Design Plans of Student Union for Local Community College
My first day in the big city! My morning definitely started off different then most as I am not used to commuting or city driving for that matter. I made it all in one piece though, and was able to find my WEP company, LS3P Associates, in the daunting, massive BB&T building. My initial nerves went away when Ms. Peele, the Executive VP of Practice of the company, welcomed me in. In fact, all the staff were extremely friendly and welcoming, as well as the four new college interns. My morning consisted of learning more about the company and what they do, and actually sitting in a meeting about the exterior design choices of a new elementary school project in Raleigh. I was encouraged to participate if I so desired, but I mostly just listened trying to keep up with all the new vocabulary and concepts they tossed around. From this point I was treated out to lunch with the interns and some of the staff where I got a Chicken and Waffles Sandwich… Yum! I got to shadow two different people in the afternoon, learning about how subtleties in architecture can transform how welcoming a building is. I also learned about the harsh truth of architecture: the constant battle with budget. Often the architects on the project have to make compromises from their initial vision to fit into the budget restrictions of a client. This was not entirely a negative thing though, as it creates fun problem solving situations and can lead to interesting design choices that were possibly overlooked without the restrictions. Lastly, I was invited into another meeting about the interior design elements of a local community college student union. I was amazed by the staff’s ability to look at the two dimensional drawing (see Image), and picture the three dimensional structure. I loved how in both meetings everyone throws around ideas and jump off each others to come up with awesome concepts. My first day was a blast, and I can’t wait for the coming days!