Work Placement at Forge Design Studio
Day 1:
My first day involved a simple task that would help me get an understanding of the different software that Forge Design Studio use. FDS use Macintosh computers, which is different to my own HP laptop and the University Computers. Understanding how to use them is becoming a difficult task as well as learning Vectorworks is making it a very time-consuming process. For me to become efficient in this new software, my first task was to do a mini project to get me started. I conducted a survey of the office and had a task of converting it into an annex. This was exciting as it was an independent task and I had to apply my knowledge learned from University and work efficiently alongside coordinating my way around the new software to create a new design.
Day 2:
My first official project is a Grade II Listed building of the North Brook End House. The Proposals consist of extending the rear of the building and adding an extra bathroom to form an ensuite to the master bedroom. The extension will consist of a garden room, guest bedroom with an ensuite and ensuite for master bedroom on the first floor. This building has beautiful characteristics and finishes that make it personal and contextual to the location of Cambridgeshire.The real thing.
Day 3:
Today was a development of the bathrooms. This meant looking more into the detail of the plan especially, considering the listed aspect. My task was to put the detail of the flooring, wastage, and further detail such as line weights to drawings in order to create depth and scale to my drawings. This task also considered creating a mood/ precedents board for the customer and showing different options she could have in her kitchen, although once again linking it to the listed building regulations and making the style correlate to the rest of the building and surroundings.
Day 4:
Site Visit:
Today consisted of visiting the site that is alongside another project Forge Design studio are doing that is a more long term project. The current site I have been working on (North Brook End House) is a listed building that has been designed with beautiful Victorian finishes. The owner of the building is looking to extend and add a further lounging arrangement to the property as well as a bedroom and three bathrooms. This is a very difficult task as we have to minimise damage to the building and not put any waste or down pipes through walls that can damage the coving and other finishes to the interior or exterior.
The day consisted of meeting the Heritage preservation officers and looking at the building to see what can and cannot be done to the building. An interesting aspect was that there is odd occurrence with the history of the building. it appears that the building had gone through changes that are explainable now and the heritage councilors are calling it a 'Red Herring' as every history about the building doesn't add up to the current state and could potentially be a different house. Moving on with the day, the construction engineer had also met us on our site visit to talk about the extension and how it could physically be done. This was very interesting to see as it had given me an overview on the actual construction of the building and how it will all work. We also spoke with the customer and I had to gather design layouts and themes she had wanted and discuss over the drawings I had come up with and alter them if need be.
Day 5:
Amendments:
Altering the client's design so it would be more suited to her style and layout preference. This was difficult as she wanted me to come up with two design layouts so she could compare them. I had to make sure that nothing of the original building would be disrupted too much in the construction stage as it is listed. I also had a very interesting task of putting the discussion we had with the constructional engineer into a plan. This involved me starting to come up with a General Arrangement detailed plan of the flooring such as the joists, beams and floor boards. This all had to coincide with the wastage so that nothing of the building would get damaged and that it wouldn't interfere aesthetically. Then I had to arrange the bathroom layout on top of this GA and present this idea to my employer for him to go through it with me and alter if need be.
Week 2:
Day 1
Starting the week off involved developing and continuing of the Drainage and Structural Design Strategy. This also involved checking and adding annotations of the proposed plans before sending them off for planning. This needed a detailed plan of the directions the waste was travelling, what was remaining the same and what would be changed. This is important to know for the planning application as it shows the planning officers how this extension will impact the surrounding environment and the Grade II Listed existing building. Throughout the day, I had to annotate further plans and check the amount of detail they each had as this is an important part of the planning process and the construction of the building.
Day 2:
Today consisted of compiling information created and gathered from this project to form a Design and Access Statement for the Pre- Application process and Planning applications. This involved checking information and details of plans such as elevations and sections as well as all the information into each title block was correct. This process worked alongside an issue sheet that acted as a tick list to show the exact scale, size of paper and title of the drawing to see what we had or what we still had to do. This would help us for the future especially to note down any revisions that needed to be done and when they happened.
Day 3:
Continuing the Design and Access Statement, I started with Elevations and sections with the focus on the exterior of the building such as the placement of chimneys and downpipes. Through this process, I learned the standard size of bricks with the mortar around it that creates a general mould and size of 75mm. This meant I could count how many bricks there were and work out the dimensions from this. I also had an induction on the planning application process where the director of FDS took me through the exact stages they go through and how to navigate my way around the planning portal for different Counties. This was very interesting to see the amount of forms and information required for a planning application.
Day 4:
Persistance:
Continuation of the rear elevation for North Brook House. This is challenging as there are not many photos of this particular roof and due to the angle of the boot room and the rest of the house, it would most likely be a cross section of this elevation due to its complexity. Today also involved the placement of text and general layout of the Design and Access Statement and putting all of the pieces together for submission of the extension. This D&AS involved site analysis, history of the building and why it became listed. It also involved information such as the existing building, proposed plans and what necessary works will need to be done for the building to be working efficiently and minimal damage to the environment. The D&AS also includes a detailed summary of the entire operation of the project and a general overview of the findings and the benefit this extension will have on the local area.
