Blog 21: Mentorship

Literal

• Posted 50+ hours too the right ->!

Contact
    
     Mentor: Rachel Adams, LEED AP Architect
     Mentorship: Marshall Fundamental High School, Pasadena CA
                          Architecture for Education, Pasadena CA

Interpretive:

What is most important thing you gained from this experience and why?

• The most important thing that I gained from this experience is getting to working a program that combines all three fields of designing and constructing a building through architecture, engineering, and construction. This enabled me to learn, understand, and be able to work with my mentors and other ACE students and listen to their opinions and include my in take in order to find a consensus design solution. The reason why this skill is so important because in most cases many of the architects, engineers, and construction crews do not ever get the chance to work along side each other. This poses a problem in the design process which could cause a delay in the construction process, or an unnecessary financial cost due to miss communication between each field. In order to avoid future design issues on a build site, I will apply my acquired skills from ACE to encourage commutative efforts and collaborative methods between each discipline.

Applied:

How has what you've done helped you answer your EQ?

• Well working on the ACE annual design competition, I was able to apply green architecture methods to the overall theater design. Our end product we decided to implicate a renewable energy source which applies to the one of specifications for an accredited green design: renewable energy and low energy impact sources. The renewable energy we chose to use was solar energy since our site location is in the city of Los Angeles, and provides for an ideal optimal source for solar energy resource. Another application I applied was sustainable materials which include recycled, modern resource efficient engineered materials, and efficient composite structured materials. Through this material I was able to research some refurbished materials used for accredited green designs, and I was able to find refurbished brick in a company in Riverside. Additionally working alongside my mentor Rachel, she had also taught me the value of thinking about the underlining components that make up a process. Rachel taught me that picking a product just because its a recycled material and from a company that is solely powered by wind energy does not mean the product material is right for your design. You have to consider where your product is coming from, how much energy does it take to manufacture that product, and how much does it take to ship to your site in terms of locality? By learning more about green design I was able to pick which methods of sustainable design best fit for our annual design competition based on our time limit and what we could amount too. Working alongside with my mentor and applying green design I was able to see that green design is a unique process that seeks to incorporate nature through preservative methods. In turn I found that green design was my best answer because of its accredited background of regulation by United States Green Building Council. Lastly since green design has so many various regulations that must be met in order to have an accredited green design which includes: sustainable site design, water quality and conservation, energy and environment, indoor environmental air quality, materials and resources, other exceptional approaches.

    

January Extra Blog

Over the course of January my meetings at my mentorship at ACE Program have consisted of finalizing a floor plan design. In our last two meetings there were two groups that worked on the end of the year design (project is to design a movie theater.) One group worked on the internal design of the theaters while the group I was in constructed the exterior structure of the building as well as the layout of the floor plan or how the rooms flowed.

 

 

In the above design we had to first think out the design logically and practical to how a realistic movie theater would flow. For example you don't want the projector room for a theater to be connected with the bathroom you want the projector room to be directly on top of each theater. Although this sounds like common sense it really took some analytical thinking. Another example was that in our ACE project requirements we were only allowed two bathrooms so we as a group thought it would be in our best interest if we placed the bathroom an equal distance away from each theater for the guests to easily access it.

 

This photo above was our finalized first draft, much of what we learned in calculating the square-footage we had to apply to our floor plan design to get the correct number of required square-footage.

 

This picture above illustrates our finalized second draft of our floor plan. In our ACE project requirements we had to establish a restaurant; originally we thought it would be a great feature if we put the restaurant on the second floor, but we ran into a few design problems. The practicality of the restaurant was inadequate, due to the fact that how can users/guests get to the restaurant without having to pay for a movie ticket. We as a group agreed that we would have exterior stairs that would lead up to the restaurant and an elevator for the handicapped. Yet in reality an I-MAX theater screen is at least 60 feet tall and walking sixty flights of stairs is a bit of an exaggeration for practical use. For the end we had to put the restaurant on the group for but decided to face it towards the main street to attract more guest. One of the feature I liked was the patio seating/dining area that faces the main street for an outside city atmosphere for restaurant guests.  

