'As work experience edged closer and closer I was getting more and more excited which dampened my nerves, at first I didn’t really know what to expect, as it would be my first time in an office let alone one for Architects. I was really excited for this new experience especially as I wanted to be an Architect when I’m older so this would really give me what I hoped to be an insight of what it was like. I was going to go with Tanya who worked in the office as Secretary and as I walked up to the place I was going to be picked up from I got slightly more nervous and a lot more excited. When I was in the car Tanya told me that I would be with Adam who had dealt with previous work experience students.
Day 1: As I arrived Tanya showed me around and introduced me to Adam who then introduced me to everyone and gave me the standard fire drill instructions and safety talk. After that was done Adam showed me the work I was going to do for the week; it was the RIBA Cornwall Branch – Work Experience Competition. It basically entailed the work experience student to design an information kiosk for small teams of Olympic stewards to use and a base to help the visitors and spectators. Each of the kiosks had to follow the same design point and had to be instantly recognised as a help point. After reading through the design requirements of the kiosk and drafting some ideas I came up with my basic design idea – a triangular shape that can be split in half and stored in a rectangular shape which fit the set dimensions perfectly. Once this process had finished I set onto the task of drawing it out, figuring the dimensions and measurements out was the main problem as I couldn’t make an error else it wouldn’t work. After I drew the design Adam pointed out that I had to then draw the sections, elevations and views that would sufficiently describe the design. So I drew the rough copies of the sections, elevations and views. Adam also showed me some of the “Behind the scene” jobs that needed to be done such as the mail run.
Day 2: I met the Graphic Designer Lynne who deals with the website and graphics side of CAD Architects Ltd. As I had finished all the sketch work (by hand) earlier than anticipated Adam began to show me Google SketchUp; a free downloadable programme by Google which allows you to make 3D models of anything you want (within reason of course). After I had learnt the basics I started to begin work on my kiosk, as I was new to the programme I made a few mistakes that Adam quickly pointed out and showed me either more efficient ways of tackling tasks or how to do it. Every time I stumbled upon a problem Adam showed me the way around it, which really helped me learn quickly and efficiently. Both myself and Adam then took care of the weekly finances which involved a trip to the bank to deposit the weekly fee.
Day 3: I continued with the design touching up on the small details and removing any mistakes I had made on my kiosk which lead to me completely finishing it. Adam then suggested a British colour theme which lead onto the decision of red, white and blue and the use of the Union Jack on the back of the kiosk and on the back edges of the sides which really made the kiosk stand out. I also added some bold 3D writing to each of the front sides of the kiosk saying “Information kiosk” which really made it stand out as a help point for people who had questions to be answered. I got to explore SketchUp a little more making a castle and a lorry in my lunch break and small bits of spare time I had available. I then made some view points for my presentation to take pictures of my design to describe fully what it is like visually. As the judges won’t be looking at it on SketchUp I had to find a set of pictures that really stood out to be the ones that explained the design the best on the paper presentation. I added some effects to a few of the elevations to create the basic sketch effect which really made them look good and of course kept some in the default setting.
Day 4: Mr. Gillan came to check up on me and the work experience placement and was really impressed with the amount of work that I had done and how well the week had unfolded. I then started to learn the programme Adobe Photoshop which allows me to touch up on everything. I scanned in the hand drawn sections, elevations and views which was really cool how you can scan in your drawings straight into the computer. I decided to keep all but the lorry loading plan as my sketches as it shows that I have put in the effort to draw them out. Photoshop allowed me to go over the lines using the layer system to make it accurate for the lorry loading plan which made it look really neat and tidy. I then started to bring together all the work I had done over the week; the computer made elevations and views, hand drawn scanned in images and the design brief of 250 words which I had just wrote. Adam then showed me how to use the basics of Photoshop which allowed me to get the basic layout sorted.
Day 5: I started to add effects onto the pictures to make them stand out well which looked really neat and I added a London 2012 Olympic logo behind the design brief lowering the opacity to make it look like a water mark behind the writing which looked so good and really showed that this project was primarily based on the Olympics. I then made a list of the programmes I had used and the websites I had downloaded images and textures from which lead into including the CAD Architects logo and my name, school and age. After this was done we went off on an onsite visit where I got to view some of the projects CAD Architects had been working on. We got to view some seriously nice houses and it was such a good experience to get involved in. I took some pictures and enjoyed the sun! When we got back I printed off my presentation and checked everything was alright.
The week was a really good insight on what Architects jobs would entail, I got to see some of the Architects working and the plans they had made, I would strongly suggest applying here for work experience if you want to be an Architect. Although you are here for 8 and half hours it goes really fast, faster than you would think – probably because I really enjoyed myself!'
We will post Jamie's designs for the Olympic Kiosk project soon so keep checking back...
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