by Erik Illies
We cannot do it all. In the world of architecture, especially, this is reality... however, in school students will often falsely believe otherwise. I'm willing to speak in sweeping generalizations about this assessment because I've been an architecture student for a total of 5 years now and have worked in the profession for 3, and in that time I notice habits of my own and those of my peers. Quite frankly, we fall into the notion that we must not only design the best/ only possible solution for a design problem, but we will also determine every scale of detail associated with the development of that project (i.e. parking, structure, mechanical systems, envelope assemblies, life/safety & welfare, etc).
This is the root of our undoing (again, a sweeping generalization because it is what I find to be the cause of my own problems and I assume I'm not alone). What is expected of us, and what we should expect from ourselves, is a working knowledge of how these systems should/ would be integrated into design decisions. Granted, the better we understand them and the further we can incorporate them into our designs, the stronger the final product will be... however, my heart aches for those of us that falsely begin to believe that we should master these systems and solve them absolutely for our design projects.
Here lies the manifestation of the seed of deceit we sow in our own fields. We cannot do it all! And that was never the expectation, but I think we all are aware of the growing insecurity and un-assurance we start to feel when we haven't fully solved an issue like how a parking garage is designed and functions (much less the entire two hundred freaking thousand square feet of mixed-use residential tower you have above it). Recall that parking is but one facet of the multi-headed hell beast that is an architectural project.
The expectation of the project should be to see how far and how well we can develop our design, including the various related systems, within one semester (excluding thesis work). If we can remember that we won't be so worried about not having our structural systems perfectly/ completely laid out and assembled, because they never were supposed to be in the first place! Just as far as you can get it within one semester is the expectation. When we forget this we sometimes fall deep into the pit of eternal despair and regret and that causes us to not solve anything because we haven't solved something completely. Remember, no one is going to achieve the perfect/ completely finished project in that amount of time on this kind of scale BY THEMSELVES. Even in the "real world", we all grow up hearing about and hope to go to someday, no one does it by themselves. There is an entire team of people who's shared experience are needed to realize a comprehensive design solution.
I hope it is understood that I am not advocating laziness or complacency, instead I wish to spread the word of realistic and healthy personal expectations. I accept that I may not solve it all, but I will solve it the best I can and that's all I ever needed to do in the first place.
The skies will turn blue again, you just have to keep looking up!
Wednesday, November 23, 2011
Concrete Canvas
by Sean Koeting
Created by: Peter Brewin and Will Crawford
CCO1 is an multi-award winning project that is soon to revolutionize the work of aid agencies and troops that help save lives in emergency situations. With over 35 million refugees worldwide, concrete canvas - 'the building in a bag' - will provide quick accommodation, field offices and medical clinics that give much better protection in extreme climatic conditions, better security against looting and enable otherwise impossible medical procedures. Unlike current solutions (soft- skinned tents), which offer inadequate protection, or are expensive and difficult to transport, concrete canvas is a rapidly deployable hardened shelter that requires only water and air for construction. It can be deployed by a person in under 40 minutes and is ready to use within 2 hours. Plus, with a design life of over 10 years, (tents only survive for 2 years) concrete canvas is a solution that saves effort and costs over the lifetime of medium to long term operations.
How it works...
Delivery - CC01 comes delivered folded in a sealed plastic sack. the dry weight is 30kg, an 8 man lift, and light enough to be transported on a pick-up truck or light aircraft. The pack contains a cement impregnated fabric (concrete cloth) bonded to the outer surface of an inflatable plastic inner.
Hydration - The sack is positioned and filled with water. The volume of the sack controls the water : cement ratio eliminating water measurement. the bag is then left for 15 minutes while the cement hydrates, this is aided by the fiber matrix which wicks water into the cement. Once hydrated, the sack is cut along its seams it then forms part of the ground sheet. Deployment is done at dusk to avoid over drying the cement.
