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So, hi.

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I'm Sara.

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I'm a senior, majoring
in architecture,

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with an emphasis in
civil engineering.

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As Michael mentioned, I will be
presenting on The Little Things

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in Architecture.

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So this past summer,
I spent two months

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interning with Dr. Ken Yeang.

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He is an Asian architect and
pioneer in eco-architecture.

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And I worked with him at his
firm, TR Hamzah and Yeang,

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in Kuala Lumpur,
Malaysia, where I'm from.

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So I got this internship
through a friend of mine

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at Mount Holyoke who
is also Malaysian.

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Her mom knew Ken
and put me through

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and I applied and got it.

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So that was great.

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Went to Mount Holoyoke.

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So this seems to be
a recurring theme,

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but the first week
of my internship

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was then trying to develop the
digital skills that I would

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need throughout the internship.

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So at Mount Holyoke,
we're supposed

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to Rhino and 3D
modeling software

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and Adobe Illustrator, which is
more of a vector-based program.

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But at TRHY I got
to learn AutoCAD.

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And this is one of the
first projects that I did.

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So the project is I-Care, a care
and rehabilitation facility.

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And my task was to draft sort
of the typical ward layouts

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to be shown to clients.

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Besides doing
architectural intern stuff,

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I also worked with publication.

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So this the Roof Roof House.

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It's Ken's own house.

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He self-designed it.

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It's down the street
from the office.

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And it was completed in 1985.

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So in 1985, most of the drawings
and documentation was by hand.

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So my task was to
digitalize that.

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And I came up with this
section, included details

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like where the
sun path would be,

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and the wind coming
through the building.

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And this rendering
ended up being

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used in a magazine publication
about the Roof Roof House.

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I also got to go on a
site visit to Putrajaya

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2C5, another project.

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It's a mixed development
that gives space for offices

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and commercial spaces.

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So during the site visit, I took
pictures and I made a drawing.

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And those photographs
ended up being used

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for submissions for awards.

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But the bulk of
my internship was

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spent drafting
architectural schedules.

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So, architectural schedules
are a detailed list

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of architectural components
that coordinate with drawings

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that an architect
would already have.

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And during my time
there, I was put

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in charge of the supplies
and finish schedules

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for one of residential
projects, the G- Residences.

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It's a high-rise,
40-story project.

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And I worked on the schedules
for doors, Ironmongery,

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and door finishes.

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So this is an example of
one of the door schedules.

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As you can see, there
are the different types

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of doors that would
be in the building.

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And then here is kind of a
list of all the different door

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types that correspond
with the drawings,

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the description
of the materials,

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how many door leafs the
door has, what size,

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what the sizes are, and then
the location of these doors--

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so female toilets, in the
living, outdoor play area--

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and then quantity
of the doors that

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would be in the whole building.

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I also liaised a lot
with product suppliers.

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So the whole process
basically was

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I would get a list of
architectural components

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from the quantity surveyor.

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And a quantity
surveyor is someone

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who is very well versed
with costs and budgets

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and how much of this do
we need in a building.

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And so I would get that list.

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And if I didn't, I would
go through the floor-plans

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and create one myself.

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And then I would look through
our library of catalogs

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for different products of
finishes, products or finishes

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from different brands that are
available to us in Malaysia

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and then pick products that I
thought would the project best.

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And then from there,
I would create a list

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and then send it out and
contact suppliers to set up

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meetings with the designers.

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So I got to sit in on
a lot of these meetings

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and it was a very interesting
process listening to them talk

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and listening to them
explain and try to sell you

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their product as well.

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And then after these meetings,
I would maintain correspondence

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with them so I could get
quotes for these products

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that we would ultimately
choose at the end.

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So this is a little bit of
the sanitary-ware supply sheet

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that I created
during my time there.

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So I would get from
the quantity surveyor

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a list of the things that we
need, and then a quantity,

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and how many we'd need.

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So I would go and
look through catalogs,

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pick products, list out
their specifications,

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and then send this
back to the suppliers

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to be like, hey, if i want.

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20 of this, how much
is it going to cost?

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Can I get it for a
cheaper price since I'm

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doing it for a project and I'm
not buying individual pieces?

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So I did many
iterations of this and I

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think by the end
of my internship,

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I was very well versed in the
different brands of toilet

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bowls that we had [INAUDIBLE].

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[LAUGHTER]

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But yeah, another fun
thing that I got to do

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is I got to go to
ARCHIDEX, which

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is an annual exhibition
that's held and organized

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by the Malaysian Institute of
Architects during the Kuala

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Lumpur Architecture Festival.

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It's an exhibition with
booths for products suppliers

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and sell us their products,
and aimed primarily

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at architects and designers.

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They also open it up to
contractors and students.

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But I was very lucky to be
able to go as part of the firm.

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And that's a picture of me
after many hours of shopping

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and my many bags of brochures.

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So throughout this
whole process,

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my colleagues were
constantly asking me, Sara,

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don't you want design?

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Don't you want to incorporate
some sort of design element

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into your internship?

