Mitigating career uncertainty through exploring design directions in architecture education

Abstract

Architecture students in their junior - senior years frequently confront major uncertainty about their professional career, a topic that remains minimally addressed in academic curriculum. The lack of a stable professional identity can lead to uncertainty and a sense of disconnection from the profession, making it difficult for students to envision a clear career path. Previous research explored self-determination theory in general design fields, however in architecture, it did not get much investigation academically nor professionally. Previously, research attempted exploring it through intrinsic motivations, or modules providing exposure to the theory’s principles, autonomy, competence and relatedness. However, in the case of the architecture field, it was limited to investigate it comprehensively, thus it was difficult to attain a certain aspect of career uncertainty and connect it to SDT. For this research I built a web-based design driven from SDT’s principles for architecture students to use. It is a tool for students to raise their performance quality to industry standard addressing career uncertainty, utilizing industry practitioners as mentors. The test had 5 SCAD students performing pre-test items, a design test and a post-test item in three weeks. Alongside 2 architecture practitioners as mentors participating in design demo tests and interviews. The test result was mixed between the two users, for the student, while the result was positive, it did not show a significant impact, but with mid to high effect magnitude, but for the SME, The artifact serves as a productive assistant that enhances studio culture by enabling industry-expert endorsements and dynamic skill-mapping, thus validating the platform as a user-friendly architectural intervention that effectively closes the gap between professional readiness and academic preparation. Ultimately, it indicates that giving students room for guided specialized development enables them to handle career uncertainty with enhanced professional confidence and a refined design direction.