SPACE November 2022 (No. 660)
A Springboard from Ineptitude: The Story of the First or Second Years Employees
Min Seonghong Heerim Architects & Planners, Park Sehyun LIFE architects, Lee Jueun eSou Architects, Chae Seungbin SIDAM Architects
× SPACE
Taking the First Steps in the Field of Architectural Design
SPACE It has been almost two years since you graduated and since you embarked on your career in the field of architectural design. Let’s think back to when you first launched yourself into the field. Why did you want to work in design, and what were your concerns when looking for a job? Which paths enabled you to gather most information?
Min Seonghong (Min) While when first entering university I had no clue about the department of architecture, my grades had not been too bad after starting school. I embarked on my career path as an architecture designer with one thought in mind: ‘I will probably be able to make a living out of it if I carry on like this’. In general, prospective applicants first think about the size of architectural design office when deciding where to work. I had similar concerns and interned at two firms, one small and one large-scale architectural design office. The large-scale architectural design office felt more like many ateliers merged together, which helped me set aside my regrets about not joining an atelier. Moreover, after graduating from a university in the provinces, I hoped that my future workplace would have what we call ‘name- value’. Therefore, the first priority was to join large-scale architectural design offices, and then I looked for their pay and project style. For style, refer to the company’s website, and for other detailed information, refer to the Daum café (virtual café) called ‘Let me know your annual salary!!!’ The virtual café is full of stories about architectural design industry, and among them, I searched mainly for the large-scale architectural design office’s ranking, pay, and interview reviews. There was also a Kakaotalk open chat rooms through which to share information about job openings. I personally found virtual café superior and more practical than open chat rooms. Nowadays, it’s possible to locate more explicit reviews from people working in the field on platforms like ‘Blind’. Of course, this is limited to those in large-scale architectural design office.
Park Sehyun (Park) I had been interested in architecture since middle school. Until just before entering university, I would look up famous architects, and was full of dreams of ‘becoming like them’. When it came time to graduate, this had drawn closer to ‘I had learnt design for five years and had not really considered a different career path, so why not start with design’. I started my first job at the suggestion of a professor I met in the design studio, who also managed alone architectural design office, and I am currently working at an atelier of seven people. While I did not choose the first firm, even if I had been in an opposite situation, I would probably not have had much of an idea of what to look for. Looking back, I didn’t even know which job would be right for me. I started to gain a sense of the architectural design industry through working within it. When it came time to move jobs, the most important factor became the people, the money, and overtime. When it comes to people, I mean not only colleagues that I can get along with, but also the right team members. In my case, I shortlisted firms about whom I could gain information. I also looked at the virtual café that Min Seonghong mentioned, and also used SNS (social network service). Through the SNS of the firm or also the principal, it was possible to gain an understanding of the number of employees, the ambiance, the content of the posts and the way they expressed themselves. When it comes to money, I don’t just mean revenue. Even if the salary might not be high, there could be other forms of compensation, such as incentives, meal plans, etc. Finally, when it comes to overtime, there are often architectural design office that do not compensate overtime properly among ateliers, and so I had the intention to go to a firm with not much overtime to begin with. Additionally, in terms of the quality of the design, ateliers nowadays all perform beyond a certain standard, making this criteria a number one priority and baseline at the same time.
Lee Jueun (Lee) Without any experience as an intern, I wanted to figure out if design was a good fit for me while also experiencing the difference between education and practice. As my hometown is Changwon, I lived alone while going to university in Seoul. When job searching, I compared the living costs for Seoul with the average salary in the field. As a result, I thought there was no need to limit the scope of my job search to Seoul. So, I also considered Changwon and other firms in nearby cities. I did not strictly restrict myself in terms of the scale of the architectural design office. For me, the quality and style of the projects were important, and this was highly influenced by the thought that I should learn as fast as possible. As an extension of this, I opted for the potential for growth over money. While salary might be important once one has an established career and relocates with their experience, placing salary as a priority with little experience inevitably means a smaller choice of firms. Overtime as well, was something that I had to compromise with my reality, considering the particularities of the architectural design industry. Instead, as I would have to work long hours with colleagues in the same space, I observed the ‘chemistry’ between team members. It was difficult to obtain information in this part in advance, so I grasped the atmosphere of the company during the interview.
