So, hi. I'm Sara. I'm a senior, majoring in architecture, with an emphasis in civil engineering. As Michael mentioned, I will be presenting on The Little Things in Architecture. 

So this past summer, I spent two months interning with Dr. Ken Yeang. He is an Asian architect and pioneer in eco-architecture. And I worked with him at his firm, TR Hamzah and Yeang, in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, where I'm from. 

So I got this internship through a friend of mine at Mount Holyoke who is also Malaysian. Her mom knew Ken and put me through and I applied and got it. So that was great. Went to Mount Holoyoke. 

So this seems to be a recurring theme, but the first week of my internship was then trying to develop the digital skills that I would need throughout the internship. So at Mount Holyoke, we're supposed to Rhino and 3D modeling software and Adobe Illustrator, which is more of a vector-based program. 

But at TRHY I got to learn AutoCAD. And this is one of the first projects that I did. So the project is I-Care, a care and rehabilitation facility. And my task was to draft sort of the typical ward layouts to be shown to clients. 

Besides doing architectural intern stuff, I also worked with publication. So this the Roof Roof House. It's Ken's own house. He self-designed it. It's down the street from the office. And it was completed in 1985. 

So in 1985, most of the drawings and documentation was by hand. So my task was to digitalize that. And I came up with this section, included details like where the sun path would be, and the wind coming through the building. And this rendering ended up being used in a magazine publication about the Roof Roof House. 

I also got to go on a site visit to Putrajaya 2C5, another project. It's a mixed development that gives space for offices and commercial spaces. So during the site visit, I took pictures and I made a drawing. And those photographs ended up being used for submissions for awards. 

But the bulk of my internship was spent drafting architectural schedules. So, architectural schedules are a detailed list of architectural components that coordinate with drawings that an architect would already have. And during my time there, I was put in charge of the supplies and finish schedules for one of residential projects, the G- Residences. It's a high-rise, 40-story project. And I worked on the schedules for doors, Ironmongery, and door finishes. 

So this is an example of one of the door schedules. As you can see, there are the different types of doors that would be in the building. And then here is kind of a list of all the different door types that correspond with the drawings, the description of the materials, how many door leafs the door has, what size, what the sizes are, and then the location of these doors-- so female toilets, in the living, outdoor play area-- and then quantity of the doors that would be in the whole building. 

I also liaised a lot with product suppliers. So the whole process basically was I would get a list of architectural components from the quantity surveyor. And a quantity surveyor is someone who is very well versed with costs and budgets and how much of this do we need in a building. 

And so I would get that list. And if I didn't, I would go through the floor-plans and create one myself. And then I would look through our library of catalogs for different products of finishes, products or finishes from different brands that are available to us in Malaysia and then pick products that I thought would the project best. 

And then from there, I would create a list and then send it out and contact suppliers to set up meetings with the designers. So I got to sit in on a lot of these meetings and it was a very interesting process listening to them talk and listening to them explain and try to sell you their product as well. And then after these meetings, I would maintain correspondence with them so I could get quotes for these products that we would ultimately choose at the end. 

So this is a little bit of the sanitary-ware supply sheet that I created during my time there. So I would get from the quantity surveyor a list of the things that we need, and then a quantity, and how many we'd need. So I would go and look through catalogs, pick products, list out their specifications, and then send this back to the suppliers to be like, hey, if i want. 20 of this, how much is it going to cost? Can I get it for a cheaper price since I'm doing it for a project and I'm not buying individual pieces? So I did many iterations of this and I think by the end of my internship, I was very well versed in the different brands of toilet bowls that we had [INAUDIBLE]. 

[LAUGHTER] 

But yeah, another fun thing that I got to do is I got to go to ARCHIDEX, which is an annual exhibition that's held and organized by the Malaysian Institute of Architects during the Kuala Lumpur Architecture Festival. It's an exhibition with booths for products suppliers and sell us their products, and aimed primarily at architects and designers. They also open it up to contractors and students. 

