Oscar Saucedo was our Designers Without Boundaries (DWB) intern for the 2014 Fall Semester, and this is his story:
Hello! My name is Oscar Saucedo and I am currently a senior at the University of Colorado, Boulder. I will be graduating in May 2015, with a Bachelor in Environmental Design.
Through the past four years at CU, I have been involved in many academic and student organizations. Through my involvement in DWB, I got the opportunity to intern with WORKSHOP8. DWB is an academic scholarship program for first-generation and underrepresented students in the Environmental Design Program. The purpose of DWB is to provide opportunities to build community with other students, staff and faculty and to promote a collaborative, cooperative and supportive environment. Through this program, I was able to meet Joseph and Brandy, some of the best people and bosses I could ever imagine!
The internship allowed me to experience firsthand what it is like to actually work in an architecture firm. I learned aspects of architecture that school does not teach you. During my time at WORKSHOP8, I was able to shadow Joseph at multiple schematic design meetings and OAC meetings with various clients, including the Denver Housing Authority (DHA), Longmont Housing Development Corporation (LHDC), and Flightline Ventures.
I was involved in the schematic design process for the Stanley Marketplace in Aurora. I enjoyed working on this project because it is an adaptive reuse project to repurpose an old aviation hanger into a cool and modern industrial marketplace. Attending project meetings taught me that architects spend a lot of their time in meetings working closely in sync with the client, developer, city planners, engineers, and building consultants. I learned that meetings with all the different professions are essential to ensure everything is to code and to minimize delays in the construction phase. I live just minutes away from this project and it makes me proud knowing that I was part of this redevelopment project that will enhance my community.
At WORKSHOP8, I was able to help create various renderings and graphic designs for multiple project and events including Month of Modern. I was able to touch up on my ArchiCAD skills and help out the team with some construction documents for Spring Creek at Prairie Village.
Overall, I loved working at WORKSHOP8. The whole team welcomed me right in and make me feel like part of the family. The team is very diverse with many skills and very enthusiastic about their work and every cool architecture project that is thrown their way. I see Joseph as a great mentor because he truly took his time to make sure that if I had a question about architecture, he would thoroughly explain it or give me examples so I could understand the concept well. I hope to keep in touch regularly with Joseph and Brandy and update them on my journey of becoming an architect or urban planner one day.
Thank so much, Oscar Saucedo