 

What I've learned most from this month was the fact that a practical design is more highly thought of and important than an aesthetic appeal in design.



 

Blog 11: Mentorship 10 Hours

1.   Where are you doing your mentorship?

• I am contributing my time to a mentorship program at a Marshall High School in Pasadena, known as ACE or Architecture, Construction, and Engineering. ACE is a program where high school students interact with professional graduates in the field of Architecture, Construction and Engineering, and get to experience each field at first hand.

2.   Who is your contact?

• My contact is Rachel Adams one of the contributing ACE Mentors on the Pasadena Team.

3.   How many total hours have you done (total hours should be reflected in your mentorship log located on the right hand side of your blog like your WB)?  

• All in all I have completed a total of 21 Hours with in the time frame of 9/19 - 12/12/2013. 

4.   Summarize the 10 hours of service you did.

• After being introduced to all of our mentors and getting a general background description of each career choice, our meets consisted of fieldtrips to either a accredited university, college, or firm. Throughout these field trips our mentors continuously gave us tips on hands on experiences and projects on how to think in terms of an architect, engineer, and contractor. We as the Pasadena Team are encouraged to work in groups and as a team since the whole experience of being an architect, engineer, or contractor is being dependent upon a high level of communication and interaction. Our mentors have also taught the Pasadena Team the ideas of structure, the role of an Architecture, the role of a Structural Engineers, site planning, architectural planning and elevation, site modeling, and scale conversions. Every year the ACE program does an annual project that each high school team in Los Angeles county is required to complete and present at the end of the year seminar. Our project currently that the Pasadena Team needs to develop as a coming of year product is to design and construct a movie theater; where we're consulting with other ACE Teams from other high schools and fit our project design to coincide with their project design. Ultimately being involved in the ACE program has taught me a great deal on a new outlook on Architecture, Engineering, and Construction.  

 

Summer Mentorship Component

Literal: 

 

1. Mentorship Log 

2. Dennis Tierney (626) 945-0033

Adress: 8543 Hamilton ST, Rancho Cucamunga CA 91701

3. Question that Arose

• What materials will I need to familiarize myself with, and there uses    in order to properly use them correctly?
• In order to be independently employed and financially stable, how should I budget my construction supplies in order for myself to have enough material while making a profitable income?
• If an unknown problem arises like a rotting wall, how will I cover myself for unseen problems in my budget?
• How would I manage my time properly and logically in order to effectively and efficiently get a construction site done in good quality by the deadline?
• Will I need people skills in order to communicate my point across to engineer, architects, clients or simply getting a license or permit approved?

 Interpretive:

4.

 Having the opportunity to join Habitat for Humanity on the proactive side of actually building houses, was and still is a great opportunity. This experience gave me an in sight in the future career path I was seeking, and allowed me self discovery. As a result, even though I was given the tools and knowledge to cock a cabinet, level out ground and layout a certain ratio of manuer to top soil; finding myself was important to me in terms of my future goals. As the days of my mentorship prolonged, questions arose of if I really would like working along side a construction cite. Although it was not the labor that changed my mind but the fact that I felt like I wanted to express the idea of forming a structure.

Applied:

5.

 Originally I had wanted to construct buildings hands on yet I realized how much I enjoy thinking outside the box; coming up with analytical ideas of how to utilize space and design. My summer mentorship allowed myself to come across the field of Architecture. One day at the construction cite I had met the Architect who had made the blue prints for the house. Once getting the chance to meet him gave me the opportunity to ask him questions on his job. Turned out he got his BA in Art, and he had employed himself as an Architect for a side job since he was in his twenties. He explained to me his job, and I asked him what he liked most about his job. For short he told me the potential of space and how to utilize it in a modern way. In a way it prompted me to view Architecture differently, and made me open minded to my environment and look around at all the buildings in my area. Questioning how or what motivated a person to detail or construct a house or building to its unique network. In all I am grateful for my summer mentorship because I don't feel it as a waste of time but rather a self- discovery that allowed me to be in tuned with my surroundings and inspire me to envision and create new and modern structures as an Architect to benefit my community.