Undergraduate Architecture Portfolio
GracefulSpoon Version1.0 was mainly a static repository for my undergraduate portfolio and eventually led to this printed version. It’s funny to look back on something that became such a major time investment, something that is supposed to sum up all my design sensibilities, and even, in no small measure, played a major role in determining the outcome of my immediate future. And then, after months of anticipation, the portfolio fulfills its purpose – successfully! – and is no longer relevant. So, in lieu of a fiery burial at sea, I hope a modest blog post isn’t too anticlimactic.
Click here to view the full portfolio.
By popular demand, I added a link to lulu if you’d like to order a high-quality, printed version.
January 7th, 2009 at 12:07 pm
Amazing works.
I need a lot of help starting a portfolio . If you could help in any way, it’d be appreciated.
February 7th, 2009 at 2:02 pm
it’s absolutely wonderful.. would u please e-mail me?? i really wanna ask u few tips for preparing a arch portfolio..
thank youso so much
March 1st, 2009 at 8:19 pm
Thanks for your feedback. I’d be happy to help if you had any questions! -John
July 13th, 2009 at 2:47 pm
hey there, wonderful graduate work.. especially the mumbai airport.. i wud really want to take guidance from u.. thnx very much..
December 29th, 2009 at 11:31 am
aamazing
April 16th, 2010 at 11:55 pm
HOW OLD R U?
December 5th, 2010 at 6:38 pm
Your portfolio is breath taking, I’m an undergrad at UF and I wanted to know if you could give me any tips to make my own work stand out. Any suggestions would be greatly appreciated Thanks!
December 7th, 2010 at 11:32 pm
Hi Bryant, thanks for your comment! Why don’t you put some of your work up on issuu or some other such site and I’d be more than happy to take a look and offer any suggestions. Cheers, J
June 6th, 2011 at 1:26 am
Excellent work John, I need guidance as well approaching my architecture portfolio. I am an undergraduate transferring soon but I have no idea what to add and how to lay it out. I haven’t done any designs, I’ve been taking drafting, cad, and graphic illustration classes. If you can email me I will add more information. Thanks.
June 17th, 2011 at 3:35 pm
AKZ, Email me any work you’ve done, I’d be happy to take a look and offer any suggestions. -John
January 9th, 2012 at 4:37 pm
Hey John! Just randomly came across your work online, and I’m really glad I did! You have some amazing, and inspiring work, and I look forward to whatever you produce in the future! Just want to say thanks for some inspiration, from an undergrad arch student at Illinois.
January 19th, 2012 at 1:23 pm
hey John, this is amazing…
January 19th, 2012 at 1:29 pm
Thanks for the kind words.
August 2nd, 2012 at 1:06 pm
This shit is fucking beautiful
September 16th, 2012 at 4:26 am
Hey, just came along to your portfolio. I am an undergraduate student in Bucharest and I was wondering if you could give me a tip regarding the amount of work that I am supposed to put in my portfolio. The projects are very detailed and I have some problems on choosing exactly what an employer or any one else would be interested in. Like for example how many pages should I provide for one project?
Thanks,
Dana
September 16th, 2012 at 7:26 am
Dana, I don’t think there is any strict rule for portfolio length, but if it’s for a job I would recommend less than 30 pages and no more than 4-6 projects. Don’t be afraid to edit things out. -J
September 17th, 2012 at 3:31 am
Thank you for your suggestions.
November 8th, 2012 at 3:50 am
Hey John
Amazing , splendid work !!! (y).cheers to that !!!
I a currently doing my third year b.arch, on the merge of beginning to work on the portfolio.
It would be a great help if you could extend your support for the same..
Also my first and second year design are all manually drafted so do i digitize them first before beginning with the portfolio ?!?!?
Regards
Simran
November 11th, 2012 at 9:07 pm
Simran, Bravo on hand drawing, there’s nothing like it! Shoot me an email, happy to help. john.h.locke@gmail.com
December 17th, 2012 at 9:10 am
Hi john
stupendofantabulous work….
I am recently persuaded in sixth semster(in third year) of b.arch and very tensed about my portfolio..i will be very thankful to you if you suggest some tips about it…
I am good at 3-ds max..and my all design problems are manually drafted..
