New Computer!

The past week was very busy at work. First I got a new computer to work on a new program called CET. CET is a program for Steelcase dealerships and is much faster than CAP. A cool thing about CET is that it builds the furniture for you, supports and all! Such a time saver! I was able to work on more projects than usual because of this new program.

First, I worked on a revision for a student lounge. The space was for international students and the idea was to have lounge seating so students can both work and socialize. For this project I specified both Jenny and Campfire seating. In addition to the campfire booths I put personal tables for students to do homework or study if needed.

Another project that I worked on was a small office space in a healthcare environment. The customer meet with a lot of patients in this space to go over treatment plans. So the customer wanted a peninsula top for meetings, a return and then a desk with overhead storage. The peninsula had two “player” guest chairs and a five high bookcase situated on the adjacent wall.

More Field Measuring

This week was a busy week. In the beginning of the week we went and field measured for our new client. We got it done pretty quickly. It was much easier this time with the two of us rather than just myself. Carol measured while I drew and recorded. This new space currently has no drywall so we had to account for that in all of our measurements. There were also three columns down the middle that we have to work around. The HVAC system in the back of the space requires a maintenance room as well as a drop down ceiling in order to hide the parts. There is currently no trim or moulding in the space and so measurements were taken for that as well. This next week I will be working on putting these measurements into Autocad as well as the field measurements I took down the other week from the other client visit.

Back in the office I went through all of the purchase orders. A lot of the furniture and lighting we ordered came in this week and so I had a lot of errands to run.  I went to Brechers lighting as well as Brock McVey in order to pick up lighting for a client. I then went and dropped them off at the clients house so they could take them out to their new house. I didn’t have much time to continue organizing the materials room this week and so hopefully I will be able to continue with that next week. The remaining time spent in the office I filed away invoices, updated running tabs and purchase orders, and called a few manufacturers and updated our accounts.

 

Until next time.

Deborah Berke Reflection

After having some time to reflect on my experience at Deborah Berke Partners, located in New York City, I have come to really appreciate the opportunity the College of Design, specifically The School of Interiors, presented me with.  Shadowing at Deborah Berke gave me a further look into everything related to the design market.  The world of interior design is a vast profession involving clients, contractors, vendors, engineers, inspectors, etc.  My primary contact at Deborah Berke created a schedule for the week for me that allowed me to become involved in a variety of projects.  My week went like this:

Monday: The first day I worked in the residential interiors section of the firm with two architects on a home in the Hampton’s.  After I was set up with a desk of my own, they put me right to work.  I spent the day creating and fixing red lined interior and exterior elevations (completing an approximate of 25 elevations that day) that were to be put into a presentation for the client the following Friday.

Tuesday: The second day I was assigned to different project, working with two architects on architectural interior projects.  I was able to tag along on two different site visits.  The first site was a 7 story townhouse on the upper east side of Manhattan.  This project, which focused on merging the traditional interior aesthetics of the home with the modern feel the clients were wanting, was in the beginning stages of the construction process.  The second site visit was an upper east side, two story duplex much further along in construction.  After the site visits, which were accompanied by the NY St. Patrick Day Parade, I spent the day learning how and taking professional photos of materials and textiles for an upcoming client presentation.

Wednesday: On the third day of my professional experience I was able to work with the hospitality interiors team on multiple ongoing 21 C Hotel projects.  This day was especially exciting because I was able to design the basement of one of the upcoming 21 C Hotels.  I was given the task of designing the basement with the complication that all rooms and spaces had to follow code requirements of emergency egress without 1) changing the square footage requirements and 2) without adding any extra corridors or hallways.  Once that assignment was completed I worked on creating elevations of another upcoming 21 C hotel, based on a floorpan and renderings I was given.

Thursday: On my second to last day I worked with a different segment of residential interiors, this time working on a home in Manhattan and a home in Bermuda.  I started my day by organizing and making CAD Blocks for a new computerized library system they were hoping to soon implement.  Once that assignment was completed I was able to visit the D&D Building. This building, a haven to all interior designers, is home to over 120 showrooms consisting of the top 3,000 leading manufacturers in the design world such as Knoll, Maharam, DesignTex, Duralee, Ralph Lauren, etc.  During my visit here I met with various furniture and textile representatives to discuss their newest lines and products.  Back at the office, after my visit to D&D, I was able to join in on two vendor meetings, the first with a furniture manufacturer, EuroTrend and the second with a high end rug manufacturer, SHIIR.  After the vendor meetings it was back to working in CAD creating furniture blocks.

Friday: For my last day at Deborah Berke Partners I joined in on the institutional interiors team.  They were in the final construction phase of the Mannes College project.  For this project they were tasked with designing a variety of spaces for a performing arts school, including practice rooms, rehearsal spaces, etc.  This project was set to be completed by the end of July, ready for the new school year in August.  Because the project was further in the construction phase I was able to work on a new aspect of design I had never encountered before as a student.  I was able to work on RFIs, SKs, and SIs. This involved corresponding with contractors, engineers, and other professionals to update and correct any code, construction, or design issue.  I responded and recorded any unanswered transmittals and submittals.  Once all requests and submissions were answered and recorded I worked on creating and red-lining current floorpans that needed to be updated/corrected and sent back to the contractor.

