Work

This post has to be modified (31.05.2018) due to issues with copyright after I quit my job. My former boss made clear, I am not allowed to use any of data in my portfolio. I will tell You more over here [1].

It is funny, the last finished project was acctually No. 13 [2]. Now, to keep things organised, I am moving up to Project No. 14 – the best German clishe of all times 🙂

I have always liked reconstruction projects better than doing new designs. As I am not crazy creative, I like to have a starting point when drafting an approach. It is easier to find it, if you do not “cook only from water” [3] So, having to work with an old core is always a fun for me. What is more, you have during the transformation process the great dynamic of old/new.

First step, building survey – it is kind of spooky, yet so much fun for me. I loved spending semester breaks with head in ancient buildings (I should make a post on this!). Measuring and drawing, measuring again, and again. Trying to sneak in some quiet time and produce plausible plans can be hard, especially if you have to supervise two other active sites. Nevertheless, at some point I have finished and moved on to the second part – negotiating with building authorities what could be aproved. Recently, the building permit has been released and we are preparing the implementation these days.

DRAWINGS, PLANS and GALLERY

Cannot be published.

[1] read more here very soon

[2] link here

[3] to cook only from water – it is a weird slovak expression translated literaly. Imagine, you are trying to cook a soup, yet the only ingredient you have is just water. You can only wonder, how tasty it will get in the end 🙂

You might have noticed I have been working on my master thesis [more on the topic here] and the next logical step would be looking for a job. I am kind of lucky, I could skip that part as I have recieved an offer before I have got to the point of sending out applications – good score, right? Long story short, I have entered a student design competition last June. I have been quite happy with my contribution and so was the jury [more about the project here] and then, at the award reception, I have met my future boss. He was looking for an young architect fresh out of school to work on housing projects of similiar volumes. He runs a familly business, among others also a construction company located in Brandenburg [1]. I have been intrigued by this offer and have took a meeting with him. The point is, I have started my first real job on the 1st February and moved to a very small town (ca. 4.000 inhabitants) in eastern Germany. I have been working before – tutoring since my second year and I have had some other jobs in research as well. Hence, I have never had to leave the university bubble until now. I have spent last five years in Germany, yet I was not acctually living there. It has got better when I moved out of dorms but I was still meeting only students. Looking back, I seemed to have very strange priorities and problems. As the most students, I did not worry about buying matching furniture or having set of nice pots to cook in, anything clean worked just fine. I think this attitude is very reasonable – you have a limited budget, plus you care only about passing the classes and having fun. Yeah, I have been in that bubble for last five years. However, I think it is time to grow up for good, set up a saving account and buy those matching curtains. I will be earning good money, and have plenty of free time – maybe. I think going to work is not as time consuming as studies, you get at leas the weekends off. Therefore, it is an improvement comparing to my scedules when being to school, I have basically spent seven days either in classes or in studio. So, I have not had a free weekend in a long time.. and if I were to add the number of my pyjama lazy days in a year, I will certainly not go over the 25 (which is number of my vacation days in a year, and I did not include the state holidays!). I admit, it gets harder when you have kids but I am not even in a serious relationship yet. So, I will have the absolute freedom for the first time in my life. The strangest thing of all is, I am already looking for that boring life of an adult. After five years of rollercoasting, I was happy to dive into a routine – scedule regular workouts, plan my meals in advance and sleep properly. I was very excited and glad to abandon my college life (and have not regreted it yet).

It has been almost two weeks of work and I hold my head still up. I am constantly learning new things – it is kind of ovewhelming but I am getting the hang of it! I have had the first meeting with building authorities, they are not as scary as I imagined :). Everything is so real, I have had already two site visits – it is a housing project, redesigning an old villa. Very charming view, I would definitely want to move in! You can check out first impressions in the gallery attached below. What is more, I have spent last weekend at the Baumesse [building fair] in Chemnitz. I loved it there, and if you are a student, I would definitely recommend visiting these things – you will see plenty of interesting products there. If you are kind of hands-on-learner, it is a perfect opportunity to get in touch with the construciton world. They have so many samples there, it was very exciting.

Anyway, the working class has to do the dishes now, then some core training and get the eight hours of beauty sleep, so have a nice evening and stay tuned for more updates.

[1] Brandenburg is the flatest area in Germany, the land around Berlin.

GALLERY