Using software is a predominant part of the design process. It isn’t until your second year at university that you are formally introduced to it. On your architectural journey, you are encouraged to explore physical skills like drawing, model making and collaging just to name a few. Second year is where you practise all these physical skills but using a computer. Now each university is different in the choices of software they choose to teach but you will always have control over what you choose to learn for yourself. So if you are just starting out it is highly encouraged that you practise using CAD and the programmes that accompany them as early as you can. This isn’t to say abandon your physical skills altogether but use them to refine and further develop a body of work that will give your portfolio an upgrade every once in a while.
So if you are just starting out and feeling a little overwhelmed by what you should really be learning here are five software’s every architecture student needs to learn just to get started.
AutoCAD
AutoCAD is a drawing software’s that allows you to project line drawings into 2D and 3D viewpoints. This was the first CAD software I ever came across and knowing the tricks and shortcuts to use this software will allow you to make so much great use. Regardless what operating system you have (i.e Windows or Mac) there isn’t much of a difference between the two in terms of the user interface (i.e. how you navigate around the tools/commands and settings). As with all programmes I recommend that you become familiar with it as it is where most of the time you’ll be making your line drawings to then use elsewhere. In particular when you understand what each command does and basic setups like how to print/scale your drawings and how to create the layers that each line belongs to it is a pretty straightforward software to have experience using.
Rhinoceros (Rhino 3D)
You’ll probably come across many different software that will allow you to create some sophisticated models. The commands used in Rhino were built with AutoCAD users in mind so the transition of using AutoCAD to Rhino is a lot easier to grasp. What is impressive about this programme is that it can open files from a variety of other formats so wherever you work on you can always translate your 2D work into Rhino with great ease. There are so many features such as adding texture, sunlight studies and photographing spaces for visualisations as among some of the many interesting possibilities of what you can do with your 3D models here.
Adobe InDesign
If you’ve ever glimpsed at job descriptions or the work of some other architecture students it is evident that having the skills to use these software’s are very handy. More likely than not great design work has been made with some or most of these programmes. It is an essential toolkit for all your CAD work. If they are new to you, think of InDesign as the photoshop of Microsoft Publisher, Photoshop as the digital editing software and Illustrator as the digital sketchbook. Each software plays a role in the development of a great portfolio. You can create drawings on all three of them but I’ll leave that for you to explore further for yourself as there really is no perfect way to use any of these.
Ideally, you want to use InDesign for the organisational aspect of your portfolio. You can see it almost like a photo album of all the work you end up doing over the course of your degree. It is the place where you learn how to layout your work in a way that is cohesive and ready for a print of digital files. There are so many different functions on here that allow you to really layout each drawing that you have in an orderly fashion but in a format which is most appropriate for a particular presentation or task. With tools like creating guidelines really come in handy when you want to align all your pages in a style that is ready for digital or print. It does have some tools like a pen tool (that is more varied elsewhere) which really allows you to make last-minute adjustments that you would commonly be able to do on other Adobe programmes.
Adobe Photoshop
Photoshop is great for composing work, whether it’s combining sketches with photographs, creating textured drawings or simply inhabiting your work with the narrative of your projects it really is one of the most versatile programmes out there. Initially, I saw it is a photo editing software - and it is but the photo aspect is more so like a canvas and the possibilities for what you can make are truly endless. The tools on here really will allow you to compose an internal/external view or refine your drawings/visualisations. This is one of those programmes that go hand in hand with both 2D and 3D drawings for all your tasks. The ability to understand and use the varied tool kit will allow you to not only improve your existing work but to enhance it as you end up learning more and more about the layers (quite literally) that will let you make interesting design work.
Adobe Illustrator
Illustrator is pretty much what it says on the tin - an illustration application except everything is made in vector (this is what makes it better than Photoshop). Being in a vector format rather than jpeg(as it is typically in Photoshop) is a way of ensuring that your image never really becomes pixelated when you stretch it out or dramatically rescale your drawings. Besides, it can also open files of pdf format too, and it always has the option to have the layers that you made elsewhere appear. This gives you so much room to annotate and illustrate some of your scaled drawings. Personally using it for visualisations has really proven that there really are so many drawings you can make from scratch when you learn how to use programmes that are made for this specific task.
Having a grasp of even the basics of these programmes will allow you to develop some very transferable and technical skills that will allow you to design better. With so many resources out there Youtube is a great place to start learning how to use these skills as you’ll soon realise is that is what everyone does. These five programmes that really did shape my portfolio in ways that got me excited by the design process so I hope you find them as enjoyable to use as well. Don’t be intimidated by this list, you might find that your university does things a little differently, but remember once you leave university these skills are you own and you’ve got nothing to lose by picking them up. There is so much software out there for design in general, so don’t feel limited by this list, these are just some of the many great programmes out there that I’ve found to be the most useful in building a portfolio over the years.