<p>so i was wondering if anyone majored in architecture and did not go on and become an architect? what other career choices are there for an architecture major?</p>
<p>You might want to read some other threads on just this subject. But the obvious ones: developer, real estate sales, interior design, web programming, architectural journalism.</p>
<p>artist, researcher, historian, curator</p>
<p>There are a few people at my construction management firm that majored in architecture.</p>
<p>what exactly is a developer?
and what exactly do they doo…
pay? etc?</p>
<p>I was wondering about that too ^</p>
<p>Ok, here is what a developer does. You might decide there is a need for office space in certain part of the city. Then you find a nice piece of land and get the owner to give you a 90 day option to buy the land. You have to put some money down for this, but not a lot. </p>
<p>Now you go and find an architect, tell them that this is going to be the greatest project they have ever done and convince them to do a design for the site for free. </p>
<p>Now you find a contractor and convince them to do an estimate for free so you know how much rent you will need to charge.</p>
<p>Now you approach tenants with this design and try to convince them to move into your building and sign a letter of intent. Once you have a tenant you then approach a lender and possibly some investors to finance the project.</p>
<p>If you get all that done you build a building and make a lot of money, if not then you have spent very little money, just the amount of time you put into it, and all the architect/contractor time you have wasted. When the economy is good you do this as many times as you can before it craters, and then you live off the money you made till the next boom.</p>
<p>The big firms have finance, construction, and leasing specialists, but the activity is pretty much the same. It does not take any special education, just a certain gumption and willingness to take risk. Architectural graduates have all the skills, but often not the risk taking tolerance.</p>
<p>rick</p>
<p>Here’s another developer story: You buy 100 acres of undeveloped land a 10 minute walk from the downtown of a small town. You plan a “New Urbanist” development with workforce housing. You discover that your town’s planning department has a plan that is at odds with the zoning department. The planning department loves your plan, but zoning won’t let you build it. You fight for a year with the abutters on one of your lands borders. You end up compromising on the plan. You clear the land and get read to build the first five houses which when sold will pay for the improvements on the rest of the property. The abutters are still fighting. Stay tuned for the end of the story. :)</p>
<p>so could you possibly do this
like on the side on top of w.e
else you do ie. architecture in a firm?</p>
<p>mathmom, that is a very common scenario where I live!</p>
<p>Well, that particular story comes from New Hampshire. :)</p>