For my Spring 2018 Co-op I am working for a theatre company in central London in the Broadgate campus. Theatre Deli. It is their tenth year as an arts charity being an integral part of the community, helping artists grow, and reshaping the theatre scene. There are three separate venues- one in south London called The Old Library, one in Broadgate, and one in Sheffield. Each venue has slightly different functions. Theatre Deli in Broadgate mainly rents studio space for rehearsals and desk space with a cafe/bar in the first floor. The cafe/bar tends to have performance related events. The Old Library deals a lot with artist residency and community outreach as well as being a performance venue. Sheffield is a large warehouse performance venue that has some rehearsal studios. Each venue has a manager and small team all headed by the co-artisit directors Jess and Roland. I work very closely with all of the venue managers.
I am the interior design intern for Theatre Deli, and my job is to design and improve each of the venues. As the soul designer I prioritize my time dedicating it to each venue proportionally to meet the goals agreed upon with each venue manager. With that, each venue needs something a little different, but cohesion between the three accurately representing Deli is the main goal. At the Broadgate location, I've looked at energizing the reception area and creating sight lines and hierarchy with in the space. I also looked at potential reprogramming of the floor to incorporate a performance venue and produce more revenue by utilizing dead space. At Sheffield I've looked more at the foyer focusing on furniture, artwork, circulation and merging a seating area, box office, and bar into the same space. For the Old Library, I've looked at the bar area, making the rehearsal studio more effective, and creating an outside draw into the building. For Sheffield and the Old Library I designed a mural and revamped the bathrooms.
My day to day life consists of meetings, designing, and traveling between venues. I often do a lot of hands on work as well. For a portion of my time at Theatre Deli I also worked as the assistant set designer for a show at the Barbican. I researched, sourced props, created the graphics, and helped set up the space. My first week I helped with the construction of another show in The Vaults. My skills in video editing, graphics, adobe programs, and spacial conception have been used quite often for side tasks helping my colleagues. Everyone is great, either high energy or chill but equally as caring and sweet producing and atmosphere of friendship and laughter.
The office culture is really laid back and relaxed. As a small company, everyone is responsible for their own work, and there isn't some one going around making sure you did your job properly. Self starting is imperative and ownership of the work and reasonability is essential to the process. This has given me a lot of freedom to follow a work process that suits me best. I've found it more beneficial to lead myself and the projects by being present and taking part in all the stages of design. Compared to the work culture in America, London is way more relaxed. I tend to work in the cafe downstairs and at home on occasion as time management is my responsibility, and I am expected to work the full day. No one is checking up on me. As an intern in America at three other firms I was constantly being checked on and my work being double checked. There was a lot more work at a higher pace where these check in seemed to be small deadlines. At Deli I have three or four deadlines as opposed to multiple times a day. This contrast in office culture may be due in part to the nature of my internship being unconventional. The other major difference is the comfortably with my colleagues. Everyone works on a friendship basis as opposed to a strict company hierarchy.
I am the interior design intern for Theatre Deli, and my job is to design and improve each of the venues. As the soul designer I prioritize my time dedicating it to each venue proportionally to meet the goals agreed upon with each venue manager. With that, each venue needs something a little different, but cohesion between the three accurately representing Deli is the main goal. At the Broadgate location, I've looked at energizing the reception area and creating sight lines and hierarchy with in the space. I also looked at potential reprogramming of the floor to incorporate a performance venue and produce more revenue by utilizing dead space. At Sheffield I've looked more at the foyer focusing on furniture, artwork, circulation and merging a seating area, box office, and bar into the same space. For the Old Library, I've looked at the bar area, making the rehearsal studio more effective, and creating an outside draw into the building. For Sheffield and the Old Library I designed a mural and revamped the bathrooms.
My day to day life consists of meetings, designing, and traveling between venues. I often do a lot of hands on work as well. For a portion of my time at Theatre Deli I also worked as the assistant set designer for a show at the Barbican. I researched, sourced props, created the graphics, and helped set up the space. My first week I helped with the construction of another show in The Vaults. My skills in video editing, graphics, adobe programs, and spacial conception have been used quite often for side tasks helping my colleagues. Everyone is great, either high energy or chill but equally as caring and sweet producing and atmosphere of friendship and laughter.
The office culture is really laid back and relaxed. As a small company, everyone is responsible for their own work, and there isn't some one going around making sure you did your job properly. Self starting is imperative and ownership of the work and reasonability is essential to the process. This has given me a lot of freedom to follow a work process that suits me best. I've found it more beneficial to lead myself and the projects by being present and taking part in all the stages of design. Compared to the work culture in America, London is way more relaxed. I tend to work in the cafe downstairs and at home on occasion as time management is my responsibility, and I am expected to work the full day. No one is checking up on me. As an intern in America at three other firms I was constantly being checked on and my work being double checked. There was a lot more work at a higher pace where these check in seemed to be small deadlines. At Deli I have three or four deadlines as opposed to multiple times a day. This contrast in office culture may be due in part to the nature of my internship being unconventional. The other major difference is the comfortably with my colleagues. Everyone works on a friendship basis as opposed to a strict company hierarchy.