Architects have their own vocabulary, one I typically try to avoid, but we all understand what it means when you bring pen and paper together and start talking

Since I spend a majority of my time trying exceedingly hard to not sound like an architect, it’s always a bit of a jolt to my system when I jump back into an environment when it’s actually important to sound like one. This is the situation I found myself on Monday as I was a juror for the end of the semester project for sophomore architecture students at Texas A&M University.Don’t I look thrilled to be there"!" I actually did enjoy myself and I am hopeful that none of these budding architectural superstars left thinking that I had shredded their projects (and their self-confidence) too badly. I really enjoy sitting in on design crits with students and think I’m pretty constructive as I typically try to find something positive that they should take pride in, identify something that could use further attention and development, and one item where I think they might have missed the mark.As I sat through 16 presentations – a total of 5 hours – I keep thinking over and over to myself “Architects have a specific way that they talk to one another” and for me, that specifically means sketching.SketchesArchitects have our own vocabulary, one full of jargon and lingo that I typically try and avoid, but we all understand what it means when you bring a pen and some pa...