Week 5: All Smiles

On Monday I finished up a last few touches on some of the contractor boards from the previous week. Next I proof read a furniture specification package (it wasn’t as dreadful as proofing an English paper!). I also got the opportunity to do a Photoshop rendering. Matching the paint colors to what actually printed out was a bit tricky. Monika kept saying, “You’re so close.” I did finally get the colors to look pretty similar, but don’t we all wish the actual print color and the color shown on the computer screen would just matchup? Tuesday was busy! Two people from the Bradford Group (the marketing group I mentioned last week) came to the office Tuesday morning. When I got done printing labels for a presentation board, I was stolen to do a mini photo shoot! It was fun, but I was not picture ready. Check it out here. After the people from the Bradford Group left, a man stopped by with his dog Sunni (see picture below). Also on Tuesday I had my mid-term review! I can’t believe how fast the summer is going. After lunch do you ever get that afternoon slump where you feel tired? Well at Inner Design Studio there is always someone who gets everyone out of their afternoon slump and on Tuesday it was Sarah. She livened up our afternoon! Also Tuesday afternoon I put together a flame spread folder of all the different materials specified in a project. When I was reading through some of the warranties this one stuck out the most: “Our warranty does not cover any act of God,...”. I thought that was funny. Wednesday morning I finished up pulling the flame spread information together and put away some materials in the library. Then I compared a presentation board to the specifications and made sure everything shown on the board was specified. I also did a few floor patterns in AutoCAD for a project. Thursday I scanned in some materials, so they could be use to render a few of the floor patterns I had done on Wednesday. Then for lunch a Wolf Gordon rep gave a presentation. After lunch I worked on exporting some Revit files into AutoCAD so I can use them for a rendering. I also sketched out some floor pattern options for another project. Thursday evening was a special treat, as the local Maharam rep, Jean Marie, along with the regional sales coordinator, Kristie took us to eat at Wild Ginger. It was so good! If you are ever in the Franklin, TN area you should go there. Did any of you watch the Justin Bieber concert on the Today Show Friday morning? Friday was pretty quiet in the office because a few people where gone on vacation. But Grady, the groundhog that lives behind the building, made a morning appearance (see picture below). Friday was my half day, so I worked on floor patterns in AutoCAD, and before I knew it was noon. This past week at the office I laughed and learned a lot!

I hope everyone had a great Father's Day and is ready to get back to work!?

Grady eating the leavesFloor pattern exampleRebecca sporting her newest accessory, Sunni

Rebecca is the Principal of Inner Design Studio. She is the heart and soul behind it all. Every morning Rebecca walks in with her hands full and a smile on her face and always says “Good morning!” with so much energy. Rebecca is also a wife, a mother to two dogs, a sister, and a proud aunt to two nieces. I am grateful each day that I get the opportunity to intern under her.

Procurement and related business practices

Inner Design Studio has an in-house purchasing department that is talked about in detail here. Depending on the client and their client’s needs the company can also specify and send out for biding.

Project fees are determined by the scope of work and the size of the project.

Budgets are determined by the owner/client. Sometimes the owner/client will go to Inner Design Studio directly and ask for a budget. But before a budget can be set the designers have to determine the level (high/low end) of finishes and furnishings are desired by the owner/client.

Estimating and cost for a project are managed by staying with in the client’s budget, valued engineering, and substitutions.

Budgets, fees, and costs are all handled by the team that is on the project (client, architect, designer, engineer, and contractor). The group has frequent project meetings to make sure everything is on time and budget.         

WEEK 4: FALLING INTO ROUTINE

     Monday started off busy. I worked with Sarina to complete a finish plan that I had started last week. We talked about it together to make changes and make sure the formatting was correct based on the standards for IDS. After lunch I started working on several elevations for the same project as the finish plan. Soon the CD phase will begin. I hope that once construction begins, I can see the project and how everything is coming together.

      Tuesday I started off the day with working with the other intern, Nick, to help pull finishes for a designer. After that I went with Sarina to a job site for her weekly meeting with the contractor and to take pictures of the construction progress. I enjoyed getting to see a jobsite under construction. We also had to figure out a different solution to the duct work because the current setup made the ceilings too low for code. In the afternoon I used photoshop to color in a floor plan for a designer, Roya.

