A Little Bit About Everything

By Welby Lehman, AIA | Published on Feb 22, 2023

So, you want to be an Architect?

I’ll let you in on a little secret.

Architects don’t do much math.

Over the course of my nearly 15-year career, when my occupation comes up in conversation, I often hear people say, “I wanted to be an architect, but I didn’t think I could handle the math.” But the reality is, we don’t do much math.

It is good for an architect to be comfortable with numbers. An architect occasionally uses basic algebra when plugging values into formulas and should understand concepts like perimeter, area, volume, angles, percentages, fractions, etc. But it is all middle-school-level math. We don’t use trigonometry or calculus. There are architects that design structural elements like foundations, beams, columns, etc. But most design teams include a structural engineer who handles that aspect.

Before attending architecture school at Virginia Tech, I received my Bachelor of Arts Degree from Eastern Mennonite University in Mathematics. I had several semesters of calculus, probability, statistics, geometry, abstract math (don’t ask) among other courses. But I don’t use any of that now. The most helpful course for architecture was on statics, essentially the physical forces at work in structures that don’t move (which is really important for buildings). Later, in architecture school at Virginia Tech, I took more courses on structural design, which was the extent of the necessary math. These courses are a challenge for many architectural students. Fortunately for me, my undergraduate training made life easier.

A good architect knows a little bit about everything, not just math or art. Here are some other subjects architects should grasp.

Biology – The human eye, the human ear, and the human sense of comfort are all biological components affected by the built environment. Architects design better buildings when we understand them.

Business – Architectural services must be provided in the context of a business with income and expenses, marketing, and other demands of the modern workplace. Architects need a handle on business principles to be able to keep doing their work.

Chemistry – Buildings are made with the combination of many materials. Metals, concrete, paints, petroleum-based products, are just some of the materials which have a chemical composition that impacts their use in buildings.

History – The best architecture understands its historical context in terms of location and in the arc of design through time.

Physics – Gravity, wind, and earthquakes are some of the physical forces that buildings must resist.

Philosophy – What is good? What is beautiful? Architects must use reason and logic when developing designs that function well with an immeasurable quality that we attribute to beauty.

Psychology – Architects nearly always work for others and alongside others. As such, there are always personalities involved and an architect needs to navigate the group dynamics to keep the team working together for a successful project.

Technology – Technology is always changing. Today we can use virtual reality to see a design or use programs to model a building’s energy use. This has significant impacts on how buildings are designed and constructed.

Writing – The importance of communication cannot be overstated. Architects spend significant time in communication with others and most of that is writing; email, meeting minutes, notifications, contracts, just to name a few.

So, don’t be fooled. Architects don’t do much math. Rather, we do some math but a lot of other stuff too!