An update from our Architectural Assistant
Since joining the practice in February 2018 for my RIBA part one placement, I have worked on three church projects, three hotels and over ten residential developments. The nature of the work has been far more varied than I was expecting, as most accounts I had heard of the part one placement before I arrived made it out to be a role mainly involving ‘computer monkey’ tasks.
But rather than being stuck behind the computer and given repetitive bits of work from more experienced people in the office, I’ve been given the chance to go out on client meetings, carry out surveys, put together the drawings and documents for planning applications, and even do some early design stage work on a few residential extensions and a new community centre in Bath.
I have enjoyed listening to real clients talking about what they want from us as a way of informing my design decisions – a welcome contrast from the often-arbitrary processes I have become used to in the development of studio projects at the University of Bath, where the brief tends to be for an imaginary client. After a few months of working on detailed construction drawings, with reference to the building regulations, I am starting to feel more practically grounded as an architecture student.
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