Day 5:
Private Research:
Today I focused on conducting my own private research as I wanted to understand how to draw a detailed drawing with the correct annotations and line weight. This is what I have been struggling with during my work experience so I decided to look at precedents of the NHBC Standards and get a further understanding. I also had a look through the 'Eames Beautiful Detail' to get inspiration on the more aesthetic part to designing as well as the smart designs that architecture has to offer. This showed the different furniture, architecture and other designs that show colourful pieces of work that could be used in my own future designs. I also had the pleasure of taking the honourable and adorable work dog (Dex the Labrador) out for a walk with my colleague. This was because Mike the Director of FDS was out on a site visit for another project and we had to hold the fort and continue with our individual projects.
Week 3
Day 1:
Design and Access Statement:
Checking through drawings and making sure the issue sheet is in order and works in correlation with the 17 drawings consisting of existing and proposed plans and elevations. I printed everything out and made notes on the annotations, line weight as well as checking yet again that everything was in the correct place. This would be things like chimneys, windows and doors. This was a lengthy process as it required to analyse things thoroughly as this is a listed building planning application and needs to be exact as it is a very lengthy process and doesn't need any unnecessary delays when things could just be trippled checked to start with.
Day 2:
Organisation for the planning application process:
Finalising the plans for the planning application submission. This meant all day, I was altering and improving the drawings i had currently done such as elevations and plans of the existing and proposed and making sure everything was correct. The knowledge gained from the NHBS standards helped with these changes as I had a precedent to refer to on how to produce a detailed drawing with the correct visualisations and annotations. This meant me printing, checking and re printing to make sure everything was correct. After lunch, we had emails from the Structural Engineer detailing the works and discussions we had at the site visit and putting them into a format/list of what the extension will consist of. This was interesting to read as it included very specialist terminology of the proposed works on the extension and alteration of the drainage design strategy. We also received the Heritage Statement which was yet again very interesting to put everything together from the site visit discussions to the plannings and drawings I had completed. From these two documents, I had to respond to the drawings and make sure they all correlate with one another and everything was correct. From doing this task, it gave me a more technical understanding to the building itself and the processes involved for a planning application submission. This also allowed me to have an improved understanding of the general building works and the collaboration with other specialists that is needed to work on a Listed building.
Day 3:
Today I had the immediate task of going through the amendments I had made alongside Mike's comments and improving the existing and proposed drawings. From doing these amendments, I had developed the drawings and increased the number of pages from 17 to 20. I had done this as we thought the pages were getting a bit overcrowded from these improvements I had made so it would be of our best interest to space them out so it is easier to read. This had to work alongside updating the issue sheet so we are aware of the pages we are submitting for the planning application. I had to then make sure the Heritage statement and the Structural Engineer's documents were in the correct files ready for submission.
Day 4:
Student day:
Today, Students from UWE, Bristol visited the studio as they have been matched with FDS on a RIBA mentoring scheme. It was interesting for me to compare our degree to an Architecture Degree, especially those studying at a different University.
Mike had set out a series of scenarios for us to consider throughout the day. Our task was to develop our responses which addressed the problems presented. We discussed our thoughts and findings in an open forum which Mike then compared against the actions that FDS undertook. This helped us understand the importance keeping clients happy and maintaining professional standards.
Day 5:
Private Research:
Today consisted of product research into kitchens and kitchen design layouts as my next project I will be working on a house for a client in Wareham. This customer has had previous work done by FDS in 2015 and is now looking to extend the rear of their property to create an open plan space consisting of a kitchen, dining room and lounge as well as a slightly sectioned off snug and orangery. This customer is interested in a very particular arrangement and wants all her storage to be full height and on one wall, and all her surface area to be on an island in the centre of the room.
Week 4:
Day 1:
I started the day off completing my own log sheet for FDS as well as my invoicing for the previous two weeks. This is useful to learn as this skill would be beneficial in the future as I will know how to do my own admin. Once all of the admin had been completed, I continued to work on the new project, the Ronda House. as previously mentioned before, the customer is very particular about what she wants. In the rear extension where the kitchen will be built, I have had to conduct research into the sliding doors that will be used as Mike had suggested a more aesthetically pleasing sliding door that will create a more contemporary look. I also had a look and planned out an indicative drainage layout as the existing conservatory that is going to be knocked down, has a drainage system underneath and cannot be accessed, so this is going to be changed in the proposed extension.
Day 2:
Today Mike had to go on a site visit in London for a new project, this meant Loretta, Dexter (the dog) and I had to run the office.I continued with the existing and proposed drainage drawings from the site plan. This strategy currently links in with the neighbours drainage and I had to consider the access to that as well. This was easier to do considering I have had the previous project of doing a similar indicative drainage strategy, therefore I knew the symbols and annotations the plans needed and was a more efficient process. I also had the task of creating new title blocks for Vectorworks for Ronda, Ridge, Wareham Project.
Day 3:
Further developing the Ronda Project, I started to explore the Sketchup file from 2015 that had been created. My task today was to update the design and the new rear extension. This was interesting as FDS uses layers in their Sketchup models and I had never done this before in uni. This took some getting used to as I had to organised the different categories of existing and proposed onto the correct layers.
Day 4:
Today, the owner from NBEH had sent her feedback to FDS about the amendments show wanted to make on her proposed extension. I added a velux window onto the rear extension and a window on the proposed master ensuite. This window would be on the interior just so it can allow more light between the ensuite and the landing. This had to be update on all of the drawings such as roof, section and elevations. Once these had been updated and annotated accordingly, It was then sent through for submission through the planning application. Once this had been completed, I went back to the new project I had started this week and created an issue sheet and organised the files into the correct places and made sure they were all the correct file size for when we come to submitting them.
day 5: