What did Tom Hanks in 'Sleepless in Seattle', Joseph Gordon-Levitt in '500 Days of Summer' and Wesley Snipes in 'Jungle Fever' have in common? They were all architects!
For a very long time now, Hollywood has declared 'Architecture' as the most romantic profession. Every other smart, funny, intelligent guy happens to be an architect. The profession does not limit itself to romantic movies. Sitcoms think architects are romantic too. For example: Ted in 'How I Met your Mother' and Joe Goodman and Louis McManus in 'Partners'.
For tinsel town, architects are the poster boys of romance. That is perhaps why the profession ranks second on the freshly released list of 11 common jobs in romantic movies.
Right in time for Valentine's Day, A.V. Club released a list of jobs that are most portrayed by the protagonist in romantic comedies. Read the full list here.
While all seems rosy in reel-life, are architects really that romantic in real life? Somewhat.
Bob Borson, in a feature on LifeofanArchitect.com, gives us a reality check about what architects are really like. Some of them are enlisted below:
- Architects don't have as much money as you think they do ... and what they do have is on the 10 year "Eames Chair and ottoman Savings Plan." The flip side is that architects don't spend money either. It's not that they're cheap, they are just saving their money until they can buy the exact thing that they want.
- Architects don't seem to love anything that actually exists. They might say that they really like something ... but even then they will systematically point out all of its flaws.
- If it isn't black, white or grey (but mostly black, let's not kid ourselves) architects don't know how to dress themselves. You might think that architect's have a good sense of style, they don't ... it's the same style and the rules as passed down from one generation of architects to the next. Architects will continue to wear black ... at least until something darker comes out.
- Architects don't have tremendous upper body strength. Or lower body strength. (This one is for Wesley Snipes)
Borson also writes about why being an architect is the best job in the world. Read his 10 reasons, here.
While, the list has many other interesting features of what these building nerds actually are, architects can be romantic in their own way (even if the word romance only means a type of old architectural style to them)
More recently, PlanningLove.org whipped up some V-Day cards "for planners, architects, urban designers, landscape architects, transportation engineers, and those who love them." The cards express love in true architectural form and are bound to make your potential or existing workaholic architect love interest happy.
