Paving the Way to a Successful Architecture Career: Shoba Cole (Interview)

Paving the Way to a Successful Architecture Career is a short series by Chaim Lieder, a recent job-seeking Bachelor’s graduate based in Melbourne. Chaim launched this initiative to re-frame his own challenges into an opportunity to help others in the same position.

Interview 3: Shoba Cole

Shoba Cole Senior Associate at CK architecture, with expertise in the education sector.

What are the most important skills for students, graduates, and emerging architects to develop as they embark on their careers?

Researching

What you put into your career is what you get out; a career extends beyond the working day. Leaving University, the art of making is generally underdeveloped - nobody really knows how a building comes together. Therefore, being willing to research and understand how a building is constructed as well as exploring different typologies will be really beneficial to your career development.

Networking

Network and maintain University and professional links. As you progress in your career those relationships are quite handy. Although you may think the industry is competitive, being able to ring up your mate at another practice and ask about a particular product they used, for example, is really helpful. As a profession, we must foster knowledge sharing so we do right by the community.

What are some unconventional ways students, graduates, and emerging architects can elevate their careers?

Pursue creative hobbies

I always encourage people to pursue creative hobbies outside of architecture that interests them. Some examples may be pottery, photography, painting or travelling. Everyone that knows me knows that I love to travel, I find that it opens you up to entirely new experiences. The discomfort associated with trying new things and visiting unfamiliar places is character building. Novelty is good for the brain, and it builds resilience, which will definitely benefit you in your career.

What do you see as a challenge and opportunity facing the next generation of architects and how can they approach it?

Shrinking timeframes

I think a challenge is the consistent shortening of timeframes. Tighter timeframes often result in lower quality work and can create problems down the line as there is less time to dissect the brief, less time to design and ultimately less time to construct. Improving your time management and resourcing effectively can help combat this challenge, as well as learning to manage client expectations and tailoring their expectation to the time accurately and honestly.

Collaboration

Advancements in technology and Covid-19 has led to the rapid adoption of video conferencing. This has opened the door to a new way of collaboration on a global scale. There is a tremendous opportunity for new and innovative partnerships and collaborations in the architecture space. This could really bring a new dimension to the profession and the spaces we design.

What is a mistake one should avoid as they progress through their architecture career?

Diversity in experience

Doing the same thing for a long time works perfectly well for certain people, but I believe there are diverse experiences to be had across various practice methodologies and building typologies. Broad exposure will add many new skills and experience to your toolbox, ultimately making you a more holistic architect.

What was a transformational moment in your career?

I started out my career doing heritage-based projects. A transformational moment for me was when I was 28 and realised that I had missed mainstream architecture. Although I hadn’t done mainstream architecture for some time, someone gave me a chance, transforming the trajectory of my career. Another transformational moment was my exposure to some personalities early on in my career that demonstrated what I don’t want to be. Those experiences transformed the way I approach junior staff, whom I realised look up to their seniors on all things beyond architecture. I learnt the importance of building people and not focusing on their mistakes.

What is the best piece of advice you have received?

Understand that you are unique in your experiences, strengths and weaknesses. Nobody is going to possess the same strengths and weaknesses as you and therefore you must learn how to work with people who have different styles of working to you.

Did you catch the previous article in this interview series, with Adam Haddow? Read it here.

If you like hearing about the career paths of others, check out the 2020 Emerging Architects Forum Replay.