Internship evaluation
BIANKA BABIAKOVA
Construction Architect, Internship from August 2019 – January 2020
Describe your school and field of study:
I am student of bachelor’s degree in Architectural Technology and Construction Management at KEA Københavns Erhvervsakademi.
Why did you apply for an internship at DOMUS?
During applying for an internship in 6th semester I decided to choose and work for smaller company in Copenhagen. I did some research and I found out that most of the people who chose bigger companies were stuck doing a similar task on day to day basis for their whole internship period. I decided to apply to DOMUS after my fellow classmate, who worked there told me about work environment at the company and after finding on webpage that the company has strong focus on sustainability in every project.
Now after my 20 weeks internship I can say that DOMUS gave me an amazing opportunity to be part of all project stages, work on different tasks and I had around me people who were always willing to share their experiences and knowledge with me, and explain things when I didn’t understand something.
What kind of assignments and tasks have you worked with during your internship at DOMUS?
As intern, I have worked on various projects. Some of the projects had been for commune, and has included concept design, others are awaiting final approval on budget, but most of the projects I had worked on, were renovation projects of apartment buildings, where I was part of concept and later stages. My tasks usually were 3D modeling in Revit and
Sketchup, rendering by Enscape or Maxwell, preparing drawings for
presentations, where I worked with Photoshop, 2D drawings in Revit or AutoCAD, as well as registrations of renovation projects.
All my work had been done under supervision of the competent employees at the company.
Describe the difference between studying and working as an intern at DOMUS?
Internship was my first work experience in the field of my study, and I can say that during the last 5 months I could see how different it is to be at school and be part of real professional environment. Main difference for me was to work on specific part of the project and not focusing on entire building process. I was not rushed what allowed me to go deeper into detailing and overall got more practical knowledge that you do not have opportunity to learn at school.
What did you learn at DOMUS?
After finishing my 20 weeks internship, I’m happy to say that my internship at DOMUS was a success for me. The experience together with the knowledge such as a new softwares or practical knowledge as focus more at the overall result and not get stuck in the small details or better manage time-pressed situations, that has been gathered these 5
months has truly made me be more knowledgeable and more ready to go into the workforce after the soon to be graduation. I didn’t expect to get that much responsibility in the projects as an intern, but it really helped me gained lots of knowledge and experiences.
Did the internship change your perspective on the building industry?
I would definitely say yes. Before my internship I thought that I could always use the theory learnt at school in practice. Domus showed me how many different solutions can be applied on the project and how it plays role in process based on lots of different parameters as a time schedules, budgets or different interests of people included in project. It helped me also understand how important it is to have good project management and how it can affect quality of the project.
Did the internship expose you to unknown areas within the building industry or unexpected interests?
As I never worked in the building industry before my internship, I was excited to be part of Domus and discover an unknown areas and maybe find a new interests during this period. I am happy to say that my stay at Domus showed me a new fields in the building industry as well as I got a various interests base on which I decided to write my bachelor dissertation.
Which skills did you acquire during your internship at DOMUS?
After my stay at Domus as intern I became able to understand how it works in professional environment, especially in architectural design projects. I gained a new skills in architectural design tasks, I also strengthen my already acquired skills from school but the most important acquirement for me and my future career was practical experience which I did not have chance to gain before my internship.
Other comments:
At the end, I would like to thank you to my co-workers at the Domus Arkitekter office for their time and patience to share their experience and knowledge with me. Thus, the time in Domus Arkitekter was very supportive and essential for me, through which I have gained relevant work experience that will definitely help me in my future professional career.