Archinect
anchor

what is the "atmosphere" of your office

designrocks

i am currently on my first internship- first time working at an arch firm. It's really bland actually- white walls grey carpet and I pump out cad all day..yay? soooo...what else is out there? do most architects/interns spend most of their time (outside of meetings) in the office with cad? thanks for the info

 
Aug 31, 05 6:34 pm
Elimelech

pink/green/purple walls
pumping out CAd most of the day (when not posting)
Bitching about gas prices and bad architects

Aug 31, 05 6:38 pm  · 
 · 
mwad

Warehouse...dusty. Sierra Nevada in the fridge. Noise of welding and milling from the shop. The bosses dog wants to play catch. Drafting all day...then beer 'thirty!

Aug 31, 05 6:38 pm  · 
 · 
MysteryMan

It's pretty much your standard arch office, here:
Pajamas 'till someone wants to come over & look @ dwgs, or I've gotta go to a meeting. Coffeee, coffee, & more coffee. Tired of the upstairs 'office', so I go out to the remaining, undecayed deck w/ the laptop. Ahhh, WI-Fi. Draw, Post, draw, post, post, dr.., post, post.... I need a change of scenery. Jump in one of the cars that isn't up on blocks & go to a coffee shop. Work on the laptop. Ahhh, WI-FI. Coffee, De-coffee, de-coff....Shmooz w/ the coffee shop owner. Try to get his next renovation job. Buy an extra scone - good for business.

Go home, pick another spot for the laptop. Client calls, wants some more of them 'rolling mini-beds' w/ friggin grey terry cloth. Go to the 'shop' & cut wood 'til it's too dark. Can't keep the neighbors up. That's OK, 'Boston Legal' is on. Kick back & watch DENNY Crane.

Wife's making some killer truffles. Looks like I won't have to buy scones tomorrow, better get that project.

Aug 31, 05 7:49 pm  · 
 · 
mdler

it is somewhat humid in my office today

Aug 31, 05 8:06 pm  · 
 · 
3dGraffiti

14' ceilings, exposed brick walls with floor to ceiling windows looking over the city. workstations positioned around and opposite large layout and model tables. Material library center with reading nook and large window. Wood and metal shop out back. fully tricked conference and service rooms. Reggae music pumping through the.....

Naw, not really, white walls grey carpet and I pump out cad all day.

Aug 31, 05 8:11 pm  · 
 · 
drums please, Fab?

dysfunctional and cliquey :'(

and i pump out cad all day.

calgon, take me away !!

Aug 31, 05 8:52 pm  · 
 · 
axial753

in a metal box with non-insulated walls.

extremely hot during summer - pumped out cad without a shirt on

extermely cold during winter - place two desk lamps above my head since that's the only heat source

ALL GUYS in the office .... 9 in total

Aug 31, 05 8:59 pm  · 
 · 
lletdownl

my office is dead silent most of the day,
our old school princ. is anti-music while we work
its open... i get to do a little of everything... cd's animations models, some web stuff
my boss is ocd
waters plants constantly
dead end kind of place however... pretty much everyone there has settled

Aug 31, 05 10:57 pm  · 
 · 
Sean Taylor

Had to wait fot the nanny to take care of my daughter, because my wife (and partner) had an early morning meeting. 4:30am, wake up. Stressed because my evening meeting needed drawings that I had not completed before I went to sleep at 2am. Turn on laptop and news (about hurricane Katherine). Draw unitl about 8:15. . . when my daughter (2 yrs. old) wakes up. Wait for nanny until about 9am. Commute to work (45 min.). Tell everyone in office that I am not in for the day. Contractor that is supposed build our conference room ceiling mtg. with employee. . .(I'm not in). . .Contractor's call with questions on current jobs. . . (I'm not in). Work all day to produce drawings for the evening to make client feel that I have been working on their job for the past 2 weeks even though i started yesterday. Send check to electrician to replace current office lighting with new fixtures to improve office lighting (several thousand dollars). Purchase food and drink for evening meeting.

Meeting with client successful. Office still not up to par, even though we have been here for 2 years. We need a conference room ceiling, conference room door and technical support for our network.

We have made an effort this year to upgrade our office (from a client perspective) and are working toward that goal.

Don't know if this is in line with the thread, but I have had a few coctails after my meeting (which went well) and am pretty happy right now.

Sep 1, 05 12:55 am  · 
 · 
s4

mysteryman... that sounds pretty good. i always need a change of scenery myself.

Sep 1, 05 1:00 am  · 
 · 
BOTS

lots of staff, big studio, big projects, big budgets.

Sep 1, 05 5:17 am  · 
 · 
MysteryMan

Changes of scenery help a lot when one suffers from Attention Deficit Disorder. Not to mention, if I don't get away from the 'office', I'll start working on it (gutters need cleaning, gotta build that arbor, hey I need a shelf there...).