December 17th, 2012 at 9:51 am
Hi Keertika,
Thanks for your comment. Don’t be too nervous about your portfolio, it should be fun! This was about the fifth one I had done and they got better every time. Just be confident in your work. Bravo for manually drafting your work, I think you find it helpful as you continue your career and get stuck behind a computer more and more. 3DS max is alway handy to have in your toolbelt, rhino is also a versatile program that is pretty facile to pick up. Feel free to send me any work and I could give you a critique. cheers.
January 8th, 2013 at 1:34 am
Hi John,
very impressive portfolio. I ran into your portfolio when I was doing my own one and got a lot of inspirations.
I’m just curious which program did you use to do your layout? (InDesign? Photoshop? Illustrator?)
And what do you think of the different pros/cons of these programs?
I used to use InDesign for my projects but I did my portfolio pages in Photoshop since I thought it’s a bit more flexible in terms of the layout and easier to edit images back and forth..but InDesign works better to manage consistently between different pages..
I’m not really a pro for either one so just wondering if there’s any tips in choosing the program.
Thanks a lot!
Cheers.
January 8th, 2013 at 2:32 pm
Hi Yunong, thanks! I’ll let you know how I switched between the various Adobe programs, I don’t know if this is the best method but it worked pretty well for me and made the entire process a little less painful. All edits to image work – renderings, model photos, etc was done in Photoshop. Anything using vector lines, like diagrams, was done in Illustrator. So all individual images, diagrams and whatever other portfolio content was saved as separate files and placed into a single folder. Super straightforward so far. Lastly, InDesign brought everything together on the page, allowing me to place and size the individual images and diagrams. Also, all notes and text and things like that were added in InDesign to help keep font and font sizes coordinated. You’re really working between all three programs pretty fluidly, but I think it’s easiest to think of InDesign as where you put it all together and place images and build layouts. Feel free to let me know if you have any other questions.
April 24th, 2013 at 4:08 am
Hi John,
first of all, congratulation! You are a really talented Architect!
Could you tell me which programs are you using for the 3d modelling and which render engine?(Vray maybe) I am curious because it seem to be very easy for you to produce complex 3d models. And, do you have any link to share with us with some Photoshop tutorials that you recomended…thanks a lot and once again, great portfolio!
April 24th, 2013 at 8:38 am
Eugenio, thanks! Most of the modeling was done in either Rhino or Max and rendered in either vray or mentalray. Was there any particular image you were interested in? I could go in to more detail about the process of creating (hopefully showing how easy it is to make in the process) the image if there was something specific you were looking at. J
June 6th, 2013 at 7:57 am
Hej John,
It seems like I can only preview the first 17 pages of your folio on lulu. Is there somewhere with all the pages? The link doesnt seem to work for me! Looks good though!
Cheers
June 6th, 2013 at 8:03 am
Never mind! It seems like I found a working link on your page anyway!! π
August 22nd, 2013 at 2:16 am
Amazing works.
I need a lot of help starting a portfolio . If you could help in any way, itβd be appreciated.
October 30th, 2013 at 2:07 am
hii john..im making a portfolio for applying in architecture course in UK….im badly stuck wd some ideas and im not being able to move ahead..i will be very grateful to u if u can help me out wd ds..rgrds
October 30th, 2013 at 3:13 pm
Medha, shoot me an email and I’ll take a look at what you have. Cheers.
February 8th, 2014 at 5:08 pm
I am supposed to be working on my portfolio for studio placement because I am transferring abroad. I dont know where to start π
August 26th, 2014 at 8:47 pm
Hello John,
I graduated out of college two years ago, as an undergraduate I studied Architectural History. I’m currently working on applying for my Masters in Architecture and I was wondering if you can guide me through the Portfolio process, I’m having trouble deciding what to include. Any suggestions?
Thanks,
-Y.L
August 27th, 2014 at 10:42 am
It’s difficult to give boilerplate suggestions, I think each portfolio should be set up in relation to your work and undergraduate degree, especially when you don’t come from an architecture background. Please feel free to send me your work and things you’re considering and I’d be happy to take a look.
July 21st, 2015 at 8:01 am
Hai John,
Am doing my undergraduate in architecture ,nw am in third year, i need to prepare my portfolio fa my internship…..but am totally blank on hw to start with portfolio ….my 4 projects are manual drafted and i am good at CAD , Revit , sketchup ….I hope yu will help me.
July 21st, 2015 at 9:21 am
Shruthi, feel free to shoot me an email with some of your project images and I’d be happy to help. J