First Impressions of the Commute to the First Job
SPACE The term primacy effect is used in psychology to denote something similar to the sense that ‘first impressions last the longest’. What was your first impression of the architectural design industry as a novice?
Chae Seungbin (Chae) My first workplace was an architectural design office composed of three people. I remember sitting still and looking at portfolios and materials related to drawings on my first day. This helped me a lot when I actually started working, enabling me to familiarise myself with the format of the drawings of the firm, in terms of CAD CTB and layers. I worked for over a year, and then I moved to a firm with around 15 – 20 people. Here, on my first day at work, I was given a project that had just progressed into the working design phase. I remember going to ask and confirm details with many of my superiors and directors, almost as if there had been no point in my earlier training.
Lee I would guess that all ateliers are similar. They are all busy, and as there is no practical work that a novice can do. I also spent my first day at work looking at materials related to drawings. Then, I started helping with tasks one by one, and after less than a month had passed, I was suddenly made PM (project manager) for a new project. I was even given a business card that read ‘team manager’. (laugh)
Min In terms of the large-scale architectural design office where I was employed, we started with a fortnight’s new employee orientation. The main objective was to train us to have greater awareness of the firm’s culture and business etiquette, and to join membership training between new employees. This is not related to design. At the time, we each wrote and submitted work the teams we wished to join, and once we were placed in the teams, we were handed over for work. The hand over process is not fixed and varies per team. I myself wandered around looking for work to do in the beginning. After I spent around a fortnight like this, I joined a project, and ended up working overtime for five months! (laugh)
“
I also spent my first day
at work looking
at materials related to drawings.
Then, I started helping
with tasks one by one,
and after less than a month had passed,
I was suddenly made PM (project manager)
for a new project.
I was even given a business card
that read ‘team manager’.
(laugh)
”
What Did School Teach You?
SPACE What gap, if any, felt existed for you between your education and emerging practice just after graduating? This is perhaps revealing of what needs to be more robust in architecture education.
Chae The design studios at Hongik University allotted time to conceptual design, and as such to the schematic design process. In ateliers, employees in their first or second year will frequently start to produce working drawings. This means understanding and reproducing the many details including waterproofing and insulation at this stage, and there are many practical difficulties in doing so. Even if detail was studied at school as theory, there is only a scant understanding as they have never tried drawing such things themselves. I have also often thought it would be better to have four years of education, and spend one year in practical training.
Lee Ewha Womans University has a three credit course to learn working drawings. I thought the course is about working drawing when doing on assignments as students. But looking back on the work as someone in practice, it felt strongly of having assembled detailed drawings from here and there and put them together. My doubts about the effects of the education are also about the part regarding regulations review, as well as the details. While legal regulations may differ between programme or site, it would be good if they had informed us in a more organised manner what we should principally care about and how to interpret it.
Park On the other hand, at the University of Seoul, there is a six credit design course to teach us how to draft working drawings. The course was about evolving one’s own prior design into working drawings. It is what I remember most from the five- year curriculum, and it still serves me to this day. This education is absolutely necessary, but it would be good to learn various details such as each design and material, not just for your own project.
Min There is less of a gap felt with the work carried out by the architecture planning team of large-scale architectural design office. It can be applied even if the drawings are produced at a student’s level, because it is a stage to take a rough direction and design changes occur frequently. Of course, I draw in greater detail than when I was a student, but if you draw drawings to a certain level, they can be used in practice. Even if a project might be nominated in the competition, the working drawings will be sent over to the working design team. So, you do not have to be burdened with the difference between school education and practice. Even if you are only a fourth year at university, there is no big problem in working at a large-scale architectural design office for a newbie, and if school wants to introduce one more year, we need an education that helps equip us in working design process.
“
Even if detail was studied
at school as theory,
there is only a scant understanding
as they have never tried
drawing such things themselves.
I have also often thought
it would be better to have
four years of education,
and spend one year
in practical training.
”
The Freedom to Look Around and Back
SPACE Once you become more familiar with the working environment, you gain a sense of freedom to look around and back. What is the state of the ideal and the real? There must be elements, whether positive or negative, that did not meet with your expectations?