     On Wednesday I had several things to do for different designers. I am excited that this week has been busier; I feel more productive and useful. I worked with the other intern, Nick, on several story boards for a designer, Erica. We had to match all the furniture with their specified finishes so that it would be clear to the client. I also completed the floor pattern that I started Tuesday for Roya. At the end of the day I had to choose alternate wallcoverings for Sarina, because the one she had originally chosen is being phased out.

      Thursday again was another busy day. I had different things to do all day. In the morning I went with Nick and Sarina to a site to do field verifications, RCP, and a PCP. All of this needed to be completed so the next phase, construction documents, can begin. After we got back to the office, I continued to finish the story boards for Erica for most of the afternoon. Towards the end of the day Maharam came in and gave a short presentation about some of their new products. After all of this, the day was already over!

     Friday was an eventful day at the office. First thing I noticed when I pulled in was that there were extra cars in the parking lot…come to find out they are filming a scene of a movie at IDS. So naturally that is what most people talk about for the day, and it was slightly annoying at times because we had to be quiet and take different routes. I did actually do some productive work such as I converted the field verifications into CAD from Thursday. The field verifications included exterior dimensions and locations of receptacles, thermostats, switches, etc.

IDS is a fairly large company and offers most services within the commercial field. They also have a lot of repeat clients. One example is HCA, a healthcare company located throughout the country. There are several designers that only do designs for this particular client. Other designers also have many repeat clients. The CEO is a large part of bringing in clients and business for IDS. A lot of the time IDS deals with brokers. They call IDS to do work.

Because IDS has most services within commercial, healthcare, businesses, retail, restaurants, etc. it does not seem that the company targets one specific market but many.

The accounting is handled in-house. A lady named Yvetta and Melody do most of the accounting procedures. Designers log their time to each week to determine what is billable and what is considered overhead. Yvetta and Melody are continuously communicating with the designers to make sure everything is correct with invoices and time sheets. It is a good thing they are organized with all the projects to keep track of and what stage they are in at the time. Every few weeks billable time is compiled and an invoice is written up and sent off to the client. It is very important that designers keep an accurate record of their time.

http://www.ids-tn.com/

Name: Emily Goins and Laura Hood

Most of you probably recognize these two lovely ladies! I thought it would be fun to put some familiar faces. They both graduated from UT! They also both work in the furniture and space planning group. This group is responsible for making sure everyone that is supposed to be in the space will fit in the space. Aas well as when a client gets new furniture, this group makes sure that every little part and piece is ordered and is the correct one. Needless to say these two girls are very important in the design phases when the client orders furniture.

Week 1

Monday: Walked to the Pinnacle building which is located conviently a block away from my apartment. The office is extremely beautiful. Pictures Below.

HOK St. Louis Office

I recieved a welcome from the HR person and the intern committee, along with 2 other architecture interms. They explained the program, which includes a 24-hour intern charette. An OIT introduction followed.  I was shown how to work my computer and the servers and how to set up my phone. I was introduced to my project team, and they took me out to lunch.

Tuesday: I prepared a furniture selection presentation and sent it out to a client for approval. Learned the inner workings of our print shop, mail room, and materials library.

Wednesday: Sat in on conference call with our client(Can't say name, project is conf.), which discussed programming for the 48,000 sp. ft. bldg. The client doesn't have a sustainability program, and we made a few suggestions moving them in the right direction. Created a bubble diagram and adjacency plan for said client. Ordered fabric samples for another project. Lunch materials presentations.

Thursday: Began a fit plan for above client. Finalized finishes for another project. Filed some things in the library. First thursday is an event across the firm every first thursday. It is about an hour long at the end of the work day. They have beer and food, and we talk about things going on across the company.

Friday: Breakfast presentation from Herman Miller and another rep. Kick off to our arts and education campaign. We all got to wear band t's and play guitar hero at lunch! Finalized my fit plan for above client. Then we went out for happy hour at a new micro-brewery called Urban Chesnut!

People of the Week:

The 2 guys located directly behind me are the interns for the summer. The one in the very back with is named Bernard. He studied architecture at a school in Missouri. Bernard is from Albany, and he has been very closely involved with a lab that we are doing in Italy. He speaks Italian, a little Greek, and of course Albanian. He is 26 and married! Also, crazy thing about Bernard... he won the lottery!

