Week in the life of a 28-year old Part 2 Architectural Assistant living in Nottingham
Written by Aliya @archistudentnotes, Edited by Aliya @archistudentnotes
This week I (Aliya) am sharing my own ArchiWeek as a 28 year old Part 2 Architectural Assistant working in Nottingham! I type my day in about 10-15 minutes using Notion on my desktop computer or on the Notes phone app. I find its a great way to reflect on the day and take a tiny break if needed!
As always, your week in architecture is always welcome!
To share you own click here and if you have any questions or are unsure, click here!
Monday
Started the day as I usually do by turning on the computer and getting everything open as I settle into my desk, talk to colleagues etc etc. As my computer turns on I set out my bullet journal for the week and pop my ready made pancakes in the toaster to later have with Nutella and a banana (I honestly feel ridiculous having what sounds like an elaborate Sunday brunch at my desk but it basically just looks like a sandwich with a bit of fruit lol)
Once my computer is on, I open up my emails to see what if anything came in over the weekend (nothing thankfully) so I was ready to get back to the project I have been working on. The Architect I have been working with on this project was back in the office today and started the day by asking how various projects were progressing.
Note: Good to do in addition to checking your emails - quick way of getting info on various projects
Between small tasks on the project I called a consultant to chase a document that we have been waiting for for weeks going on months. Contact on annual leave (of course) so I requested a call back from someone else in the company.
Back to the main project of the day and feeling a little overwhelmed but working things through and taking things as slowly as needed whilst still working towards a deadline of hopefully a completed sheet to be issued to the client by the end of the day. The very loud music being played outside the office window is not helping -_-
Coming to the end of the day I have completed what I set out to do. I have got the section of the project I have been working on and the section of the project the Architect worked on looking cohesive on a single sheet. Floor plans with furniture and areas, front elevations of terrace of houses for both sections, 3D perspective views of each terrace to show the houses as a unit plus the site plan to show the relationship between the two sections across the site.
Finished the day updating my hours for the last couple of weeks
*Still waiting on the email from consultant
Tuesday
Same ridiculous breakfast as yesterday as my computer and I got started for the day.
The consultant didn’t call back yesterday so I sent an email this morning and cc’d their boss in - thinking about it I probably should of cc’d my boss in too but I’ll consider that next time!
Back to yesterdays project, as I left the the draft drawing sheet on the Architects desk yesterday I was given some notes to address to start my day off very early on in the day.
Note: You can and should ‘argue’/fight’ for your design choices whether you’re a student talking to your tutor or an assistant talking to an Architect!
Main tasks included reworking some parking which by the way is an absolute pain. Making enough space for cars whilst we are also told to reduce the use of cars seems ridiculous but so be it!
Just before 4 and I had pretty much finished the changes to my section of the site and was just about to get onto the Architects section as they wanted to change the top floor to a pitched roof and dormer combo. Never really worked with dormers on ArchiCAD so I was ready for the challenge.
The architect however said that our boss wanted the drawings the next morning so I suggested he finished his section which would go a lot quicker with his experience.
Ended the day looking at the row of townhouses I’d designed trying to figure out what was wrong with it. I’ll sleep on it and hopefully come up with a decision so that I can send the revised drawings to the boss tomorrow morning!
Wednesday
Was not in the best of moods this morning but hoped that just getting into work would focus my mind.
This mornings main task was to get the project sketch scheme that I have been working on out to my boss as soon as possible. I left the drawing last night in a state that I should of just been able to check, make a couple of changes and them email. I was hoping to be done by 10am.
Of course that was not to be. The experimentation with different materials took longer than expected and I didn’t like any of the options so I just reverted back to the original and then had a couple of tech issues which delayed things as well. It was not until early afternoon after a couple of exports that I was able to confidently send the drawing sheet to my boss.
