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Hi.

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My name is Nicole.

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I'm a architecture major
and an Italian minor,

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and today I'll be presenting
Design to Construction,

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Combining the Two
Worlds of Architecture.

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So my internship like two
summers ago had two parts.

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I did an internship at
an architecture firm,

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and then also a general
contractor company.

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So the first part
of my internship,

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it was an Italian company
based in New York.

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They were founded in
1999, and their designs

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focus on simplicity and
clarity in the design.

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And their projects
range from hospitals,

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to residentials, to hotels,
and even luxury retail.

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So the first project I worked
on was called Lima Contemporary

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Art Museum Competition.

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And it was a world competition.

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And anyone could
submit their proposals,

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and they only had a
month to compete it.

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And basically it
was in Lima, Peru.

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And this is the original site.

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So there is a
historic arts museum

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art that was already there.

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And then this was the
site where they would

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build the contemporary wing.

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They also had to submit a
landscape proposal as well

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for the park.

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So I'm going to talk a little
about their design process.

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So they were first
inspired by Lucio Fontana--

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which is an Italian painter--

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by his slit paintings.

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So they took the
original historic museum

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and they laid it underground.

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They elongated it, and then
created this ramp-like space.

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So I helped work
on these drawings.

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Here at Mount Holyoke, we only
use Rhino and Illustrator.

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And this, I used AutoCAD.

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So it was a little
difficult in the beginning

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to learn how to use that.

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But here is the original
historic building,

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and then you can see the
contemporary art building

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underground.

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And then this is
just another section.

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View in here, you can see
the people, the passageway,

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and then you enter here, and
then it's three stories tall.

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And then here's a couple renders
of what it would look like.

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Here's the outside view
and then the interior view.

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Unfortunately, they
didn't win, even

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though I thought their
proposal was better

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than then one that did win.

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But it was really
fun to work on that.

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The second-- oh yeah.

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Also, I built this
entire site model,

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and I've never done
a foam model before.

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Here at Mount
Holyoke, we usually

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use the laser cutter or
the chipboard models,

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so it was interesting using
the machines to cut the foam.

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And I also never did
it on this scale,

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and these are all actual
buildings to scale.

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I never did it on this
scale, and I never

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did a landscape one as well.

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This is large.

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The second project I worked on
was the Dolce & Gabbana store

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in SoHo, New York.

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It's not built yet.

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This is the render of what
it would look like outside.

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And it was a really
old, unique building.

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161 years old, really
large, four floors.

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And on the top,
they're actually going

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to have a martini bar
and a cafe-type thing.

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So that's the first
of its kind in the US.

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And also, it used
to be a firehouse,

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so there's a lot of
history in this building.

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So I carried--

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I drew some drawings
for that project

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and I carried it over to
the general contracting

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company, which these two
companies worked together

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to produce this store
for Dolce & Gabbana.

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So this company is
based in Italy as well,

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but they have a branch in
New York, where I worked.

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And they specialize
in luxury retail.

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And they have 330 projects
in 35 different countries,

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so it's a huge company
across the world.

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So this is a drawing--

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sorry, my mom sent this photo.

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But this is a drawing--

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[LAUGHTER]

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--that I helped do.

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And this is the fourth floor,
and here is the martini bar,

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and they have this beautiful
dragon mosaic on the floor.

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So when I came into the
general contractings office,

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I got a set of plans,
which was probably

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this thick of
sectional drawings,

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all that, which I worked on
previously at the other firm.

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So unfortunately,
none of the drawings

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that I worked on
actually became reality

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because it was a process.

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So this is the currently--
when I went home for fall

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break-- what it looks like.

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It's still not opened.

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And you can tell they combine
the elegant of the lights

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with the SoHo look of the brick.

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And then they also have
this graffiti artist come in

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and paint all the walls.

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I'm excited to see when
it's finally opened.

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So at this general
contracting office,

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I had to hire and call
subcontractors to come in.

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It was a couple different
locations where they're

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building stores across the US.

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And so I had to find group of
subcontractors to work there.

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I also had to apply for
permits and relations.

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New York has a ton
of regulations,

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and it's different
for each state.

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So every state that
they had projects in--

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I know they had another Dolce &
Gabbana store in San Francisco

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and also in Florida.

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So each state was
completely different.

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And I also had to help get the
licenses for the state as well.

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So what I learned-- so
I did, as I mentioned,

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learned new computer skills
to render and to draw,

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which I then can carry
into the studios here.

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I also learned how to
do foam model building.

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And I learned all
the tedious details

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that go into a building,
which we don't really focus on

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in the studios
here, like you need

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to know exit signs,
electricity outlets, all that

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stuff that you don't really
think about when you're just

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designing the building
and the concept.

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I also learned how to
work with the clients

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and meet their
needs, while also not

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compromising your design
to meet their needs,

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and vice versa, having
that conversation.

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And so relating it
to the bigger whole,

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these were both
Italian companies,

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and they offered the
Italian perspective.

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And like I mentioned, for
that Lima project in Peru,

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they were inspired by
that Italian painter.

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And Dolce & Gabbana
is an Italian company

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who trusted both
of these companies

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to design and construct
their museum in New York--

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I mean their store in New York.

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So moving forward, I
realized that I don't want

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to work in commercial design.

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They're pretty much glued to
their screen 10 hours a day

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doing drawings.

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And for me, that was depressing.

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So I want to work
with people, probably

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like a nonprofit, maybe green
design, green sustainability

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design.

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And yeah.

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And I maybe realized that I do
want to take a gap year or two

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between graduation
and graduate school

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to really figure out
what I want to do.

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So yeah.

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Thank you.

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[APPLAUSE]

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Questions?

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Yes, Maria.

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How did you obtain
both of those--

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Internships?

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Yes.

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All right.

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Yeah.

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So, various connections.

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My dad is like a interior
renovator of apartments

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in New York, and he's worked
with that architecture firm

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before.

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I used to babysit
his kids and stuff.

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So yeah, through that.

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And then that partner--

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so the main boss of
the architecture firm

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was partners with the
general contractor.

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And then he split off into that
group, the general contracting.

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So yeah.

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So through that, and
then also through him

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to the other
contracting company.

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Yeah.

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So it sounds like you're
interested in the Italians

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and the Italian cultures.

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Are you interested
in combining that

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with other cultural architecture
moving forward as a profession?

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Yeah.

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Yeah.

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Currently we're doing--
in my classes now,

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we're focusing more on Asia.

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And so we're building in
Sapporo, Japan and also

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Thailand.

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Nan, Thailand.

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So for me, I've always
focused on Europe and America,

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but now I'm excited
to move forward

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to see how that changes in
that cultural context in Japan

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and Thailand.

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Yeah.

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How did your internships
help you in the classroom

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when you came back to
school the following year?

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Yeah.

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I mean, I did learn
all those skills

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in rendering and all
those computer skills

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that I will use for--

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I'm taking Design
5 at UMass, which

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is a very intensive course.

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And the UMass students have had
that progression in studios,

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so I will bring that
to my future projects.

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Thank you.

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Thank you.

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[APPLAUSE]

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