Week 2: Communication is Key

This Weeks Activities: 

This week Lauderdale Design Group returned from Neocon. When everyone got back to the office on Wednesday they were buzzing with excitement, but also exhausted from their long weekend. It was really fun for me to listen to Joy, Deborah, and Dani talk about all the new products they saw, all the people they met, the designers they reconnected with, and the overall craziness that is Neocon. I loved hearing about it and hope to go in the future! Dani and Deborah were downloading all the pictures of the new products they received onto their computers and talking about how they could apply them to their current and future projects.

Working in autocad corporate project.When I came into work on Wednesday I had to set my computer back up. Last week a professional photographer came to the office and photographed our workstations, so my computer had to be taken down. Once my computer was up in running I had quite a few emails to respond to. I also needed to call back the Gerflor (cushion back flooring) representative about some samples being sent for the Salon project. I also ordered some more wall covering samples that could possibly be used for the salon. Deborah had me work in autocad to fix all the conference rooms on the corporate project. This was great because autocad is one of my favorite programs to use, and one I know well. 

The rest of my day was filled with ordering samples for the ResidenceList of materials used in Residence Hall. Hall project. I ordered 2 more of each of the samples used in the residence hall so that I could make material boards. It came to be a total of 79 different materials used in the project, and I had to order them from 42 different representatives. I had little experience in ordering samples before that day, and let me tell you, it is HARD. Many of the times I would talk to two or three different people before I would talk to the person that actually could order the samples for us. Also- I learned that you have to be aggressive with ordering samples or else you will end up on the phone for twice as long as you need to be. Some of the manufacturers will ask you a million questions about why you need the product and about the project your using it for. Deborah told me I don’t have to answer all their questions and that I just need to firmly ask for them.

Working in photoshop on diagrams for the athletic offices.Coming back from the break, exhausted or not, LDG had a deadline to meet. On Thursday they had a meeting to do the athletic office presentation. Dani worked to put the presentation together all morning while I helped by doing all the photoshop work. I took the plans and created multiple different diagrams that could clearly show which furniture was new and what was existing, as well as four different scheme’s that could be used successfully. I really enjoyed working in photoshop and hope to do some more in the future, I was able to quickly and efficiently work on what Dani gave me and get it back to her ASAP, since we were running on a deadline. 

This week I did some more filing away of samples. We have more fabric samples than we have room in our

Scaled office plans we revised on each of the UT Music Building project doors. materials library for and are receiving even more daily. I also had 2 site visits with Dani to the UT Music Building. This week all of the systems furniture was being delivered and staged. The first site visit Dani and I met with one of the Knoll representatives responsible for our install and did some measuring to insure that every workstation would have the proper outlets. The second site visit Dani and I went through all the rooms we didn’t get to the day before and did more measuring. There had been tape on the walls to show how the workstation were to be placed, but because it was falling off, and some of the outlets were not where they should be, we had to recalculate their location. Each door had a cad drawing showing how the workstation would look in each room and we went through and edited them. Dani said that it is not usually so complicated, but because the workstation are not floating, and our secured to the walls, a lot more thought must go into it. 

This Week’s Focus:

This week I focused on learning about the design phases LDG uses and how they organize their projects. Dani helped me learn about this.

LDG Design Phases

1. Schematic Design- this first phase consists of coming up with an overall concept for the project, finding precedents that can be used, coming up with the game plan on how to tackle the project, and overall rough development of the project. 
2. Design Development- during the design development phase the conceptual and rough developments are materialized into autocad drawings, material selections, finish selections, and furniture selections. The design of the project is completed and awaits approval.
3. Construction Documents- During this phase, the design has been approved and now detailed construction documents are prepared, bid packages are put together, and procurement of FF&E is completed. 
4. Contract Administration- At this phase you continue to monitor the project and make sure that everything is running smoothly. You go on site visits and prepare for installation. You also have your additional services at this point, which means that the things that pop up that were unexpected, become you job. This is basically when the design is outside your scope.  

LDG knows that communication is key in a successful project. Throughout the entire process they are communicating via phone, email, and text with the clients, architects, engineers, project managers, etc. During every design phase a meeting is held with the client for approval. Also, throughout the process meetings are held with the architects and project managers. LDG coordinates with the project manager to create a schedule that gives a timeline for deadlines to be completed. 

LDG organizes all their projects digitally in their computer database. An example of how they organize their folders is like this: storage>projects>ut> within that folder are a list of all LDG’s projects for UT. And then within a certain project folder there will be folders for archives, bid docs, correspondence, issued, working, ff&e, cad, photos, proposals, etc. 

This Week’s Introduction:

Dani Collins, Designer, LDGThis week I am introducing you to Dani Collins. She graduated from UT’s interior design program two years ago and has been working at Lauderdale Design group ever since! She started out as a design intern and was then offered a job upon her graduation. Dani had quite a few different internships throughout school. She worked with HBA, UTK, HGTV, and also had a graphic design internship. She is very good at graphic design and designed all of LDG’s graphics. Dani is so fun to work with and it never ceases to amaze me how much knowledge she has so fresh out of college. She is very funny, always keeps things positive, and loves the Knoxville design community. Her favorite past times are running, hanging out with friends, and experiencing fun new eateries. She is at Bonnaroo this weekend and I can’t wait to hear some stories when she returns!

Week 2: The Community and Nostalgia

Community Benefits

Knox Heritage benefits the community by saving our Historic Architectural History. One good example of their efforts is the restoration of the Bijou Theater. The theater was once in a state of destruction and disrepair; now it has been restored and is being used by our community. The Theater provides a venue for school groups, concerts, and theatrical productions. Recently I attended an Opera performance located at the Bijou Theater.

The Knox Heritage Salvage Room provides architectural pieces for purchase. These pieces are used by Architects, Designers, Homeowners, and preservationist to restore or decorate their buildings and homes. Last week a Homeowner (with a 100 year old home) came to the Salvage Room to find a screen door for his home. The Salvage Room offers the opportunity to find authentic pieces that would otherwise be impossible to find. Historical items are also available for purchase at Nostalgia. This location reaches consumers that may not otherwise think of shopping at Knox Heritage.

This week’s overview:

Nostalgia Room BeforeThis week I designed 3D renderings of Nostalgia Room. The primary goals of the new Nostalgia room improvements is to more easily display spindles, and other wooden pieces, and create a system for displaying old windows. We also wanted to design a room that will stand out and draw visitors into our space. Also, since First Friday was that week, we wanted to do a general cleaning and reorganization before the First Friday activities. My design renderings will be implemented after the First Friday this month. It will take some time to complete this process. The photograph on the left is the Nostalgia room before. I will post pictures of it again after the design is complete.

What we did to prepare the Nostalgia room for first Friday is clean items that were to be moved from the Salvage Room to Nostalgia. Also, Beth sent me to the hardware store to research the best way to hang items on a CMU wall. We decided to use the drill fitted with a concrete drill bit by Tapcon. The next step was to use driver to install the anchor into the wall. I learned that this method is to be used in the block only, not the mortar.

I also received further training to work in the Salvage Room daily operations and technical procedures. They use an email sign up list named Mail Chimp and I learned how to import email lists into Mail Chimp for execute marketing programs.

Introduction:

Christina (Taken By Coleen O'Leary)This week I would like to introduce the other Salvage Room Intern. Her name is Christina Lulich and she is a 3^rd year Architecture student at University of Tennessee. Christina is from Gatlinburg and she started working in the Salvage Room in February. Her experience has been very beneficial to me. She also works at Hobby Lobby. Christina has a few favorite aspects of this Internship. The first one is that she gets to use her truck to transport architectural items. This week we moved a farmhouse kitchen cabinet with built in sink, windows, grates, and a large barrel. The second thing she enjoys is that she is beginning to build furniture from historical items. She can purchase the items in the Salvage Room, learn about their history, and repurpose them. Christina enjoys the historic items because of the history and character.

Week 2: Digging In

Week 2

And I continue to dig in with ESa and learn the ins and outs of this interior design firm. This week I’ve only continued to learn more about the company and become more comfortable around the people.  It’s been really interesting talking to the different designers because a lot of our conversations start with how they have all been interns. Which is really great for us because they know what our job is like and can easily explain and relate to what we are doing in the office.  I also think that’s really cool that this company kind of makes everyone go through each position to better help them understand the people they are working with. (Not everyone starts as an intern in the interiors but a good majority have.)

This week was more of the same thing, ordering samples, Photo shopping more things, putting together more finish boards, and filing samples. As we’ve gone on this week we become better at our tasks and faster at them, which is comforting because last week it seemed a little overwhelming and this week I know I am capable of doing it. I think I especially enjoyed this week because Lauren told me of a project that our supervisor Leslie was working on a project that is non-profit and that is something I find really interesting and would love to be apart of. So that was really great to hear about and talk to Leslie about because it something that I’ve wanted to know more about.

This week I talked with Leslie about communication and how a team works together and Design Phases within each project. In these phases a lot of team work is required of all the different people working together which consists of: interior designers, architects, contractors, value engineers, the clients, the owner's rep, and the CE Architect. The PM (project manager) is incharge of coordinating meetings and communication. Communication between team members can happen in multiple ways such as: e-mails, sending changed files, phone, posting models, and meetings. The PM also makes a schedule at the beginning of the project to give a timeline when projects must be completed and deadlines you have to meet. These target dates are usually set in stone, sometimes they will get extension but you better not count on it. Some projects can last a total of 6 months for design process and construction 12 months while other projects can last as along as 5 years. 

Below is my understanding of what each design phase looks like.

Schematic Design this is where the designers lay out in plan what they want their design to look like and then work through it making lots of changes. This is where all your programming happens, the initial layout, contracts and generic written information.

Next is Design Development which is where they address the design more in depth. They have user group meetings and asses the needs of their clients, along with getting them to make approvals and initial finishes are chosen. They also get a set budget written out.

Then there is Contract Documents this is where all the detailing, fine tuning, and finishes are assigned. The value engineers, contractor, designers, owners rep all get together and set budget, this is also considered the pricing phase. The main purpose is to make sure the contractor can understand the plans and build it out. 

Finally, there is the Contract Administration phase this is the final phase of the game. Submittals are done, physical samples are approved, cardboard mock ups and site visit to make sure everything is clear between designers and contractors are running smoothly. 

It’s funny because this internship has been quite different than anything else I’ve been apart of. It’s been that way because from day one they told us they want to help us if we want to be apart of any certain job, learn how to use Revit better, or just understand a position we think we may be interested in doing. I have just felt very cared for in that that I’m not just being used to get certain things but they really care about what I learn and take away from this opportunity. 

I’ve also enjoyed going to informals (which is when reps come and show us their products) and luncheons (where reps come and bring us lunch and talk about their products). I guess I’ve never really fully understood the relationship between designer and rep, so it’s been great to grasp what they are all about. I’ve come to learn that the reps are working alongside the designers to make the space they are designing function as well as possible and be a lasting design. Therefore, the reps need the feed back from the designers on how to make their products better. Which I think is so wonderful because last year when I worked in residential it was really different and the reps didn’t really ask what they could do to help the designer out. (Given residential and commercial are in a different playing field.) It also makes sense that people say, use your reps as a tool on your projects. Some of the presentations are less exciting than the others but it’s fantastic to get to hold these different products in your hands and become more knowledgeable about them.

I’ve also enjoyed these meetings because the designers ask really great questions that I would never thought of and have a lot of wisdom to bring to the table. It is really great to watch collaboration in action.

So last week I introduced to you one of the interns I am working with and this week I’ll introduce you to the other her name is Anna.

 

Anna is from the University of Cincinnati. She is going to be in her 4^th year of design school (like me) next year, the only difference is they go for 5 years in their program. Anna also has gotten to co-op in San Francisco with another firm. I think it’s safe to say that Lauren and I are very grateful for Anna. She has a lot of knowledge of what an active firm is like and has really worked on a lot of different things. (She also was there the week before us, so she kind of knows the ropes better than we do.) Anna’s favorite part of a project is the rendering and we commonly refer to her as “genius Anna”.