I was recommended for the position at
Ziger/Snead by my TA from a class I took on the fall semester of my sophomore
year. He was graduating and was asked to find someone to take his place so he
recommended me for it. I secured it by working on creating a portfolio and a
resume that showed my potential and by interviewing with the partners and the
studio manager at Ziger/Snead.
Ziger/ Snead is an architecture firm that is
based in Baltimore. They are very much committed to working specifically in the
area of Baltimore and it’s surroundings . They work in a variety of
residential, institutional and historic projects. The team is composed of 18
people. They create design that is tailored to the client and it is never a
repetitive or robotic design process. Every project is different.
In my internship my direct supervisor is
Nicole Lamont and she is the studio manager. She manages everything in the
office and maintains everything flowing smoothly. I had some set responsibilities like answering
the phone, welcoming clients, sending out invoices and checks. And managing
other aspects such as the webpage, social media, office records, uploading
projects to Architizer. Some other tasks that I got to do was work in some
renderings and I got to learn some photoshop skills. I got to work on some
specs and attend a couple of meeting and observe the construction process of
some projects. Finally in the time that I had free I got to take the the
initiative and create a plan to renovate the materials library in the office and
present it to the partners.
I am very proud of the proposal I put together
for the renovation of the materials library. I worked on finding the materials,
designing different things for the renovation such as tags and shelf dividers
and creating a budget. I was able to set up a meeting with the partners at the
firm and they were really happy with the proposal I put together. The are in
the process of revising and approving it.
I have learned and grown a lot this summer. I
have become more confident in myself, I feel like I am better at communicating
now and I am not intimidated in the way I used to be by people. I have learned
to multitask and to be on top of things. Most of all I have learned that taking
an initiative pays off.
I have learned how to present myself in a
professional setting, have developed a professional vocabulary. I have also
learned a lot about how the an architectural office functions.
This has helped me clarify my goals because I
realized that there isn’t one path that is right there are many different
paths. Also the architectural field is broad and it is possible to find the
type of work that I am interested in creating.
