Who did you meet with today?

Today I had the opportunity to meet Nick Robinette and Dave Thalman from Clark Sullivan, Sandra Lee from Lionakis, Anna Olsen from PCSD, and Christopher Harrell, Brent Daniels, and Chanthip Phongkhamsavath from Leadership Public Schools (LPS).

Where do they work? 

In general, they all work for different firms but are working to construct a new structure for Leadership Public Schools (LPS). Currently, they are building an extra space to create more learning space for students in LPS; PCSD has managed the project to provide LPS the opportunity to build this space. Furthermore, I was able to see how much help they all contributed to this. Though Nick is a general contractor at Clark Sullivan, his background in design has helped further the modeling of the building, especially since there is a limited amount of space to work with. Sandra’s background in architecture at Lionakis has contributed a lot with the underground work. All these people have contributed a lot to this project in different ways.

What did you learn today? What were some highlights?

Today I was able to get to know the background that goes into building a project like the new LPS building; and how the architect and construction team come into play with this. I highlighted a lot of important factors that may be needed so that issues like the code requirements don’t become an issue later on. I learned that there is different software that go into planning a project that ultimately helps these plans become completed.  When determining the time of completion for construction projects, scheduling software is especially helpful because it provides an estimated time using historical data. Among several other highlights, I discovered that when working with projects like building school-related properties electricity is especially important since it is highly necessary to students and staff. Electrical engineers are also a very important factor to managing projects that need a lot of electricity overall.

What insights did you gain? 

Insights into this week’s visit are the small details that a school facility should have to make the facility a lot better for students. I highlighted the mention of sheer walls because compared to other buildings sheer walls are specifically designed to provide structural support and can help keep noise in one area. I also gained a lot of insight that isn’t really talked about when coming into the architect field. Sandra talked about her experience in the field and the process. I like that she mentioned so much about her school process, the test, and what the test/exams consist of and how far she has come and where she is now in being officially licensed.

What did you find the most interesting about the field after today?

By far I would say that getting to know the overall process that goes into constructing was really interesting, but coming back from certain setbacks was also interesting to know because it makes the experience more real, rather than just making it seem like everything is easy. I was also interested to learn how different as well as difficult it can be to construct and plan projects that have schools that are so connected like LPS and Castlemont.

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