But I was very lucky to be able to go as part of the firm. And that's a picture of me after many hours of shopping and my many bags of brochures. 

So throughout this whole process, my colleagues were constantly asking me, Sara, don't you want design? Don't you want to incorporate some sort of design element into your internship? You've been doing a lot of making Excel sheets, talking to suppliers? 

To which I say, there's so much opportunity to design in Mount Holyoke. There's always a chance for me to improve my design thinking through Mount Holyoke Studios. And at school we design for thoughts. We think about programming of rooms. We think about how to orient spaces based on sun paths and things like that. 

But we don't really think the smaller details and how that could impact someone's experiences in space. And I like to use this example of the different doorknobs and door handles. So on the right, you have a doorknob. And on the left, you have a door handle. And how you open a door with those different handles changes the experience that you have. 

And things like putting a handle on a door would require you to pull it, versus not having it would make you push it. So that changes how you would go through and experience the space. And through this, I realized that architecture might vary across countries and cultures in terms of the approaches and the styles. But something that remains a constant is the little things. 

When you design a bathroom, you're going to need a sink. When you have a door, you're going to need some way to open it and close it. Even like the sockets, power sockets, the fact that it's painted that dark brown was a conscious decision to draw your attention to it and show you that it's there. And it's all these little things that sort of make or break architecture. 

So what's next for me? This semester I'm taking a class on AutoCAD at U Mass under their BCT department, sometimes just to keep myself going with the program. And then I'm also pursuing an independent study with Michael, that might hopefully lead to a thesis on the influence of materiality on architecture. 

And then after graduation, I've decided that I want to work. I don't want to go to grad school right away. Ken has been very generous to say that, hey, when you're done, come back if you want to, so I have that going for me. And then hopefully within a year I'll be in grad school. So thank you. 

[APPLAUSE] 

Question? 

[LAUGHTER] 

[? Not fast enough. ?] 

It was perfect. 

[LAUGHTER] 

Yes. Hello. 

Were there any challengers that you experienced that you'd like to maybe share and how you overcame them when you were in your internship? 

Yeah. I think for me, talking about all these things now, having gone through, is OK. But I think at the beginning, [INAUDIBLE], hey, can you contact suppliers with this, can you make a sheet of this, I was very-- it was out of my element completely, because I was so used to design. And having to go through all of this was an eye-opening experience for me. It was challenging in the beginning, but I feel like my colleagues at TRHY were very, very helpful in a sense, where they would sit me down and be like, hey, do you need help with this, I can show you where you can find this information, and things like that. 

Hi. 

I was thinking of your presentation in relation to Ruth's. She showed the sort of wonderful overview and you're taking us so close. And I was wondering what might be difference. Is there a way in which-- I see that there's a possibility of exploring architecture as a tactile thing from your point of view. 

Yeah. 

And I thought if that occurred to you. So when you're making that beautiful example you gave of the handle, you're actually thinking of architecture as a kind of physical, material thing. 

Mm-hmm. 

And is it less visual or more visual or different from visual? 

I think it's less visual, just because it's so experiential. You don't really think about all these things that you're doing. If you're opening the door, you're not really thinking, oh, I'm going to turn the knob. It's just something that you do. And it's all-- like it comes together with materiality and how that feels. And I think that's also something that I'm trying to explore through my independent study on materiality and how that influences architecture as a whole. 

Thank you. 

Sure. Thank you. 

Were your engineering studies helpful in your internship, or did you bring a different kind of sensibility from the engineering studies that you found that you drew on in your daily tasks? 

So with my Nexus in engineering, I've taken classes with U Mass' BCT department. So last semester I took one on construction materials and methods. And I didn't really get to bring that here, but I feel like that's-- I don't think I brought much from that engineering into the internship, but I feel like taking from that-- taking away from that, there's a lot more that I'm able to do now within that engineering spectrum because of what I learned during my internship. Yeah. 

[INAUDIBLE] 

Yay. 

[APPLAUSE]