I moved to New York over a month ago to work at Scalar Architecture and I speak as an intern of Architect-US Professional Career Training Program. From my point of view, the work carried out as an intern in scalar Architecture benefits the whole staff, since that work is, to a certain point, the same as the rest, although I don’t have the same degree of responsibility of decision making, of course. From the very first day, I started working as any other member of the staff, and any opinion given about each project was taken into account. I have to say that I feel really happy to be in this Architecture Studio, as I have felt welcome and integrated since the beginning, as I was immediately involved in all the projects they are carrying out. It’s a wonderful experience thanks to which I am going to be able to learn a lot, as working with so many different kinds of projects in the same studio at the same time is a great opportunity for me.
Regarding the office organization, in this studio, the staff is formed by few people, but each of them has an essential role, so the final result of a project doesn’t depend on just one person. Being able to get all done for the due date depends on teamwork.
The key characters are, the boss Julio Salcedo, the one in charge of showing the projects to the clients, and Benjamen Prager, who is the supervisor who helps all the interns at the work that will later be shown to be accepted by Julio.
A meeting of about one hour is held every Friday. Everything related to the studio and the current ongoing projects is discussed there; above all, the subjects of the incoming submissions. There are usually site visits to the construction sites.
As for the space of work, the studio is in a block of offices in the heart of Manhattan, close to Soho neighborhood, where many other companies, galleries and studios are settled. The studio is small, formed by some tables with around eight chairs for the staff. The work inside the office has a good environment. While some interns are more focused on the 3d Modelling others are in 2D, but it is a continuous line where each one of us are involved in the projects carried out in the office at the same time.
This is a studio where everybody is really close; everyone is watching for everything. That’s why we form a great team. I find very easy to work in this office.
Scalar Architecture is an international design firm based in New York. As its own name shows, it operates at a wide variety of scales; from facilities, projects related to graphic design or small houses remodelling to bigger scale projects, such as hospitality and commercial projects or urban and landscape collaborations, while working together with multiple partners. Scalar’s residential experience does not only include dwellings and housing in Spain, Maine and New York, but also large scale sustainable developments in Guatemala and Costa Rica. One of the best virtues of Scalar Architecture is that they always try to integrate architecture with the different environments. This firm provides an expansive display in all their enterprises of architecture and its registers of program, geometry, context, aesthetics and form.
