Week 3: Urban Farming

This week was pretty eventful, and I feel like I am just trying to soak up as much as I can learn in the short amount of time I am at Nashville Civic Design Center.  The beginning of the week I continued to work on the design of the outdoor exhibit that I have talked about in earlier posts.  Then on Tuesday I was told that this fall they would publish a book about the competition and exhibit, so I have started doing a layout in InDesign and made several potential covers.

On Thursday I began helping out with another project known as Sacred Spaces for the Magdalene House in Nashville.  This is a really neat program that helps women who have survived lives of violence, prostitution, and addiction, and helps them get their lives back on track.  A local landscape architect designed a large outdoor garden/sacred space for this organization, and NCDC is helping promote this and help raise funds.  So I did a large hand rendering of their design and I am currently working on 3D renderings for the presentation this coming Friday. 

My favorite part of this past week was the Urban Design Forum that Nashville Civic Design Center hosted on Thursday after work.  These forums are held once a month usually at our downtown office, and they are open to the public.  We have food and drinks and typically a guest speaker will come and talk about a prevalent issue in the community.  This month’s topic was about urban farming so instead we went to this neat place only 10 miles from downtown called Green Door Gourmet, an organic farm that sells produce and herbs to local restaurants and people, and they have a small organic grocery store on site.  NCDC is big on supporting your local Farmer’s Market and they encourage urban farming.  So we got a tour of their lands and afterwards had the most delicious fruits, vegetables, and cheeses I have ever tasted.  

Green Door Gourmet

As far as legal recognition, professional interaction, and so on, NCDC functions a little differently since it is a non-profit and a collaboration of many different types of people involved in urban design.  The designers in the office have degrees in architecture, some with a Masters in urban design, and they are members of AIA.  NCDC is very involved in the community; in fact that is pretty much what we are all about.  NCDC has many different ways of raising awareness of different topics and educating the community on urban design, such as their urban forums, documentaries, book publication, case studies, etc.  They show people that you do not have to be a designer to take part in the design of your community.  It is fascinating to me how many people NCDC works with on a regular basis such as Metro Planning Department, Metro Housing/Development, Transportation department, the mayor, the congressman, just about every architecture/landscape/design firm around town, art committees, and so on.  It just goes to show that design really does affect every aspect of our lives.   

This is Stephanie McCullough, yet another UT architecture grad.  Stephanie is the Communications and Community Outreach Coordinator, which basically means she does all of the public relations/marketing type stuff.  She is hilarious and definitely brings a lot of personality to the office.  Stephanie is very talented at what she does, and before coming to NCDC, she worked for Hargreaves in San Francisco.

Week 3 - Man, I thought a month to do one project was rough!

Week three has come and gone and not only am I mastering Revit, and becoming a pro at ordering samples, I am realizing what we do in studio in a month is being tripled and will actually be created by the five of us at Lauderdale Design Group.  We are working on the new UT Residence Hall, the new coaches addition, the Music Building and one more project that is healthcare related.  This week my job was to once again order samples, but this time I was put in charge of getting to choose some options that fit the concepts. I also was in charged of organizing the office.  After ordering so many samples and furniture pieces, we hardly had room to walk.  The office is almost all a material's library so it is very important to keep it organized.  In Revit, we are creating a library as a group project, and it is going to make construction drawings for finals a breeze! Thankfully my collar bone is healing nicely! It seems like I will be able to even play in the end of summer tournament! 

The Clean Office

As for the weekly journal topic,  Lauderdal Design Group is an Interior Design firm, and as such works with all different kinds of professions. We have already worked with lighting professionals, architects, and Reps from carpet, tile, and fabric companies.  The two principals of the firm both complete 12 hours of continuing education units a year though different things close to and in Knoxville.  Joy, one of the principles, also said that she is a huge believer in learning something new every day. Lauderdale belongs to AIA (Joy) and USGBC (Deborah) and IIDA (Dani).  As such both Joy and Deborah have their license and Dani is on her way to getting her requirements to take the NCIDQ.  There have been some conflicting views in design elements though some of our project where we have been told straight no on something we loved and had to scarp it because its all about the client and who has the money. 

As for new people I met, I actually didn't come in contact with anyone new this week. 

WEEK 4

Monday: In the morning I filled out memo return sheets. After the clients views the fabric memos, we sent the memos back to the vendors. I called vendors about pricing and availability.  I went through the list of discontinuing patterns for Michael Jon.

Tuesday: I called vendors about pricing and availability. I went through the list of discontinuing patterns for Michael Jon again. At the end of the day, a sales prep from Schumacher presented to the interior designer about their new fabric collections.

Wednesday: In the morning I went with Sherlene to a client meeting. She wanted another opinion for the client. I called vendors about pricing and availability. I went through the list of discontinuing patterns for Michael Jon.

Thursday: Rachel and I organized another shelve in the accessory room. Amy, another interior designer on staff, needed assist in picking the accessories and art work for her job on Tuesday.

Friday: I was headed to the office, but Amy needed assist at her client house. I began to organizing their playroom so that Tuesday’s job would go quicker.

The company markets their services with TV commercials, facebook, client referral, and ads in magazines. The company targets are toward high end and low end clients, as well as walk-ins in the residential and some commercial clients. Both Marsha, the owner, and Marla, the manager, deal with the marketing. Check out Yessick's website or their facebook page.

This is Amy Monsees. She is the interior designer that I assist this week and until Tuesday. She is NCIDQ certified and is member of ASID. I enjoyed working with her this week and look forward to working with her on the job on Tuesday.

Week 6: Oh Technology!

All day Monday I rendered a nurse station and patient room for a project.  Tuesday morning I rendered a couple of floor pattern options. For lunch a rep for Novateur gave a presentation. Laura, the rep, had this particular flooring that I am very curious to see installed and cleaned. You all can see what Novateur has to offer HERE. After the presentation Anni showed me how to update my project list on the server. With the rest of the afternoon I worked on the two renderings from Monday. Wednesday morning I sketched out a few options for a nurse station. I then went to the library to see if one of the samples I had ordered had come in. The sample wasn’t there, but came in on Friday. Wednesday afternoon the designers got new iPhones! Thursday I worked on renderings and a nurse station elevation. Thursday afternoon we had an office meeting and I got a new computer! One of the designers got a new computer, so I got her computer. Friday was a little crazy. First thing that morning one of the girls got “the blue screen” on her computer and the printer and email systems were down. Luckily all the computer problems got fixed and the day went on. Friday I tweaked the color on the renderings, boxed some carpets up to be shipped back, put a furniture package together, and emailed a few reps. Then late afternoon Friday Gail and Jim (pictured below) did a joint presentation. They are husband and wife! Gail is a rep for National Wallcovering and Jim reps Concertex. They were a hoot! An interesting fact is that they went to Ireland for their honeymoon.

Jim and Gail

Furnishings, fixtures and equipment resources Reps are constantly stopping by, calling, and or emailing to keep the designers up to date on their FF&E resources. Inner Design Studio has a very neat and organized resource library. A rule when a rep stops by the library to place something in, they must remove something as well.  This little rule helps the shelves stay clean and orderly. All the resource books are placed alphabetically in their designated areas. Inner Design Studio has a very efficient filing system. There is a spot for everything. Brennan, the resource librarian, is in charge of keeping the library organized and up to date. She is constantly organizing new samples and keeping track of the reps that come in the library.  Clearly labeled plastic bins and folders are where all the fabric samples are stored. The labels and organization of the library make it very easy to navigate.

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.