To Whom it may Concern
Jose Maria Lavena Merino, started to work in the office on the 30th of September of 2009 and he stayed here with us for nine months until the 30th of June of 2010. Jose Maria was able to show an extreme commitment to learn and to devote himself to his work. In the beginning he received some training regarding general office procedures and day to day management. This training was given by a senior architect in the office under my supervision. Shortly after he engaged in a work team that included working with a senior architect, where he was asked to developed various works and tasks in the office. During the 9 month period of his training period, he worked in several competitions and projects, which were: 01. Internatinal Competition for the Contemporary Architectural Foundation of Cordoba, in Spain 02. International Competition for the Museum of Tapestry of Arraiolos, in Alentejo Portugal 03. Competition for Alges car park 04. Schematic Design for the school of Pontinha, Lisbon Portugal 05. International Competition for the Phoenicians Museum of Tavira, Portugal 06. Schematic Design for the rehabilitation of Alges Market, Oeiras Portugal 07. International Competition for the Tram Museum in Oporto, Portugal 08. International Competition for the LAVerney school in Lisbon, Portugal 09. Detail Stage for the school of Pontinha, Lisbon Portugal 10. Detail Stage for the rehabilitation of Alges Market, Oeiras Portugal 11. International Competition for the Cascais School, Portugal Jose Maria was a valuable element in the studio during the internship period. He interacted in a very professional way in the team work and he was also able to make friends amongst the office staff. He has always shown a capacity to improve in relation to his work and to be dedicated and committed to the process of learning architecture through experimentation and debate. He shows a perfect knowledge of the Portuguese language that he can speak without any accent. His social personality also helped him to make a lot of friends in the office and he still visits us every time he travels to Lisbon. I believe that his spirit and ability will prove to be what one really needs to take many steps towards new fields of knowledge in architecture, in the future. I sincerely hope that these qualities will help him to find his path in the field of architecture and we hope that this internship could be somehow useful in his professional future and architectural development. Lisbon, 6th of October of 2011.
Arq. Cristina Verissimo MarchII. GSD – Harvard University Rua das Chagas, nº17, 1º Esq – 1200 – 106 Lisboa Portugal
T [+351] 21 325 90 21
F [+351] 21 325 90 35
cvdb@cvdbarquitectos.com