Lee Luckily, I am satisfied with the extent to which I have met all the criteria that I had prioritised when choosing a firm, in terms of quality of the projects, growth potential, the general atmosphere. It’s good because the firm is also growing in terms of the scale or quality of its new projects, so I’m not the only aspect in development. We recently went to visit New York after being selected for a design competition for the Changwon Museum of Art. As much it being a monumental feat for an atelier to work on a museum project, everybody has the volition to ‘by all means’ perform ‘well’. While researching case studies of museums abroad, the principal suggested that we should go to see MoMA in person, and so all the employees left to New York for 9 days and 7 nights. As the greater objective was architectural site visits including MoMA, we took trains and wandered around places out of the city even if it were in the suburbs just to see the architecture of Luis Kahn, rather than sightseeing. Of course, not every day is plain sailing. When I am on the phone with partner companies, I might be misunderstood as the secretary or the receptionist, and they sometimes call me ‘young lady’. While I joke about becoming a team leader as soon as I started work, it is at these moments that we definitely require such status or authority, like a team manager.
Min While I had thought at the housing department of a large-scale architectural design office we would only design ordinary apartments, I have also worked on high class housing far surpassing my expectations. While the results were of a standard to be a social issue, it was a shame that there was not as much compensation as the hard work put in. According to the characteristics of the firm, and with lots of employees, it can be difficult to be attentive to the lower ranking employees. After gaining two years of experience, you start to see colleagues you started out with branching out to different paths. Some people are already specialising in building regulations, while some were taking on façade design due to their talent for 3D modeling. Those who aim for self-realisation or phenomenal growth might feel slightly put off.
Chae I felt that ateliers and large-scale architectural design offices are different in terms of their sense of responsibility. In large-scale architectural design office, the work can be distributed among many people, and the newbies can learn more systematically from more experienced employees. While in ateliers, a relatively small number of people often become PM at an early stage in their careers, and therefore take on greater responsibility much faster. I had assumed that it would be like this when job hunting, but I can really feel it in practice. At the time, I chose an atelier as I prioritised growth potential over pay. I didn’t even expect to be paid for overtime, and so it’s a huge pleasure that I will get paid for overtime from this year on. (laugh) Nevertheless, there are still more ateliers than not that do not offer overtime pay.
Newbies Enter and the Experienced Leave?
SPACE Having worked almost two years now, you are in experiencing a period of enormous change. The date for the expiration of the Youth Tomorrow Savings (hereinafter YTS) is approaching, and one year later, you will have fulfilled the requirements to apply for the architects qualifying examination. What concerns do you have at a point when newbies are entering and you with your experience may be encouraged to leave?
Min To people starting out in their careers, the YTS is almost a religion. Not only me, but also friends around me are experiencing difficulties and talking about their hard work, concluding conversations by saying, ‘but still there is the YTS’. As such, the YTS is an important element for novices in the field, and frequently the expiration of the YTS period becomes a milestone for relocating one’s work. However, with the rapid climb of starting salaries in the design industry recently, some novices who have entered the workplace this year have not been able to apply for this status.
Park The first time I quit work was when I cancelled the YTS within a month and left. It is a tragedy to stay on because of YTS. I wanted to find a firm with which I felt satisfied, without YTS. At my current firm, there are team leaders with 7 to 8 years of experience instead of employees with 3 to 4 years of experience and I am getting a lot of help from them. If there are no intermediary workers, the role of the principal also becomes important. While my first workplace was operated with one worker, the principal already understood the next steps to go from preliminary stage to construction, and explained in detail to me how it might be good to work. Thanks to this, I could learn about seeing the bigger picture.
Chae One reason you need superiors is because you can’t ignore the significance of experience. If we took reviewing regulations for an example, a newbie is not confused whether the project satisfies five criteria or not. They don’t even know what the five criteria are. It is at this moment that a superior can come into help to meet in the middle, yet, if one’s superiors are constantly leaving, there is no choice but to ask the principal all the time. The absence of superiors also comes to light when newbies enter the firm. I need to teach them what to do, but I don’t know how to teach them because I never learnt from a superior. While the newbie just depends on me, I am also not that sure about certain things, and end up teaching them without any systematic approach, with ‘if not, then whatever’ attitude. To understand how strong an architectural design office is, one should look at how well established the employees of three years of experience are.
