THE FINAL GATHERING: WORKSHOP

Narrative:

Start
-Video of me scribbling the words "What architects do- Austin- Smith: Lord by Megan Rourke"
-Show pictures of the office, and videos of the office (take video of the office)
-Background information on Austin-Smith: Lord whilst showing clips of office and of video of meeting ++NEED VOICEOVER++ End with "so, what does an architect really do?"
-Show pictures and videos of site visits, all case studies:
Trinity College**
Strategic Co-ordination Centre*
Eastern High School**
Bridgewater**
Trinity University College**
V. expensive project**
- With so many different things to think about, you have to wonder what goes on in an architect's head. So, I interviewed specialist Rob Firman. (Show video) (voiceover saying what he has done, get picture of him, stick his name underneath)
-When visiting the London Austin-Smith: Lord office, I was also able to interview architect Ashley Davies (Show video)
- Talk about the London site and any relevance
- Talk about what my views are
- Finish with Frank Lloyd Wright
Finish

What have I learnt?

I think that this experience has been much better than formed work experience, due to the spontaneity and the feeling that there was no show being put on- Austin-Smith: Lord really do care about their clients. In the client meetings that I attended, the client-architect relationship was strong, with any problems being sorted out with a smile. I feel that this is the best way to deal with problems, and I must remember this in future- I think although it may be easy to bond in the slight things that have gone wrong, you must always stay optimistic, because sometimes these problems may take years to overcome. When I was speaking to Rob Firman about architecture, he said that the great thing about architecture is you don't have to have a particular personality type- you can be a person who wants to get projects done at a fast pace, or someone who wants to get every detail correct- it just really depends on what projects you take on to ensure yuo are at your best. I think that the architecting world has moved on from pens and pencils; every single person was using a computer in my two weeks, something that you would never have see decades ago in an architect's office. I also was able to see how the recession had affected the practise, with projects being much harder to win due to the high amount of competition for any project at all. Architects do get to travel, and even if some of the sites only stretch as far as Cardiff, it must feel quite rewarding to drive for about 10 minutes and see your own building arising. I also feel I have learnt about client-architect confidentiality, as some of the projects I could not write about, as they were not yet to be released, or were still in the process of being designed.

CASE STUDY: NEW TEACHING BLOCK CAMARTHEN

Walking into the site:





A look at the crane:



One of the units actually being lowered down:



The sumps being built and constructed:





One of the units being loaded onto the truck:

Description: Megan Rourke

Through education at Stanwell School, I am currently in Year 13, studying Maths, English, Art and Physics at A level. I achieved 9 A*s, 3 A's, and 1 B at GCSE, and have AS level results AAAB, of which the B in physics is to be resat in January.
Throughout the year I have thrown myself into many activities to ensure full development of my learning, and have been in schemes such as the Engineering Education Scheme Wales, of which our team won the Environment Award in May 2010. I have also participated in Duke Of Edinburgh Bronze, Silver, and Gold, and am working towards Grade 5 in singing. This year, for the scheme of "Young Enterprise", I, along with my team mates, put on a show called "Stanwell's Got Talent", in which students from all years could participate to win a trophy and prize for their talent. The show raised over £800, and along with the Christmas and Easter Fetes in which we sold our handmade items at, we were able to make close to £1000 for the charity, Project Trust, which we gave to a student to ensure his trip to Uganda to help children in their English. I am a Senior Prefect, and have participated in drawing the designs for our school extension, and have attended site visits to ensure that the direction is in one that we would like to go in. Earlier this summer, I worked in England to do work experience on a Chemical Site, in hope it would further my knowledge of the working relationship between architectural engineers, and any other engineers in general. I feel this helped my independence, and I learn about many different aspects of engineering- this links very closely with architecture in terms of who you may work with, and so I thought it a good idea to find out their perspective as well as the architect's.
I am incredibly excited to be doing the Reflecting Wales Project, as I feel it is not only a good opportunity to learn more about the working environment, but will show that I am willing to put in a lot of effort to achieve and show my worthiness. I am undertaking two weeks in the Cardiff Office at Austin-Smith: Lord, during which I will be briefed on many of the case studies, attend site meetings, will be able to visit the Austin-Smith: Lord office in London, and get my own first hand experience in making models, and drawing my own sketches. I feel it is a privilege to work with such experienced architects, and know that I will gain a lot from my work experience.

What's it really like to be an architect?

To further my search in finding out what architects do, I interviewed Rob Firman, and asked many questions that had been on my mind since I first became interested in architecture. During the interview and the conversation I had with him afterwards, I found out that he had actually designed Cardiff Millenium Centre, and was currently on an extremely expensive project, and so to say I was a bit starstruck is probably an understatement. Here is the video of the interview:

*SHOW VIDEO*

CASE STUDY: TRINITY UNIVERSITY COLLEGE

Throughout my time at Austin-Smith: Lord, I feel that I got the chance to view what really happens in the architecture- the good and the bad. A certain project, in which I too got first hand experience in, shows that sometimes, no matter how much work you may have put into the project, you may not always win the building. This exact statement happened with a particular building, Trinity University College, in which models, sketches, and ideas were collected together in order to try and secure the building as one of their own. From helping designing the models myself, I now understand how tricky these things are- I managed to have first hand experience at cutting myself with a scalpel through trying to get the detail exact as well as model making, and the effort that is put into these projects without any true knowledge of the outcome can at times seem extremely upsetting. At Austin-Smith: Lord however, it was clear to see that they would not be tempted to try any less than their best, and although they did not win the building, the thought process was incredible. Sustainability was even thought about, with renewables such as biomass or ground source heat being used, recycling waste, a green travel plan, and green guide materials. Some examples were given of the current and previous jobs they have/had been working on, and maps had been drawn out to show that they had really thought about the different angles. Once the models had been scanned through, labels were put on to suggest which of the areas would be used for the different facilities in the building, and Austin-Smith: Lord even went to the trouble of stateing their preferred idea, the BREEAM holistic approach to measure sustainability, and the extracts from their very early stages of sketching. I learnt that you do not win every project, and especially due to the recession, trying to get hold of a project is harder than ever.


Views of the current site:









Pictures of the interview notes: