to find all those wonderful things of youth that might have
been applied to practice. That is the paradox of being in a profession
that only begins to bear fruit around the age of 50 years---the old man's
profession.
Patience!
.H.