Assistant Architect

Assistant Architect by Xi He Qing Ling

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Chapter 11: Homework

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When asked, Zhang Siyi was also a little overwhelmed. What are his thoughtsand ideas? His mind was a mess from the meeting with Gu Yu just now.

But he knows Du Rui is feelingdistraught, so he takes this opportunity to ease the tension in the air. Even thoughhe is also confused, he gave a generic response. “I first made a list, categorizingthe functions of the space, like eating, sleeping, and bath… then, I imaginedmyself living in the apartment and asked myself how I would want the flow ofspace to be like. For example, I want to see the entrance of the living area,but don’t want to see the small bedroom right away so I put it to the rightside and attached it to the balcony.”

He glanced at the Du Rui drawings. Because she draws them in color with suchprecision, he didn’t look at the details. They were so beautifying to look at,it was easy to overlook its faults.

Until Gu Yu pointed them out, Zhang Siyi discovered that the plans did havea lot of problems.

He continued: “Although the internal planning of the district has beendone, the environment can’t be ignored, so we have to investigate the site mapbefore making a design decision. See here, the land to the southwest will begreen space so If we put the living room or balcony in this direction, therewill be a very good view of the landscape. But in your design, you ignored thepotential view, and placed the balcony where there is a low building. Eventhough the building will be demolished to solve the problem of low light,wouldn’t the nice view be better overall?”

Zhang Si Yi said, while watching Du Rui’s expressions. He could see her inrapt attention and listening closely to his words. Her features slowly softened,and she relaxed. He went on to voice his thoughts and teach her without reservation.

Unconsciously, the two of them spent half an hourdiscussing such things. Du Rui listened for a long time and said withsincerity: “It’s no wonder Director Gu recruited you. You are reallyamazing.”

After listening to this praise, Zhang Siyi was a bitflattered. He scratched his head and said: “I don’t know if my thoughtsare right, but it is the method my design teacher taught.”

The two inquired about their respectiveuniversities, and Du Rui graduated from the architecture department of a generalkey university in China.

She smiled bitterly: “I too have learneddesign theory, but we rarely put it to practice. Mostly, the drawing itself wasonly analyzed without much input about its function. At the time, our designschool had a strange ethos. The one with the most praise was the design withthe most visual appeal. The beautiful, dazzling picture got the highest remarksso when I entered the work at Borderless, I am very confused and distraught. Imake the plans like I have been taught, but the director would always criticismme, and I don’t know what I did wrong. After listening to you today, I feel alittle bit… Hey, the design process is really complicated.”

Zhang Siyi was startled at Du Rui words. In fact,he doesn’t find it hard at all.

When Zhang Siyi was studying, each student wouldwork on their projects for a long time from the initial site analysis, toenvironmental analysis and to the core functionality. After looking at all thedetails little by little the plan would evolve. It seemed so useless at thetime. Students often repeated the research until the last week the project wasdue to suddenly reimagine the design and start over.

Perhaps Zhang Siyi himself did not realize, hewas being nurtured from the beginning to form a way of thinking and not just tolearn the task of drawing for the sake of drawing.

Even with Du Rui praise, Zhang Siyi is not proud.After all, he has heard the same thing many times at school. There was this oneprofessor who was very good at encouraging students. Zhang Siyi often heard himsay, “You are great”, “You are very talented”. At first,Zhang Siyi heart really swelled, until later he learned that the design teachersaid the same thing to every student. (=_=)

With his diminishing job opportunities when hereturned home, Zhang Siyi could only hear the echo of his professors' words,making him feel foolish. What talent? Zhang Siyi is not afraid of talentedpeople. He is afraid of hardworking people.

He recalls as a freshman, there was a Lithuanianclassmate who was not very good. The first homework assignment was to measure atelephone booth. At that time, the other party could not even draw a straightline. When the project critique came, many people laughed at it. Zhang Siyi sawhim working really hard, always reading and practicing every time he went toclass. In his second year, the teacher publicly praised his design skill as itreached the middle level of, he whole department. In the eyes of the topstudents, he was still a talentless nobody. They weren’t afraid of the competitionuntil the end, when the student graduated with the top grade in the departmentand went to a famous London firm for an internship. The firm's recruitmentconditions were extremely demanding, so the results of the admission made allthe students stunned.

Thinking about it after the fact, everyone canagree that he worked really hard. By the time you acknowledge his skills, thedifference will be too great, and you won’t be able to catch up.

Now, Zhang Siyi also saw a similar determinationin Du Rui’s eyes. Even with her setbacks, she hasn’t given up. She can onlyhave the courage to meet the difficulties, persevere and move forward.

Her attitude made Zhang Si Yi really respect her.He tried to comfort Du Rui and said: “Everyone has their own strengths andweaknesses. You see your ability to plan is lacking, but your hand drawing issuperb. Although the functionality of my design is more complete, its moreblurred. Your drawing is so detailed you can see each room on your drawings!”Zhang Siyi squinted, Unbelievable, “How did you do this in such a shorttime?”

Du Rui smiled and said: “There is also amethod I use. I have collected a set of room templates. There are bathrooms,bedrooms and living rooms of various sizes. When I want to use them, I can copythem from inside, oh.”

