We started last nights meeting with a presentation about Interior Design and Branded Environments.  A few interior designers went through a comprehensive look at the different range of office designs they have worked on.  We covered some of the aesthetic choices that clients direct a design team on, as well as some fun and interesting ways to bring an office to life.  A few mentors from Branded Environments spent time explaining the wide range of backgrounds that their colleagues have, from graphic designers, architects, urban planners, industrial designers and more.  They also explained what exactly “Branded Environments” even means!

Next the students chose their respective areas of interest and broke out into groups for the Architecture (including Interiors and Branded Environments), Engineering (including structural, mechanical, plumbing and electrical) and Construction Management.  Team 3 split very evenly among the disciplines, with a number of students knowing exactly which they want to focus on while others generally knew the discipline they were interested in, but still wanted to learn a bit more about the specifics of each career path.

We spent the second hour of the night learning about how each discipline will play its role throughout the rest of the project.  The Engineering group heard about different structural systems and how to choose between a steel or concrete strategy.  The Construction Management group looked at the site conditions and developed a list of factors that will influence both site access during construction as well as construct-ability and the impacts on the surrounding neighborhood during construction.
The architecture group heard from their mentors about how each mentor spent their day at the office, and what kinds of degrees (and how long they took to get) each mentor received.  The students then worked on building elevations independently to each get their ideas down on paper.  We pinned all of the work up and had a group critique.  Students were asked to talk about each others work and defend their decisions.  Ultimately they voted on major decisions that will drive the rest of the project.  They decided to reuse an existing building on site, keep their building 4-6 stories and keep the top of their building below the adjacent buildings.

 

The end of the meeting was spent relaying these decisions to the other consultant groups (Engineers and construction) and hearing the consultant’s concerns.  Each week we will finish our meeting with a consultant meeting to make sure the building continues on track and decisions are made as a team, with each group able to contribute to the building.