eli5 why is architecture is considered to be creative(art), and is also considered to be very hard?

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(BTW, from the beginning I want to say sorry, I’m just a teenager, and I don’t want to mock, or offend anyone with this post, I’m sorry if this post was a little bit aggresive, and i’m also sorry that I didn’t do research before posting this post, I respect architects, and I find architecture to be interesting)

So, first of all, architects study many years, and they study things like math, and science, and architecture is considered to be an art by many people, So, what kind of creativity, and knowledge of sciences does building a rectangle(cube) need?
Like, how, architecture can be related to creativity, and now i’m not talking about rectangles, and cubes, i’m talking about building that are usually considered to be an art, like creating a crappy sketch of a strange curvy thing, or round thing, or big thing, or maybe thing with a lot of cubes is considered to be creative, and architects aren’t engineering who will blow their minds out to comprehend how to build that thing, and as i know architects have nothing to do with things like colors, plumbing, air systems, electricity systems, ceiling design, furniture, materials, and etc of a building.
Like they don’t go there and say “this room will be blue, this room will be red, and that room will be yellow, electricity system will be like that, air system will be like that, sofas, and chair will be like that, doors, and stair will be like that, colors will be like that, chandeliers will be like that, toilets, and tiles will be like that, carpets, and curtains will be like that” and etc, they don’t do it(as i know, or is it the opposite, and architect is the one who does all of that?)
and so if everything thing is like that, then why do architects study so many years, and they study things like math, and science, and architecture is considered to be a creative thing(art) and is considered to be very hard? (thanks, for reading my post)

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15 Answers

Anonymous 0 Comments

You definitely have a misunderstanding of what architects do.

Because broadly speaking, yes, architects will pick out details as small as room color and sink faucet type. And while they personally do not design HVAC, or fire, or plumbing, or lighting systems. They still need to be aaare of how those systems exist and how they function on a high level so they can plan their buildings around them.

Because an architect who causes a client to lose $5 million dollars in rebuilding/designing a building because they didn’t think about how the plumbing would work at all would not end up with anymore clients.

Sure, SOME architects get to focus on just those more creative things like cool shaped buildings. But really, that is a small minority of architects. Most architects work on teams where they are solving all the problems that go into designing a building. Like they might not be designing the wiring for the lights, but they need to consider where that wiring is going to run. They might not design the sprinkler heads that the fire system uses, but they need to consider how the water pipes will run to those sprinklers.

Architects do not just do the fun creative stuff, most have to touch all the other parts of a project as well.

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