Some people were really moved by a building they saw when they were young. Maybe they grew up in a big, beautiful house. Maybe when they were young, they went to one of the world's best museums and was blown away by it. No matter what it was, it was one building that got them interested in designing and building more.
Some people think that architecture schools have a political purpose. You wouldn't believe how many visionaries there are at an average architecture school. They probably make up half of the class at the school I go to. Some of them want to design buildings so that poor people can live in nice places that don't cost too much. Others want to change the way we as a society think about space.
Going to school for architecture was part of a much more grounded experience for me. You could even say that I've always been interested in buildings. I grew up on a farm in one of the last places in the United States where barn raising is still done. I didn't go to architecture school to fulfil a vague lifelong dream. Instead, it was a way to build on my early, hands-on experiences with public buildings.
I think this helps me see things much more clearly than a lot of people in architecture schools do these days. The average architecture student has their heads in the clouds. This is a good thing in some ways. To bring your buildings together, it helps to have a plan. Buildings have to be many different things. They have to be useful, built well, and comfortable to live in. They don't have to be beautiful, though. But when they are beautiful, it's like a great treat for the city around them. Even if someone doesn't understand an architect's vision, they can still tell if he has one or not.
On the other hand, if you go to school for architecture but have never built anything before, you might forget why you are doing what you are doing. At the end of the day, architecture is about making places for people to live and work. Architecture school can teach you a lot, but if you don't know this, you'll never be able to build something that is both beautiful and useful.
