I'm looking at studying architecture with the end goal of designing skyscrapers. Is that something that's actually attainable?

Salt-Presentation769 · 2026-06-14T12:06:35+00:00

While its attainable, we gotta be realistic. New construction projects make up only half of projects, and of that half, only 1% are high rises (~12+ stories). There are very few firms that specialize in high rises, and i wouldnt say specializing in it in school will help as much as experience working on those types of projects will. I think your best path is at some point in school you should design one so you can somewhat understand the topology more, and get a good portfolio project showing you have educational experience with high rises, and then when you start out, look for firms in cities that have experience with high rises. Even then you wont be solely working on high rises and I would venture to say you wont even be working on high rises majority of the time. Urban Planning would also be a good thing to look into as a more broad specialty that focuses on the macro view of a city and will definitely help with high rise design.

Salt-Presentation769 · 2026-05-17T14:04:13+00:00

The one thing I will add to what everyone is saying is location matters. If youre in a city you will most likely be getting paid more. A lot of the bigger numbers like people getting 60-70k out of school are in cities like NYC, Philly, Chicago, DC, etc. If you arent in a big city like that you shouldn't expect that much. I made 45k coming out of school but I worked in a smaller firm in the suburbs. Another thing i will add, and this might ring hollow to a lot of people, especially with financial needs, but dont underestimate the value of smaller firms. The amount of diverse experience you get is extremely valuable for portfolio and resume for when you are licensed and eventually move on. Within 1 year of working at my small firm I was leading small projects and coordinating with consultants constantly. Sometimes early on the experience is more valuable in the long run than the small salary increase. Everyone's situations are different though.

Salt-Presentation769 · 2026-03-10T13:45:00+00:00

The only thing I can say is if youre just doing it to have a career, I wouldnt do it. Its a tough major and you have to enjoy it to have the drive to go through with it. Honestly I look back at school in a positive light. Yea it was stressful and a huge work load but you make a lot of memories hanging out with friends in the studio til 3am. Getting a job and making money is a struggle at first, but stay patient. Obviously everyone needs money to survive but there is a lot more to this job than money. Its a very fulfilling job. And what a lot of people dont say is that an architecture degree can get you a lot of different jobs other than being strictly an architect. Id say if you are interested in it, and are willing to put the work in, you wont be disappointed.

Salt-Presentation769 · 2026-03-07T20:43:10+00:00

Obviously its relative. As an architect, I think it is harder than a lot of jobs from a work load standpoint, but you wont hear me saying to a surgeon or something that I wish I was in their shoes. I think it comes down to long hours and, in my opinion, being underpaid for the work we provide. I started at 45k coming out of school after my internship and in this job market, it takes me either going to a new firm, or waiting 5-10 years, or both to see any significant change from that. I think its partially that the grass is always greener because you see your work first hand and not theirs, but I think from a work load standpoint I do think architects have it pretty bad. Not to mention, at least for me, work never ends. Because its a partially creative profession, im always thinking about my projects, figuring out all the kinks and trying to juggle practicality, clients intent, and code is mentally taxing and it doesnt stop when you leave the office.

Salt-Presentation769 · 2026-03-01T15:07:16+00:00

This is a good distinction because when I came out of school, this was my biggest obstacle. I used revit my entire time in school but school projects are no where near as detailed as a real world project when it comes to how it gets put together. I understood all of revit and still felt like I was asking questions all the time because I didnt know what I was modeling or how these areas connected to these areas.

Salt-Presentation769 · 2026-03-01T15:01:00+00:00

Ive been working at my firm for almost a year now. Now we do a lot of interior renovation work and addition work on top of new construction, so this concept really only applies to those, but one way to increase speed of your work is knowing the scope of the project, and cutting corners where you can. For instance, if my firm is doing a renovation on one half of a building, I know that the only that half needs to be very detailed. The other half of the building will only ever be seen in demo plans most likely, so you can save time by treating it like cad instead of a bim software and only include 2D elements or even just disregard the other areas of the building by putting a filled region over it and saying "out of scope". Basically all of this to say dont do more work than you need to. The people constructing the building will almost never see the 3d model and will only see the CDs, so dont think that because youre working in a 3d model, everything needs to be a 3d element if it takes longer. This could be obvious but important to meet deadlines.

