Today I am now exactly halfway through my Erasmus for Young Entrepreneurs exchange, and so far, everything is going well. I’ve had the opportunity to see how an architectural studio operates on a daily basis, from internal workflows and task coordination to external communication with collaborators. It’s been valuable to observe how responsibilities are divided and how different projects evolve through different phases.
One of the most interesting parts of my experience has been seeing how architectural competitions are delivered – from the initial brainstorming to the final layout and submission. I’ve also had the chance to visit a few project sites, which helped me understand the connection between office work and on-site reality. It was a good opportunity to see how ideas become real and how construction is managed in practice.
I’ve also learned a lot about team dynamics, how tasks are distributed among colleagues, and how projects are tracked and reviewed. It has given me ideas on how to improve future workflows in my own practice and how to organise my work and which tools I can use to make work easier and smoother.
Along the way, there have been small surprises – like the time the electricity went out during a meeting in the studio. We were discussing a project using a laptop, and after a while, we realized that the blackout wasn’t just a glitch, but a country-wide outage. No internet, no lights, and no way to know if the work we had just done had saved or not. We also couldn’t contact anyone to confirm what was happening. It was unexpected, but also a funny reminder that sometimes you just have to wait and adapt.
Overall, the exchange has been a valuable learning experience. I’ve learned a lot about the practical side of architecture and how a studio is managed day-to-day. For the remaining part of the program, I look forward to continuing to support the team, deepen my knowledge, and learn more about how to apply these insights to my own professional goals.