Let’s be honest—as architecture students in the midst of a studio deadline, we often wonder

if the stress and sleep deprivation we are experiencing is anything like working in the “real

world.” You know what your peers and your professors have told you, but until you

experience your first internship, the experience of working in an architecture firm is a huge

mystery.

As a student, the future is full of mystery, excitement, and fear. I find myself daydreaming

in my classes about all the possibilities that my future may one day hold. Now that I am a

senior in college, that “future” is approaching rapidly! But how do I get from here to there?

An internship is the answer!

I think most students share that same fear of how to get from here to there. How do I go from

being a student to a working professional? My internship this summer eased my fears and

gave me great insight on the industry. I am confident now that my experience with OP.US

DESIGNS will make the transition smoother after graduation. I could not have envisioned a

better way to start off my career!

It was great. Those four months of internship has taught me as much as I have learnt in four

academic years. I did my internship in OPUS DESIGNS, CHEMBUR. It was a small firm

with limited number of projects. The firm serves in all allied disciplines such as landscape,

architectural design, interior design and much more which a particular project needs.

“Our surroundings shape us in the way we shape them. Each element is an Opus – an

artistic composition responding to a creative need within us”

OP.US Designs is a creative enterprise for design, architecture and planning. We believe

every space/ building/ wall is a creative opportunity waiting to be composed into an

aesthetic form balanced with function.

OP.US Designs completes nearly two decades of envisioning holistic designed

environments that are a response to function, context and needs of the users. We also

understand the need for variation in taste that makes every individual different, hence we

work in a collaborative setup. We strongly believe that the quality of life is influenced by

the extraordinary power of design. Thereby OP.US is a platform of opportunity for

creative minds to come together to deliver a design composition of

ARCHITECTURE INTERIORS LANDSCAPE MASTER PLANNING

TEAM

The “.US” of OP.US is a team of enthusiastic design, landscape and construction

professionals who aims to deliver the envisioned composition. Our team of architects,

designers, project and construction managers, environmentalists, horticulturists and

contractors work as one force to produce an end result that answers the set brief.

EXPERIENCES

One of the hardest things during internship, is to keep an open mind and to not get too

worked up about specifics. Architecture is a profession that takes time to learn. One simply

cannot become a good architect overnight. Everyone (including myself) thinks when they

graduate, they’re ready to be an architect, but you’ve only begun to scratch the surface. .

There is SOOOO much you’ll learn in the form of day-to-day experience working in an

architecture firm. There are periods of time that I hated the things I was having to do, but

looking back now I can see that there’s a lot that I learned from those experiences. I learned

to try to keep a positive attitude about things, even when you’re not enjoying them, because

you’re probably learning something while doing it.

Deadlines

Did you really think that the last minute rush to finish a project on time would go away? As

student interns we don’t experience the same stress levels as the project leaders, but the

tension in the office is evident in the last few days before a big deadline. When deadlines

approach, the blinders go up and all focus is on meeting the deadline.

Community

We are continually told to cherish these last few years of school because of the amazing

studio culture that we have and the great friends that we make. This is very true, but

believe it or not, at OPUS the sense of community within the firm is just as evident. We

have office happy hours. We work hard, but we definitely know how important it is to have

a close knit group of people that know how to kick back and have a good time as well!

Design

While in college students are given design freedom for personal exploration and growth

which usually involves having total control over the project. We will often spend 90% of

the semester thinking about the design concept and then producing the project in the final

10% of the class. However at OPUS, careful consideration is taken to balance design

freedom with real world expectations regarding feasibility and budget. Since projects

actually get built in the firm environment, the time management switches and nearly 90%

of the time is spent executing the design.

Tasks

In college, students usually focus on a single building for the entire semester, conducting

research and proposing multiple design ideas. We are tasked with designing an entire

building. In studio we are responsible for designing all aspects of the project; in a firm setting,

each individual typically has an area of expertise that he or she focuses on for all projects.

Keep asking questions

Ask lot of questions. If you don’t know how to do something, try to solve it on your own first

and if you’re stuck, immediately find the right person to ask to help you solve it. This is

something I dealt with at first. When you’re the new guy, you don’t want to be the one

constantly asking questions, but if you’re taking way too long on a task because you can’t

figure it out or do it completely wrong, it will look much worse on you than for having to ask a

few dumb questions.

Nature of work done -

Conceptual & Planning

Electrical layouts

Working drawings

Explanation of designs to workers (carpenter)

3D Model making (software)

Presentation

Site visits

Projects-

Stall layout design and furniture designs for flower exhibition, Byculla

Execution of small scale model of Bio Climatic Urban Park, Byculla

Railing design options for residential apartment at Taloja

Farmhouse design, Alibaug

Garden and kids play area design, Ghatkopar

Lobby, entrance gate and compound wall railing designs for Hiralaxmi Heights, Ulwe

Electrical layout for Hiralaxmi Heights, Ulwe

Planning and elevations for 3bhk residence, Dapoli

Stall and furniture design, exhibition design:

As an intern, the first job assigned to me was to design a furniture to showcase plants at the

flower exhibition and a stall layout for the same. Coming up with a product which is

excellent in simplicity and with a touch of modern look is quiet challenging. But designing

with our principle architect is always fun and a great opportunity to explore new ideas.

From finalizing the designs, to explaining the working drawings to the carpenter, the

exhibition was a great hit!

Execution of Bio climatic urban park model, exhibition design:

The exhibition was related to landscape and to spread awareness on planting more trees.

So our firm went ahead with a bio climatic urban park design. I was in charge of the

model making task for the exhibition. It was going to be a live small scale urban park.

Formulating the design on site was overall a new experience. It even helped in

developing up my team spirit and time management skills.

Railing design options for residential building at Taloja:

Farmhouse design at Alibaug:

Garden and kids play area design, Ghatkopar:

SITE IMAGES

Lobby, entrance gate and compound wall railing designs for Hiralaxmi Heights, Ulwe:

Before After

Before After

NMMC gate and railing details.

CONCLUSION

Architectural college does prepare students for a career in architecture, but no

experience is greater than learning and seeing firsthand how a firm is really

run. Opus designs Group does a great job in educating its student interns as well as

allowing us to learn about how the firm is run. We have the opportunity to sit in and

be a part of weekly office meetings, go on site visits, and be a part of office ‘Lunch

and Learns’. This first experience in a real office setting has had its frustrations at

times (especially with the 3ds max learning curve) but the growth and knowledge we

have gained this summer is something we will carry with us well into the future.

ACKNOWLEDGEMENT

I want to thank OPUS DESIGNS for giving me the opportunity to serve as an intern

at their firm.

I have gained valuable insight into the architectural industry over the past four

months.

Because you gave me the opportunity to work on a variety of projects, I had the

chance to observe numerous aspects of architecture. You and your staff were

extremely welcoming and helpful, and offered me valuable advice.

I have been extremely fortunate to have the support of all my seniors at OPUS, who

contributed in making this internship a great experience. Special thanks to AR.Gauri

Chalke and Ar.Akshay Shanbag for helping me with my dumbest doubts and guiding

through my silly errors in cad drawings.

And to my fellow trainees, without you all this internship would have been a bit

boring. Thank you all for your encouragement and support that helped me gain more

confidence and learn new software skills.