2/18 – Worked on Specifications and Electrical RCP’s – The detailing work mainly consisted of detailing electrical RCP’s for a couple different houses using detail lines in Revit. I also went into AutoCad and took existing specs for sheets and converted them over to Revit text files and edited them to look correct on the sheets

2/19 – Worked on Interior Detailing and Redlines on Electrical RCP’s – I made moulding profiles and placed them in a house last week, and I took those moulding profiles and created interior details for the sheets specifying the dimensions of the profiles.

2/20 – Worked on Redlines on Electrical RCP’s and Modeling Cabinetry – worked on modeling cabinetry in an outside grill area and a kitchen on one of the residences. Continued to work on redlining Electrical Reflected Ceiling Plans and get them ready to be sent out.

2/21 – Site visit to 7 1/2 Stoll’s Alley in Downtown Charleston –  my mentor, Tyler Smyth, and I took some site visits to residences in Downtown Charleston we are working on.

Weekly Summary:

This week I worked on a number of detailing and modeling tasks in Revit for residential houses being built in multiple different places, including Kiawah Island and Downtown Charleston. I felt that the interior detailing and modeling cabinetry helped me experience a side of Revit I hadn’t yet experienced. My work so far as an intern has mainly consisted of redlining and minor 2d detailing, so getting the opportunity to model details such as mouldings and cabinetry gave me great experience and knowledge that I can carry on to future internships. At 7 1/2 Stoll’s Alley, we found and discussed a lot of Philip Simmons ironwork. Philip Simmons was a famous iron smith in Charleston, who’s work can be seen all around downtown. His signature is the rolled ends of the iron pieces he created. As for the house, the columns found in the back piazza were probably taken from other houses since it was popular to recycle columns during the time that the house was first built and it is noticed that there are different types of columns. A saying during that time was “too poor to paint, too proud to whitewash” in regards to the brickwork found around the house. The work that we plan on doing to the house includes changing the back of the facade from 4 bays to 5 equal bays, with windows in 4 on both floors and a french door in 1 leading to the back garden. The garden was designed by Lutrell Briggs, a prominent landscape architect in Charleston. The house is a classic Charleston house and was built in the 1820s – 1830s with balloon framing. It includes true 2 x 4’s with pine joists and corner braces that fit the stud pieces in it. There was no solid wood that was used as sheathing, as this was built before sheet rock. Instead what was used was wood lath and plaster, most of the time the work was done by very young and inexperienced workers. The house was most likely originally built as slave quarters, and built by the slaves themselves. There are 2 fireplaces on both sides, on both levels that span the height of the house. The interior framing done upstairs on the piazza was done later on, as it was originally used as an outdoor terrace. There was clear distinctions between the original framing and the new framing. Birds mouths were visible and signified the end of the original roof of the piazza. As for the windows, most were old windows put in new framing, and it was clear it was old windows by the way the glass was warped and distorted. The window in the new framing was found to be not precious to where it was placed currently and could be moved in terms of readjusting the bays in the back of the house. The current problems with our projected work on this house is filling in the back piazza, which would normally not be a problem, but since the B.A.R. has found the back of the house to be visible on the next street, only slightly, they are currently opposing that proposition. The house itself was bought by the clients to be used as a house for themselves, as they have 5 grown children and are looking to downsize. They also bought out a couple other small houses in the surrounding area in which they are also renovating and will be used for when their children and grandchildren come to visit. I felt that the site visit was a great way for me to learn the rich history of the Historic Downtown Charleston and it’s architectural history.