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You've been doing a lot
of making Excel sheets,

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talking to suppliers?

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To which I say, there's
so much opportunity

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to design in Mount Holyoke.

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There's always a chance for me
to improve my design thinking

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through Mount Holyoke Studios.

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And at school we
design for thoughts.

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We think about
programming of rooms.

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We think about how to orient
spaces based on sun paths

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and things like that.

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But we don't really
think the smaller details

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and how that could impact
someone's experiences in space.

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And I like to use this example
of the different doorknobs

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and door handles.

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So on the right,
you have a doorknob.

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And on the left, you
have a door handle.

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And how you open a door
with those different

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handles changes the
experience that you have.

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And things like putting
a handle on a door

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would require you to pull
it, versus not having it

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would make you push it.

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So that changes how you would
go through and experience

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the space.

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And through this, I
realized that architecture

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might vary across
countries and cultures

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in terms of the
approaches and the styles.

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But something that remains a
constant is the little things.

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When you design a bathroom,
you're going to need a sink.

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When you have a
door, you're going

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to need some way to
open it and close it.

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Even like the sockets,
power sockets,

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the fact that it's
painted that dark brown

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was a conscious decision to
draw your attention to it

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and show you that it's there.

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And it's all these little things
that sort of make or break

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architecture.

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So what's next for me?

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This semester I'm taking
a class on AutoCAD

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at U Mass under
their BCT department,

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sometimes just to keep myself
going with the program.

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And then I'm also pursuing
an independent study

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with Michael, that
might hopefully

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lead to a thesis on the
influence of materiality

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on architecture.

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And then after graduation, I've
decided that I want to work.

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I don't want to go to
grad school right away.

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Ken has been very
generous to say

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that, hey, when you're done,
come back if you want to,

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so I have that going for me.

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And then hopefully within a
year I'll be in grad school.

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So thank you.

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[APPLAUSE]

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Question?

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[LAUGHTER]

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[? Not fast enough. ?]

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It was perfect.

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[LAUGHTER]

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Yes.

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Hello.

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Were there any challengers
that you experienced

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that you'd like to maybe share
and how you overcame them when

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you were in your internship?

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Yeah.

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I think for me, talking
about all these things

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now, having gone through, is OK.

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But I think at the
beginning, [INAUDIBLE],, hey,

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can you contact
suppliers with this,

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can you make a sheet
of this, I was very--

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it was out of my
element completely,

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because I was so used to design.

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And having to go
through all of this

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was an eye-opening
experience for me.

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It was challenging
in the beginning,

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but I feel like my
colleagues at TRHY

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were very, very
helpful in a sense,

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where they would sit
me down and be like,

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hey, do you need
help with this, I

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can show you where you
can find this information,

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and things like that.

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Hi.

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I was thinking of your
presentation in relation

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to Ruth's.

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She showed the sort
of wonderful overview

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and you're taking us so close.

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And I was wondering what
might be difference.

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Is there a way in which--

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I see that there's a possibility
of exploring architecture

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as a tactile thing from
your point of view.

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Yeah.

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And I thought if
that occurred to you.

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So when you're making
that beautiful example

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you gave of the
handle, you're actually

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thinking of
architecture as a kind

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of physical, material thing.

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Mm-hmm.

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And is it less
visual or more visual

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or different from visual?

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I think it's less visual, just
because it's so experiential.

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You don't really think about all
these things that you're doing.

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If you're opening the door,
you're not really thinking,

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oh, I'm going to turn the knob.

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It's just something that you do.

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And it's all-- like it comes
together with materiality

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and how that feels.

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And I think that's
also something

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that I'm trying to explore
through my independent study

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on materiality and how that
influences architecture

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as a whole.

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Thank you.

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Sure.

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Thank you.

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Were your engineering studies
helpful in your internship,

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or did you bring a different
kind of sensibility

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from the engineering studies
that you found that you drew on

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in your daily tasks?

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So with my Nexus in
engineering, I've

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taken classes with U
Mass' BCT department.

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So last semester I took one
on construction materials

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and methods.

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And I didn't really
get to bring that here,

255
00:11:25,690 --> 00:11:28,190
but I feel like that's--

256
00:11:28,190 --> 00:11:31,578
I don't think I brought
much from that engineering

257
00:11:31,578 --> 00:11:35,925
into the internship, but I feel
like taking from that-- taking

258
00:11:35,925 --> 00:11:39,420
away from that, there's
a lot more that I'm

259
00:11:39,420 --> 00:11:42,120
able to do now within
that engineering spectrum

260
00:11:42,120 --> 00:11:45,520
because of what I learned
during my internship.

261
00:11:45,520 --> 00:11:46,020
Yeah.

262
00:11:46,020 --> 00:11:48,720


263
00:11:48,720 --> 00:11:49,920
[INAUDIBLE]

264
00:11:49,920 --> 00:11:51,720
Yay.

265
00:11:51,720 --> 00:11:54,770
[APPLAUSE]

266
00:11:54,770 --> 00:11:57,526