Week 17

This week i was looking forward to a shortened week, as the 1st of May is Workers Day, and fell on the Tuesday, another ly-in is always gooood :)

By the time wednesday had come, i was ready for the week knowing the weekend was only 3 days away, and a good weekend it was to be :)

first things first, and council visits were top priority as we were to get plans submitted ASAP upon completion.

Admin was always a mission. this meant that being the student, i was responsible for this. I managed to get all the admin work up to dat of the following projects: House Doyle, Stander, Schoch, Myburgh and McIver, finilising the projects for council.

I was then given the task of completing the plans for House Scheibe which was started by last year's student. The project wasn't too big, involving the adding of pergola's, removing and replacing of windows and opening of walls etc. this project would take me a day or two to complete, no biggy :)

Week 16

the week started off pretty well with me attending the talk by Gawie Fagan, a famous South African Architect at our campus.. was a nice outing that involved me taking the BRT's from Table View to Cape Town, and back :) I enjoy the sight-seeing along the way. The talk was good, but seeing some old friends and familiar faces made the time taken off work, all the more better!

House Pearson was a new project for the week, which involved the enclosing of a patio of a ground floor apartment at Big Bay Beach Club in Melkbosstrand. As Enrica is one of the 'referred to' architects of the Estate, we had already had all the blocks of apartments, etc on our system, so small projects like these were simple, and in and out the office within a matter of a day or two.. this meant i just had to copy the standard dwelling of that unit type and enclose the patio to the specific requirements and guidelines of the estate. all that needed to be fitted were two alluminium sliding doors, and a fixed glass panel

During the week i had to get in contact with Gary from Trendmark, the signage company that would be responsible for the signage of Project Nebula, and find out all the relevant details and information regarding the flag-pole signs and wall mounted metal cut-outs, so that i could prepare these on plans for council.

This week i managed to finish the plans for The McIvers. One more set of plans to go into the filing cabnet until we get all the necessary forms and paperwork from the client...

House Castro is a new house that was under construction at the moment at the Estate, Water's Edge in Melkboschstrand. During the week we recieved a phone call from the builder on site saying that certain concrete beams were be aligned at different heights, and not lining up, so Enrica had to go to site and come up with a solution of how to work around this and turn it into a feature. We spent a good few hours on site walking through the house ensuring that work was going according to the plans. We then left and headed towards the Big Bay Beach Club where The Pearson's lived so that we could go measure the balcony to be enclosed and ensure that the measurements correspond to those on the original plans of the dwelling... a few measurements were out and i had to rectify this one as the plans would be used for the manufacturers of the doors and windows. Usually if it's an 'as-built' plan, we dont worry tooooo much about the measurements being 100 % accurate.

Will be keen to see what next week brings :)

Week 15

after eventually having completed the council drawings for House Smith, Monday came, and i could print up the sets oof plans for council, together with all the admin work and documentation, and get it ready for the following morning's submission. This submission resulted in a departure (when building work encroaches the building line) and we then recieved the relevant documents and were told which neighbours needed to sign the consent forms. the departure was for the new concrete canopy that was to be cast on top of the new front entrance of the boundary wall, as this canopy projected over the building line. I then returned to the office, and Enrica took over the documentation and contacted the client and informed her of the departure fee and the forms needed to be signed by the neighbour. once these forms were completed and the fee paid, we could then submit the plans to council... its always a relief seeing a completed project be taken out of your hands and you can now focus on the other 10 projects you're busy with.. :)

I've finally gotten the hang of the submission forms required by council when submitting building plans.. i can now put together all the paperwork with my eyes closed, cause thats how good i am. lol

the week consisted of alot of driving around for the Enrica as she was too busy to take time out for driving her kids from place to place.. so it was my job to fetch Enrica's oldest son, Matthew, from school, take him to the orthodontist, wait for him there, then on to the dermatologist and to then drop him at home.. these errands can take a few hours away from my day at the office, which is sometimes a good thing, but when you have work piling on your desk, every bit of time wasted out of the office is crucial! this always ends up with me having to catch up on the work till after 6 the evening.