My week visiting Deborah Berke Partners was an extraordinary experience that gave me many new insights into the design world.  I was able to network (collecting many business cards) and experience different aspects of the design profession I hadn’t come across yet as a student.  All of the teams I worked with were extremely friendly and helpful (I was even treated to lunch daily).  Working as a designer in New York City has been a dream of mine since I was a little kid and during this weeklong experience I was able to see what my future (would hopefully) hold.  A few things I learned are that New Yorkers work on a very different schedule than most.  They begin work anywhere from 9:00-10:00 A.M., take their lunch break around 1:00-2:00, and leave work around 7:00-8:00 (sometimes later).  So note to future designers, NY is not a place for the faint hearted, but if you are like me, and love the vibrancy and energy of the city you will fit right in.  It may seem a bit intimidating at first but the subways, pedestrians, etc., are nothing to fear.  As hardworking as everyone at Deborah Berke was, they still know how to have a good time, creating a march madness bracket for the office, bringing their dog to work, and/or holding happy hour on Thursday in the conference room are just a few examples of the amazing environment they have.

I would recommend this experience to anyone who has the chance and would especially like to thank Lindsey Fay for setting everything up.  My visit went better than I could have imagined and I feel that I learned many new skills vital to the design profession.

P.S. Because of many client confidentiality agreements I am unfortunately unable to post any pictures of site visits or upcoming projects I worked on.

Back and Forth

This week I went back and forth from working with on the materials lab and with working with a designer on a residential project. For the materials lab it is important for all of the materials to be up to date and to be stocked so that the designers can design effectively with all of the options they can get available. I went through a few of the manufacturers samples and checked to see if they are discontinued and order more samples where needed. Some of these included Wilsonart laminates, Bernhardt fabrics, and Hancock+Jessica Charles fabrics. It is also interesting to see the shift with some products to more digital samples rather than actual physical samples and some of this is because a lot of design firms have less and less space allocated to materials.

The other part of this week was working on a residential project with Nancy. She was given a printed floor plan to use for her designs, but it was not done digitally. So, I was in charge of putting the space into AutoCad so we could start designing. After I finished measuring out the plan with a scale and transferring it digitally I started working on furniture plans for the space. The client already has furniture that she wants to be put in the space so I had to get the measurements of that and create blocks for them in AutoCad. I created three different layouts that will be shown to the client in the next meeting and we will move forward after getting their ideas and opinions of the layouts.

-Amanda

Picture of some of the materials I worked with:

Eclipsing

This week at CMW I have been working on several tasks at the same time. I am continuing to work on the living water church in regards to detailing and final renderings. I met with the clients Wednesday, and got approval to start the specing process. We are not working on a project large enough to have official spec documents, instead we are referring to the finishes and equipment in the plans, elevation, and detail drawings for the construction documents. The architect that I am working closely with on these projects has showed me some of their spec documents and I am very excited to not be specing like that!

I am also working on renderings for the engineering company Stantec that works in the floor below us. They are researching outcomes of Main street downtown becoming a two way street. I have been making infographics and digital renderings to show three different potential street conditions for the potential future. It is important for the retail owners of the one way streets downtown to have multi directional streets, bike lanes, parking, wider sidewalks, etc. for people to slow down and spend time seeing the sites and want to stop. This project we are calling eclipsing and is the first project where I am working with other professionals from a different firm.

We had a CEU this week with Tammy Henry from Louisville Tile. I learned a lot about grouting and mortar and installation of floor and wall tiles.

This week I also got a new wall board from Formica. It is a lot brighter than the last one and there are a lot more materials out there. I am using a lot of them in the living water church.

New Formica Wall Board

Full Week at Pedigo!

 

Contractors have been busy at work these past few months, but we in the final stages of this project.

This week at pedigo I was on site at one of our current clients meeting with fireplace specialists about replacement logs, I was interested because I actually got to learn a lot about fireplaces. I learned about the different log type and why one is better then the other. I also go to visit the showroom to see some of our options actually in working mode. Below is a picture of the home where we needed the replacement logs. The ones we currently have are ceramic, which tend to give off an unpleasant scent, were are switching to concrete logs so we can minimize that issue.

As I promised last week here are some progress pictures from the same house, it has came a long way! All the construction is nearly done, we have the cleaners coming in later this week so we will be ready for furnishing to arrive.

It has ben so exciting working on this project and really seeing all the steps from beginning to where we are now, even to where we will be in the next few week. I am hoping to see the final stage before the end of the semester. I have about 4 weeks left here until I take on another journey this summer hopefully. Until then, I still have a lot more to do, projects keep rolling in.

