This summer wasn’t like any other vacation. I wake up earlier than the usual and start my day with a coffee because I have a busy day ahead of me.This summer I worked as an apprentice at Concipio Tektura Architectural Design Studio. The firm has this collaborative set-up where we work together without a physical office. Meaning, most of the time we work unaccompanied and just meet when necessary. It was challenging to be productive when unsupervised but yep, challenge accepted! Because I believe that to be a better professional, first, one must learn to manage time, work efficiently and think critically independently before one effectively works with others. |
So now let me give you a rundown of what I did on the duration of my internship. My first task was to create and edit a company portfolio and profile on my first day. Yes, it was puzzling because it’s my first day and I didn’t know much about the in-and-outs of the company. But I commend my mentor’s(Arch. Eric Baño) patience and dedication into training his apprentices like me. My first take away from him is to ask, to not hesitate to ask than be a slave of ignorance. Through that task I also understood that when you work for a company, you shouldn’t think as an individual but rather a representative of the company’s identity. That realization came into me as my layouts for the portfolio were rejected for the nth time. The reason behind it is that the layout contained too much of my identity and none of the firm’s. But the final outputs that were approved represents balance and what employees’ mindset should be. It is just like being an architect and convening with the client’s needs while using your skills and knowledge to satisfy those demands.
After the model was approved, it was time to do the drawings. Accomplishing it was out of my comfort zone because it was my first time and I didn’t have much background on it. The architectural detailing was tedious especially this one because it is an interior project. It took me about a month just to get a satisfactory set of drawings. Even before I started the project, Arch. Baño keep on mentioning BOQ which was a never-heard term for me. I didn’t expect that I would be doing it to. The billing of quantities is an estimation of the construction cost. For a student like me, it is really confusing because I didn’t had an idea how to do it. I didn’t know what to put on it and where to extract prices. It came into me that designing is beyond drawing, one must also be knowledgeable about basic construction to be able to do specifications or else, your design intent may be misled. After the specifications, I contacted suppliers to request for quotations to fill- up the cost section. At first, I was anxious and low in confidence when I communicated with suppliers thinking that I was only a student. |