The structure of HOK is very complex. Essentially, HOK is a partnership between reknowned designers George Hellmuth, Gyo Obata, and George Kassabaum. HOK is a multidisciplinary firm specializing in Architechure, Interiors, Lighting, Engineering, Consulting, Sustainability Consulting, Planning, Urban Design, and Visual Communication(or Graphics). The firm has over 30 locations worldwide. On the Interior side of things, Michael Nolan is the Director of Interiors. Bob Blaha is the Director of Design. Under these individuals in descending order, Project Managers, Interior Architects, Senior Designers, Designers, Jr. Designers, and then of course Design Interns(me:))

Week 3: Parties, Pranks, and Presentations!

Main road rennovationMonday: We started out the week with our usual Cancer Institute walkthrough. The picture is of the view from the 4th floor of the Cancer Institute. The construction is where they are moving the main road of the hospital to allow for more parking. When we got back, we met with a carpet rep, I confirmed the order for the custom artwork I had been working on last week, and proceeded with the purchasing part. For the rest of the day I started another artwork project for a curved corridor in the main hospital. During our lunch break Rebecca, Heather, and I went on a little adventure to get supplies for a surprise party we had planned for the director of Facilities Planning. He had a birthday right before his vacation last week, and we decided to celebrate with a huge surprise party this week, now that he is back. (see pictures below).

Tuesday: I was able to sit in on a meeting with MedMaps, which is a company UT Med hired to create hospital maps, because wayfinding is a huge issue around the campus. I learned a lot about wayfinding inMid-prank face-- Alli this meeting. When I got back to my desk I had a huge pile of samples I have been ordering for material boards, and for furniture finishes for the lobby areas and exam rooms for the cancer institute. We also had lunch with the Mowhawk rep. We actually played a little prank on her before we went to lunch. She is good friends with Heather and Rebecca, and so we decided to pretend to specify a carpet that shouldn’t have been going in the hospital. The picture is of her realizing what we were trying to specify, and her reaction was pure confusion and disgust! After lunch Tuesday, I worked on finding maintenance instructions for a renovation on 12 East, and worked on Signage art for the Family Practice project we are working on.

Wednesday: This was the big day! The day of the surprise party! As soon as we got there we went to set up for the party. I then worked on finding pricing for fabrics and samples we had chosen for the Cancer Institute. Then it was PARTY TIME! Ted was so surprised! Here is a picture of Heather setting up for the Party!Heather setting up for the party! It looked great! We cooked out burgers and had an iPad cake made for him, which looked great and tasted even better! After the party it was hard to settle back in because of how much sugar we had! We did however narrow down fabric selections, choose a sheet vinyl for the bathrooms in the North Tower, and Rebecca and I spent a long time discussing the difference between a product rep, a product distributor, and their networking between each other and clients.

Thursday: First thing in the morning we had presented fabrics to the VP of the Cancer institute. It was fun getting to present something we had spent so much time on to someone who would actually be in the space daily. Since we don’t necessarily have clients for each project, often times the VP of the department will be the representative for the project, who is the person that we get the OK from to make final decisions about a project. After the meeting we had lunch with Katie, the DesignTex rep. After lunch we did another Cancer Me on the Cancer Institute construction site!Institute walkthrough and I was surprised to see that they had started painting on some of the floors! My first week they had just gotten up the wall beams and now they are beginning to paint! Things are happening fast at the Cancer Institute and I love being able to see the progression!  Here is a picture of me with my hardhat on during the walkthrough. For the rest of the day Rebecca and I went through an entire huge binder making a checklist to make sure that we had picked finishes for all the furniture that were COMs, and made a checklist of all the ones we had to pick from the specific manufacturer. COMs are Customer/Clients own material. This means that we order it from a company, and it is send to the furniture manufacturer to then put on their furniture, rather than just picking from their selections they carry on hand.

Friday: On Friday’s I usually work with Mary Beth, but I didn’t meet with her because I had a meeting with Radiation Oncology that morning to present our finishes for their department in the Cancer Institute. After that I met with a Korseal rep, then worked on finish selections for HermanMiller systems furniture for the administration offices in Cancer Institute. I only stayed until lunchtime though.

