My experience during week two at Novus.

 

Monday, Jan. 20th

Weekly staff meeting. Matt presented an update on a large office addition and master plan proposal for a project he and the medley/worship/healthcare team have been working on.

Began work on enlarged plan sheets and millwork elevations for a design drawing set of a hematology clinic here in Charleston.

I Continued Revit tutorials with Andrew where we discussed Templates and standards for the office, as well as future changes that may occur for BIM management for the team.

 

.5 hrs – General Overhead – Weekly Meeting – AXP: Practice Management

3 hrs – General Overhead –  Revit tutorials – AXP Practice management

.5 hrs – Hematology – AXP Project Development & Documentation

4 hrs total

 

Tuesday, Jan. 21st

I Continued working on enlarged plan sheets and millwork elevations, continued Revit tutorials and displaying competency in applying templates to various sheets for different representations across a drawing set.

I Learned the hierarchy of the project browser within Revit and how views relate to each tabbed section.

 

4 hrs – Hematology – AXP Project Development & Documentation

4 hrs total

 

Wednesday, Jan. 22nd

Weekly Medley/Worship/Healthcare team meeting. We discussed projects status and workload. Within the discussion I learned the importance of maintaining good relationships with clients, consultants, and vendors on any project. We as professionals trust that the people we work with, hire, and consult with, will have the best interest of the project and doing a good job, but it is always important to be a part of every discussion on design between consultants and the client. We as the designer or architect always have the bigger picture of the project in mind and a vendor might be focused on solving a smaller part.

I continued redline work and Revit tutorials.

 

1 hrs – meeting – AXP: Practice Management

3.5 hrs –  Hematology – AXP: Project Development & Documentation

4.5 hrs total

 

Thursday, Jan. 23rd

Today was more of the same, Revit tutorials and red line work.

 

4 hrs – Hematology – AXP: Project Development & Documentation

4 hrs total

 

Reflection:

This week was very insightful for me in understanding practice management. My prior experience within the profession wasn’t so structured and forthcoming about financials, billing, and workload budgeting. Having the opportunity to sit in these weekly meetings is an invaluable experience.

During a meeting this week (bolded above under wednesday) there was a discussion of time management and where a coworker needed to be for another project. While discussing this balancing of schedule a client meeting with a trusted vendor was on topic as either being rescheduled or just allowing that vendor to meet without the project manager present. Although everyone trusts this person and has communicated with this vendor their intentions for the project, the managing principals encouraged everyone to make sure we do our due diligence for the client and be available in those discussions. We represent the client and advocate for them in every instance of the project, regardless of how small a meeting it might be (like selecting some small interior finished in this case).