Architect – NSW

For Renata Prosenik, there was never any other option. Having made models of houses and buildings since she was 12, she always knew architecture was the career she wanted to pursue.

“For me, there was never anything else,” she says.

After completing primary and secondary school in her birth country of Serbia, she and her family moved to Sydney where she undertook the HSC. With her career already in mind, she chose physics, design and technology and 3-unit maths along with more general subjects to give her a leg up into a university course.

She was accepted into the University of Sydney for the beginning of a five-and-a-half-year process.

“That is when the fun started and life ended,” Prosenik says.

“Unlike any other course at university, architecture is very heavy on face-to-face hours. In 1998, that was about 30 hours a week — which was almost twice as long as other courses.”

Apart from the attendance hours, there were plenty of assignments and projects.

“It’s not the standard way of studying because it is a lot of design and design development and research,” Prosenik says.

After three years, she qualified for a Bachelor of Science (Architecture) and spent the next six months working at an architectural firm, another requirement of the course.

Another two years’ study followed and she finally completed her Bachelor of Architecture.

After working for a few months, she took a trip back to Serbia.

“It started off as a holiday but I ended up staying there for four years because of family,” she says.

“It is handy to have a degree you can work with anywhere in the world, where you can go anywhere at all and find a job.”

In order to call yourself an architect, you need to register with the Australian Institute of Architects. She did a written exam and went on to an oral interview before qualifying for registration, describing it as “quite a lengthy process”.

On her returning in 2007, she picked up a job with the highly regarded firm Tanner Architects, where she has been working ever since.

As project architect, she is responsible for residential building projects from the design process through to handing keys over to the owners, and beyond.

Prosenik loves the responsibility and gets a thrill at the end of each job. “It is the best reward seeing people enjoy something you’ve helped achieve,” she says.

HOW TO BE AN… ARCHITECT

Qualifications

Minimum ATAR entry score for the University of Sydney’s Bachelor of Design course for 2010 was 96.25. But it also considers students with a related TAFE course such as Architectural Technologies for admission along with mature-age students.

The course is a three-year Bachelor of Design in Architecture plus a two-year Master of Architecture. Students must also meet Architectural Experience Requirements, usually through work experience. On completion, students need accreditation to call themselves an architect. The Architectural Practical Examination developed by the AACA involves a written and oral exam.

Cost
The bachelor and master degrees are Commonwealth supported HECS Band 2 programs. In 2010, the student contribution was $7567.

From the inside

Renata Prosenik (pictured) completed her degree in the minimum five-and-a-half-year period but says the long hours are good preparation for the real thing. “The course gives you a good basis in the architectural industry,” she says.