PROFESSIONAL PRACTICE E-PORTFOLIO

BA (HONS) IN INTERIOR ARCHITECTURE SEMESTER 202308

ARC 62604 PROFESSIONAL PRACTICE MUHAMMAD DANIESH SYAHIRAN BIN ABDUL RAMAN 0345720 MS. YASMIN RAHMAN PROFESSIONAL PRACTICE 27/11/2023

PROFESSIONAL PRACTICE E-PORTFOLIO 2023

O I L O F E-PORT

TABLE OF CONTENTS

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ASSIGNMENT 1

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ASSIGNMENT 2

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ASSIGNMENT 3

40.

ASSIGNMENT 4

GROUP STYLESCAPE GROUP VIDEO SCREENSHOT MIRO PROGRESSION REFLECTION

FORUM SUMMARY PDW SUMMARY

GROUP STYLESCAPE GROUP VIDEO SCREENSHOT GROUP REPORT MIRO PROGRESSION REFLECTION

INDIVIDUAL STYLESCAPE MIRO PROGRESSION REFLECTION

+ OVERALL REFLECTION

1 T N E M N ASSIG D N A E V I T A L S I G LE REGULATIVE DIMENSION OF N G I S E D R O I R E INT

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N O I S S E R G O R P MIRO T F A R D

N O I S S E R G O R P MIRO FINAL

REFLECTION The assignment was very technical and would be quite tough to handle without the help of my group mates. It required a lot of research, understanding, and memorization to grasp the idea behind each by-law and the reasons for establishing it. At first, it was tough for me to read through just the first paragraph however splitting my tasks/by-laws into points has made it easier for me to learn and it allowed me to form my own understanding through summarising them. I feel like this assignment has been successful in giving us the best tool to go through the by-laws and make learning much easier for a rather heavy subject. In the end, I was also able to read and understand the topics of other groups easily because of this too.

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KNOWLEDGE M U R O F E G N A EXCH + PDW

TOPIC #1

SUMMARY The industry could take stricter actions towards those caught initiating fraudulent businesses. Other proactive measures the industry could make are license or certificate verifications and encourage the same for any partnerships the designer has business with. I agree with the idea of upholding some sort of code of ethics to maintain and encourage these practices within the industry such as avoiding and reporting illegal practices, applying strict rules, and keeping everyone in your company in check. This code should be especially true for the sole proprietor in charge to encourage a clean reputation and professional practices. However, the designers may not be the only ones performing illegal acts as it could even be instigated by the partners, they have business with. Suppliers or manufacturers who support these fraudulent businesses should be responsible too so the industry can try providing regulations for these sources or services to check the legitimacy of the architect they are working with. Otherwise, clients are encouraged to check for the Architects’ forms of certification or contract administration before investing their life savings in it.

On the other hand, as dependable as AI Is in gathering and fine-tuning designs in a short amount of time, in my opinion anyway I don’t support this, at least not for a huge-scale project. AI has its own limitations in the real world, it can’t comprehend things in the physical sense. This makes it ultimately dangerous to use because it might overlook any physical faults or predict uncertainties when it comes to constructing, at least with the technology we have now. Architecture has always depended on technology to get the work now we are using mostly AutoCAD or Sketchup. I’m sure even AI will have a place in this field of work to be used by the Architects and not the other way around. When it comes to that, the regulatory bodies should establish strict rules against abusing the power of AI or going against copyright laws to protect the Interior Design career path, the rights of other designers, and the safety of the clients.

TOPIC #2

SUMMARY From how I see it, CCC is a responsibility left to the main Architect in charge or sole Interior Designer, however, this is not to say that it is something that we can just ignore. Interior Designers have their own laws that bind them to the safety of the design for the users, the CCC is just a matter of signing a waiver that puts you responsible for the safety of the building since it will be easier to record the liability of each group involved in the project such as Architect, Engineers, etc. In another scenario, an Interior Designer who renovates interiors of already certified buildings may not have to reach out to a PSP unless the design also touches the main structure otherwise if we have to get CCC approval for every interior work, even a simple tile job, it may stall the renovation process much more. I think it depends a lot on the scope of the renovation works, for instance, renovation that does not focus or majorly touch the main structure such as the sewage or gas pipes should still be good without renewing the CCC. A PSP stands for Principal Submitting Person and they can be a registered Architect or Engineer. Their responsibility is to ensure that the building is up to code and in working order otherwise they too can receive a heavy penalty in court so it is important that they do their jobs strictly.

