Antoine Gray
STEP Post-Project Reflection Prompts
My STEP Signature Project was to complete an architectural internship, which I did at HBM Architects over the summer. The goals of my Signature Project were to complete a site visit, continue learning software like AutoCAD and Revit, and complete a summer project to be present to staff members at the end of the summer, which all were completed during this experience. Through this experience, I grew my understanding of how the field operates. I learned to design/complete floor plans, site plans, interior elevations, and reflected ceiling plans, and I did a lot of 3D printing to create physical site plan boards for library projects.
At my internship, the firm I worked at focused solely on library architecture. I was able to learn and see how much community input and outreach occurs before you get to design the library. Libraries today have changed from being a place to only read books, to community centers, where career resources, events, and maker/fab lab spaces are fostered. My view on the purpose of architecture has changed to where now I realize that the health and wellness of the people who will use these spaces needs to come first. This was mentioned in college, but I gotta see it first hand at this internship.
For half of the summer, I created site plan boards and 3d prints of all our company’s library creations. These were to be displayed in our firm office to showcase our projects. If the project was in ongoing development, the site plan board would be sent to clients so they could have a visual of the project. Designing these boards helped me develop and improve my technical skills in software such as Sketchup, Adobe Illustrator, and Photoshop, which are used heavily in my architecture education and the workspace. For the other half of the summer, I worked on construction documentation for new library developments and renovations. I improved my skills in Revit Software, which is an essential part of the architecture career that isn’t taught in colleges due to it limiting creativity. So to be the first intern at this company to work on construction documentation was exciting, and to improve my Revit skills from my previous internship was a plus.
At my internship, I was also able to experiment with other areas of architecture that interest me like urban planning. The firm’s library planner gave me master planning tasks to complete, which exposed me to a whole other career within the architecture realm. I also did my first-ever site visit at Lima Library to complete and verify measurements of every room in the buildings, taking hundreds of photos. At the end of my experience, I was able to complete an additional 500 hours toward the architecture licensing prerequisites, a total of 1009 hours.
My expectations for this internship and my STEP Signature Project were to complete a site visit, continue learning software like AutoCAD and Revit, and I will complete a summer project that I will present to staff members at the end of the summer. From the project, I received feedback, which I will implement in my next Co-op experience or as an architecture student. After completing this internship, I completed every one of the goals; I completed a site visit at Lima Library to verify the measurements of the building for a future addition to the structure. I was the first intern at this company to use Revit and worked on library construction documentation. My summer project was to complete site board boards of the company library projects they designed.
Real world experience is very important for architecture students, especially since a lot of the things you need to learn/experience in the field, just can’t occur in college. For example, learning the Revit software is essential in the architecture field, but isn’t taught in college since it limits creativity, but it’s used everyday in the workforce. Also real world experience, especially early on, can help you figure out what area of architecture you actually want to spend your life doing; at my internship I worked heavily on library architecture, and now I see a life-long career in it due to this experience. This internship not only prepared me for life after college, but I can still use the skills I learned in my final year of undergraduate and in masters program.