“
The absence of superiors
also comes to light
when newbies enter the firm.
I need to teach them what to do,
but I don’t know how to
teach them because
I never learnt from a superior.
While the newbie
just depends on me,
I am also not that sure
about certain things,
and end up teaching them
without any systematic approach,
with ‘if not, then whatever’ attitude.
”
Getting Ready to Take the Next Step
SPACE Let’s ask you all directly: will you continue to design? What has changed in terms of the goal you dreamt of before working architectural design industry, and what are your next steps?
Park When I chose design as a career, I wanted to gain overall experience on a spectrum of different scales of firm and working environments. I will probably have to work in design for at least five years to achieve this goal. When I next relocate, I hope that there will be at least one condition that is the polar opposite from the current company. If I were to be employed abroad, I would hope to learn the system of how to work efficiently. When I was a student intern at an architectural design office in the Netherlands, we used to use Revit. Now, using CAD and Sketchup in the Korean architectural design office, I feel that it’s a pity that it’s quite inefficient when making working drawings or reflecting where to modify for the partner firms.
Min As a student, I wanted to return to my hometown to work as a village architect. I was able to learn about diverse posts in different sectors while meeting the design teams of the construction, civil engineering and trust firms, and so on, while working for two years in a large-scale architectural design office. Now I’m at a stage where I feel encouraged and open to many possibilities. I heard that there are actually quite a few people who move to the firms like those above from the large-scale architectural design office.
Chae It doesn’t change the fact that I would like to go independent. While I didn’t love architecture at the beginning, I have become more and more interested in it, and it offers a life-long professional career, with many sectors in which it is possible to branch out towards with an architectural background. In this line, I would like to create a firm which assembles not only around design but also project development and schematic design. My future plan is to acquire an architect license, and to challenge myself again by going to study abroad. To be honest, I hoped to go study abroad before relocating my work, but I delayed this plan after a long period of consideration after receiving the advice, ‘once you return from studying abroad, it can become harder to gain skills for what one learns as a newbie, and more difficult to ask to be taught’. I am thinking of the United States. This large market means that it is possible to comes across projects that can rarely be experienced domestically, and I heard that there are more communities of people who went to the same graduate school upon returning to Korea.
Lee Even when I was a student, even while I was working, the desire to be independent and set up my own office was not strong. I think it’s because I feel that I’m still yet to access many parts of myself. At the end of two years of practical training, I want to focus on experiencing as many different experiences as possible, rather than thinking about the distant future in a situation where I am not sure whether I will prepare for the architects qualifying examination immediately after completing three years of practical training.
SPACE So what changes should we, as an architectural design industry and society, make for the better?
Min An architect has a professional career, with a five- year education, three years practice and having to pass the architects qualifying examination. In contrast to this, the approach to the work is closer to the service sector. It is a shame that one must spend entire nights working if the client sends over the parts to be modified and requests for it to be sent over by tomorrow. One must take on a sense of autonomy as a professional.
Chae Before blaming a low project budget, one must consider the public’s awareness of architecture. The value of architecture as an investment will also go up according to how much the public appreciate architecture. One should not think badly of architects exposed in the media. In one university, once one of the architecture professors became famous and started appearing on television, and the department was sponsored with large amount of money for model making. I felt that if there are more cases of architects presenting themselves to the public, it will not only be schools but also society that will feel an impact.
Lee I agree too. It is necessary to break away from the perception that architecture is only a tool for real estate value or profit creation. This also suggests that the perception of architecture in Korea needs to change. Still, there are often cases where a temporary design is requested without hesitation. Temporary design is also a work that requires expertise, time, and labour, from design to legal review, but I don’t think it’s right to ask for it without any compensation. Also, accepting it will inevitably have a negative impact on the architectural design industry.
Park For a short period, I was interested in the IT sector rather than design. At the time I was amazed and kind of jealous to see how the IT sector community operates much more actively. It would be good if the architecture field could also have its own platform for communication, so that people in the field could share information and come together.
