A compass set. For an architecture student in the early 1980s, owning a compass was not a luxury, it was a necessity. This, along with other required mechanical tools (drafting instruments) including a triangular metric scale (which in Europe serves both architects and engineers), various triangles, ruler, T-square (parallel bars were rare and expensive and were seen as an American luxury for a European student), protractor (measured angles), templates known as French curves (to draw complex geometry), eraser shield, and the ubiquitous item that was expensive but lifesaving – Rotring’s famous rapidograph ink pens.