Weekly Update

Hello to all,

I sincerely apologize for the late weekly progress at work, but you won't be dissapointed as I have exciting things to tell. Updating you on the events of lastweek ofcourse, I was yet again back to work on the McGill project. My main supervisor, Lennie, was needed on another project, which is the Papworth hospital. A project which we have worked on before ealier in the year. Although that was before it was transferred into BIM (Building Information Model) software, eg. Revit Architecture. Therefore I was left to carry out most of the work on McGill.

So for starters, knowing that I would be doing most of the work on McGill here at the Cape Town office, I was already over excited. It might be a lot of responsibility to put on the shoulders of a student, but I can say with confidence, that no matter how difficult the task may be, I shall take it on with full force. I recieved emails from the Canadian branch, and continued to make ammendmants as requested by the persons concerned. What was exciting for me was communicating with these new personalities, and I even got a chance to discuss over the telephone with one of the project leaders. For example, if there were any instructions given by the office in Canada, I would send them an email asking for a convenient time in which I could call them, because of the time difference between Canada and South Africa. I spoke to a Chinese Architect, Annie Cheung, who works for the Canadian branch and she was the one who was authorised to clarify any queries which I may have had based on the work which they initially sent me. At first, I had a hard time understanding what she was saying, but the more I got to communicate with her, the more we understood each other. This made me feel so much better, as I did not just get to finish the work assigned to me, but I was also able to communicate with a foreign architect and that is an experience within itself I would say.

Annie told me that she won't be sending me any work this week, as she will be on leave for the next 5 days. Therefore she will only be back next week. I see this as a good thing, because Lennie told me that he would be needing help with the Papworth Hospital project this week. Exciting stuff, so I know this week is going to be filled with new lessons and accomplishments. Peace and Blessings to all.

Ciao -G

Weekly Update

Hello to all,

All I can say is, WOW! To what has been an amazingly tremendous week for me here at Nightingale Associates. I know I said lastweek was exciting, being exposed to Revit Architecture and all, but this week was even more over the top. I've been running a project basically for 3 days.

My supervisor, along with some of the other staff including one of our leading Directors, Adriaan, went for a Revit Training course in order to better their Revit skills. The Revit Training spans over a period of 3 days, therefore they started the training course on Wednesday. This meant that someone had to be left incharge of the McGill project while my main supervisor, Lennie, was away. I was left incharge of running the McGill project in the office for 3 days. Lennie showed me all the processes which I needed to follow in terms of getting in, and producing work. This meant keeping in contact with the Canadian office via email, if they needed help, they would email markups with well briefed descriptions of whatever needed to be done. Henceforth, I would then carry out the desired task.

I have to say, I felt really honoured when my supervisor trusted me enough to leave me incharge of the McGill project. It shows that he truly has confidence in me and I surely have to make it my duty not to dissapoint him. It has been a tremendous week and I wish everyone well. Peace and blessings to all.

Ciao -G

Weekly Update

Hello to all,

What can I say? It's been a pretty exciting week for me at the office, my main supervisor called me in for a meeting on tuesday, to inform me of about helping him on the McGill project. The McGill project is apparently the largest University/Medical facility in North America. A facility which stretches over 700 000 square metres. Just by this short description, one can already tell the magnitude of work that has to be produced is quite immence.

Before I could even start helping my supervisor on this particular project, he informed me that I should get fimiliar with Revit Architecture, as this is the software currently being used for the McGill project. After hearing this, I was filled with excitement. I know that Revit Architecture will revolutionize Architectural based software in all aspects for atleast the next 10 years. I spent most of the week going through the Revit Architecture manual, which includes tutorials on the programme, which is over 300 pages long. I completed these tutorials this morning, and I've got a basic idea of what this software is about. Ofcourse it may take more time to master, but like the adidas slogan goes, impossible is nothing.

This has been quite a tremendous week, as I am finally getting exposed to Revit Architecture. Hence, I feel like this is a huge stepping stone into my future. Peace and blessings to all.

Ciao -G