Week 3: Work Hard, Play Hard

I can't believe I just finished my 3rd week. It is flying by, and I am having the time of my life. I am so thankful for all the amazing opportunities here. I love the city of St. Louis!! I have been training for a marathon at Forest Park where they have the most beautiful 6 mile loop! I have been enjoying my climbing and yoga memberships.

This week was full of digging deep into Construction Documents. On Monday morning, I began to work on putting together 7 sample trays for a government LEED project in Colorado. I also continued to put together the binder which tells tennants about LEED certification and what are acceptable substitutions. This is involves listing out all of the BDS finishes. Someone handed my a set of construction documents thicker than an encyclopedia... then they told me this was just a 60% set. To say the least, the project is massive.

The most exciting part of my week was definitely presenting conceptual design progress to our building owner and client for the intern project. Our meeting went excellent, and now, the owner wants to see all of our research pertaining to the benefits of roof farming for the building and the community. We were cleared to begin with the schematic layout, and the owner, along with the intern committee, was  impressed with our progress. Boards below.

 

This week we had an Interiors department outing in the Missouri Botanical Gardens. Before we headed out to the garden, we had cocktails at Sasha's.

At Sasha's Wine Bar with Ben, his boyfriend, John, and EkinChinese Lantern Festival at the Missouri Botanical GardensThe guy next to me is Ben. He is the one who reviewed my portofolio and submitted it to the intern committee, which led to being hired! I have loved getting to know him. He is from Thailand. Ben is very talented graphically and just designed the logo for the ASID Missouri chapter. He also has an interest in product design.

The recognition of interior design legally is essential to HOk's practice. It gives the designers credibility to their job. The company coordinates with many subcontractors, electricians, engineers, and specialists. Some of the specialists include lighting(which is inhouse), fitness, and of course product reps. Designers are members of ASID primarily. All of our lunch and learns, which are held every wednesday, contribute to Life long learning credits. HOK is involved in lots of probono work. We just finished a project in Haiti and have a sector called HOK impact that is the head of all probono stuff. Ethically, HOK has a statement which is available to all employees. The issue of confidentiality was made very apparent when I first arrived at HOK. Many of the projects have a NDA, and it is very important that employees respect this for HOK to maintain clients. The other important ethical dilema for HOK is sustainability. We even have an entire discipline devoted to sustainable integration. In house, HOK strives toward zero waste. Recycling bins are at every workstation, and the kitchen has a large compsot bin, as well. The HOK's office is LEED certified.

Comments

[MBR]

Thanks for including the great images of the intern project -- impressive! Glad to hear about the level of professionalism that is a part of HOK's culture, including the piece about sustainability. So much of what companies do to take part in being sustainable is not enough. It's great to hear that HOK is making more significant steps to go beyond "greenwashing." Glad you included Ben this week in your post -- a great story! And of course, it is great to meet the person behind the portfolio, and vice versa! I am really impressed with your training for a marathon and the yoga and climbing! You are definitely working and playing hard!