You believed and discovered that you have an aptitude for design, so you joined the first year of architectural studies and honed the skills of visualizing design.

In second year you acquired the essential knowledge and skills of building construction and associated technologies that are an integral part of the reality of architecture.

Third year is the time to learn to put your growing design skills and expanding knowledge of building technology on the yardstick of financial viability of a project. Each project undertaken now on, ought to be visualized for a real world scenario, if your objective is to practice as an architect.

Knowing what material and technology to use is part of design decision, but how much quantity and at what cost is the most crucial aspect of the realization of a design... for the simple reason that someone else, and not you, is going to dig into own pocket for the expenses involved. And of course, that somone is also going to pay you a percentage of that amount for your services.

An architect is morally responsible for the money he or she makes the client spend on a project. While the pleasure and sense of achievement at having designed well is your own, the satisfaction or heartburn of having received the final product at a cost projected by you is that of your client alone.

Keeping a tab on fluctuating cost of materials and labor, learning to prepare a bill of quantities of each project taken up is the way forward from third year of studies, if you plan to practice architecture effectively...

Remember, a client is only half impressed by your design skills through your presentation. The clinch is in the ability to project your ideas within the framework of sound economic viability based on market realities and available technologies. Otherwise the confusion is quite like this popular image: