A step up the ladder - My internship at Lungfish Architects

After recently graduating from Nottingham Trent University with a 2:1 BA (Hons) degree in Interior Architecture and Design, I came across the opportunity for an internship at Lungfish Architects.

This felt very apt, just as one door was about to close another one was potentially about to open. I was delighted when I received the news that Lungfish Architects would like to take me on for this role and I was excited to experience working within a passionate, experienced team in a live practice.

From day one, I was put to work on live projects; testing my creative skills by designing a feature reception desk for Cotton End Forest School. The team instantly made me feel very welcome within the open plan office which is also home to the other businesses within SCAPE.

One highlight of my time at Lungfish so far has been a meeting with Kier Group regarding the live and future school projects sited in Bedford. This gave me a great insight into how Lungfish liaise with contractors, as well as how to iron out any potential issues on site. With my PPE at the ready, Richard, Kieran and myself went over to visit two schools in progress. It was great to get a real understanding of modular school builds and how they help the local communities. I have also thoroughly enjoyed producing visuals for various projects, it has been great to put my university skills into practice.

From site visits and meetings to creating visuals, concepts and finishes palettes, I have developed existing skills further whilst learning new ones that I would only experience by working on exciting live projects.

Last month I was delighted to find out that my internship was to be extended at the practice until I go travelling to South America, later this year. I am very excited to get my teeth into more live and upcoming Lungfish projects as well as continuing to put my design and architecture skills to the test.

From the outset, the Lungfish team have shared their knowledge and skills with me and taking the time to demonstrate the use of industry-specific software, like Revit. This is a key piece of Building Information Modelling (BIM) software, which I learnt about at University, but their explanation and being given the opportunity to implement these skills into live projects has increased my understanding. I am very grateful for their teaching, and their patience.