Legal Organization of UT Medical

Rebecca passed her NCIDQ!!!!!The company does prefer for its designers to be NCIDQ, but does not require it for Rebecca’s position because Heather is already NCIDQ certified. However, this week was an appropriate subject to discuss because Wednesday Rebecca got news that she had passed the NCIDQ! We were all so excited for her, and she was pretty excited herself. Here is a picture of her and her computer screen, showing she was officially NCIDQ certified!

The company does prefer that the Architects and Engineers on staff be licensed and able to stamp the appropriate drawings.

The company is very involved in lifelong learning. Since it is a learning hospital, its entire goal is to create better staff through lifelong learning. Specifically in Facilities Planning, the hospital feels its important for us to continue learning about Heathcare technologies and advancements, in the design profession and in the heathcare profession so that the designers can create spaces that can grow, perform, and withstand all that a hospital has to give.

As far as community outreach is involved, the hospital does a lot of hospital-wide events. They do the Alzheimer’s walk, Race for the Cure, United Way, etc. throughout the year.

An example of conflict that may happen in Facilities Planning is that we could be over budget on a project, causing us to either have to cut something out, or lower the cost of something else, such as artwork. Often if we are over budget, we will ask donors to donate money towards a specific piece of art we have picked out, and we will provide a nice engraved plaque next to the art thanking the donor for the art.

Other issues are typically that the idea that a client has is not to code or budget, and we typically can explain to them why we cannot meet their request, and more times than not, the client is rather understanding.

As far as legalities we need to follow, there is a huge list. Here is a link to the website showing our manual we have to follow as employees of the hospital. http://insite.utmck.edu/files/1540/compliance_program_manual-nov-2010-_2_.pdf

Ted with his iPad cake!This is Ted. He is the director of the Facilities Planning department. We through the surprise party for him this week! In the picture, he is playing with the iPad cookie that topped the cake, which looked like the Boxes that Apple products come in! When you first meet him he is pretty quiet, but if you let him warm up to you he can be quite the joke teller! At the surprise party I only heard how great of a person he is and how happy everyone was to make him feel special for his birthday!

Week 2: Getting Adjusted

I finally am getting the hang of things. I am getting better at knowing where things are without asking which is good.

Monday: Rachel, my supervisor, wasn’t able to come in until mid day, but I helped Amy, another interior designer on staff. Amy had a client meeting involving interest in a sofa and chair the client saw in the showroom. I was asked to look up the prices for the pieces since the price was not located on the furniture. The items were also not located in the catalog because they were new. I finally found the original P.O. (purchase order) and found the wholesale prices. The rest of the day I called vendors for pricing and availably. I assisted designers in fabric selection. 

Tuesday: I called vendors for pricing and availably. Carocle sends out a list of discontinued product every month. I went through every book and marked every discontinued fabric.

Wednesday: I called vendors about pricing and availably. I helped a designer find fabric for her client. I organized Sam Moore fabrics and identified more discontinued items.

Thursday: I called vendors about pricing and availably. We also organized the trim closet. We called vendors to see if the trim books were current. If the book is discontinued, we threw them out the window to the dumpster-I almost missed the dumpster on a few of books.

Friday: I accompanied Sherlene and Rachel to install accessories for a client project. The project was located on the patio at the client’s house. The first thing we did was rearrange the furniture. We placed the reupholstered cushions on the chairs, and then arranged the accessories around the patio space.

The firm organizes their projects in the following phases: pre-design (research), schematic design, design development, and installation or accessory job. The research phase is where I assist the designer. The research is finding the product (furniture or fabric) and then getting the availability and cost on the product. The designer has several meetings with the client until all the furniture and fabrics are exactly what the client wants. The designers are responsible for floor plans. Some designers have a magnet board of the floor plan to decide on where the furniture pieces are going. The designer or the Resource Manager (Project Manager) orders the product for the client and checks on the order until the product comes in. Scheduling a date when everyone: painter, mover, client, and designer can assist. The designer does an accessory pull of what might or should go in the space.  The final step is the accessory job or the installation.

This is Natalie Sims who is an interior designer. She actually lives a few miles away from me on Signal Mtn. She likes to jog on the mountain brow and thinks that it’s one of the most beautiful places in Chattanooga, which I agree. She likes to run as well as plays tennis.