Let’s be honest, we’ve all had moments when we are giddy unboxing that new tech we received, whether that’s a game system, phone, or an air fryer. In fact, I remember the moment getting my new laptop for college and thinking that it was all I needed for architecture school. Oh, how little did I know. (Also, I’m not that old).
Besides, the most important piece of tech any architecture student should invest in is a laptop. At the same time, we believe these are some techs that architecture students should consider! Before we get started, though, it’s important to know your budget and priorities if you consider purchasing any of the items below. These are great to have, but it’s not necessary to be a successful and impactful designer, and there are always alternative solutions to problems!
External Hard Drives
Back-up! Back-up! Back-up! You can feel with every fiber in your being the stress levels when your laptop doesn’t turn on, or worse, gets damaged with all your precious files! Having and saving your files to an external hard drive will save a world of headaches instead of shipping your laptop in the care of someone else. If you are extra risk-averse, you can utilize a triple backup system as I do. This is a system where you backup your data periodically to multiple external drives – just in case any drive fails in the future.
External hard drives vary in prices for storage space. If you are a frequent backup-er, we recommend investing more in a SSD to speed up the backup process. For most use cases, though, a regular Hard disk drive should do the job.
Aside from being literal life-savers, external hard drives are good repositories for large project files from the past. Bloating your local disk with heavy files can actually affect your system performance!
Light Pads
Light pads are great for going through iterative drawings to explore ideas. They are portable versions of light tables and are considerably much cheaper. However, the only downside of a light pad compared to a table is the ability to draw on a larger sheet of paper. However, I’m sure your school does have a light table somewhere for you to use too. While we quarantine at our home studios, though, these nifty pads can help you refine your drawings!
Laser Distance Meter
These are more utilized in a professional setting. However, they can still provide a great benefit to students. They are great for measuring local project sites or identifying measurements to help you establish a better spatial awareness. Take this bad boy, measure everything around you, and before you know it, you can differentiate between 10ft, 25ft, or 100ft.
A Good Mouse
If you haven’t already, we highly recommend investing in a nice mouse! Besides all the cool looks of a nice mouse, they should help alleviate any stress you feel in your hand because of their ergonomic design.
However, the question is wireless or wired mouse?
I’m a little biased here, but I prefer a wired mouse over wireless. Have you ever had to frantically look for batteries or charge your wireless mouse when you need to finish that last stretch of work? If not, I’m happy for you, but there has been one too many times for me.
Still, wireless mouses are great if you like a more organized and clean workstation. If you are afraid of losing power in critical situations, you can keep them plugged in at all times too! There are countless mouses, wired or wireless, with different designs, capabilities, and prices, so research what works best for you!
Noise-Canceling Headphones
Probably the single best investment I made was getting a wireless noise-canceling headphone. It can be quite frustrating when you are super focused on a task, but studio background noise can distract you from the task. This is why investing in a pair of soundproof headphones can help you focus and optimize your time in the studio and have you rocking to some nice bass. If you are the type to work on large drawings or spend a lot of time building physical models, it might be worth looking into wireless options.
Below are some optional tech that typically isn’t needed but great to utilize and enjoy!
Tablets (Tablet PC, Graphic Tablet)
If you already invested in a good laptop, this may be an extra expense you may not need. Tablets have limited functions when it comes to architecture, but they can be great for sketches or drawings. In our previous article, 6 Digital Sketching Software, You Could Consider Using, we’ve mentioned that some can switch between laptops and tablets, which can be beneficial to have both.
3D Printers
Some schools provide access to 3D printers, but they can cost an arm and leg or hours to produce a model. Also, during the deadline crunches, waiting in line for shared printers and going to the back of the line because of a failed print can be extremely frustrating. You can consider getting one of these if you like exploring different iterations, produce a high volume of masses, and a budget that allows you to buy filament.
The prices for a 3D printer can range greatly depending on its specifications for its filament hold, size, nozzle, etc. If you are on a student budget, you can opt for more affordable options for a few hundred dollars, and band together with a few friends too.
Just to reiterate that these items are beneficial to have but shouldn’t be viewed as must-haves for you to continue to grow as a designer during your formative years in school.
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