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Architecture Portfolio -- Help!

I have applied for Architecture 2007.

I have my Cambridge interview on December 4th and I have to prepare a portfolio to take with me. I have a lot of work and my art teacher advised me to get an A1 art portfolio the same as the ones the people going to art school have. However I am very unsure how to lay out my work inside it and really what I should have in it. I have been told I must be able to talk at length about my work so I want to make sure I have the right pieces!

Any suggestions greatly appreciated.

Thanks :smile:

Reply 1

harther

I'm afraid I dont have a suggestion, but a fellow cry for help. I've got an interview at Cambridge as well but have not studied art A level (or infact GCSE). Am I totally screwed? I haven't done a lot of 3D work either, should I aim to cobble a few pieces together? I've heard they're looking for quality more than quantity as well. Is this true?

Cheers :smile:

Reply 2

lb13

In need of help too! Interview on monday at UCL - very nervous!
Ive done both photography and graphics AS (graphic A level) as well as art and graphics for GCSE but im stil reasonably stuck

What will they be looking for in work?

Reply 3

Quiller

10

every cambridge college is different, but when i applied to Queens the portfolio discussion was pretty informal where you basically talk them through each of the pieces you included. By 'in length' i think they basically mean that you have put some thought into what you have drawn. Did you draw it for a specific purpose? to capture a particular effect or demonstrate a particular point? Maybe it was an experiment with or to explore something you had kicking around your head. Just talk about it, what you were thinking when you did certain things. Doing a quick sketch of your cat on the morning of the interview, for example, would probably be difficult to talk about as you just 'did it'. A final piece from a worked through art project would obviously be a lot easier to talk about. just take pieces that you are comfortable and happy with, it is quality over quantity, though if you turn up with 3 pieces then they're going to wonder why. There is also only a limited amount of time allocated to going through your portfolio so taking everything you've ever done is not that great either, as they simply wont get through it. sketchbooks are good as they show your thinking and progression of ideas, bring your best, but if you think you've moved on from it and its not representative of what you can do then leave it out. there is no formula for a portfolio, in the end its just taking stuff that demonstrate your ability in a few areas, that you are happy with and that you can talk about. Bartlett interviews are about 15 minutes long if i remember correctly from last year, and Cambridge was 45 minutes for me at Queens, but i dont know whether it varies from college to college.

harther - you are not 'totally screwed' but what do you have so far that demonstrates what you can do? They will be looking for drawings as you draw all the time on an architecture course, if its purely 3D then maybe you need to branch out slightly?

Reply 4

harther

I've done lots of sketches and watercolours and stuff, so i should be okay on that. But i dont have any real projects that I've done as I haven't got A level art. I'm really fed up with all these A level arty people telling my about the 'artistic process' involved in producing a 'final piece'. I've never had any academic teaching of art but surely it's about skill and potential more than being able to follow an A level syllabus?

Thanks for the advice though, Quiller. I've also gone for Queens'! :smile:

Reply 5

pix24

Hi,
I've also got my architecture interviews coming up, I have my UCl 1 next wed, and my cambridge interview, on the 13th. Any tips on portfolio and interview will be useful. has any1 done the extra personal statement thing for UCL, I just got the letter and i'm a bit confused about what 2 put.

p.s good luck with ur interviews

Reply 6

fluffybunny

hey
my interview is on the 12th and i have no idea what to bring. it says that our portfolios should consist of relevant Alevel work but mine are being submitted for marking currently so what do i bring then? that might seem weird to you guys coz ur exam sessions are around mid year right? i'm half a world away and sitting the international exams so times are different

Reply 7

ems xxx

3

fluffybunny

hey
my interview is on the 12th and i have no idea what to bring. it says that our portfolios should consist of relevant Alevel work but mine are being submitted for marking currently so what do i bring then? that might seem weird to you guys coz ur exam sessions are around mid year right? i'm half a world away and sitting the international exams so times are different

i'd talk to your art teachers or phone up the cambridge college. I'm sure they'll understand. do you have any art work that hasn't been submitted i.e. that isn't part of the a-level or equivalent? hope this helps!

my interviews on the 7th, also scared. i took a selection of my work to a mock interview, they said it was fine but only talked about it for a few minutes. i know in the real one i have 15. i spoke to my art teacher who didn't think i had enough and thinks i should take almost all of my AS work. thats 4 sketchbooks plus final pieces :s-smilie:

... i know i don't need to show them every page of my sketchbooks but do you think this is too much?

thanks
:smile:

Reply 8

Rosy Harper

When I had my interviews they were pretty informal. You just chat about each piece of work, like what inspired you, why you chose the particular medium etc

I took 15 A2 pieces and 2 sketch books.