Inflation - The key to concrete canvas is the use of inflation to create a surface that is optimized for compressive loading. this allows thin walled concrete structures to be formed which are both robust and lightweight. The structure is unfolded to form the shelter’s footprint. A chemical pack is activated which releases a controlled volume of gas into the plastic inner and inflates the structure. It forms a 'nissen-hut' shaped structure with over 16 m² of floor space and the technology can be scaled to provide larger structures.
Setting - The concrete cloth cures in the shape of the inflated inner and twelve hours later the structure is ready to use. Doors and ventilation holes are left with no concrete cloth bonded to the plastic skin this allows access points to be easily cut from the inner once the cement has dried.
Created by: Peter Brewin and Will Crawford
CCO1 is an multi-award winning project that is soon to revolutionize the work of aid agencies and troops that help save lives in emergency situations. With over 35 million refugees worldwide, concrete canvas - 'the building in a bag' - will provide quick accommodation, field offices and medical clinics that give much better protection in extreme climatic conditions, better security against looting and enable otherwise impossible medical procedures. Unlike current solutions (soft- skinned tents), which offer inadequate protection, or are expensive and difficult to transport, concrete canvas is a rapidly deployable hardened shelter that requires only water and air for construction. It can be deployed by a person in under 40 minutes and is ready to use within 2 hours. Plus, with a design life of over 10 years, (tents only survive for 2 years) concrete canvas is a solution that saves effort and costs over the lifetime of medium to long term operations.
How it works...
Delivery - CC01 comes delivered folded in a sealed plastic sack. the dry weight is 30kg, an 8 man lift, and light enough to be transported on a pick-up truck or light aircraft. The pack contains a cement impregnated fabric (concrete cloth) bonded to the outer surface of an inflatable plastic inner.
Hydration - The sack is positioned and filled with water. The volume of the sack controls the water : cement ratio eliminating water measurement. the bag is then left for 15 minutes while the cement hydrates, this is aided by the fiber matrix which wicks water into the cement. Once hydrated, the sack is cut along its seams it then forms part of the ground sheet. Deployment is done at dusk to avoid over drying the cement.
Inflation - The key to concrete canvas is the use of inflation to create a surface that is optimized for compressive loading. this allows thin walled concrete structures to be formed which are both robust and lightweight. The structure is unfolded to form the shelter’s footprint. A chemical pack is activated which releases a controlled volume of gas into the plastic inner and inflates the structure. It forms a 'nissen-hut' shaped structure with over 16 m² of floor space and the technology can be scaled to provide larger structures.
Setting - The concrete cloth cures in the shape of the inflated inner and twelve hours later the structure is ready to use. Doors and ventilation holes are left with no concrete cloth bonded to the plastic skin this allows access points to be easily cut from the inner once the cement has dried.
Housing Underground
by Sean Hartman
I was watching a TV show one day, I think it was "Modern Marvels" on the History Channel and they were showing homes that were underground. The primary use is like a fallout shelter but could house a family for up to 2 to 4 years. These shelters can help protect against a wide range of threats such as forced entry/assaults, climate change, chemical, biological, radiological, explosive (CBRE) agents, air-blast, ground shock, penetration, fragmentation and damage to the structure and equipment due to explosive loading. They can also withstand an earthquake or any other natural disaster that might strike the area the shelter is built in.
By just looking at images and watching the show these shelters are discreetly designed and built on site. There is a lot that goes into the designing of these facilities as in case of a natural disaster or attack they must accommodate for normal day to day activities and enough storage for food and other products you will need to last the entire time you are down in the shelter. It is like having a home under your home but only people living there are the only ones that will know about it.
These shelters are designed by Architects, Engineers, Physicists, Future-Scanning Analyst and Ex-Navy SEALs. These facilities are designed like you would your house but are way more expensive then what your house would cost. But it is to be safe than sorry just in case a natural disaster or an attack does happen. For further reading on these shelters/home check out:
http://www.hardenedstructures.com/index.html
I was watching a TV show one day, I think it was "Modern Marvels" on the History Channel and they were showing homes that were underground. The primary use is like a fallout shelter but could house a family for up to 2 to 4 years. These shelters can help protect against a wide range of threats such as forced entry/assaults, climate change, chemical, biological, radiological, explosive (CBRE) agents, air-blast, ground shock, penetration, fragmentation and damage to the structure and equipment due to explosive loading. They can also withstand an earthquake or any other natural disaster that might strike the area the shelter is built in.