Some of the other projects i worked on during the week included some more drafting of House Labuschagne, Project Nebula ( parking and signage plans ), House Myburgh ( a project in Sunset Links, an estate in Milnerton, which i had to take over and complete. this included making a few changes, such as the adding of a new elevation showing a proposed screen wall being built along-side the plot, as this house was next to the golf-course and was permanently being damaged by the flying glof balls. I also had to make a few changes to the door and window schedule as what was on plan, did not match the elevations, which might have not matched the schedule, etc. The extended garage felt a bit bare, so to create a more exciting facade, pot plants of reeds were placed on the concrete roof, behind the parapet all along the garage, and the bare windows behind these planters were made more exciting through the adding of fake american shutters the the facade.. these all resulted in a good finish :)

I then recieved the brief for House McIver, which stated the following:
* to raise the level of the existing covered patio to match that of the inside of the dwelling
* to close of the covered patio with a stacker door on the front side, and the side to be closed off by a fixed glass panel and some brickwork
* the exisiting fireplace was to be removed and a smaller gas fireplace was to be installed, with the gas bottle to be placed at the back of the house
* a new boundary wall was to be built at the back of the house together with a gate leading out onto the golf-course.
* on the inside of this boundary wall was to be a vegetable garden
* a new wood storage and concrete counter was to be built at the back of the house
* the area around the wood storage was to be paved with the pavers removed from the covered patio
together with the requirements of the client, i would have to complete drawings of the following: floor plan, atleast one elevation, a section through the new enclosed patio, as well as the door and window schedule

Quite a week it's been to be honest... so time to reward myself with a good weekend ;)

Week 14

Back to the office after a good Easter weekend....ahhh!!


this week consisted of alot of re-drafting. this included House Labuschagne and Project Nebula


once the drafting of Nebula was complete, i then showed Enrica, and was told to start with the area calculations. I had to also work out the Gross Leasable Area, which is used to determine the number of parking bays required per a square meter of floor space of a business. next on the list were the parking, landscaping and signage layouts, which i could only do after discussing with the boss. together we went through the area calculations, calculated the number of parking bays required, and started playing around with the layout of the parking bays, making sure we provided a minimum of 11 bays to the property.


Unit 28 at Spearhead Business park was approved this week, and construction could now begin :) :)


I was then asked to complete the drawings of House Joffe, which just involved some drafting, the adding of dimensions, hatching, general notes, aswell as drawing out of the existing drainage and storm-water management of the property...


the week turned out ok, but a weekend is always much needed


cheers till next week :)

Week 13

Council visits first thing on a Monday morning arent the most pleasant duties... the queues are long, and people are impatient... but ive learnt it's something i've got to get used to. I had to drop off the ammended plans for House de Nobrega ( the beach house in Melkbos ) and make sure the council signs them off as recieved..

i also managed to finish House Smith during the week, and am just waiting for approval by the clients before we can go the next step of council.

re-drafting inlcuded House Labuschagne as well as Project Nebula

I had to return to Blauuwberg council yet again, this time to collect the approved plans of House Schrauwen, which i was a major part of, and ammend the drawing on the computer to what the plan examiner had changed on the approved drawing. After i had finished the drawings for House Schrauwen, we had sent them to the interior designers, and without taking any notice of the change, they had re-configured the bathroom layout, and placed a window closer than 1 meter from the boundary line, which is not acceptabl, unless fir-rated glass is used, and this is quite costly. the plas examiner was kind enough to move the widow for us, and once i got the approved plans back, i had to fix this on the computer. now the plans were looking pretty good! :) I also collected the plans for unit 28 at Spearhead Business park, and these also needed to be ammended as the suspended timber floor used as the loft area was not permitted, and the material had to be changed from timber, to something combustiable like metal sheeting. the plans were then re-submitted, and the wait continues....

Thursday involved me heading off to Big Bay Beach Club to collect plans we had drawn up, that were now approved by the Home Owners Association of the Estate, good news, and we could now submit these plans to council

now its time to forget about work, and get into the mood for the Easter weekend!! :)

Week 12

arriving at the office to find out we were having problems with the server wasnt a great start to the week at all, as the server was the brain of all the work we do!! this meant having to work off back-ups that were made onto our 'C- drive' until the IT guy, Joe, was able to come in and fix the problem ASAP! only to find out that he would have to take the server for a few hours so that he could fix the problem at his offices.. great...........

