Professional Practice Assignment 5.0 Research Paper

The idea of working in an architecture firm and what that may entail has always been a big mystery to me. What is the structure of a “firm?” Is it a place I would want to be? An understanding of these queries has been made possible through my recent acquisition of a part time position at Moser Mayer Phoenix and Associates (MMPA). Moser Mayer Phoenix and Associates is an architecture firm located at 328 East Market Street in downtown Greensboro, NC. They are experienced in large-scale public/government, corporate and commercial projects. MMPA is a medium sized firm that employs architects, interior designers, and engineers. Thanks to Dr. Patrick Lucas, I was put into contact with Brian Slevar (AAIA), architectural designer at MMPA who needed a student experienced in AutoCAD to help with managing drawings from various projects. Through the experience, I have gained task-oriented skills as well as insight to project operations, the grapples of Technology, and the office culture

Professional Practice Assignment 4.0 Networking

I attended two networking events recently.

The first event at the High Point Furniture Market featured four design/blog gurus: Maxwell Gillingham-Ryan, Apartment Therapy founder; Brian Patrick Flynn, Décor Demon founder; Margot Austin, Style At Home editor; and Tobi Fairly, interior designer. The big idea I gained from this lecture would be that it is best to market oneself with the online community in mind. Effective marketing involves writing, linking and contributing to others blogs. I will do this more, as in the past I have commented on other's blogs only to see them return the gesture at a later time.

The second event featured Bill Indursky, co-founder of vandm.com lecturing on the design trends of 2011. His main argument seemed to be that design trends are reverting back to antique styles coupled with the prominent colors camel and grey. Though these trends may be present in many interiors, a lot of the popular design websites (freshome, designbuzz, notcot, etc.) I've visited mainly feature residences that employ bold colors, and solid modern details. Mr. Indursky seemed to imply that technology could now take a back seat to antiquity as if we have “gotten over” the Internet age. It seems more so that the technology and dematerialization in our personal devices has led to sleeker and minimized components with little ornamentation.

These two events helped me better understand the internet climate, what designs to believe in, as well as how I can begin to start relationships with others in my field.

Professional Practice Assignment 2.0 Personal Marketing Package

I had a lot of fun designing my portfolio and making it respond to each of the projects. Along with the web resources (portfoliodesign.com, etc.) provided by Pro Practice, I cut out a few pages from my favorite video game publication, Gameinformer. I played a lot with hierarchy as well as zooming in on certain images to present the big idea. Above is my leave-behind card. I wanted it to not only show my skills, but my personality.

Generating The Site

Generating the Building

Fun Draws

This post is way overdue. I'm still sketching away. Every character I can get goes down in these pages.

Professional Practice Assignment 3.0 The Marketing Video

This is our Tertia Mock Firm Video, which I primarily worked on for the marketing package. We were able to outsource for some help to a media studies student on campus, David Stapp, whose work is incredible. David and I were able to co-direct, film, and edit in a very fun and easy manner. I got to show some of my own animation skills with the final ending scenes. These scenes provide a snapshot of the building through the projection of its shadows.

You can also view the video on youtube at full HD quality here.

Pro Practice- Proposal

Generating The Concept: GRAFTING

Grafting is about the symbiotic relationship between two plants that are fused for each other’s benefit. Our building seeks to become one with its site and the city. Interior spaces are intended to blur the line between what is inside and what is outside. Spaces are organized to generate the equality Sweden is known for.

Just as the skyscraper invades the land, the land invades the interiors. Where the land meets the interiors a mark is made revealing the force by which the two joined.