Julianne Rader August 15th, 2008
I wanted to take this opportunity, on the final day of the Summer Intern Program, to thank everyone at the SWA Houston office for a wonderful four weeks. Not only have I had the opportunity to work on amazing projects, but I have also learned so much in such a short time period.
I also wanted to let my fellow interns know that we had a second showing of our work Wednesday night and, once again, it was well received. Approximately 75 people attended, including representatives from five elected officials! And, Taizo’s Washington Green proposal has continued to gain momentum. It even received whistles and shouts from the audience! Presenting everyone’s work further reinforced how lucky I was to work with such talented students for four weeks. It was truly wonderful getting to know the seven of you. I wish you the best of luck in your last year of school and beyond.
Again, thank you to everyone at SWA for such a wonderful summer.
Sincerely,
Julianne Rader
Begum Tarakci August 5th, 2008
Hey Interns!!! What’s up there? San Francisco was really Fun with Jii( who welcomed us last weekend in her house in Berkeley ), with Fangfang( we ate together Taiwanese Food), with Chih wei ( We watched the movie Batman!!!), and with Kathy ofcourse!!!!! She took us to Golden Bridge and to De Young museum in Golden Park & to sousalito office…. all were amazing…thanks a lot to all you guys!!!
You all are very welcome to Istanbul whenever you want after the Summer Internship=)
&We really enjoyed going to the Field today..&got some sunbath at the Site…
some photos with people from SWA LosAngeles.
David+ 3 interns+ Dawn+ Ryan+ Alex
Ryan + Pamela( the designer of the Wall) + me
Finally: The Wall (not dry yet).. Looks pretty huh?!
Stephanie Gautama July 28th, 2008
Laguna office took us out on a weekend trip to Neutra VDL House and LACMA art museum (see below? That’s their courtyard piece… it reminds me of the lonely single light post at the Houston office)
(”Singin’ in the rain” pose… without the rain. LA weather is perfect!)
Humm.. so which light post shall we use for our next landscape design?
And they drove us around to show us how scary LA can be… RAAAAR!!!
Begum Tarakci July 24th, 2008
Taizo!! steph & I missed you ,too!! and all the others ofcourse!!!
hope to see you guys again… we were a great family=)
L.A is nice… I’m a flexible office girl.. working on different projects… with different people…
however, missing my first american town, Houston!! ( the good thing about L.A is : there is no bug biting!!!!!!!)
some photos from LosAngeles!!
a one day flower discovered by steph!!!
see my stomach?… means back from lunch!!!
Frank Gehry’s Huge Architecture
Walt Disney Concert Hall…
Has a beautiful garden terrace… which you can watch downtown L.A
Taizo Horikawa July 23rd, 2008
Now I’m working in Dallas office and my job is to collect nice pictures of pools and make a sample booklet. I’ve looked through literally 10,000 pictures of pools. Besides, today I worked on modification of an Illustrator conceptual master plan. Dallas office has about 15 people and working there is kind of different from Houston office.
Dallas is hot, dry and very car-oriented. The roads have many lanes and even one-way roads sometimes have four lanes. My hotel is two blocks away from the office in Downtown. Last weekend I walked to Fountain Place by Dan Kiley. There is also a sculpture museum by Peter Walker and I.M. Pei near my hotel and I’m planning to go there this weekend.
The workshop in Houston office was a great experience. It was very exciting to work with the amazing principles and associates, and I learned a lot from them. Thank you so much! And thank you to everyone in Houston office for your support. And interns, I miss you guys. Hope we can see each other again someday.
Begum Tarakci July 22nd, 2008
Thank you Scott Slaney for welcoming us to your Art Gallery, your home. It was amazing.
Stephanie Gautama July 21st, 2008
For the happy summer memories! I wish that I could capture it all in this blog, the trips to Austin, San Antonio, Galveston and New Orleans, the meetings with the amazing principals and associates, and the daily life spent humming along the SWA staff in the airy warehouse of the 1245 West 18th Street… but that’s a tall order. So! I’ll just post our happy faces instead!
With lots of hugs for Chi-Wei who has bravely led our 4th week studio, solo!
She looks like one of us, don’t you think?
I wonder when we’ll meet again… I hope they’re all doing well at their new home offices :-)
Thank you to Scott who has organized and led the interns all the way through…
…and to Karen, Jessica, Bill, Eric and Matt (who patiently clicks away at the powerpoint presentation) for all the help during the internship and the preparation for the presentation.
Cheers! (The home made ice cream by the SN-22ers were fantastic!!!)
-From LA, with a cup of pear cider in hand.
Julianne Rader July 21st, 2008
After kicking our heels up Friday evening at our post-first four weeks party, everyone departed for their new internship destinations. I, however, moved four feet over to a different desk. Don’t misinterpret this, though. I am extremely happy to be staying in the Houston office. My four foot move means I don’t have to hassle with flying or lug my suitcase around or learn new names. Plus, let’s be honest, the Houston office is a blast. I mean, there’s all you can drink Coca-Cola, and they proudly brew Starbuck’s Coffee. And, even though I got off to a rough start in my not-so-new office (I had no idea how to read the Hot List, detailing what I would be working on all week), I feel that the next four weeks will be a tremendous learning experience, which I am greatly looking forward to.
Lastly, I would like to extend a BIG thanks to Ana for taking me in.
Julianne Rader July 21st, 2008
Objects were designed, models were built, Powerpoint presentations were shown, and the design portion of the internship program came to an end. With the help of Chih-Wei Lin from the Sausalito office and Scott McCreedy and Scott Slaney from the Houston office, week four was spent designing a specific element within our week three site. Though our proposals differed greatly in scale, materials, and forms - everything from sculptural bridges to green roofs to art-filled plazas - the audience at Friday’s final presentation was open to all our ideas.
While I could spend the final post discussing further design strategies for Super Neighborhood 22, I would rather take this opportunity to thank all those who made the past four weeks such a wonderful experience. First, thank you to all the Super Neighborhood residents, especially the board members and civic club presidents, for all their feedback and support. It is residents like yourselves who make this area such an incredible place to live. Second, thank you to all the visiting SWA principals and associates for their guidance. They were there for us the whole way through, even into the wee hours on the night. Finally, thank you to all the individuals in the Houston office for their daily support - particularly Scott Slaney, James Vick, Matt Baumgarten, Karen Reeves, Kelly Carmusch, Eric Perez, Jessica Bacorn, and Matt Roberts.
Fangfang Ouyang July 21st, 2008
Interns, yesterday was our uncle Jacky’s birthday! Let’s show our warmest congraduation and biggest hug!