Work Experience Blog - A Week in a Architecture Firm

 My First Week of Work Experience 

By Lucy Rooney

Day 1

My first week of work experience I was in a local architecture firm located in Donabate called JEA. I arrived to the office at 9:45am. Firstly, I was introduced to the team and was set up on a laptop. My mentor briefed me on my project for the week. I was given a site in Donabate, and had to think of a small building to go in there, sketch it out, draw it in an app, 3D print it and make and deliver a presentation about the process to the office at the end of the week. I spent the morning at the site taking pictures and taking note of what buildings nearby were built out of. I had lunch from 1pm till 2pm and as I live nearby, I was able to walk home! When I came back I spent time on my sketches and sat in on a meeting. I finished my first day at 3:45pm.

Day 2

Day 2 began at 9:45am. Because I had a structure for the week, it was very easy to just come in and begin my own work without any instruction which I liked. I began the day by sketching out a rough plan of what I wanted my building to look like and details such as entrances, car parks, what direction the sun is coming from so I could use that to my advantage and what materials to use. I had my lunch from 1 to 2pm. In the afternoon I finished my sketch, stamped documents and put them into envelopes. I finished at 3:45pm and delivered the letters on the way home.

Day 3

I got to the office for the usual 9:45am. I spent most of the morning watching tutorials and completing a course on an app I was going to be using called SketchUP. This app allows you to create structures/models in 3D and I was going to use it to create my building which I decided would be a café. I spent a couple hours messing around with the app getting an idea of my structure and how the app works. When I came back from lunch, I went straight into stapling papers. I also had to fill out some financial documents and get them ready to be sent off to clients. At around 3pm, I talked with my mentor about my sketches and designs so far. He gave me some suggestions and critiques and I worked in SketchUP for the rest of the day.

Day 4

I started my day second last day by listening in on the office's meeting. They have these every Monday and Thursday to have a catch-up on where everyone is at with their separate projects. I spent more time in SketchUP finalising my design making sure my materials and dimensions were correct and accurate. After lunch I made a more in detail floor plan with my mentor working out every exact measurement right down to the height of the door to the bathrooms. It was so interesting to see the architects working first hand and how they can do everything so fast and to such a high standard. Before I finished we sent it off to the 3D printer so it would be ready for me for my presentation the next day.

Day 5

When I came in at 9:45am my model was almost finishing printing so I spent the morning working on my presentation. I compiled my research and sketches together on a PowerPoint. At 12 o’clock I delivered my presentation to the office in the same way an architect delivers one to a client. They asked me questions about my model and my experience throughout the week and the skills I have learned. The office actually has a half day on a Friday so I was let off early! I really enjoyed the week and learned so much.