HOUSING COMPLEX, JARABACOA, DOMINICAN REPUBLIC.
Date: February 17, 2019
To: Manuel Alba, Architect Director
From: Diego Rodriguez, Project Director
Subject: Blue-prints, Planning and modifications
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First, I would like to congratulate you on your presentation of the project, our client was very pleased with your plans and modification. Your proposal on adding a secondary set of solar panels was fantastic, especially because of the location you choose to place them which does not affect the overall aesthetic of the design. It also complements the hydroelectrical mechanism as well, which prevents total dependency on just one source of clean energy and goes well with the client’s wishes of a 100% environmentally friendly housing complex.
The client agreed to work with our initial proposal. However, there are some changes that need to be taken into consideration, changes regarding the location primarily. We are still going to build the housing complex in the Jarabacoa province; however, the client would like to move the location a few miles to the southwest. Apparently, they changed their mind about the complex being close to the main town. Instead, they would like to take advantage of the natural views, and the fact that the project will be build nearby El Pico Duarte. The new location will be around a place called Las Guazaras, a small town located 5 miles southwest of Jarabacoa’s main town. Population demographics still pretty much the same, middle class farmers for the most part. (Imager1)
New Location
Some members of my team already went to scout the area for promising sides. They came up with some interesting photos, would you mind looking at them? There is a folder attached to this memo, (image 2). The size of the some of the new real estate properties my team looked upon were similar the property the client was initially going to acquire. So, there should not be much of a difference in the distribution of space, buildings, and recreative areas. Overall, the soil consistency is still the same so your original blueprints will not be totally discarded. However, there are still some considerable changes to the structure of some of the recreative areas.
Additional Buildings
Also, the client wants to add a third building, besides the main building and the storage house nearby the pool. This third building is supposed to serve as playground area for the adults. It must be a two-floor building. In the first floor, the client would like to include a 4×10 feet pool table in the main room of the building, as well as a kitchen and a bathroom.
Nevertheless, this kitchen must be different in style from the kitchen at the main building. The client did not go into too much detail about how he/she wants the decoration to look like. Since the client liked your kitchen proposal design, would suggest sticking to a similar design to the one we use for the main kitchen; grey walls, light wood furniture. As for the arrangement of the furniture, freeze, microwave and everything else, it’s up to you to decide. But remember, stick to the original design of the main building’s kitchen.
On the second floor, the client wants to build two bedrooms in case multiple guests want to stay overnight. These bedrooms must be equipped with the necessary commodities, king size bed, 5×3 feet closet, side bed tables, and bathroom. As for the style of the bedrooms, grey walls, white ceiling and dark wood furniture. I will get in contact with the interior designer, Maria Guaba, to consult her on the matter. We can also set up a meeting to discuss possible ways to go about decorating these bedrooms.
Pool Modifications
Now, for the pool, the client would like to move it to the West side of the house complex. The client wants to take advantage of the mountains and the valley views as much as possible. Also, instead of a circular shaped pool, the client wants a rectangular shaped pool of about 6×14 meter and 8 feet deep. With medium size beach umbrellas of approximately 12 feet in diameter, 3 on the North and South side of the pool and 2 on the East side of the pool.
For the moment, these are the major changes requested by the client. Let’s first meet up and talk about the details and the acquisition of the new property.
Thanks for your cooperation.
Images
Image 1
Image 2
Self Assessment
One of the big challenges of this assignment was understanding the difference between memos and other professional ways of communication. Such as the difference in format and style of memos in contrast with emails or letters. The first thing I noticed was that memos are basically chatting between work colleagues, where a certain margin of professionalism must be put in place. As well as understanding the differences between normal chatting and discussing ideas with your coworkers without being too friendly. This was my major revelation while working on this assignment. Other than that, everything else was relatively easy to follow.
As for some of the resources I used to work on this assignment, I consulted the course book, Technical Communication 11th edition, as well as some of the example given by professor Voisard. However, I must confess that I was not totally happy with my final draft. I looked at my peer’s memos during the peer review, as well as after the due date, and I could not stop thinking that mine was not there yet, it felt like it was missing something. Maybe the structure or the way I organized the images. But in my defense, professor Voisard told us to use Microsoft Word instead of Google docs, and I am not particularly good at dealing with Microsoft word. I tried my best to adjust by watching tutorials on how to navigate Microsoft Word, how to use the tool-bar as well as how to control the other elements such as images and graphs. For future reference, I will focus on understanding the software I will be working with before digging into the writing part of future assignments.
Note: I did not save a first draft for this assignment, but instead, wrote on top of the first assignment after the peer review. My apologies.
