Week 4: Project Organization

How projects are organized in relationship to design phases

     Knox Heritage has many different types of projects that are unique and require different organization techniques. For example, this week I was a member of the Event Planning team. The Event Planning Team is composed of the following: Board Members, Community Representatives, Knox Heritage Office representative. The team meets regularly to plan and organize events. The Knox Heritage Office member’s primary task during the meetings is to keep the Committee focused on the goal of Knox Heritage.  The Board Members present event ideas during the meetings. They also coordinate with the other Board Members to coordinate plans. The Community Representatives serve as the voice of community interest. The Knox Heritage Office representative guides the Events Committee as they select Events for the year to ensure they are within the parameters of the Knox Heritage Mission. 

Signature Drink at Summer Supper     This week at the meeting the members discussed an overall event plans for the year including basic details such as seating, quality of refreshments and design style. Then the group discussed the specific details of the event of the week which was a Summer Supper. They delegated responsibilities to make sure details were attended to appropriately. My task was to meet the party rental representative the day before the event. Also, the morning of the event I assisted event design set up. During the event my job was to welcome guests and ensure they had previously purchased a ticket. I also provided information about the Summer Supper series to guests. 

This coming week I will be working on project within Knox Heritage but with a different type of organizational plan. Ethiel Garlington has requested that I work on a project with him. This project is to create as-built drawings for an old mill. The drawings need to be created because in the future Knox Heritage wants the mill to become a residence. In this project I will also create renderings of the mill as a residence to show the public the potential of the mill. The first step in the organizational process was Ethiel discussing with me the project tasks and what I am capable of doing for the project. The next step was to plan a meeting between Ethiel, the mill owner, and me. After the meeting Ethiel and I will be taking measurements of the mill. We will also be photographing the mill and evaluating and recording details. The next step will be a discussion regarding the mill and drawing details. Then I will be starting the as-built drawings under the supervision of Ethiel. When the drawings are completed, I will create the renderings. The drawings and renderings will be used as a marketing tool to inform the community. 

Introduction

Ethiel Garlington works at Knox Heritage as Director of Preservation Field Services. I met Ethiel when Beth and I were working on the Alexander Inn sale. He studied in Finland which interests me because I will be studying there soon! Ethiel sets high standards of professionalism and has a strong work ethic. Ethiel was enthusiastic about the skills I have to complete the project that we are working on together. 

Week 3: Gaining Responsibility

This Week’s Activities: 

Packages I received Thursday with Residence Hall samples. This week was jam packed for Lauderdale Design Group. Now that my company email address is up and running and all the product samples have been ordered for the Residence Hall material boards, I have a lot of emails to read and respond to in the mornings when I come into the office. This has become a daily task for me. I also receive up to 15 packages a day with those materials. When they come in I try to un-package and store them quickly so the office is not cluttered. I keep a running list of what I have ordered, what reps have sent the items, and what has arrived. I also sometimes have messages that I need to return via phone. Cathy, our office manager, and I have started to share the task of answering the phones. 

Advertisement I designed for UT 2013-2014 PlannerAlong with handling all the materials for the Residence Hall, I also have the running task of downloading furniture symbol libraries for easy access during design phases involving autocad. So far, I have downloaded the FSL for Knoll, Steelcase, Coalesse, and Herman Miller. One of my favorite tasks I got to do this week involved designing a LDG advertisement to go into the 2013-2014 UT Academic Planner in Indesign. We have a 1/16 page ad that with be in the planner and will hopefully bring Lauderdale Design Group more business. We were honored to be given the opportunity to be in the planner and love that our company has a made an impact on the UT campus. The ad I designed features one of our new photographs shot of our office. 

This week we met with many different product reps. We met with Jill Hafeli of the Klem group. She sells a multitude of different hospitality brands. I love viewing her products and Dani was excited to get some hospitality resources because LDG is leaning toward a lot more of that business. We also met with Mary Holt, a fabric rep, as well as Mitzi Rouse, a carpet rep. These meetings are always informative for me to attend. I learn about new products daily. 

Draft of potential finish schedule for Salon project.Dani and Deborah decided that it was time for me to start working on the Salon project. Dani briefed me on the space, the different materials they had thought about using, and what their concept was. Then she let me do a draft using a blank floor plan and prisma color pencils to show where the different materials should go. I came up with several different schemes before presenting them to Deborah and Dani. From there I made the changes they gave me and came up with a final finish schedule draft. Next week I will enter everything into autocad and create the final finish schedule and key. I also did some other things for the Salon project like ordering samples, color matching wall covering, and finding different floor options. 

On site photo shoot at Synergy.Deborah and I were on site at Synergy, one of LDG’s most recent projects, all day Thursday. We had a shoot with the lovely photographer, Denise Retallack, who also shot our office. Deborah and I spent a lot of the day staging different areas of Synergy and directing Denise. I also ran errands to get lunch as well as some items to stage the kitchen with. Overall, I think we had a really successful shoot and look forward to seeing the photos next week. 

This Week’s Focus:

This week the focus is on legal recognition for the profession; professional design organizations, licensing, registration, continuing education, community service, and professional ethics. Dani was nice enough to go over these things with me.

Downloading Steelcase furniture symbol library. Lauderdale Design group values many professional organizations in town. LDG’s most valued are AIA (American Institute of Architects) and USGBC (United States Green Building Council) because they meet and connect with designers through these organizations the most and are actively involved with both. Lauderdale Design Group’s business model is through the acquisition of work from architects. AIA is the best source for LDG to do this. Lauderdale coordinates with many allied professions such as architecture, engineering, furniture dealerships, and the construction industry. As registered Interior Designers, the staff of LDG must actively pursue knowledge and advancement in the industry. To do that, the designers attend CEU (Continuing Education Unit) courses and green building courses to keep their licenses as NCIDQ and LEED certified professionals. And the designers are NCIDQ and LEED AP ID+C certified. 

Lauderdale Design Group loves being involved in community service. Their biggest endeavor is to support Knoxville’s design and art scene. LDG hosts First Fridays at their office and is involved with Knoxville’s Pechakucha. They also planned 2012’s USGBC Green Light Awards Banquet which recognized sustainable work and practitioners in Knoxville.  

An example of conflicts that occur during a project is scope! Lauderdale Design Group often gets asked to perform work that is not in their scope (their original contract agreement). They are willing to do the work, but only if the client agrees to this as an additional service. For LDG, professional ethics ensures that the environment created for a client is one that is made through honest endeavor and intent from the designer. For instance, LDG does not sell furniture because they want their client to know they have an unbiased approach to what they specify. 

This Week’s Introduction:

Deborah Presson, Design DirectorThis week I am introducing the Lauderdale Design Group Design Director and my supervisor, Deborah Presson. Deborah graduated from UT in 2001. She had done her school internship with Gresham Smith and Partners and secured a permanent job working for their Nashville office after graduation. She worked there for 3 years before moving to their Charlotte office and continuing working with them for 2 years before being recruited by Gensler. She took their offer and went on to work for Gensler for the next 6.5 years. Her husband decided to take his dream job here in Knoxville so she started her job search. She met Joy at Neocon and was offered a job when she made the move to Knoxville. Deb has been working for Lauderdale for 2 years. She has a 4 year old son named Bryson. Luckily she has family in town who helps take care of him when he is not in daycare 2 days a week, or she is not at home. Deborah works Tuesday/Wednesday/Thursday so she loves to spend her free time painting, boating, playing with Bryson, swimming, hanging out with friends, jogging, and biking.  just built a house featured in creative homes, biking. Deb and her husband just completed building their home in October and have been featured in Creative Homes. Deborah is such an inspiration to work with and I look forward to continuing to gain knowledge through her. 

Week 5: Back to Work

Last week, I took a littler breather and went on vacation to Hilton Head, SC. I was glad for a breather but now I'm back in action.

This week I came back and had to pick up on some previous jobs I had been working one when I left. I'm working on one project for Sewanee Inn helping order fabrics so we can send out spec books. This week we worked on gathering everything and filing it all in the binders to send off next week. I love working on this project because it so fun to go through all the different fabrics and become aware what is needed for a hospitality project. Another project I came back to was North side Medical Center. It's a hospital, we've had to work on some floor plans in editing colors and such. I've also become fonder of Photoshop all the time, especially when Lauren and Anna teach me how to use new tools, I love learning new things to help make me more efficient! I spent the rest of the week filing samples, ordering samples, putting together new contractor boards and even working in Revit. Lauren and Anna have also been doing research on Health care facilities for one of the designers and they all week have been randomly shouting out to me new information which I found very interesting to know. Apparently, blue is a very calming color for many people and is used a lot in different health care facilities but they have found out that with age people no longer enjoy the color blue and so using that color in a senior living facility is a very bad idea. I didn't know this and sad to hear that one day I will no longer care for the color blue. ESa is always keeping us busy and teaching us lots of new things, glad to be apart of the process!

A rendering I photoshoped this week.

This week I talked with Leslie about procurement, estimating, and project costs. ESa is a company that specifies only and sends the specifications out for bidding and purchasing by an outside firm. So project fees are determined by project managers assigned to each job, sometimes it is determined by hourly or sometimes there is a set fee. Project estimation is determined by the budget of what they have for construction cost, they usually know the typical level to estimate. In the schematic design phase the design package is priced by a contractor based on finishes and plans and then they know what needs to be taken away or added to it to fit into for their estimation. A project budget is managed by the project managers or principals and they have a certain criteria to follow. They usually have repeat projects for healthcare so they've managed a budget before which makes the process a lot easier. Certain project managers, if they are really detailed, will come talk to designers on the job if they think they are spending to many hours on a certain part of the project, this rarely happens but the project managers have it all under control. It's funny that this was my topic this week because one of the designers that has been here for a year named Haley came to talk with us about pricing. She told us she was really confused when she started out and they had given Haley a list of how a project general goes and what pricing and budgeting for a project usually looks like. She hasn't given us the sheet yet, but when she does I'll be sure to share. 

I forgot to talk about accounting last time, so let me go over that as well. Typical account procedures are handled as follows. In accounts payables invoices are processed every week by e-mail or mail and checks are made everyday. If they have any questions they will talk with the PA but if not they continue on. Then they enter in time sheets for the week and billing for items. Every two weeks they run draft invoices and have them sent to the PA's to review which just means they look over the time and expenses to make sure everything is correct. Once correct, they figure out how much they want to bill, make changes and send out bills. 

Erin and I

This week I want to introduce you to Erin. Erin graduated from the University of Cincinnati and started working for ESa in August 2011. She also interned with ESa 4 times before beginning to work with them. (By 4 times, she really means twice for 2 different co-ops). She currently works on health care projects and really loves the conceptual part of designing a project. By conceptual she means how it works and how it's constructed, which Erin went on to say that most UC graduates that work at ESa are similar to her and enjoy the conceptualization the most. She's also involved in ACE which is a mentoring program for high school students that are interested in Design, Architecture, or Engineering. Which just means she works with a student during the school year on designing a project and at the end of the year the student who's project is the best can win scholarship money to go towards getting their degree in that certain field. She is also in the working towards being licensed NCIDQ and getting LEED certified. Erin's favorite project was one she began working on when she was an intern, it's the Caldwell County Hospital in Caldwell,KY. She worked under one of the designers Tom and during the DD phase he let her design floor patterns. Then when she started working she go to go on a site tour and see her designs in the actual space, which is pretty cool if you ask me! I'd like to say that as a whole the interns really enjoy Erin she is a really great teacher and always willing to help us learn new things, not to mention her sarcasm is pretty funny.

Another hysterical moment, Lauren with packaging tape stuck in her hair. No worries, we rescued her precious locks but not without a few laughs first.

That's all I have for you this week! Until the next one, enjoy!

Week 3: History and the Future

Contributions of interior design to contemporary society in relation to historic preservation

Throughout history Interior Design has influenced society in many ways. As design has advanced quality of life has improved. During my Internship, I have had opportunity to study historical examples of what was at one time considered to be “modern” tools for daily living. For example, windows used to use ropes and weights to raise and lower. Modern window systems allow for improved functionality and better energy efficiency. Another example was lead paint, which was used to improve the life of objects, but was later found to be dangerous to one’s health. Today’s paint is safer and still offers superior longevity compared to lead paint. During my Internship I have to be careful cleaning items that may contain lead paint. These two examples of Interior Design Advancements are items that we continue to use today, however in their more advanced forms. 

Opportunities for Lifelong Learning in this area

Learning from historical interiors guides us in improving our future designs. The past offers Interior Designers the opportunity to continuously learn and improve technology, design, and function for the future. 

Historic Pedestal Sink Interior Design in Historic Preservation contribute to public and community service

Historic preservation is an important part of our society’s future. Through education and public events that bring focus to historical design, we generate interest to preserve the past and also improve future designs. 

This week I researched historic fireplace tiles and pedestal sinks. Prior to this experience I did not realize that specific brands of fireplace tiles were so important and valuable. I was surprised to learn that so many brands from the 1800’s were still manufacturing fixtures today. For example, one sink I researched was made by the Crane brand. This brand is still in business today. 

Beth MeadowsIntroduction

Beth Meadows is the Salvage Coordinator for The Knox Heritage Salvage Room. She is my Intern Supervisor. Beth graduated from the University of Tennessee and is originally from Memphis. She began working for Knox Heritage as an Intern while she was still in college. Her interest in Historic Preservation led her to continue her career with Knox Heritage. Beth is also an artist and many of her paintings are inspired by her interest in historic architecture and design. She was really excited to be a part of the Estate Sale at the Alexander Inn because she enjoyed the history of the old inn. 

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!