Zhang Si Yi mouth twitched. Is this not similarto the puzzle?

Du Rui squeezed her eyebrows and said:“Since you have taught so many ideas with me, I will share it with you. Doyou want to use it?”

Zhang Siyi was overjoyed: “yes I want thebathroom!” His loud, boisterous remarks could be heard by everyone. Hefeels a burden has been lifted.

Du Rui: “…”

With the help of Du Rui's private “divinemap", Zhang Siyi’s toilet drawing is much faster. It took less than the time itdid to refine the two sets of plans.

She wanted to go to the director now, so she senta message to him. Zhang Siyi: “Ah?” You want to go and hand it innow? But Gu Yu hasn’t asked for us yet.” He wants a moment to relax.

Du Rui said: “Of course! There might beplaces we have to reconsider. If you don’t find out now, then you have to workovertime in order to make all the corrections.”

Zhang Siyi: “…ah, ok.”

The two of them went to print the drawings andfind Gu Yu. Since this time Du Rui was with him, Zhang Siyi had more confidencein his heart.

However, after examining the drawings, Gu Yu onlylooked at Zhang Siyi in the eyes, making Zhang Siyi feel nervous again – did hedo something wrong?

“You drew this? "Asked Gu Xiao, looking athim with a sharp look.

Zhang Siyi: “Yes.” Applying templatesis also considered drawing his own, right?

Gu Yu also looked at Du Rui and Zhang Siyiclearly felt that Du Rui was also a bit nervous.

“You didn’t help him?” Gu Yu asked DuRui.

Du Rui was silent for a moment, red faced:“I gave him a little reference.”

Gu Yu nodded and said: “Okay, go back first,and send me the completed electronic map later.”

Du Rui hesitantly asked: “Anythingelse?”"

Gu Yu: “No, go back and finish up yourselfand you can leave work on time.”

Du Rui left first, leaving Zhang Siyi to wait forthe next order.

Gu Yu turned over a stack of blank plans in afolder and handed them to him, “Go back and refine the internal plan ofthese figures.”

Zhang Siyi saw that these pictures were comprisedof very small offices like tea rooms and apartment types. The key point is thatthe shapes of these plans are irregular, which means that he can’t apply anytemplates!

Sweating, he asked nervously, “What kind ofproject is this?” He gets the feeling that his use of a short-cut hastotally been seen through.

Gu Yu: “Not a project, it is homework. Giveit to me before I leave work tomorrow night.”

Zhang Siyi: "……" What is this? Gu Yu foundhim this morning talking with his friends, so he arranged an assignment to keephim occupied all day and night? He's not giving him a chance to breathe at all!

Gu Xiao added: “By the way, these diagramsdo not have an electronic version, remember to do them by hand.”

Zhang Siyi: “…”

Seeing that Zhang Siyi came back deflated, ZhuHongzhen was curious: “What’s the matter?"

Zhang Siyi dumped the drawings on the table,angry and said: “Ah, I’m so annoyed. Not only do I have to redo these, butI have to do them by hand!”

Zhu Hongzhen took a look at his desk: "eh, whatis it? Oh, the small floor plan.……" Somehow, the entire group of colleaguessuddenly turn and gaze at Zhang Siyi with sympathy.

Bi Lele called out: “Fourth Aunt, go see thenotice in the group.”

Zhang Siyi looked at the flashing icon in thelower right corner and saw that Gu Yu had just sent a new message ten secondsago – “Zhang Siyi is currently in the floor plan training period, pleasedon’t tell him any drawing shortcuts.”

Zhang Siyi: “…”

Zhu Hongzhen initially wanted to give Zhang Siyisome advice but refrained. This the first time the boss made such a remark inthe group. “He really is ‘”attached” to you."

Zhang Siyi’s heart collapsed. I’m not amasochist, I don’t want this “attention” Ah!

Du Rui Xuan sent a message of guilt: “I’msorry, it feels like it's my fault.”>_>;"

As much as it would be nice to put blame onsomething else, Zhang Siyi knew it wasn’t her fault. “No, don’t worryabout it.”

On the bright side, Gu Yu assignment ignitedZhang Siyi's ambition. For the remaining forty minutes, Zhang Siyi took a lotof effort to draw on the parchment paper and did not lift his head.

Being focused on his work, Zhang Siyi did nothear Gu Yu’s approach. His voice rang behind him: "Do you want to workovertime?"

Zhang Siyi turned his head and saw Gu Yuseemingly in a good mood, look straight at him with a smile.

He was so angry that he wanted to strangle him.He gathered his stack of drawings up in an abrupt manner, saying, ”no.” It’s not due till tomorrow after work.

“Oh, very confident. Then I’ll wait for yourresults tomorrow night."

Zhang Siyi: "……" Shit, I feel like I’m beingbullied again!

Seeing Zhang Siyi frazzled appearance, ZhuHongzhen pulled out a shabby pocket “architect’s Handbook” from his deskand handed it to him: “Here, there are some basic parameters that may beuseful to you. Bring it home with you and take a look."

Zhang Siyi grateful: “Piggy!” Thank you!"

Zhu Hongzhen shrugged: “I can only help you a little in this way.”

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