Letters / recommendation letter for a job offer in the field of architecture [8]

Hi everyone,

I will leave town to follow my education and I want to take care of this now while I am still here, just in case I will need another letter of rec. in looking for a job.

I would like you to help me round this off. My boss asked me to help him with this letter.
In short, I have to write it and, since he is very pleased with my work in his office, he will sign it.
Is the template ok?
Any suggestion would be appreciated.

* This is not a letter for a specific application. I don't know if this information is important or not.

__________________________________
To whom it may concern,

It is with great pleasure and enthusiasm that I am writing to offer a formal recommendation for Mrs. XXX. I know Mrs. XXX through her work in my architecture office. Mrs. XXX first contacted me almost two years ago about the possibility of work in my office as a full time intern student. She has been completed 4 years of college at the time and at our first meeting I described the general outline of the way we work and the job requirements emphasizing the high degree of quality that we are requiring from our partners. She didn't let herself discouraged, instead she asked good questions and appeared intelligent.

We had the pleasure to work with Mrs. XXX for one year and a few months (October 2008 - December 2009) and during that period I could see her blossom from a newcomer, college student, into an equal position holder among the other senior architects in my firm. I am glad I had the opportunity to be part of her mentoring at the beginning of her career.

For start, I had her teamed up with another architect on a on-going project of a housing building. I could see they were making a good team in solving problems on the project by working in tandem. The project was their full responsibility concerning the design. It included technical drawings, presentation imaging and meetings with the engineers and clients. During these meetings Mrs. XXX was always alert in providing explanations and arguments for choices made. This was only one of the five different project I assigned Mrs. XXX to work on during her stay, all of which were about team work. She became one of my reliable employees either it was about site visits and mapping, doing research on rules and regulations concerning a particular program, or completion of final drawings, concept graphics for presentations and imaging.

In the case of a hotel project or a competition we enrolled, I had to make larger groups including her and she always gained respect from all of her colleagues, including me. Another colleague commented favorably about working with Mrs. XXX. He said that she got along well with her co-workers, pulled her own weight on the projects and had the ability to compromise with other team members. He particularly appreciated her goal driving and dedication to her work.

In summary, she demonstrated the ability to work independently or in a team with great creativity and enthusiasm. I always appreciated her talent, her ability to stay focused and meet the deadlines. I am very pleased with Mrs. XXX's performance and, although I was hopping she would stay and work with us in the future, I believe she would be an outstanding asset to your office. I give her my highest recommendation.

Yours sincerely,

Architect XXX XXX
General Manager XXX

email:
phone number:
__________________________________

Thank you!

Graduate / McGill M.Arch in "Cultural Mediation and Technology" - statement letter [9]

My application is being processed these days, and due to some bad communication, only a couple of weeks ago it reached the desired program. This is why I submitted a not appropriate letter in the first place, and they asked me to send a new one, by Monday, through email, just 2 days ago.

The lady wrote in the email:
"A new statement of objectives indicating the option you are interested in applying to: Cultural Mediations and Technology and the reasons for your choice will be required. You will also need to indicate and the professor whom you would like to have as your supervisor. "

On the website it says:

Statement or research proposal
A one-page statement of objectives indicating the option chosen and the reasons for that choice. Applicants should include a clear description of their research topic, as well as a detailed explanation of why they wish to study at McGill University's School of Architecture.

So it differs what she asks and what is on the website, and I am not sure which to follow. I am also bad to argument why McGill (it is basically because I'm gonna live in Montreal starting this summer) and why cultural mediation (it's because I am not interested in their other programs like history or urban design, also the professor I want as a supervisor is teaching at this master program). And I also want to experience the Canadian education system for better integration and gather more specialization.

Also, this program is a new one and not even the lady there could explain to me what "Cultural Mediations and Technology" means or studies. I have a vague idea. The thing is, it is the most close to the field of architecture itself, unlike history of architecture (which is more theory then designing) or urban design; it is more suitable for hospital design research, that I have always found very interesting.

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Over the past six years of my university studies, I have explored the most important subjects in the field of architecture and learned how diverse it can be. I have concluded that some of the most important domains, in terms of impact on social life and humanity, are urban spaces and public buildings, with health-care facilities in particular. During my research about hospitals I have found Annmarie Adams study "Medicine by design" and read about her research in this field. This is a strong reason why I wish to study at McGill University. I would like Mrs. Adams to supervise my research in hospital design on the topic of future possible typology for medical decentralized structures.

Brought up in a developing nation like Romania has made me conscious of the issues that the late 1960s "super-hospitals", of Russian influence, arise in our time with their lack of sustainability and response to the people's needs in today's social context. This complex issue piqued my interest in studying the new solutions that are emerging over the last decade in the developed countries and how important these efforts are for the society. It is known that designing and building a hospital, with all the efforts, takes more time then for a normal building due to the complex combination of political, civic and economical aspects that must be considered along with the always new medical technology versus architecture. The hospital is also a clear representative of the cultural dimension of a society and the evolution of the relation to it in time. Therefore, constant research, sometimes looking far into the future, is a real need in health-care design.

I am interested in researching the question how the health-care setting can be integrated in urban space without intruding or creating more clutter. Although not a novel idea by any means, the deconstructed health-care space coupled with re-appropriation of existing buildings has been hardly explored. In today's world, where space is so scarce, we do not always have the luxury of building new structures inside city limits, where as, at the same time, medical services with their facilities still have to be accessible to the people in need. I would like to look into the idea of medical facilities, not as big multifunctional giants, but as small satellite structures spread throughout the city. Such structures could emerge from re-purposing existing buildings into medical facilities. I would like to explore what is the criteria that a new volume or an existing one needs to meet in order to be feasible to its function, considering that modern communication technologies can make it much easier to decentralize it. What key elements a small structure should possess for immediate and quality response to the constant changing society?

I am eager to expand my horizons, to pursue an international education in the subject of my interest of health-care design and to gather more experience, knowledge, interaction and better prospect. In my opinion, McGill University combines the experience with political context in a way that I consider to be very suitable for my study. The goal of this research is to make a step forward, experience hospital requirements in the future and provide new insights of this architectural program.

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I hope somebody will have the patience to read and respond. Thank you for that.