By just looking at images and watching the show these shelters are discreetly designed and built on site. There is a lot that goes into the designing of these facilities as in case of a natural disaster or attack they must accommodate for normal day to day activities and enough storage for food and other products you will need to last the entire time you are down in the shelter. It is like having a home under your home but only people living there are the only ones that will know about it.
These shelters are designed by Architects, Engineers, Physicists, Future-Scanning Analyst and Ex-Navy SEALs. These facilities are designed like you would your house but are way more expensive then what your house would cost. But it is to be safe than sorry just in case a natural disaster or an attack does happen. For further reading on these shelters/home check out:
http://www.hardenedstructures.com/index.html
Precast Moment Frame
by Micah Jacobson
I wanted to talk about a cool piece of structural engineering technology. It is called the precast moment frame. As we know from good old Norm, precast is a great building material. It has almost limitless appearances and material covering, it is very strong, goes up fats and required no on site forms (less labor cost). A disadvantage it has compared with in-situ (cast in place) concrete is the connections carry no moment, they just sit there. So you have very large, heavy and rigid members setting on one another. This is a almost worst case scenario for seismic design. In an in-situ concrete construction the rebar is continuous throughout the pores and creates a monolithic structure. All of the joint (almost) are moment connections and the whole building is one rigid structure. This works very well for seismic design.
The precast hybrid moment frame presents a solution to this problem. It uses a combination of standard reinforcing steel and post-tensioned steel cable (can be made of steel that has a Fy ,yield strength, of almost 300 ksi, that’s strong!). These steel strands are run through pvc tubes that are places in the concrete, they are un bonded (is some post-tension system the tube is filled with grout to create a continuous bond throughout the length of the member). They are tensions to be with in there elastic range, so when the building sways do to wind or earth movement they can stretch (strain in engineering terms, remember δ=∆ L/L). This acts like elastic bands to bring the building back into its original position in these events.
So you can have a precast structure, that has the benefits of moment connection, Norm Lock would be proud! And it’s all because of steel, John Dobbins would be proud too!
Picture Link:
http://www.gostructural.com/magazine-article--11-2011-how_the_precast_hybrid_moment_frame_works-8596.html
I wanted to talk about a cool piece of structural engineering technology. It is called the precast moment frame. As we know from good old Norm, precast is a great building material. It has almost limitless appearances and material covering, it is very strong, goes up fats and required no on site forms (less labor cost). A disadvantage it has compared with in-situ (cast in place) concrete is the connections carry no moment, they just sit there. So you have very large, heavy and rigid members setting on one another. This is a almost worst case scenario for seismic design. In an in-situ concrete construction the rebar is continuous throughout the pores and creates a monolithic structure. All of the joint (almost) are moment connections and the whole building is one rigid structure. This works very well for seismic design.
The precast hybrid moment frame presents a solution to this problem. It uses a combination of standard reinforcing steel and post-tensioned steel cable (can be made of steel that has a Fy ,yield strength, of almost 300 ksi, that’s strong!). These steel strands are run through pvc tubes that are places in the concrete, they are un bonded (is some post-tension system the tube is filled with grout to create a continuous bond throughout the length of the member). They are tensions to be with in there elastic range, so when the building sways do to wind or earth movement they can stretch (strain in engineering terms, remember δ=∆ L/L). This acts like elastic bands to bring the building back into its original position in these events.
So you can have a precast structure, that has the benefits of moment connection, Norm Lock would be proud! And it’s all because of steel, John Dobbins would be proud too!
