Week One . . . Getting Started

So, my first week at Architerra went great. Aside from the first day, which included three trips to Staples, a total of about an hour of walking (I bought the wrong size of folders, forgot the receipt to exchange them on the second trip, etc.), everything went smoothly. And I only missed my train home once.

On my second day, I visited one of Architerra's projects at the Cambridge School of Weston where they are building an arts and science building.

I walked around the site with Andy, an architect at the firm, while he took pictures and met with the project managers who overlook the construction of the building. The builders were finishing the stairs, polishing the concrete floor, and figuring out how to hang the classrooms' projectors, among other things. The landscaping was also under way. While construction is nearing its end, I still got to wear a hard hat, which was exciting.

I also learned how to use photoshop so that I could spend the rest of the week using it to color floor plans of the first and second floors of our science building. As a first-time user of photoshop, I can say it wasn't too complicated. Each type of space in the building has a specified color - either blue, purple, yellow, or brown. After finishing these colors, I had to use a darker purple to create a shadowing effect on the plans. It was tricky at first, but it got easier once I got the hang of it. I'll be finishing those two floor plans next week and then probably get started coloring a plan of the roof.