New Habits, More Expectations

Welcome to my newsletter, where you'll find my latest takes on the architecture industry.

Today's read is ~ 3 minutes

Well, just like that, January is over and we are 8% into 2024.

I bet you didn't think of it like that, did you?

But in all honesty, I think it's time to make the newsletter a bit more personal and share my own experiences.

This year, I'm working to focus more on my health and to get into the routine of dedicating time towards my fitness. Equally, I want to explore my creative passions and work to build up my skills within photography, video editing and storytelling through the ways in which I create my videos. Of course, it seems like quite a lot of things to aspire towards, especially when I'm working full-time as an architectural designer. However, for me, it's more of an opportunity to rest whilst still progressing through the hobby and artwork I desire to improve on.

Side-note, I've been working on a series on YouTube called Designer Diaries. Click here to find out more and subscribe for more content!

Part of me wants to work on bridging the gap and to utilise the skills I develop in these other creative endeavours into the work I do as an architectural designer in practice. Not only will this help to push and expand the possibilities of how we work and present our schemes in practice as the new generation of aspiring architects, but will enable all of us to bring a new chapter into architectural discourse on a worldwide scale. But first and foremost, these are my hobbies and I think for some of us it can be easy to fall into the trap of mixing up our hobbies with work. We dedicate a significant amount of time outside of work hours towards our passions and it can get overwhelming.

But just like Virgil Abloh once said in his lecture at Harvard University, "don't get trapped into this: everything sucks, the world is coming to an end, that's just an internal mechanism basically to chill"

I know it can be difficult to see the new year as a cliche opportunity to better yourself. But, why not? Why not try develop the things that you wish you were better at? Join that sports team, pick up the camera, start creating content or get back into reading again.

After all, it should be about you.

Create those new habits and start showing up for yourself.

Extra

Something that has clouded my mind for some time is the concept of creating a digital journal where I track my progress as an architectural designer working in practice. And although this isn't about the specifics of day to day work, this is purely as a concept to prepare students who will make the leap from architecture school to architecture practice. As I aim to continue supporting current and future architecture students, the topic of the gap between practice and university always comes up. And despite university courses having professional practice modules, I think it's important for all of us who have entered practice or have been working for several years to give back and educate the current generation of designers.

Thank you as always for reading this months edition of The Masterplan.

All the very best, Dan.