What a week! I swear each week gets more interesting than the next. In the beginning of the week my internship was crazy, because we had a presentation due on Thursday. We almost pulled an all-nighter on Wednesday night, which was not fun but the second half of the week was very nice. On Thursday I was allowed to leave early since I stayed so long the night before. I went to a little museum about the Berlin Wall by Checkpoint Charlie. It was very interesting because there was a little video about why the artist designed the space the way he did. There was a panorama of the wall, and it was combined with how the areas look today overlapped with how they looked when they were standing. I will never get over how touristy Checkpoint Charlie is because there are so many people there all of the time. I think my favorite thing to do in Berlin is to wander around because I always find cool streets. I also went to the Kino. I got a ticket set for my birthday and I saw the new Minions movie. The cinema was so amazing and I have never seen anything like that before. It opened only 10 years ago, and multiple famous premiers have been hosted there. Friday was a cool day too because I worked but then my boss arranged a visit to the Reichstag. That was interesting from an architectural perspective. I got to go inside many of the rooms where they hold meetings and went into other restricted areas. The best part was the roof top because it had beautiful views of Berlin and the dome on top of the Reichstag. Saturday, I went to Potsdam for the last time on this trip. I love that place so much. I found some new palaces to walk around as well as gardens. I purchased a ticket to go into Sanssouci Palace. It was a small palace but absolutely stunning inside. Most of the original artwork, furniture, and wall coverings have been preserved which was very nice to see. It was also my coworker’s exhibition on Saturday night. She is finishing up her master’s degree and her university put on an exhibition of all the students’ work. She is a very talented architect and has inspiring ideas. On Sunday, I took my last little travel day to Cologne. Of course, I was only there for the cathedral because it took 600 years to build and is an architectural beauty. The town was nice. I thought some areas were cute and I even had lunch at a little German restaurant. That was probably the best food I have had here. Anyways, I would call this week a success for it being the last one in Germany.
Like I said before, work was crazy this week because of the presentation. A lot of what we were doing was gathering all the developed ideas, plans, concepts, models, and sketches and turning them into something we can present to the client. This was difficult this time because some information did change about a day before the presentation was supposed to be given. We all worked as a team and helped each other out and got the job done. We made sure everything was up to the high standard that our office holds. I think this is how most architecture firms determine what is successful or not. It does not matter what country you are in, setting and producing high quality visuals about the concept is so important to grab the client’s attention. Without getting the client onboard with you, it will be very hard to design architecture. Another thing that defines success is if you can understand the social role that architecture plays. Architecture is such a cultural and social profession that you need to have those skills to be successful. High quality and high standards of concept and visual representations are one thing, but you also need to have that social aspect. You must be able to defend your ideas as well has hold that conversation with the client.
Most of this week was about the machinery company but I did get to do some more work for the renter’s project. I need to work with my coworker next week because this needs to be sent out at the end of the week. This project is slowly but surely coming to an end and there needs to be tenants for this apartment complex soon. In Germany, it is a bit different in the US because in the US, most plans and unit information are given on the website but, in Germany, the information and plans are only given if you request them and/or leasing the space. I found that interesting when one of my coworkers explained that to me.
I cannot believe I only have one more week left. I feel like the time went by slowly but so fast all at the same time. This has been such an experience that I will cherish forever. I am bittersweet going into the last week, but I will make sure to make it the best one!
Ciao.