Today was the beginning of a new adventure, marking the start of my week at Louis Cherry Architecture in downtown Raleigh. I was so excited to get out into the community and immerse myself in the life of an architect! Louis Cherry Architecture is run by Louis Cherry, along with 5 other architects/designers. My two highlights from the day were visiting a site and shadowing a meeting with a mechanical engineer and drafting a greenhouse for one of LCA’s (Louis Cherry Architecture’s) current projects. At the meeting, I was able to check out the site of a future restaurant, where I also experienced the importance of problem solving. In this scenario, the restaurant to be was a very small space, and in order for it to pass certain regulations, there must be a ‘grease trap’ to prevent kitchen and food grease from getting into the sewage systems. The challenge with this is the grease trap is roughly 4x2x2 feet, so with such limited space (yep, the space in the pictures is all they have!), where would this grease trap go? A lot of times, what takes the most time in an architecture project is the problem solving to make it a reality; design is not the only thing required for a successful project. When I was researching greenhouse precedents, I was mostly looking for how to bring a modern aspect into the structure, as greenhouses often learn towards the traditional side. The project that this greenhouse corresponded with, “The Pool House”, is an ongoing residential project with a very modern and clean feel. For the second half of the day, I practiced using SketchUp and began to draft a model of the greenhouse I designed. Below are photographs of the restaurant site (located on Person St. next to Crawford and Sons), my workspace, and my work-in-progress a.k.a. the greenhouse.
