Pilachi_Sketch [ BLOG ]

Architecture in Jamaica is a profession that has limited opportunities for the local population of architects, and even fewer opportunities for the architecture students who graduate each year. I also understand that the Jamaica Institute of Architects is also no longer as cohesive as it could be.

I have not joined the association. I am not sure how I would join… who to speak to… nor why [to be honest]. Maybe they have good parties… but I neither drink nor socialize.

With hundreds of student applicants at the local architecture school, from across the Caribbean, The 50 or so accepted each year accomplish quite a feat; and with fewer than 3 or so employees in most prominent architecture firms in Jamaica, the graduating students find themselves in an ackward position. Are we training our students for export? If so, to where? The Eastern Caribbean? The US?

Having learnt the hard way, the local credentials, like our currency, have little… well… currency in the US. For this reason, new credentials were sought at a US university, in an effort to overcome the even steeper odds of getting into a New York or other such metropolitan architecture office.

So what is the point of doing an architecture degree in Jamaica. Honestly, my best answer is that it is one of the best options for higher education in Jamaica. From a cost benefit analysis standpoint however, or an employment perspective, I am less certain.

So what is the point of helping the students become better at doing the tasks required of them? Because… the odds are too steeply stacked against them.

Any exercise in futility has an unlikely solution. I hope to help them to find their own.

That is it. simple.