Picture Link:
http://www.gostructural.com/magazine-article--11-2011-how_the_precast_hybrid_moment_frame_works-8596.html
Sleep
by Molly Moran
What is the relevance of sleep architecture to the school of architecture?
It would be relatively easy to believe that sleep architecture would have something to do with the structure of where someone sleeps, but it is actually refers to brain wave patterns. The definition of sleep architecture represents the structure of sleep and is generally composed of a somewhat cyclical pattern of the various NREM and REM sleep stages.
As a student of architecture I feel that it is more than that. The pattern of sleep may better fit into a health or psychological department, but we as SOA students should better understand this version of architecture. Not to mention that performance of a student could improve with better a sleep environment and better sleep architecture.
The average time spent sleeping is about 1/3rd of your life and while you may seem still and resting your body is working hard to recover from the day’s activities. Below is an article from a health magazine ‘Self Magazine’ that I’ve altered to apply to architecture students and/ or college students.
How Much 'Beauty Sleep' You Really Need
Wednesday, August 31, 2011 at 4:00 PM
| posted by selfeditor
Are you getting enough pillow time? Research shows that not getting enough sleep can increase your risk of heart attack, stroke, diabetes, weight gain, cancer and even your risk of dying prematurely.
So why are so many health risks tied to adequate sleep? Well, it's all about what happens during that crucial downtime, according to Amy Hendel, author of The 4 Habits of Healthy Families.
Your metabolic rate slows down, allowing organs to work less intensively so they have recovery time. Thanks to increasing levels of HGH (human growth hormone), your cells have time to replenish, and even regenerate or repair, during those hours of complete rest. And as you move through your sleep phases, free radicals that are considered health-risk instigators are dissolved in your bloodstream.
Getting enough sleep means a minimum of 7 to 8 hours. Get less than 5 or 6 hours of sleep on a regular basis and your risk of health issues increases dramatically, not to mention you're unlikely to be looking your best. Here's what's happening in your body during dreamtime:
1. Your skin benefits from the restorative nature of sleep. Since your top layer of skin has been shedding dead skin cells all day, sleep time is repair time.
2. Production of melatonin is reduced when you get enough sleep. When you have elevated levels of this hormone, your risk of developing certain cancers is higher.
3. Sleep helps keep stress hormones like cortisol at lower levels. Cortisol can drive up risk of hypertension and heart disease.
4. Adequate sleep lowers your risk of having less stable blood sugar levels, so you lower your risk of diabetes.
5. Get enough sleep and your hunger hormones -- leptin and gherkin -- are more likely to remain modulated. The result? A lower risk of weight gain.
6. With enough sleep, your brain will be more likely to imprint the information you were exposed to during that day. You'll also have better focus and concentration the next day.
7. Sleep bolsters immunity -- with a robust immune system, your body's more capable of fighting off colds and other illnesses.
OK, but just how do you manage more shut-eye in a world that never seems to go to sleep? Start with these sleep hygiene tips:
• Make a to-do list at least an hour before going to bed, so you can clear your mind. For Arch undergrad, grads, and professors this could be tricky. Thinking about work and projects never really stop, but one needs to slow it down and making a list objectifies our priorities.
• Refrain from watching TV or doing any other stimulating tasks for at least an hour before bedtime. Again, a difficult concept for everybody. TV may be mindless but all the drama, suspense, horror, and comedies are making you think. The same with reading, drawing, typing, and doing anything that requires you to look are a glowing screen. (TV, Computers, Laptops, tablets, IPhone, etc.)
• Avoid doing work in bed, especially close to bedtime. The dorm or studio life makes this difficult, but forming the habit of doing anything other than sleeping on your bed conditions you to stay awake even if you are sleepy. Use your desk, table, floor, etc. just not your bed.
• Make sure you have adequate iron levels, since low levels of iron can interfere with good quality sleep. Your nutrition is in your own hands.
• Keep to your wake-up and bedtime schedule, even on the weekends.
