McLoone heads project that defies 'intern' label
BY MICHELLE HERSHMAN, L'07
When Meghan McLoone graduated with a four-year degree in architecture, she prepared herself for three tedious years of interning at University of Richmond's architectural services department.
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Meghan McLoone looks over the Forum, a project she managed as an architecture intern for University Facilities. |
"I expected to be doing a lot of computer work, which is what most architecture graduates end up doing after graduation," said McLoone, who graduated from University of Virginia's School of Architecture in 2004. She joined Richmond's architectural department, a part of University Facilities, in June 2004 and plans to obtain her master's degree in architecture before sitting for the exam to make her a licensed architect. She is currently working on an M.B.A. degree at Robins School of Business.
The typical graduate who joins an architectural firm straight out of school usually draws only mundane door schedules or wall sections for a year or two before having a chance to draw plans and elevations.
What McLoone didn't anticipate was being given a much greater responsibility that defied her idea of what it meant to be an "intern architect." She became project manager of the University's Forum project in October 2004. At the time, the project was moving into its construction phase.
"I didn't expect to be as involved in the construction management process as I was because I didn't realize how closely our department works with the contractors on a daily basis," she said. "I'm getting a kind of experience that my classmates from architecture school will never be able to duplicate."
University Forum is a $3 million open-air plaza. Envisioned in the 2000 campus master plan, the plaza includes a pedestrian mall that extends from Booker Hall to Tyler Haynes Commons, connecting also to Cannon Memorial Chapel and the newly renovated entrance of Gottwald Science Center.
The Forum has transformed Chapel Circle into a vehicle-free environment and acts as an outdoor gathering space for students, faculty and staff. The project wrapped up in February.
McLoone has been splitting her time between the logistically complicated Forum project and various other campus projects, including The Cellar kitchen expansion, upgrades in Tyler Haynes Commons and the renovation of Dennis Hall. She manages and updates the AutoCad drawings for all buildings on campus and also has been involved in all aspects of the drawings that the department does in-house.
Once the Forum project was completed, McLoone began work on the University's summer projects.
"About the same time as the Forum finished up, we became fast and furious in the planning stages for all the projects that will go on during the summer," she said. "This year there are more than 180 projects being proposed, so we'll be busy."
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