Good evening.
A pretty quiet week: completing odd jobs,making changes
to others and in-and-out of council,so nothing out of the
ordinary apart from waiting for over 2hrs at Khayalitsha
council. Not ayoba!! Filled in a couple of new submission
forms-understand them a little better. A lot of other
confusing bits still. Learnt how to retrieve site diagram
for council-quite simple. Completed a presentation drawing
for new client-so I was in my element with my crayons!!
Never heard from client though. However,another client was
happy with drawings so he's off to get quotes-what a happy
Chap. Discovered a lot of small things with his drawing.
The importance of a chimney dimension on an elevation,using
the right line weight to show depth-pretty tricky when you've
got old/new work intertwined-and a few other tiny things aswell.
So that was my chilled week. Till next week.
Happy working
Friday, May 27, 2011
Friday, May 20, 2011
VOTING WEEK:16-20 MAY
Hi there.
Short week-started relaxed and ended in chaos ofcourse.
Didn't work on to many things this week. Explored a lot
and did quite a bit of designing. Did the odd phone calls
& admin work & suppose to meet a client today to discuss
final drawings but had to postpone due to an urgent
ammendment. Council wouldn't approve a few things on a
previous drawing so we fafed around for a few hrs to
satisfy councils very unimportant needs. Had to be done-
Construction was already underway. Lots of pressure & lots
of shouting this week. But its all good-i live. let's
see what next week holds.
Chow
Short week-started relaxed and ended in chaos ofcourse.
Didn't work on to many things this week. Explored a lot
and did quite a bit of designing. Did the odd phone calls
& admin work & suppose to meet a client today to discuss
final drawings but had to postpone due to an urgent
ammendment. Council wouldn't approve a few things on a
previous drawing so we fafed around for a few hrs to
satisfy councils very unimportant needs. Had to be done-
Construction was already underway. Lots of pressure & lots
of shouting this week. But its all good-i live. let's
see what next week holds.
Chow
Friday, May 13, 2011
02-13 MAY
Hello good-evening.
The past two weeks have been very interesting. Did the small odd jobs and started on a major one -so huge there's not enough memory on a cad drawing. A new school- Christel House in Ottery, which was funded and designed by Americans. A teacher approached us to add additions to the existing school. They needed store rooms, a technology room, a pavillion and sports facilities such as netball, basketball & tennis courts etc as well as a track, which i'm pretty excited about. Phase one went under-way (store & tech. room), had meetings and changed there minds. Just great. Spent all that precious time for nothing. Lesson- give proper briefs/make sure the client knows what he wants/provided as many suitable options before they waste your time. But this is how it goes so we wait for phase two.
Did my share if administrative work aswell. Went a few times to council/called them for progress- which was a drag ofcourse but there was this one particular lady whom I have'nt seen before. She gave me some insight as to why we need to pay certain fees and what forms we need for particular jobs & their purpose. Very informative and paticient but I still dont like council. Filled in a couple of complicated forms-they all the same to me. I even got to speak to the traffic engineer for an ammendent-felt so empowered. Its nice communicating with the top notches face-to-face.
Went on site to Constantia, an old client who wanted to add a boundary wall & make his driveway parallel to his house-which is currently at a slant due to the curved boundary. Seemed pretty simple untill we drew it up and realised the degree of the slope. It is Constantia after all. Did some changes to the ground-took a little & gave a little now we have a semi-floating sliding gate (need to add a rack) but at least we dont have a 30 degree sliding gate or 2300mm high walls. Small architectural problem effectively solved. Lesson-clients want certain things, to achieve them-we have to provide smart solutions that are funtional and legal. There are certain obsticals that affect design that clients are sometimes not aware of i.e. sloping sites /heights of neighbours boundary walls (depending on the nature of location/property).
Mr Bossman also ask me to design a bench for a bay window for his holiday house. A small exercise to see my idea/point of view/design skills, compared to his prefered option. He ended up combinding my idea with his and started building it today-What! Cool!