• Use visualization techniques, like walking down a long, dark tunnel or staircase, to help you fall asleep. No matter how much you wish it you can’t get those hours spent pulling all-nighter back by sleeping an entire day away. Staying on top of you work and sticking to a schedule are the only ways optimize your day light time for work and sleeping time for sleep.
• Don't eat a heavy meal close to bedtime. It keeps your body working well after you’re asleep leaving you tired in the morning.
• Avoid smoking. The nicotine in cigarettes is a stimulant. Insomnia is among smokers’ greatest complaints. Smokers take longer to fall asleep and wake up more often during the night than nonsmokers.
• Avoid alcohol as well. Alcohol typically produces light, unsettled sleep. Socializing is fine, but if you signed up for architecture you should know that it is a demanding major.
• Have a calming cup of decaffeinated tea, take a warm bath (not hot) or listen to relaxing music.
--Amy Ahlberg
http://www.self.com/health/blogs/healthyself/2011/08/how-much-beauty-sleep-you-real.html
What is the relevance of sleep architecture to the school of architecture?
It would be relatively easy to believe that sleep architecture would have something to do with the structure of where someone sleeps, but it is actually refers to brain wave patterns. The definition of sleep architecture represents the structure of sleep and is generally composed of a somewhat cyclical pattern of the various NREM and REM sleep stages.
As a student of architecture I feel that it is more than that. The pattern of sleep may better fit into a health or psychological department, but we as SOA students should better understand this version of architecture. Not to mention that performance of a student could improve with better a sleep environment and better sleep architecture.
The average time spent sleeping is about 1/3rd of your life and while you may seem still and resting your body is working hard to recover from the day’s activities. Below is an article from a health magazine ‘Self Magazine’ that I’ve altered to apply to architecture students and/ or college students.
How Much 'Beauty Sleep' You Really Need
Wednesday, August 31, 2011 at 4:00 PM
| posted by selfeditor
Are you getting enough pillow time? Research shows that not getting enough sleep can increase your risk of heart attack, stroke, diabetes, weight gain, cancer and even your risk of dying prematurely.
So why are so many health risks tied to adequate sleep? Well, it's all about what happens during that crucial downtime, according to Amy Hendel, author of The 4 Habits of Healthy Families.
Your metabolic rate slows down, allowing organs to work less intensively so they have recovery time. Thanks to increasing levels of HGH (human growth hormone), your cells have time to replenish, and even regenerate or repair, during those hours of complete rest. And as you move through your sleep phases, free radicals that are considered health-risk instigators are dissolved in your bloodstream.
Getting enough sleep means a minimum of 7 to 8 hours. Get less than 5 or 6 hours of sleep on a regular basis and your risk of health issues increases dramatically, not to mention you're unlikely to be looking your best. Here's what's happening in your body during dreamtime:
1. Your skin benefits from the restorative nature of sleep. Since your top layer of skin has been shedding dead skin cells all day, sleep time is repair time.
2. Production of melatonin is reduced when you get enough sleep. When you have elevated levels of this hormone, your risk of developing certain cancers is higher.
3. Sleep helps keep stress hormones like cortisol at lower levels. Cortisol can drive up risk of hypertension and heart disease.
4. Adequate sleep lowers your risk of having less stable blood sugar levels, so you lower your risk of diabetes.
5. Get enough sleep and your hunger hormones -- leptin and gherkin -- are more likely to remain modulated. The result? A lower risk of weight gain.
6. With enough sleep, your brain will be more likely to imprint the information you were exposed to during that day. You'll also have better focus and concentration the next day.
7. Sleep bolsters immunity -- with a robust immune system, your body's more capable of fighting off colds and other illnesses.
OK, but just how do you manage more shut-eye in a world that never seems to go to sleep? Start with these sleep hygiene tips:
• Make a to-do list at least an hour before going to bed, so you can clear your mind. For Arch undergrad, grads, and professors this could be tricky. Thinking about work and projects never really stop, but one needs to slow it down and making a list objectifies our priorities.
