Studying architecture at university? Here’s everything you need to buy

Everything an architect needs to have on their drawing board

When first starting out, it’s hard to know what you need to buy for architecture school. Here’s my complete architect’s toolkit so you can begin your journey best foot forward.

The drawing board you get in your 1st year of uni will be the one you lug around with you for the rest of your life so make it a good one.

I was broke so got the cheapest one at the time (Jakar Drawing Board with Parallel Motion A2) and its still hanging around. Somewhere along the way the parallel motion got a little less parallel, but hey, we’ve had some good times together so who needs perfectly straight lines anyways.

To be honest, as long as it’s a2+, can be put at an angle, and smooth it will do the job. You can pay extra for the aesthetic but in the end, a board is a board.

I got mine from CassArt, they usually do good deals for students in september.

Sakura Micron fine liners are the bread and butter of architectural drawings. Every architect I know has got at least one, most have the entire set. They really are good! Affordable and long lasting, I honestly can’t fault them. The sizes I would recommend are:

• one large for cut lines, 07 and above
• one medium for everyday sketching and linework, 03 or 04
• one fine for detail work, 005 or 01. I don’t recommend the 003 as the nib is so small it breaks/bunts easily.

But wait. You ain’t seen nothin’ yet.

Look at it’s subtle off-black coloring. The tasteful thickness of it. Oh my God, it even has a watermark.

Are they stupidly expensive, yes. Do I love and cherish mine, also yes. There’s something about these pens that make you feel like the most architectural architect in the world. The superiority complex they give you is truly unmatched.

However, if you can’t budget for them you’re not missing out. It hurts me to say this but, they are overhyped. If you don’t regularly use them, the ink dries up in the mechanism and it breaks. Refilling them is a hassle, and the ink is slow to dry meaning smudges all over your beautiful drawings. I got mine second hand but they’re available online.

Clutch pencils are the best invention ever, I love my Staedtler. It’s so easy to change the lead and saves you from having to rummage around for the right grade. The only thing is that you need to buy a special sharpener or risk your fingers by sharpening the lead yourself with a razor blade.

For ultra portability/laziness, I break the lead in half so inside there’s half a HB and half a B8 which I can easily switch around.

I’ve never ever made a mistake in my life so rubbers aren’t really my forte. However, if (purely hypothetically) I were to make a mistake then a simple white rubber has always done the job.

The idea of a moldable rubber makes sense in that you can mush it into a point, but the same can be done by pinching a bit of rubber off a normal one so I don’t see the point to them.

I personally don’t trust the electric ones, I feel like you don’t get the same level of control for delicate work and having to remember to charge it would drive me insane.

My only advise is to get a little plastic case or separate pocket to keep it in, there’s nothing more devastating than accidentally rubbing a bunch of muck onto your drawing.

Not to sound pretentious, but paper is so personal. You’re going to have to try a bunch and see which one has the right feel for you. The basics of it is this:

• Hot press: This has a silky smooth feel, perfect for detail work or printing.
• Cold press: There’s a slight tooth to it which gives a natural texture. It’s also more absorbent and holds/reflects pigment better so more suited for painting.
• Rough: The paper has a prominent grainy tooth to it. It has the same benefits as cold press paper, it’s just a lot more textured. Its great for model making as the glue/paint will hold better and it has a more matte look.

The other thing is GSM which is the paper thickness.

• 0-55 GSM are the thinnest papers, like tissue or newspaper.
• 75-90 GSM is typically what’s in notebooks.
• 90-100 GSM is the standard printer paper thickness.
• 120-140 GSM is good thick paper, similar to posters
• 210-300 GSM is painting paper, the minimum for watercolour.
• 350-450 GSM are the thickest papers before it becomes cardstock.

My choice is a nice hot press 240 (a3+ precut) for portfolio pages, with a soft grain cold press 300 (1.5m roll) for hand drawings. I also have a roll of tracing paper somewhere, I prefer it to be on the thinner side (easily tearable) and matte. If you’re London based I highly recommend Atlantis Art Materials.

My main advise for sketchbooks is that you have one. The brand doesn’t matter, let’s be real, moleskine sounds gross anyways. The most important thing is that you carry it around.

I started out with little A5 sketchbooks, I put one in all my bags so I got used to carrying it around. Eventually, you’re going to move up to a A4 and keep a A3 at home. Personally, I like to have ring bound ones so I can rip out or tie in pages as I please.

Other little things I would recommend adding to your arsenal.

• Scale ruler- Cheap little plastic one will do.
• Metal ruler- Essential for cutting card when modelling.
• Compass- One from a simple geometry set is fine.
• Protractor- Same as above.
• Set squares- At least one large one for setting out drawings.
• UHU Glue- There will be days where you are more Uhu than human.
• Scalpel and spare blades- You will stab yourself.
• Plasters- See above.
• Cutting mat- You will also stab and ruin a table.
• Scissors- Having a separate craft set is easier in the long run.
• Something to colour with- Whatever you’re comfy with, watercolours, markers, pencils etc.

That should be everything! If there’s something missing from the list, let me know down below.

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Thanks for reading, see ya soon -C