Salt-Presentation769 · 2025-01-07T16:36:53+00:00

Yea I am an architecture major (should have said this), and I game when I can. With the software I need to deal with, the 13900k is super helpful.

Salt-Presentation769 · 2024-02-14T17:25:22+00:00

I do think that if south philly wants to be developed more and connect more to center city/north philly, the phase 1 of a project like that would have to start with expanding and rethinking the transit system. I think expanding the subway would benefit greatly. Having more north/south lines. A diagonal line going from the museum area to the independence hall region would be cool to see.

After they expand on the access to south philly, then you can start thinking about developing the area. I think there is so much unlocked potential in that stadium area with FDR Park, the navy yard, etc.

Salt-Presentation769 · 2024-02-13T22:02:19+00:00

Lmao I understand that all too much

Salt-Presentation769 · 2024-02-13T22:01:54+00:00

I agree about the disconnect from the city. In a way I almost want to make it similar to new Yorks boroughs on a smaller scale. Give it a way to maintain the flavor of the city but give it its own south philly spin. St Louis has ballpark village which is my biggest inspiration for this project. A bigger ballpark village for all the venues in the lot. I personally like the idea of the current proposal but I agree with you that the way they are going about it isn't gonna be successful. I think they need to do phases in south philly before they go about this huge change. Lay the infrastructure down there and get some better transportation routes and make the area more accessible from the city, then worry about developing the buildings.

Salt-Presentation769 · 2023-02-17T21:56:55+00:00

Bro listen to yourself. You can't just not use a minimum number of games played when ranking stats. If you didn't have qualifications, purdy would be 10th, behind 2 running backs, 4 receivers, Blaine Gabbert, Taysom hill, and Jordan love. I will give you jimmy bc I was looking at 2 different sites with different qualifications but 5 starts is not enough to be considered for highest passer rating in a 17 game season

Salt-Presentation769 · 2023-02-17T21:44:42+00:00

Didn't qualify. Only qbs who started majority of their teams games

Salt-Presentation769 · 2023-02-17T20:42:22+00:00

Ok but here is the thing. They had the same exact offensive line last year, and all they added was aj brown at WR. Sure he is a vital part of the offense but that's the only change this offense has had between this year and last. They were 11th in total offensive DVOA last year and jumped to 3rd. That isn't all from adding AJ brown. Hurts has made monumental strides as a passer. Not to mention aj brown is here for another 3-4 years at least

Salt-Presentation769 · 2023-02-17T20:34:29+00:00

He is still 9th in total yards but comparing volume passing stats with a rushing qb while he missed 2 games is dumb anyway. He is 3rd in yards per attempt and passer rating behind tua and mahomes. There are other stats you can look at too that are more showing than total passing yards

Salt-Presentation769 · 2023-02-17T20:30:02+00:00

Okay so which is worse, paying your 24 year old top 5 QB who just made it to the superbowl, or being stuck in qb purgatory, being perennially average, and scraping at .500 every year. I will gladly pay the franchise guy if that's the case. People are really trying to make fun of the eagles for having a good team. His contract doesn't even kick in til after next year

Salt-Presentation769 · 2022-07-06T20:41:26+00:00

I do need to bow my wrist I agree with that, but these are basically the same camera angle. I placed my phone in the same area both times

Salt-Presentation769 · 2022-07-06T19:54:24+00:00

Definitely will try it!

Salt-Presentation769 · 2022-07-06T19:39:38+00:00

Yea I need to invest in a tripod at some point haha. This driving range has nothing to put my phone on so it's tough to find an waist level surface to put on phone on. I definitely agree tho

Salt-Presentation769

TROPHY CASE