Don't worry too much about what you've got in your portfolio (as in mediums used) as long as you can show you're creative and have talent you'll be fine!
Hope that helps :smile:

Reply 9

Barnaby

Barnaby.

I also have to do a good portfolio. I have applied to UCL and sent them my Task, so that's done, but I also have Oxford Brookes in my list and Cardiff, Plymouth and Portsmouth. My feed material for portfolio is very much graphics orientated, plenty of digital photographic stuff etc and some good GCSE and AS work, but not much original drawings, sketches or paintings. How far should one go back in age for this? I have some super sketches, drgs etc from say when I was 12/15 years old, could I include these to balance the later graphics and techincal stuff?

Any comments wout be very useful. For Cardiff I have to do an A4 portfolio but elsewhere where it is not specified I am thinking of A3, A2 or even A1, any comments on this either?

THis is my first posting, sorry if my message is rather long.

Reply 10

jrhartley

13

if you can sketch well, take a couple of days to do some new sketches now. they want to see stuff that shows how you're thinking about the world now, not how you saw it a few years ago. its worth the investment of time. my advice would be to send good quality A4 colour prints (on good quality photo paper) for the others. they are handling a lot of applications - large format stuff may end up getting left in the poster tube and never looked at - a lot of the tutors take this stuff home at weekends and will review it on a sunday afternoon, so they don't want to be lugging big pieces of work around.

Reply 11

Barnaby

I am preparing a portfolio for my Oxford Brookes interview next month and I would appreciate any advice from those who have got into OB on this. Also, I understand there is a Visualization exercise or test at the interview, can anyone please provide any info on this? I will also post this on the Oxford Brookes thread.
Regards, Barnaby

Reply 12

goodbyecasio

4

ha there's no exercise - i remember all us applicants sitting there at the end of the day going... um, did we miss something?? i think what they mean by visual exercise is just the way you talk about your portfolio in your interview, so it's kind of integrated within the questions they ask you. they ask for a fair amount of work so just take a range of things, they were most interested my photography / mixed media work.

Reply 13

Barnaby

Thanks goodbyecasio. I asked the question because they mentioned a 'visualization exercise' in their letter to me. What did you include in your portfolio and was yours in A3 format? Any help would be appreciated. Thanks.
Barnaby

Reply 14

goodbyecasio

4

everything i did was on A2, i took 15 pieces and 2 sketchbooks, but everyone bought different sized things. just take a wide range of media - photography, collage, sketches, pictures of models, painting, etc. the usual.

Reply 15

steph.steph

i didnt even have an interview when i went to my oxford brookes interview day. We had to hand in our porfollio and go on a tour of the facilities, and only certian people got asked for an interview.
I had a wide range of A1- a2 mix media, detail and photgraphy pieces plus two sketch books in my porfollio plus some of my design technology CAD work too.... I think they just want to see your creative art side in your work and why you have done certain things.
Good Luck with the interview.

Reply 16

wackysparkle

14

ooh CAD you say? -- you will have a real good advantage when you join the architecture course then!

Reply 17

poppy22

Heya, when I had my interview at Cambridge they asked for 10 A3 drawings of buildings plus a working sketchbook (and I also brought my portfolio that I was sending to other Unis). The interview was really really formal they were most interested in the buildings I had drawn -so make sure you can talk for ages about any buildings you draw!!

Make sure you have looked at the architecture department and that you are not applying just because it is Cambridge as although it's very highly regarded uni, it isn't necessarily the best for architecture. -But that's just my opinion :smile:

Reply 18

wackysparkle

14

actually yes, Cambridge is just a name - the course isn't good

Reply 19

240920

9

wackysparkle

actually yes, Cambridge is just a name - the course isn't good

Yeah. I went to the open day and wasnt very impressed. The staff didnt seen that interested or motivated- and I was really shocked that the department was so small and pokey!

Architecture Portfolio -- Help!

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