Students Shadow Strang
On Wednesday the 9th, Strang was excited to introduce three local high school students to a day at Strang. Job shadowing is an excellent way to expose students to possible careers as they observe employees at work, and we love the opportunity to meet potential future designers.
Audree Brunke (12), Matt Eppler (17), and Owen Lehman (17) are all seniors in Madison. They joined a few Strang’rs for a tour of our Madison office and a showcase of our architectural, interior design, and engineering work.
First up was Peter Tan, Strang’s Chief Design Officer who introduced the students to the world of architecture, engineering, and interior design. Using several Strang projects as case studies, he walked them through the entire process of creating a work of architecture, from the pre-design and programming, where we listen carefully to the client, respond to the site and context, and then move forward to the design phase and construction.
Did you know? Audree is the founder of the non-profit organization, “Happy Feet of Madison” which donates clean/new socks to the Madison area homeless. If you’re a local business looking to host or sponsor a sock drive, check out their website and Facebook for more information!
Alec Hembree next discussed his role as Design Architect and Director of Design Synchronicity, the design process, and how his work intertwines with other design team members. He took the students through the various roles of the architectural and engineering staff, and the unique tools and resources used to facilitate design communication.
Cindy Schuett, Senior Interior Designer led the students through a tour of Strang’s architectural finishes library. She explained the coordination process between interior designers and other disciplines, and what it takes to deliver a successful project, both technically and aesthetically.
Thomas Matejka, Lead Architectural Design Specialist, explored the role of a Project Architect, how to coordinate building products and equipment, and gave a demonstration of the design modeling tools, Revit and Enscape. He also introduced students to the various other opportunities within the field of architecture—jobs just as building product/technical representatives, lab planners, specification writers, or architecture/Revit teachers.
Lastly, students joined Drew Martin, Senior Project Architect and Director of Design Visualization as he demonstrated 3D design models with a virtual reality walkthrough of one of our projects.
At the end of the day, Strang staff hosted a design charette for one of our current local projects, a dog bar. This project is a bar, dog park, and biergarten all in one. Students and staff discussed various layouts of the building and site. Catering to clients on both two and four legs presented challenges as to how dogs and their owners will interact with each other in the space.
Example Sketches from Design Charette
We love to talk design and we’re always happy to introduce people to our work and world. If you or someone you know would like to schedule a job shadow day with one of our architects, engineers, or interior designers, feel free to reach out!