Office Update. Well I mentioned before, during spring break we were planning on doing a office renovation. Unfortunately that has been on hold with the amount of projects we are doing. I am hoping they will take full advantage of the new arrangement once we slow down so the work here can be done more efficiently.

This week we also got sent in more fabric samples, it is always nice to stay on top of new trends and styles and Ben likes to make sure we always stay informed. It was great being able to look through them myself so I could see and become more familiar with more manufactures out there. After that was over I then placed them in the correct bin to match their color scheme.

Until next time!

Samm

New Project

This week Carol was out of the office. This left me which the usual purchase orders, organizing of the office, and errands. I placed a lot of new orders this week for samples, furniture, and fabrics. Most of the orders placed this past week were in motion and so I either had to finish them or we were waiting on the client to make up their mind. To finish the orders I would call the manufacturers, order through our account, and finish the paperwork in the office to track them.

Because Carol was gone this was a great opportunity to continue organizing the materials room. I alphabetized all of the manufacturers and products in each category, for example furniture, upholstery, flooring, etc. I was also replacing the old catalogs with the new material and price lists. Upholstery is taking the longest because not only am I separating them via manufacturer but also through style and material usage. There are also a lot of samples to go through here.

I ran quite a few errands this week. A lot of packages came in and I dropped them off at the clients house. As soon as the packages came in I opened them and made sure everything was correct. I then re-sealed up the packages and took them over. I also dropped off a few borrowed samples at fabric stores such as DRC.

We also started a new project this week. I went to the clients house to get measurements. I measured the bedroom, the bathroom, their office, and closet. I would draw out a quick sketch  and then proceed to record my measurements as I went through. I made sure to note electrical outlets, lighting switches, and door swings as well. Below is a picture of one of the rooms. This next week I will be placing these into auto cad and continuing on with the design process.

 

Work

This week at work I was able to do many new things. First, I created a new option for a waiting room that I worked on last week. The customers wanted to see a less expensive option, the Gratzi by Lay-Z-Boy. This option was cheaper mainly because it was used ganging options. This meant that the tables and chairs were attached together. In addition to saving money, this also saved space. I was able to fit in a total of six additional chairs. This was great for the customer’s financial situation and allowed for them to serve more patients.

Next, I had to do a reconfiguration on an office in a higher education facility. This space had a curved wall which called for unconventional furniture solutions. The users required guest seating, a peninsula, a desk, and a return. The storage requirements included a tall storage cabinet, two pedestals (box-box-file, and file-file) and a lateral file. The long list of requirements and storage layout called for many revisions.

Lastly, I worked on another space for residents. They needed six desks with box-box-files and chairs. Additionally, they wanted a hutch that would attach to the wall instead of sitting on the desk. This was utilize the already small desk surface- 42’’ wide. The next thing that I did was use armless chairs that were smaller than the normal task chair.

Church Project

This week at Design Link I spent a majority of my time working on a church project with two of the designers in the office. The project is separated into a few different spaces: the sanctuary, the youth wing, and the upstairs kid’s floor. I worked with the designers on creating floor material layouts in all of the spaces along with keys for each, detailing what flooring is going in what spaces. This is to give the client an exact description of where the flooring is going and also for the installer who is on the project so they know exactly where everything goes. Along with the floor material layouts I also did a tile layout in the bathrooms to show the direction of tile along with the exact placement for the installers. As the week went on we moved towards creating a paint layouts for the same areas and this was done in AutoCad as well. This space has multiple colors being placed in each rooms, so it was very important for me to be as specific and clear as possible with my notes and specifications. It is interesting to see from project to project how even just the paint layout can be completely different and how paint color can change the whole space when it is done.

I also am in charge of organizing and doing some inventory in the materials lab. I go through different materials and manufacturers and make sure that they are up to date with all of the books and samples and that if there are some samples that are being used more than others I order more from the rep or from the companies website. This gives me a great amount of exposure to not only the materials themselves, but also the range of manufacturers there are for each material. Overall it was a great week and my family even came in on Friday for Easter weekend and I got to give them a tour around the office and introduce them to the designers and architects that I work with!

-Amanda

Matthew Carter Interiors

We had another exciting week at Matthew Carter Interiors!  With multiple installs and the arrival spring it was a great week.  I did a lot of errand running to keep the install going smoothly.  Again I can’t stress how important flexibility is in this industry.  You really have to be prepared to do anything on any given day.  I think that is the most important thing I have learned while at this internship.  Also, I believe thats what makes the design business so fun, you are in for some sort of surprise almost everyday. Just make sure to always have a tape measure, pencil, and paper with you!

Tuesday morning I had to drive all over picking things needed for the installation of a curtains at a large commercial project.  I also had to deliver quiet a few curtains to the site, which required a lot of man power (aka me and one other person).  Needless to say I got a good workout in!  These days are always so because it is great to see everything come together all at once, and very rewarding as well!

Also, Lindsey Fay visited me at work on Tuesday afternoon which was great! I was able to show her around the office and explain how we work.  I also showed her a drawing I was working on for a client.  Here is a picture of us when she visited!