TriBeCa to Brooklyn

If you recall, I work for a small architecture firm in TriBeCa, NYC.

My first project I worked on consisted of creating a set of as-built drawings for a mixed use building in the flatiron district.

Approximately 3 weeks ago a new project came into the office and I received the luxury of being assigned to it. This project consists of another set of as-built drawings in which myself and one other architect go out to the job site and measure the building. This project is located in Clinton Hill, Brooklyn. On our first day to the site neither myself nor Andre (the architect) had been to the site. We exited the G train & hoped we were walking in the right direction. The walk was beautiful; neither of us had been to this part of Brooklyn but we both enjoyed it. After what seemed like an hour walk we arrived. On this day we were to measure the entire first floor. We walked inside and introduced ourselves to the woman who was running the antique store, and then we began our process. Andre went around to each room and took photos, while I began hand-drawing floor plans for each space. The store was quite large and seemingly consisted of 5 apartments that had their doors removed and were now 5 different rooms within the store. Each space was fun, unique, and different from the rest. Each space had a rest- room, what seemed to have been a kitchen, and a lofted space that was now being used for storage purposes. The antique store used every inch of their space to display their merchandise.

After I completed the hand drawings it was time to begin measuring. We begin by getting the over all dimensions, followed by the dimensions of each column, then the dimensions of anything and everything else that is within the space. On this particular day the measuring portion took us about 1.5 hours to complete. Once complete we made our way back to the office, where I drew each of the spaces in Archi-CAD, the computer-drafting program we use. The computer drafting consumed the remainder of my day.

The following week we measured the basement and all of the corridors and staircases; and last week we measured 4 apartment spaces. I believe we will make 2 additional trips to the site, one to measure the last 3 apartment spaces and the final to measure the roof space. I am quite enjoying this project, and not looking forward to it coming to an end; however, when it does I’m sure I will have a new project equally as exciting.

http://www.runnerskitchen.com/2010/06/brooklyn-bridge-to-brighton-beach/

http://www.brooklynpaper.com/sections/fort_greene/31/1/