Clients can be notified about the CCC before handing over the finished building as they have the right to know. On the other hand, renovations on existing site may also be notified to the client if the works expand from interior only.

TOPIC #3

SUMMARY From my perspective, I think it's crucial for Interior Designers to have a good understanding of fire safety laws. For one, Interior Designers control the whole flow or circulation of a building which determines how the user will react to certain situations. In the case of a fire emergency, a simple way Interior Designer can decrease the casualty rate by making full use of passive design. An example of how passive design works; is an emergency fire staircase within proximity and in good distance of all areas of a building can save multiple lives in the event the elevators are broken. To add to this, having a closed compartmentation design such as separating the emergency staircase lobby from the rest of the area will help keep the fire at bay, giving users more time to breathe and escape the premises. In many cases, passive design is an effective solution because sometimes it's hard to control a huge group of people, especially during a panicked state. A fire extinguisher may not necessarily be enough to blow out the flames but, designing a proper route for escape can help lead the crowd without a professional asking to, and using materials that are fire-resistant can make a big difference in buying time for people to escape and the fire department to come.

My second point, when we understand the fire safety laws better, we can integrate them better without compromising our aesthetics. As important as fire safety is for everyone, this shouldn't be a reason to water down our design. The idea is that the more you know, the better you can plan out and come up with creative designs.

As for my third point, these laws are meant to protect the clients not just in the actual building but also in court. We can be held liable if the users face any injuries or get them involved in any life-threatening situations if we choose to ignore preventable casualties. Not only does this make your buildings or design unsafe for human dwelling or activities, but it will also damage your credibility in your career as an expert and as an Interior Designer, so it is best that as professionals, we take all the necessary steps toward fire safety.

Financial Literacy for Fresh Graduate

PDW

Allianz | Mrs. Gloria Swee

Career Prospects in the Media Industry in the Age of A.I. OMNICOM MEDIA GROUP | Mr. Kiron Kesav

The first seminar I attended was part of my prerequisite to talk about “Financial Literacy for Fresh Graduate”

by Mrs. Gloria Swee from Allianz. It’s to address the rising issue of frequent purchases and losing our savings in Malaysian youths. She then shared a pyramid diagram of that shows our priorities when spending money:

Cash flow and basic needs being the most important foundation of the pyramid while financial freedom is the least important, making up only the tip of the pyramid.

When we continue to have jobs and make money, we need to make sure we have enough disposable income which is a term they use for extra cash leftover. Meaning once you have paid your dues, your rent, and other necessities, the extra cash you have left will be your future cash to spend or save. According to Mrs. Gloria, it is best that we follow a schedule, that way we can see where we spend our money and how much we can save. Below is a pie chart of the 50 / 30 / 20 rule that will help us manage our savings properly: Towards the end of the lecture, we went over the subject of savings and insurance.

She says that the bank is not a place to save your money but just a place to “park” your money meaning it is always good to keep some of your savings at home. She also stressed the importance of having insurance for good measure because it can help mitigate the risks or losses you may take.

The last thing she suggested is to start an investment of some sort and to never spend it all in one place. If you want to start investing, the memo is to always start low rather than asking for a high-risk high return to reduce the amount of debt you may receive. By the end of the lecture, I had a lot to digest but it was very educational and applicable to my daily routine. Money is something I also struggle to manage as a student so hopefully these lessons will serve me as a daily reminder to start saving.

As the world is moving towards the age of A.I. I have always wondered what to expect in the future but most importantly how it will affect careers in the media or design industry. The speaker for this lecture is Mr. Kiron Kesav from OMNICOM MEDIA GROUP to talk about the “career prospects in the Media Industry in the Age of A.I.” and he shared with us his working experience with clients surrounding the setting of A.I. But before diving into his working experience, he first explains how his modus operandi at the company doing advertising. Before A.I. he has to do plenty of research and surveys to better understand his target audience because in the end, people only buy things that they like. So, to do this he needs to observe and identify the group, the culture, community, likes & dislikes, then create a pattern that is pretty much what we recognize now as “the trend”. He explains further that A.I. is doing exactly that through the internet, but on a wider scale and in quick proximity too.

As daunting as how efficient A.I. can compile the trend to target users, Mr. Kiron assures us that A.I. currently is still missing the “human touch” and he believes that humans are still better at storytelling. From what I can take away from this lecture, A.I. is just like any other tool and there is no stopping A.I. integrating with the design career industries. And just like any other tools, as designers we mustn’t be overly dependent on it because as soon as we let A.I. handle everything, we are no longer needed. Some things that I can think of to prepare for this are to develop our own signature style, refining our design tastes or skill set in our career, picking up new relevant skills, and learn to use A.I. without having to abandon our expertise.

Keynote: “Career Readiness & Employability Success: 10 Quick Top Tips That Will Help Graduates Get Hired”

PDW

MBSB BANK | En Farid Basir, Chief People Officer For the third talk of the day, we have En Farid Basir, the Chief People Officer from MBSB BANK to give us “10 Quick Top Tips That Will Help Graduates Get Hired”. Before getting into the tips, he briefed over what his department specializes in and what they expect when hiring graduate students. The point of interest for the Chief People Officer is to identify the long-term career growth of the potential candidate in the company. He then categorizes each point into a pyramid diagram, ranging from controllable elements such as the Core Factors and Accelerators to uncontrollable conditions such as Opportunities. Core Factors are the basic skills all graduates must have in order to grow and progress in their career such as sustained performance, relevant experience, functional competency, technical competency, and leadership competency. The Accelerators are the factors that will significantly influence the speed of your overall career growth such as mobility, cross-functional exposure, and network & relationship. The Opportunity are out of your control which are new positions or vacancies for your career path. The Chief People Officer will usually check your Core Factors before they can predict your growth and to be able to predict your future, it is relevant that they scan through your past habits because according to En Farid Basir: Humans are creatures that are stuck to their habits, meaning how you perform in the past is exactly how you will perform in the future. So, the idea here is to be able to show these officers that you are capable of adapting well into the company and this will be seen through not just merits but also through character.

In the first tip, the speaker is explaining the point from the perspective of the company that whatever situation you get yourself into, it is all dependent on you.

Meaning they are not going to think much if you are stuck in traffic, however they will not hesitate to fire you if you should delay your quotas. For the second tip, the reason the speaker gave us is quite interesting. He said can’t stress enough how punctuality is important because when the department looks at a person who always comes late, it is revealed that these types of people will never change. For the third, sixth, seventh, eighth tip is quite self-explanatory. Fourth tip, he advises us it’s better to over deliver because it is a display of our proactiveness without having to risk our position by underselling. The fifth tip is something I also picked up during my internship because I noticed the company were all speaking Bahasa Melayu and wearing casual clothes and, in my experience, it felt like there’s an invisible wall segregating me and my other colleagues until I start blending into their corporate culture. Ninth tip, if something is not working out for you, you are suggested to change up your habits, your work ethics. And tip number ten and one of the more important tips, be proactive. Always go the extra mile to do it instead of waiting for it to be told.

Best Practices in LinkedIn & Professional Online Etiquette PwC | Mr. Kent Tan

For this lecture, it was a compulsory seminar about “Best Practices in Linkedin & Professional Online Etiquette” by Mr. Kent from PricewaterhouseCoopers or PwC. He taught us how important it is to keep an online profile because employers will want to research potential employees through online searches like Google or LinkedIn. However, based on the survey, most employers will investigate LinkedIn. Keeping an online presence is important because it is a display of your reputation and may affect your first impression. Mr. Kent then stresses how important first impressions are when applying for a job, especially the first 7 seconds for example, a person who wears a formal uniform and keeps his appearance clean will make him look more professional and implies that he is organized and serious. From here, Mr. Kent started teaching us the basics of proper online etiquette ranging from writing our emails, organizing our CV, to how we should act in a company. Some very common mistakes the speaker often tells from experience is how people respond to employers. Besides typos and comprehension errors in emails, he says that we must keep texts, messages, or calls formal and must avoid referring to them casually. When we first apply for a job through email, we must also do research on and keep the email professional for example, unless a number, name, or email is displayed on a company website, it is important for us to know to whom we refer the email. It is advisable that we avoid addressing using the company name when we write an email for a job application. Most importantly, Mr. Kent also addresses that we must keep our manners consistent and professional. If for example we are declined a job position, we should still send a follow up email or message to thank them or when we send a message, we need to be considerate.

In this picture, Mr. Kent also includes etiquette for online interview now that it has become a norm. I think some of these points are quite self-explanatory, you must dress professionally and keep your hair and composure clean. In an online interview, we need to take extra care in preparing our surroundings before starting the interview as to avoid delays and ruining your first impressions so be sure to find a quite but bright spot, ensure a stable internet connection, and you may even request a testing session. However, most importantly in an interview you must maintain good posture and consistent eye contact.

This seminar was very insightful and had plenty of helpful advice that I could apply in my career path. I especially find the part about preparing the CV and creating the LinkedIn profile useful as for the online interview etiquettes I had the first-hand experience through online learning during the Covid pandemic.

The Future of Jobs in Architecture

PDW

VERITAS | Ar. Alif Arif I have never given it a big thought when I first took the degree, I’m studying in besides my own personal interests, so naturally I wondered what future my career path would take me to. The topic for this slot is “The Future of Jobs in Architecture” by Ar. Alif Arif from VERITAS. The seminar started quite clunky as the speaker had internet connection issues, but besides that, he began to talk about the history of Architecture. It was a very long and serious lecture talking about how the Architect career evolved from the 1960’s to the 2020’s. He taught us how the creation of CAD in the 1980’s revolutionized the industry forever and starting from there we started growing out into different branches or fields within the industry. During tough times, when there was an emergence of urban planning from the 1970’s to 1980’s where cities faced challenges related to population growth and urbanization, the industry had to split careers and that’s how there is a different field for urban planners. Then towards the late 20th century, although interior design is part of architecture, it has established itself as its own distinct role and that’s how Interior Designers as a profession came to. And before when Architects are in charge of a lot more such as managing contractors and such, the role has been created and given to Architectural Supervisors or Managers. Below are some points Ar. Alif made that will expand the job scopes in the industry and what new profession or skills that will make roles in our industry stable:

Now with the rising use of A.I. you might also wonder how it will affect the architecture industry. In my opinion, I think the introduction of A.I. in Interior Design will be quite similar to CAD, as in it will help us prepare mood boards and save a lot of time and help us cater to clients during consultation efficiently. I don’t think A.I. will ever replace Interior Designer because for one main reason, A.I. cannot take responsibility if anything happens. Having a title as an expert in a career does not just give you credibility as a great designer but also makes you reliable and trustworthy to get the job done well.

How to Have an Idea Mr. Paul Loosley

For the last slot, the topic I picked was “How to have an Idea” by Mr. Paul Loosley. I took this topic expecting to get ideas on how I can get creative during my “art block” moments or maybe just a breakdown of the speaker’s creative routine.

The speaker was a nice and open speaker and gave us lecture on the 4 stages of design. The first stage is research, we must properly understand what it is that we want to design or at least find a concept or direction that we want our narrative to be about. Once we gather enough information, we can move on to stage 2 which is digestion. Basically, you try to understand as much as you can based on the research you have done and try to take pieces of it – break it down. The third stage is incubation which is a period you use to rest. Some examples of things we can do in this stage include painting, listening to music, playing games, even reading. What this does is it lets you refresh your mind and hopefully by seeing things from a different angle, you may stumble upon something interesting you can use for your projects. And in the final stage, is when you come up with the idea. An idea, no matter how great it is, is still useless unless you apply it and bring it to life. Another thing he taught us which is an important skill for a designer to have been the ability to see relationships or make connections with ideas. For instance, if you are to stare at the clouds in the sky, an ordinary person would simply see clouds but as designers we should be able to see and recognize way more patterns on the clouds and make connections to real life things like food or even ideas. It was a surprisingly lengthy talk, but it was a nice lesson on how I can come up with better ideas and stay creative.

REFLECTION It has been a fulfilling assignment with how much content and lessons to learn. The set up of the forums and seminars felt very easy to follow and makes learning a bit more fun and engaging. I wished the forums could be a bit longer because seeing all those responses made by my classmates had really helped me think differently and I felt that there was more I can learn from engaging with them. During the PDW week, it was a bit overwhelming to me as some of the classes I picked had to be rescheduled and in the end, I have to take most of those classes back-to-back for 2-3 days. But I did enjoy the seminars, I have learned a lot that I can use not just for my career but also for my lifestyle. My favorite seminars were the ones about financial literacy, quick tips for graduates, and how to have an idea because I was able to understand it quite well and will help me plenty for my future when I have to start managing a lot of things. Overall the assignment has motivated me to do more critical thinking and make me take aware of some common issues or mistakes in the industry and how I can resolve it.

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S E C I T C A R P E FUTUR F O N O I T A M R O F ( IDCP)

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N O I S S E R G O R P MIRO T F A R D

REFLECTION This assignment felt like a very high hurdle for me. Thanks to my previous knowledge of starting up a company and contracts of engagements from my assignment 1 stylescape, I was able to identify the necessities of being a sole proprietor in the interior design industry. However, the previous assignment only covers the by-laws and important documents, meaning the rest of the necessities are all things that Bisyari and I have to think hard about. Despite having my notes in hand, I did not realize how much I had left out that never occurred to me until the last week such as calculating the revenue, profits, and expenditures. Besides those technical areas, I feel like I could also have improved the overall design of the board. By the end of this assignment, I learned that sole proprietorship may not necessarily be the best option out of the other 2 business structures and that starting a business from scratch requires a lot of planning and money. In the future, I don’t think a sole proprietorship is something I want to pursue but if I ever change my mind, I’ll have a greater understanding of where to start.

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N O I T A C I L P P A W BY-LA ES T I S I U Q E R E R P AND N A L P G N I D L I U B FOR SUBMISSION

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N O I S S E R G O R P MIRO T F A R D

REFLECTION It was a hectic assignment to complete alongside my design studio work. My 3D model for my design class is surprisingly complex considering the original site being a parking complex and my design breaking off from conditional building or design norms. This also makes my design a bit hazardous as it sacrifices a lot of safety features for the sake of aesthetics. Because of this, I had to update my 3D model and can only use the latest one in order to reach the minimum GBI points of 50 or more. Despite the challenges, I have grasped a good understanding of what the GBI standards look for in a building and I hope to use what I learn from this assignment in my future designs. I believe I will be able to make better design choices once I have a good knowledge of building safety so as to be able to integrate my design well with safe building standards.

L L A R OVE REFLECTION The module was very informative and has helped enlighten me about proper etiquette and professional practices to prepare me for my career. It had a lot of content for me to learn and it gave plenty of opportunities for me to engage with the class in a constructive manner and encouraged me to form my own opinions and test my understanding of each topic. I have obtained a lot of useful information such as the importance of understanding the by-laws and safety standards, the purpose of the GBI score, and many incredible work experiences or stories from PDW seminars. To me, I feel that the forums and the seminars especially have really helped me to explore and make constructive arguments.

I think the module has properly equipped us with the relevant knowledge to practice design in the professional zone and the assignments have been nothing but insightful to each lesson. However, I do believe that there are still plenty of things I need help understanding and improvements I could have done to my projects but I think there are some things that can be better learned through experience. As an aspiring designer and student, I am dedicated to keep learning and improving both my knowledge and my design to the best of my abilities.