• Refrain from watching TV or doing any other stimulating tasks for at least an hour before bedtime. Again, a difficult concept for everybody. TV may be mindless but all the drama, suspense, horror, and comedies are making you think. The same with reading, drawing, typing, and doing anything that requires you to look are a glowing screen. (TV, Computers, Laptops, tablets, IPhone, etc.)
• Avoid doing work in bed, especially close to bedtime. The dorm or studio life makes this difficult, but forming the habit of doing anything other than sleeping on your bed conditions you to stay awake even if you are sleepy. Use your desk, table, floor, etc. just not your bed.
• Make sure you have adequate iron levels, since low levels of iron can interfere with good quality sleep. Your nutrition is in your own hands.
• Keep to your wake-up and bedtime schedule, even on the weekends.
• Use visualization techniques, like walking down a long, dark tunnel or staircase, to help you fall asleep. No matter how much you wish it you can’t get those hours spent pulling all-nighter back by sleeping an entire day away. Staying on top of you work and sticking to a schedule are the only ways optimize your day light time for work and sleeping time for sleep.
• Don't eat a heavy meal close to bedtime. It keeps your body working well after you’re asleep leaving you tired in the morning.
• Avoid smoking. The nicotine in cigarettes is a stimulant. Insomnia is among smokers’ greatest complaints. Smokers take longer to fall asleep and wake up more often during the night than nonsmokers.
• Avoid alcohol as well. Alcohol typically produces light, unsettled sleep. Socializing is fine, but if you signed up for architecture you should know that it is a demanding major.
• Have a calming cup of decaffeinated tea, take a warm bath (not hot) or listen to relaxing music.
--Amy Ahlberg
http://www.self.com/health/blogs/healthyself/2011/08/how-much-beauty-sleep-you-real.html
Thursday, November 17, 2011
IDP - Intern Development Program
by Laura Thomas
Having to renew my NCARB membership recently, I decided to discuss the IDP program that everyone must fulfill in order to become a licensed architect. I'm not going to take the time to try and explain everything about the program, you can go to the website to do extended reading and become familiar with it. The main link that will take you to all the other years of work you still have to do after 6 years of school to become licensed is http://www.ncarb.org/
When you begin working in a firm, you acquire hours in one of the 17 Training Requirements categories. Factors ranging from what type of firm you work in, how large the firm is, the size of projects and what your position in the firm is will affect how hard or easy it can be to accumulate hours in specific categories.
Personally, the areas that I had a hard time accumulating hours were Site and Environmental Analysis, Building Cost Analysis, Specifications and Material Research, Bidding and Contract Negotiation, Construction Phase Office, Construction Phase Observation, and Office Management. There are not many hours in a project that touch on these tasks in the first place and then add the chance that they are going to send an intern to do it alone on an important project are slim. Then there are firms that have one person who does nothing but specs or bids because it's what their specialty is. If it's a good firm they will include you, take you with, explain and include you on everything to start building you up to doing the tasks alone.
Most firms will turn interns into CAD or Revit monkeys for a very long time, "breaking them into the real world." Don't let yourself get used as a monkey. Put forth the initiative and push for additional responsibility and take charge of ensuring that you are getting the exposure you need. Talk to your mentor and supervisors about your IDP, set goals and come up with and discuss things you can do to get time in every category on a regular basis.
Then there is the big firm versus small firm. I have worked in a very small firm of 4 people and a medium sized firm of around 30. The exposure I received at the small firm was much greater and more often than at the medium sized firm. Mainly because with only 4 people, you had to help out everywhere doing everything for the business to continue running. For the medium sized firm, I spent a majority of time as a Revit monkey. The principals and architects handled all the project management, cost estimates, designing. The office manager did all the paperwork and filing. The construction managers handled everything about the construction phase. With money being tight and work needing done there was very little wriggle room to allow "added" hours into a project by taking a tag along. Never having worked in a large office I would assume that you would probably get lost amongst all the other Revit monkeys and might get thrown some bananas now and then. Everything considered, I got more exposure in the small firm but with smaller projects and less exposure in the medium firm but with larger projects, so I suggest that you don't just run to the biggest firm but consider all your options when looking for your job.