Sep 1, 05 9:56 am  · 
 · 
spiderdad

all i say near is my office is constant clicking and tapping sounds-

the keyboards and the mice are the only ones that talk.

Sep 1, 05 10:01 am  · 
 · 
bUbBLe

Warehouse, Wood Trust High Ceiling, Open Space, Freezing in Winter and overheat during Summer..

Sep 1, 05 10:11 am  · 
 · 
bigness

converted stables in the inner court of a 17th century building in the old centre of my city, working with 4 girls (all under thirty and quietly goodlucking) (yes, i love to feel the envy of my peers).
the average age is well under 40, relaxed if somewhat not boundary-pushing working environmet.

pumping illustrator at the moment, listening to tool and swapping stupid email attachments with the colleagues. i found the best ever green off the pantone "solid uncoated" swatches.

laptop and desktop pc, downloading, posting and working at the (almost) same time.

the boss is really cool and buys drinks.

and if they offer me a job next year, damn i'll take it.

Sep 1, 05 10:16 am  · 
 · 

some days work at home on the kitchen table, sunshiny and quiet when the kids are at school. have a fairly good duplicate set of product catalogues, wireless internet, stereo, and a fax, so easy nuf to move round the house as the mood strikes. have a huge balcony but its far too hot to use it stil. waiting for fall and cooler temps (its september first and temps are still round 30C ). MM's routine sounding rather nice right now, but no cafes in site.

on other days actually go to the office, or my wee bit o desk at uni. The office is nice but tends to be too quiet for my taste. use it mostly for meetings. maybe someday when we have any staff to speak of...

Sep 1, 05 10:31 am  · 
 · 
4arch

mostly sunny...i have a huge skylight over my desk. it's pretty awesome 75% of the time and a complete pain in the ass the other 25%.

Sep 1, 05 11:49 am  · 
 · 
stephanie

my office is a 2-story showcase building for the company's work. everything is exposed, large wood beams, metal roof decking, ductwork, 20-ish people work in the office, ratio of interns to architects is equal, as is male to female, broad age range, we have a no headphones policy, but people can listen to music in their early Y2K patterned cubicle. we also have a kickin speaker system that comes on when we enjoy beers outside on the deck. we drink a lot of beer. sometimes it feels like a frat house, but not in a horrible way.
i like my office.
i do pump CAD, and bother the designer a lot with questions, mostly because i don't want to just pump CAD all the time.

Sep 1, 05 12:06 pm  · 
 · 
mauOne™

mostly sunny, if it wasn't for the technical manager who is only political of the PIG kind.

if someone would murder him for me, oh 100% sunshine

Sep 1, 05 12:10 pm  · 
 · 
kazbot

large office, smaller 'studios' within. i honestly dont know the carpet color, its that bland. the ceiling tiles need to be replaced around the diffusers because they are turning black. theres the thought it might be a sick building, but we designed it, so its kept fairly quiet. some very conservative attitude towards the female staff, and careless designing make it not the most thrilling or inspiring place to work, but the exceptions (people-wise) make up for it. id like to say cad princess because i seem to have a little more say as to what i will or will not draft. most everythings in dd, theres no hope of going to meetings right now, and i also build a lot of physical models. natural light, open plan, some green in the atrium, but i cant get past the fact that most people just dont seem to care. tomorrow is my last day. : )

Sep 1, 05 10:02 pm  · 
 · 
Ms Beary

quit three weeks ago: open floor with cubes in top floor of atrium building, white walls, grey carpet but really not in a bad way, I wouldn't want purple and red walls etc. noises of 5 floors of keyboards and phones reverberate in atrium (other tenants, call centers, etc). 5 secure doors (need keycard) to get to my cubicle. principals have huge (bigger than my living room) lush offices with great views and fancy light fixtures and sit across the atrium from the rest of the staff, they regret this, it has divided us and they know it but they fell in love with it and moved there, but want to break the lease now. cafeteria on main floor that serves nasty food: brown lettuce, old bread, don't go there.

Sep 2, 05 9:06 am  · 
 · 

a converted house, now housing an office of combined technical services. Three architects facing the lovely view of the sea, boats going past (granted none since Katrina). There is a light murmour of drum and bass when the phone isn't ringing which is rare. The office is a bloody mess from the last big project that went out to tender, and another one to start tomorrow. Didnt go into the office this weekend but I really wanted to. Really did, i miss it on weekends when i try to get my rest.

I don't PUMP CAD - i'm a dignified designer, I'll pump later tho who am I kidding I don't trust the techniciians to cad my stuff takes too much time to edit them. Just do it myself.

Sep 4, 05 10:57 pm  · 
 · 

Block this user


Are you sure you want to block this user and hide all related comments throughout the site?

Archinect


This is your first comment on Archinect. Your comment will be visible once approved.

  • ×Search in: