Things I wish I’d known about Urban Design and Architecture before starting my summer intern
For my 3rd year summer internship, I worked for a firm in Hong Kong called Office Urban: I Limited. I am still in the middle of the summer internship as an architectural and technician intern, but I feel like it could have been more valuable. So I’ve gathered three of the most valuable lessons that I’ve learned over my time in the past month as a creative intern. This advice will come in handy and might allow you to make the most of your internships. Enjoy!!
1.Learn as much softwares as you can: You’ll be forced to teach yourself new software. Don’t be afraid to ask others for help.
You will most likely be given a new software to learn like AutoCAD, Rhinoceros, Revit or even Renderng softwares with very little instructions on your current project. In this moment you will most likely turn to Google or YouTube to seek answers or tutorials there. However, you should also remember that your colleagues are also learning new software as well. So you can always turn to them and don’t be afraid to ask if they could show you a few simple shortcuts because at the end of the day you will save so much time and you will be able to focus on the design of your project.
2.A panel of critics will periodically review your work. Have confidence and try to lead the discussion.
Throughout a project, you will have days where you present your work to clients or outside critics, and you have most likely worked in your own bubble which makes you nervous or even you might forget some of the important points about your project in the presentation.
In this case, I’ve prepared and make sure everything is done the night before, and determine a 5–10 minutes review. When you present, know that you’re in the best position that you could’ve possibly been in, and try to lead the discussion and ending with a Q & A session to elaborate some thoughts you left explaining. And it’s always good to look back what you’re struggling with and can always simply ask for your peers and colleagues for opinions.
3.You will be required to know or study a lot of things.
It is claimed that an architect or a planner should know about sociology, economics, geometry, planning and at least a few 2D and 3D software programs. Fortunately. The structure of buildings have great responsibility for the life of us all, so sometimes it is good to learn and experience these topics if you want to be a successful architect or planner.
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