There are many aspects to architecture-from tiny benches to sloping sites-and either way the experience/possibilities are always wonderful.
Happy learning.
The past two weeks have been very interesting. Did the small odd jobs and started on a major one -so huge there's not enough memory on a cad drawing. A new school- Christel House in Ottery, which was funded and designed by Americans. A teacher approached us to add additions to the existing school. They needed store rooms, a technology room, a pavillion and sports facilities such as netball, basketball & tennis courts etc as well as a track, which i'm pretty excited about. Phase one went under-way (store & tech. room), had meetings and changed there minds. Just great. Spent all that precious time for nothing. Lesson- give proper briefs/make sure the client knows what he wants/provided as many suitable options before they waste your time. But this is how it goes so we wait for phase two.
Did my share if administrative work aswell. Went a few times to council/called them for progress- which was a drag ofcourse but there was this one particular lady whom I have'nt seen before. She gave me some insight as to why we need to pay certain fees and what forms we need for particular jobs & their purpose. Very informative and paticient but I still dont like council. Filled in a couple of complicated forms-they all the same to me. I even got to speak to the traffic engineer for an ammendent-felt so empowered. Its nice communicating with the top notches face-to-face.
Went on site to Constantia, an old client who wanted to add a boundary wall & make his driveway parallel to his house-which is currently at a slant due to the curved boundary. Seemed pretty simple untill we drew it up and realised the degree of the slope. It is Constantia after all. Did some changes to the ground-took a little & gave a little now we have a semi-floating sliding gate (need to add a rack) but at least we dont have a 30 degree sliding gate or 2300mm high walls. Small architectural problem effectively solved. Lesson-clients want certain things, to achieve them-we have to provide smart solutions that are funtional and legal. There are certain obsticals that affect design that clients are sometimes not aware of i.e. sloping sites /heights of neighbours boundary walls (depending on the nature of location/property).
Mr Bossman also ask me to design a bench for a bay window for his holiday house. A small exercise to see my idea/point of view/design skills, compared to his prefered option. He ended up combinding my idea with his and started building it today-What! Cool!
There are many aspects to architecture-from tiny benches to sloping sites-and either way the experience/possibilities are always wonderful.
Happy learning.
Friday, April 29, 2011
25-29 APRIL
Hi there, excuse the delay in communication but these public holidays just slows things down. And what do you know-yet another one on monday.But Im not complaining. Ive had an eventfull 2 weeks so far. Last week we went on site and measured up a huge industrustial building in Epping,(the one with the ducts below NGL) just to make sure that every measurement is accurate,its a matter of life & death with this one. The project is however progressing nicely, now the nerve-racking part is over. Small projects have been coming in as usual and i've been doing some of the designing and presentation drawings which makes me happy. I started my own project last week, consulted with my first official client (my Aunt-dont tell!!) and its been a blast-doing small projects is really fun,exploring options, giving ideas. Mr Bossman gave me a couple of browsers and catalogues which i regularly collect, they'r helpful and give some direction as to where you headed. Its all I think about. Her house. How its goinig to look. How the space will change and how it will free her and make her feel- lighter & refreshed. Spaces can do that for you if you know how to treat it. I recently recieved my decorating diploma from intec which i was completing on the side and i just want to beautify everything i see-thats why I'm tackling my grans house-she deserves it and its fun. But my biggest moment came today. Mr Bossman ask me if i would like to spread my wings and be the eagle i'm suppose to be. Not some little birdie locked in a cage. I was scared, it was daunting but i said yes anyway. without fear there wont be anything to overcome. So, i officially met with my first real client, FOR-REAL!! Someone who's not related to me! Found the place, consulted, measured, gave ideas, was'nt intimidated, gave more advice, felt nice, final brief then bid my goodbyes. Sheer bliss. Cant wait to get cracker-lacking on tuesday. fun fun fun.
Have a good workers day on monday-which means dont work!
(until tuesday) - im sorry i had to
Have a good workers day on monday-which means dont work!
(until tuesday) - im sorry i had to
Friday, April 8, 2011
04-08 APRIL
Another interesting week. Just when you thought you were done-think again!! Two projects had to undergo more changes and I think for the better. Had to put my thinking cap on and play around with my favourate part-designning. I had to swop the braai/entertainment area with the tv room of the complicated house(Marquard) and it made more sense. Spaces seem to flow and open up and it just worked! House Sonn was my favourate yet. Client wanted an additional room and lucky for him the house is now perfectly symmetrical and well balanced. From a T - to an U-floor plan, private and public spaces are now separated harmouniously yet are linked/are in a good relation to each other. Final touches on the elevations still need to be done but when the plan functions and works well-thats the main priority. Had more valuable lessons with Mr Bossman on the design process - what to look for and how to understand your clients needs; the sizes of rooms in relation with each other; how to achieve symmetry/balance/harmony with simple things such as window/pillar placements etc.Saw some pics of good buildings and how not to design.Fun! At the end of all of this excitement I had to do a small change to a block (on autocad). Easy right? Not so much! Had to rotate dimensions and text in two different directions whilse in 3 different blocks! Oh man- when I saw the drawing I nearly cried/wet my pants- I cant tell I was to overwhelmed. The task was easy enough but not when you dealing with large machinery on one level spaning 60m and ducts below NGL on a site larger than 2000m2!!!! (sure this may be small for some but not when you have little experience). And autocad can mess with your mind-for real! Each measurement is of uttmost importance and Mr Bossman entrusted me! an intern!with his life! to do this! a rediculously easy task!that may cost my career!how could he!! I just pray I have the strength to make that daungting change on Monday-Then I'l be able to say I conquered ducts!!!
Happy drawing
Happy drawing
Friday, April 1, 2011
APRIL FOOL
Good Day All.
This week was pretty chilled. Doing amendments once again which was very productive. I spoke directly to a client who was very pleased with the drawings I sent her. She would now like to proceed with the next step and I'm extremely chuffed about our little engagement. (I know its a small step-but its a step indeed). We received an additional two small jobs for a boundary wall-nothing out of the ordinary! And finally we came to a point of reference with our "mansion" drawing, which we had to merge with another. It was very confusing and complicated but its starting to come together. Barry and I (the Boss-man) had frequent chats this week about how to conduct ones-self with clients and at council (which I will do progressively during the year) which was informative. He believes that there are many parts to architecture. 1. Council - running around like a maniac, 2. Designing-sure bliss (at times), 3. Meetings /consulting with clients which can be daunting depending on the client of course and then there are other things involved in architecture aswell. But Barry likes to think that I'm more suited to handle clients-because I have a certain way with people. I would have prefered designing but a compliments a compliment hey and I look forward to working on all of those skills. I also had the opportunity to scan a detailed quote on one particular job. And detailed it was! From sand to sand paper and everything else to the teeny tinyiest of materials including labour, which came to about R40 000.00. A second quote came to literally double the amount with absolutely no detail as to how they arrived at that amount, excluding labour. Lesson-always to your homework!
Enjoyed learning this week. Till next time
This week was pretty chilled. Doing amendments once again which was very productive. I spoke directly to a client who was very pleased with the drawings I sent her. She would now like to proceed with the next step and I'm extremely chuffed about our little engagement. (I know its a small step-but its a step indeed). We received an additional two small jobs for a boundary wall-nothing out of the ordinary! And finally we came to a point of reference with our "mansion" drawing, which we had to merge with another. It was very confusing and complicated but its starting to come together. Barry and I (the Boss-man) had frequent chats this week about how to conduct ones-self with clients and at council (which I will do progressively during the year) which was informative. He believes that there are many parts to architecture. 1. Council - running around like a maniac, 2. Designing-sure bliss (at times), 3. Meetings /consulting with clients which can be daunting depending on the client of course and then there are other things involved in architecture aswell. But Barry likes to think that I'm more suited to handle clients-because I have a certain way with people. I would have prefered designing but a compliments a compliment hey and I look forward to working on all of those skills. I also had the opportunity to scan a detailed quote on one particular job. And detailed it was! From sand to sand paper and everything else to the teeny tinyiest of materials including labour, which came to about R40 000.00. A second quote came to literally double the amount with absolutely no detail as to how they arrived at that amount, excluding labour. Lesson-always to your homework!
Enjoyed learning this week. Till next time
Friday, March 25, 2011
22-25 MARCH
Hi there,
For a short work week I feel like I accomplished alot. The usual amendments and colouring for council and an additional five new drawings. The first is a small bathroom extention to an existing house with a little loft in Mowray-very cute. The second is a playroom, bedroom, bathroom and kiosk extention to a dwelling in Worcester and I had the privilege to consult with both the above clients. Its a good feeling knowing that they know you incharge of their drawings-even more pressure not to mess up. The third drawing is a semi detached house in Athlone, very small living space but the back yard has lots of potential. The clients would like a stoep at the front entrance and a laundry room, entertainment/braai area, outhouse and pool at the back. The fourth client is also in Athlone but has a much larger house in comparision. They are having a total renovation. The lounge becomes a bedroom with en-suit and walk in dressing room. The kitchen is extended and the lounge and dining- room become open plan where the bedrooms were. I particularly like this rearragement because the living space now opens up onto the new patio with swing doors and over looks the new pool and - the living area now faces a sunnier/warmer north, very inviting. I also got to play around with the interior design and layout of the spacific rooms. Very nice. The firth house was a huge mansion-can't remember which area but they too added an entertainment/braai area, bar and pool. It does seem a bit overwhelming adding to an already big house on a not so big plot. The space feels a bit tight looking onto the site-the living spaces are fine though, I suppose they need more room - just to many buildings, the coverage percentage is to much for my liking. Talk about difficulty, I had to merge this drawing with another architects drawing. He has is own drawing techniques and so I had to change those standards to ours ofcourse. Very time consuming but worth the effort. A lovely end to a lovely short week but the Proteas just had to spoil it!!!
Till next time
For a short work week I feel like I accomplished alot. The usual amendments and colouring for council and an additional five new drawings. The first is a small bathroom extention to an existing house with a little loft in Mowray-very cute. The second is a playroom, bedroom, bathroom and kiosk extention to a dwelling in Worcester and I had the privilege to consult with both the above clients. Its a good feeling knowing that they know you incharge of their drawings-even more pressure not to mess up. The third drawing is a semi detached house in Athlone, very small living space but the back yard has lots of potential. The clients would like a stoep at the front entrance and a laundry room, entertainment/braai area, outhouse and pool at the back. The fourth client is also in Athlone but has a much larger house in comparision. They are having a total renovation. The lounge becomes a bedroom with en-suit and walk in dressing room. The kitchen is extended and the lounge and dining- room become open plan where the bedrooms were. I particularly like this rearragement because the living space now opens up onto the new patio with swing doors and over looks the new pool and - the living area now faces a sunnier/warmer north, very inviting. I also got to play around with the interior design and layout of the spacific rooms. Very nice. The firth house was a huge mansion-can't remember which area but they too added an entertainment/braai area, bar and pool. It does seem a bit overwhelming adding to an already big house on a not so big plot. The space feels a bit tight looking onto the site-the living spaces are fine though, I suppose they need more room - just to many buildings, the coverage percentage is to much for my liking. Talk about difficulty, I had to merge this drawing with another architects drawing. He has is own drawing techniques and so I had to change those standards to ours ofcourse. Very time consuming but worth the effort. A lovely end to a lovely short week but the Proteas just had to spoil it!!!
Till next time
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