Post 9: Architecture at FAU

Architecture in Universidad de Chile is a very hardworking career. First of all, in the first year the things they teach us are very abstract in order to understand how to work with shapes and spaces, without thinking about of which material the building is made off, or how much will it cost, or if the structure can hold the weight. Then, in the following semesters we learn how to design more realistic projects. They teach us which materials we could use, how to make a sustainable building, how to design the structure, etc.

From the outside, this career its known as a hardworking one, where a lot of times we don’t sleep at all in order to finish a model or a map, and it is true. From the beginning of the career the workload is so high that while we study we have to forget about our social life for a while. The study consumes all of our time, so we can’t do anything else. But, in spite of that, I think that the solution to this is to be very organized and seize all the time we have.

A thing I would change about the career are the schedules. A lot of classes are at the same time so if we don’t pass a subject we will always have problems with the schedule because some subjects are taught at the same time, so for example if someone doesn’t pass Structure, then in the next semester he can’t take Urbanism because it is thought at the same time that Structure, so he can’t go to both subjects.

One of the big problems of studying at FAU is the quality of the facilities. We don’t have enough classrooms for all of us and we need more working places. We have the library but it’s not enough for all of us. Also the infrastructure is very old and because of that in some places it's falling apart! We need a new building with more classrooms and more working places for all of us.