When you interview, you should discuss your IDP and what your set goals are and that they are willing to help you attain those goals. While you are acquiring your hours, you can't quit studying. Don't lose or forget what you were taught in school because guess what? That's right, more tests. Get ARE study guides and discuss your study material with the architects, engineers, contractors, everyone of the firm and make it second nature to you so that when you are testing, it won't seem like a test. Hope this helps you start thinking about your career and what's going to happen when the world starts getting real.
Having to renew my NCARB membership recently, I decided to discuss the IDP program that everyone must fulfill in order to become a licensed architect. I'm not going to take the time to try and explain everything about the program, you can go to the website to do extended reading and become familiar with it. The main link that will take you to all the other years of work you still have to do after 6 years of school to become licensed is http://www.ncarb.org/
When you begin working in a firm, you acquire hours in one of the 17 Training Requirements categories. Factors ranging from what type of firm you work in, how large the firm is, the size of projects and what your position in the firm is will affect how hard or easy it can be to accumulate hours in specific categories.
Personally, the areas that I had a hard time accumulating hours were Site and Environmental Analysis, Building Cost Analysis, Specifications and Material Research, Bidding and Contract Negotiation, Construction Phase Office, Construction Phase Observation, and Office Management. There are not many hours in a project that touch on these tasks in the first place and then add the chance that they are going to send an intern to do it alone on an important project are slim. Then there are firms that have one person who does nothing but specs or bids because it's what their specialty is. If it's a good firm they will include you, take you with, explain and include you on everything to start building you up to doing the tasks alone.
Most firms will turn interns into CAD or Revit monkeys for a very long time, "breaking them into the real world." Don't let yourself get used as a monkey. Put forth the initiative and push for additional responsibility and take charge of ensuring that you are getting the exposure you need. Talk to your mentor and supervisors about your IDP, set goals and come up with and discuss things you can do to get time in every category on a regular basis.
Then there is the big firm versus small firm. I have worked in a very small firm of 4 people and a medium sized firm of around 30. The exposure I received at the small firm was much greater and more often than at the medium sized firm. Mainly because with only 4 people, you had to help out everywhere doing everything for the business to continue running. For the medium sized firm, I spent a majority of time as a Revit monkey. The principals and architects handled all the project management, cost estimates, designing. The office manager did all the paperwork and filing. The construction managers handled everything about the construction phase. With money being tight and work needing done there was very little wriggle room to allow "added" hours into a project by taking a tag along. Never having worked in a large office I would assume that you would probably get lost amongst all the other Revit monkeys and might get thrown some bananas now and then. Everything considered, I got more exposure in the small firm but with smaller projects and less exposure in the medium firm but with larger projects, so I suggest that you don't just run to the biggest firm but consider all your options when looking for your job.
When you interview, you should discuss your IDP and what your set goals are and that they are willing to help you attain those goals. While you are acquiring your hours, you can't quit studying. Don't lose or forget what you were taught in school because guess what? That's right, more tests. Get ARE study guides and discuss your study material with the architects, engineers, contractors, everyone of the firm and make it second nature to you so that when you are testing, it won't seem like a test. Hope this helps you start thinking about your career and what's going to happen when the world starts getting real.
BoingBoing.net
By Jason Skidmore
The blog BoingBoing.net posted an interesting story from NPR's Fresh Air about the sewage situation in Dubai. Apparently they don't have a sewage infrastructure to support high-rises. So to get rid of the sewage they have a queue of trucks lined up 24 hours a day to put the sewage into a waste water treatment plan. It seems that they put the cart before the horse in Dubai. The city has exploded over the last 50 years due to rich oil tycoons that call Dubai home. Author Kate Ascher was the person on NPR that explained the situation. She is the author of "The Heights: Anatomy of a Skyscraper." A book that most students of architecture should give a read. Go to the link below to read the story from the source.
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