Note: There might be a deadline to meet but avoid sending out work you’re not happy with
Spent the next hour decompressing from an okay but frustrating morning doing general admin, downloading a program for the computer and reading up on the M&S Oxford Street project that my colleague mentioned a couple of days ago that I have since got me really into.
If you’re interested here is the proposal site - https://458oxfordstreet.co.uk
Back to work…kind of - I spent the last bit of the day watching a CPD on the RIBA journal website on BioDiversity Net Gain. - https://www.ribaj.com/products/designing-for-biodiversity-net-gain-webinar . To be fair it was actually really interesting and relevant to a project I’m working on so definitely worth the time!
Overall an okay day, not as productive as the last 2 days but still got what I wanted to get done, done to a standard I was happy with.
Tomorrow I need to refamiliarise myself with past projects that I have worked on that seem to be making a bit of a comeback. The first is a new build project within a green belt and conservation area and the other is a refurb project to house the homeless so looking forward to that!
Mid Week Plug
Enjoying this weeks ArchiWeek? Interested in sharing your own week?
Thursday
Started the day at the dentist so was 30 mins late into the office, will make up the time at lunch!
Started the work day checking emails of course and reading and familiarising myself with the two projects mentioned yesterday - I quickly realised there wasn’t a huge amount left to do so wrote down all the projects I have worked on and checked on progress to see where everything was at. Worked out at this point that I probably had about 2 days worth of work left to do so I let the associate know.
I was shockingly then asked what work I actually wanted to which was a definite but welcomed first for me.
I said something design based but with light technical elements so I can learn but not be super stressed. We have an office job meeting tomorrow so we’ll see!
So, onto todays actual task - finish the Heritage, Landscape and Visual Impact Assessment for the eventual planning app for the Heritage project I’ve been working.
I printed off the 50 page document, went through it, reading everything, making notes - basically marking it - then I went into the document and started making the changes.
Its about 27-28 degrees in the office today so my focus started to fall towards the end of the day.
Note: Making detailed notes and additions to the document earlier on in the day when I was a lot more focused was a very good call.
Additional note: As my dad often tells me, make hay whilst the sun shines
End of the day round up, pretty good - I think the HIA is in a really good place, I started the planning application a couple of weeks ago so I will take another look at that tomorrow and hopefully, pending information from the consultant that we are still waiting to hear from (its kind of getting ridiculous now), the planning app with the set of drawings, impact assessment and various reports from consultants should be ready to go!
Bring on Friday!
Friday
A rather warm Friday morning!
In on time, and ready to jump straight back into the Heritage, Landscape and Visual assessment that I was working on yesterday. The plan is to get the tasks that I had no energy to do well yesterday afternoon, done asap before the inevitable tiredness of the day kicks in.
Slight diversion but for the same project - I emailed a progress update (or lack of) to the client. I was holding out in the hope that the consultant that we are waiting for would email us the requested documents so that could provide more of an update to be honest but it wasn’t to be!
Note: For the client unless they get updates they have absolutely idea what’s happening and basically what they’re paying for so it’s important to keep them updated!
Mid morning - The associate tells me that they have a project for me to work on next. I am not a person who likes to wait so I requested a briefing immediately before I finished the work I was already on.
Sounds like a really interesting brief that the Associate actually wants to do to it but doesn’t have time so I get to - keeping them very much in the loop as a joint effort.
Did some more work on the assessment document before lunch and then got ready for the afternoon job meeting.
Luckily yesterday I had already gone through my projects so I knew the projects I was working on and the the status so I just grabbed my notes and listened into the progress of other projects, said where mine were and was thanked for the email I sent out in the morning (we love some recognition)
The meeting lasted pretty much to the end of the day! Week done!
And that’s the week!
For ultimate consistency, thank you to me (Aliya) for this weeks ArchiWeek! I’ve only been in my office for a few months and feel very settled, very much part of the team and I’m learning so much about all things architecture, in practice and in general design work.
If you’re interested in sharing your own ArchiWeek, your own reflection and week in the life of architecture - click here!
