Week 3: Where did you go?
Saturday, June 2, 2012 at 1:29PM
Teal N in Week 3

This week flew by! With Monday being a holiday and Friday being my first half-day the week was over in a blink of an eye. There were a lot of deadlines to meet this week. Tuesday everyone was hard at work on their various projects. I worked on a floor pattern and kept working on the Revit sheet throughout the week. Wednesday we had an office meeting to look at what the rest of the week had in store for us. This week Rebecca was very helpful in pointing out key terms, to make sure I understood what each one meant (see list below). Thursday I finished the floor pattern…barely. I almost crashed the floor pattern drawing! I finally figured out, after 2 years, that a polyline is used so you can select an object to hatch (not to kept the hatch just inside). I was mortified! But I learned, so now I know for the future (if they even let me do another floor pattern). After that scare I stepped away from the computer for a bit and went to pull some cubicle curtains for a designer. Friday I helped pull some artwork for a project. Who knew picking art could be such a challenge!? I finished the week with a larger vocabulary and luckily not crashing any drawings, so that’s a positive. The week ahead looks busy, but I can’t wait to go back to work Monday! My goal for this week is to talk more. I hope everyone has a great week and is enjoying their internship as much as I am.

New vocabulary list I obtained this week!

Scope Creep- little changes in a project that add time and money

Frozen Floor Plan- meaning the floor plan isn’t changing again

Value Engineering- finding a cheaper way

FADS- Furniture, Art, Drapery, Signage

Inner Design Studio values “new opportunities to deliver timeless custom designs-on budget and on time” (taken from their website http://www.innerdesignstudio.com/). Alli (See picture below) said it like this, “If a client likes polka-dots, then we like polka-dots.” They do the best they can to make their client's happy.

On any given project the firm is working with the contractor, architect, and electrical engineer.  They work closely with the architect on the front end, while during the construction phase they work closer with the contractor.

All the designers are active members of IIDA. Alli recently stepped down from being the website chair.

All of the girls have to complete their 10 hours of CEUs (Continuing Education Units) every 2 years. Here is the IIDA website with all the requirements (http://www.iida.org/content.cfm/compliance). Since Rebecca is licensed in a number of states she has to have more CEU credits than the other designers.

All the designers are NCIDQ/FIDER certified. Monika is also LEED AP 2009.

The company has been involved in various community service events. They have helped build a number of Habitat houses. This past Christmas they adopted a family. They also recycled a bunch of their old materials by participating in the Nashville Zerolandfill.

For Inner Design Studio conflict is resolved by communication. For example who was specifying the cubicle curtain (the architect or the designer) has before been a problem. Just to be on the safe side the designer pulled a sample, and in the end the architect admitted it was their job. He said it just must have been an oversight on their part. This is an example why communication and written documentation are very important (by law a written document or specification overrules a drawing).

Professional Ethics are codes that need to be upheld in a professional practice to respect the public, clients, colleagues, other designers, the profession, and the employer. A few of the ethics they follow are: contracts with clients clearly state the scale and type of project, keep values of professional and personal behavior, seek to continually improve their specialized knowledge.

Alli got flowers from her boyfriend! Aren’t they gorgeous?! (Sorry the picture is blurred. I got a little too excited and shook the camera.)

Brennan and IBrennan has only been with Inner Design Studio for a few months. Isn’t her name unique!? She is the receptionist/support staff. She is always smiling! Brennan answers the phone, schedules luncheons, keeps the materials library clean, and any other various tasks someone in the office my need her to do. You can always hear, “Inner Design Studio, this is Brennan” when she answers the phone. The FedEx and UPS men visit her daily with a load of material samples. She just sold her house and only has a few more days to find a new place!

Article originally appeared on Mary Beth Robinson, Associate Professor (http://utkid.squarespace.com/).
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