8 ideal gifts for architects

The festive season of the end of year is considered as the most beautiful times, as the joy-full atmosphere helps create beautiful memories with friends and relatives. A time to praise life, cherish family and friends and value important achievements.

This cheerful time brings along a lot of adrenaline, as in our culture the New Year should find us at our best! Thus, for architects and their collaborators this means a lot of rush to finalise their ongoing projects so their clients can join their new home or open their businesses.  Of course in the midst of this rush, the gift-giving remains a beautiful tradition. But when you have an architect a friend or family member, you know perfectly how picky they are, and that can add a bit adrenaline for you too,

Pik Ark has created a list of 8 ideal gifts for architects, as a result of a poll we did these days,

02.Sketching notebook

Go for a Moleskine notebook, as it has the perfect texture, thickness and color to sketch or draw. Always pick the blank one, as architects don’t like constrains and love to be creative.

Architect’s language is mostly visual and is expressed though drawing so it will always appreciated as their creative process and critical thinking is developed as they sketch and organise their thoughts.

If it is someone you don’t know quite well, we believe is the perfect gift and if you want to add more go for some special coloured pencils.

dexigner.com

02. Puzzle 

Everything that requires focus, visual memory and a keen eye for details, be sure is a good gift idea for architects.

Puzzles have the perfect engagement and this is why they make a perfect gifts for architect. Preferably choose something that is related to architecture, just be sure to buy one with many many pieces, so you will keep them busy for a long time!

03. Books (architecture) 

It is classic, but never goes out of fashion: (architecture ) books!

Books are a great source of inspiration no matter how frenetically the digital world evolves. Choose a book that goes along with the architect’s interests which can be about their favourite architect ( Alvaro Siza, Zaha Hadid, Tadao Ando,  Le Corbusier ..), their favourite architectural style ( Minimalism, Japandi, Art Nouveau, Brutalist..etc ) or interesting themes (lighting, colours, psychology in buildings, materials, phenomenology, Urban design, photography.. etc)

Gift a book, but be sure to find a niche that adhere’s to his/her interest.

In case you would like to know more about Albanian Contemporary Architecture we have a book for you that you can buy from Pik Ark.

Fragmente të Arkitekturës Bashkëkohore Shqiptare, Armand Vokshi & Nesila Hajdini

04.Pad for drawings!

Just think it as a digital notebook!

You sketch and draw and everything is directly digital, in your computer. A great tool to help an architect’s creative process. Every design, every drawing comes not only digital but also in high resolution, editable that makes it perfect in case it will ever be part of a publication later on.( you never know )

05. Lego

An activity that connects to childhood, when buildings, vehicles, houses, would be build out of unimaginable means. (for those generations that had no legos ) That drive to create without constrains can be focused in building through legos let it be cities, houses, ships, buildings…

You can never be creative enough, and legos will always help you

06. A yearly subscriptions to architectural magazines

There are many inspiring magazines and of course the added price to subscribe to them, is not that affordable for our reality.

Being a professional architect, means that you will need to always be up-to date with the architecture all around the world. The best mean of selected information is from architecture magazines. So if you really would like to impress your architect, gift a yearly membership/subscription to their favourite magazine ( be sure to know before hands).

There are many inspiring magazines and of course the added price to subscribe to them, is not that affordable for our reality.

07. E-book reader (Kindle)

What about gifting the key to entire library? With an e-book reader, you will definitely easy the reading habits of architects and provide them with an easy access to many different books at one time. So if you are not sure what book to gift to them, an e-book reader seems a better option so they can choose their favourite one. The possibilities are endless and access to books is much easier, especially for specific books related to the profession of architecture. ( not in Albanian though)

For sure they will thank you! It's just hard to find books in Albanian!

8. (Our favourite ) A Trip!

Travel, is the deepest source of inspiration and growth! As a spiritual food, architects thrill over experiencing new cultures, cities, traditions, colors, food and for sure architecture!
A great source for relaxation and detach form the stress of every day, for sure a cultural trip is the perfect gift!
It will result in creative flow rooted on the energy received on the trip.
Definitely a gift to consider, as with today possibilities, it can be even more convenient than a book :)

Alhambra, Granada,Spain                                                Lisbon

Happy new Year from Pik Ark team!

Don’t forget to inspire!