House Leclezio was on the agenda for measuring up. This house was made up of 3 seperate flatlets, rented by different families, but the new owners of the building wanted to create one large family home from all of the flatlets. It is our job to re-measure the project, but the re-drafting would be left to Xavier as it was quite a complicated house. but i wasnt complaining :) The measuring took us a long 8 hours

another measuring-up was to be done at House Ogi, as existing soft-copy plans were not available. this project involved a smaller house in Edgemead being renovated. The boundary walls are to be replaced, the garage is to be extended to the boundary line and a dressing room, en-suite and existing bedroom to be extended to the boundary line. The re-drafting was then handed over to Xavier, as i had enough on my plate already.....

the rest of the week consisted of me continuing with the re-drafting of Project Nebular

till next week

Week 11

first on the 'to-do' list for the week, was the measuring up of Project Nebula. This project involved the re-zoning of a property in Koeberg road. It is currently a bussiness situated in a residential area, and the process of re-zoning has gone from one architect to the next over the past 7 years already, with none of them correctley setting up plans for council..... We were then asked by the comany to take over the project and hopefully complete it to council's standards. The project was then to include site, floor and roof plans, elevations, as well and a parking, landscape and signage layout which was never done properly before.
it took myself and Enrica 5 hours to measure up the property and was over it by the time we got back to the office, lol




throughout the week, i kept having to ammend the plans for House Smith. because of the changes every few minutes, i wasnt sure the drawings would ever come to an end.. one of the changes included the extension to be a mono-pitched roof instead of the flat roof as previously asked for, so i had to call the truss company to enquire about the trusses that would be used for this roof as it couldnt be standard sizes due to the 7 degree roof pitch (lower than normal) and i had to correct the section through this room showing the new roof


another project measured up during the week, was House Labuschange. House Labuschagne is situated in Melkbos, and the project involves the complete renovation of the interior layout aswell as the modernising of the facades. 5 hours of measuring and we were good to go. Time to head back to the office and start with the re-drafting.


Seeing as we were in the area, we decided to go take a look at the progress of House de Nobrega. A quick visit turned into a 2 hour site meeting, which resulted in a loooong, exhausting day away from the office. the 'meeting' was to finalise door sizes and whether to break down certain walls or not....


Grateful this LONG week is overrrrrrr! bring on the weekend! :)

Week 10

It felt like a long weekend after the block days we had last week, which makes the routine of waking up early, peak-hour traffic, and the job of sitting infront of the computer all day, all the more daunting.... but i guess its part of life ay...


the week started off at bull-blast, because of the fact that i had missed 2 days of work last week and it was my job to make sure i catch up on all outstanding work.


the first project of the week was 'House Rumbelow,' a log cabin in the Cederberg that was to be re-drafted, as the previous architect's drawings of the extension was not approved by council, yet building had already been completed.... We had a variety of old and existing plans to work with, and was my job to compile these new plans for approval by council, showing the extension as if it was still to be built. Included in these plans, were the floor and roof plans,  all elevations, sections, the door and window schedule, drainage section, as well all the general notes. It took me 2 days to complete this project, which meant one more project scratched off the 'to-do' list :)

i then continued with the drawings for house Smith, after Enrica had met with the clients and discussed some changes.

Wednesday was the Receptionist, Tammryn's, last day at work, as she had resigned a month ago... so i decided to have a party the day she left ;) i brought the Starbucks coffee, and tammryn brought the cupcakes that she had baked the previous night.. hmmmmm :) although id only known her for about 2 months, we had gotten to know each other quite well, and every day was a laugh and a half with the two of us in the same room.. but she is quite crafty, and wants to go into the crafting business of making mosaics and paintings, so i wish her well

i then realized i had forgotten to do the area calculations for 'House Rumbelow,' and quickley went back to the drawing and completed this. these calculations included: the coverage, bulk, area of new work, etc. where i had to get the mathematical part of my brain working again,, lol

Friday had eventually come, and the previous year's student was kind enough to come into the office and show me how to go about setting up for the PSS portfolio, as i was not sure of what was needed..

i could say its been a pretty good week after all!

Week 9

NOTHING sounds nicer than 'a 3 day week...'


knowing that it was going to be a short week because of the university block on the Thursday and Friday, made the week seem to go by all the more faster :)


The week started off with me having to draft up two different layout options for House Smith of the ground floor entrance, landscaping, concrete canopy, second floor bathroom, dressing room and bedroom layouts and to prepare these for the client.. Enrica had had a meeting with The Smith's and a few changes were then made to both options 1 and 2. I then went back to the computer and drafted up these changes.. I had been working with the architect with regards to this project and the design elements, and found that i was actually having a part in the entire process of the project from design to drafting, it was a good feeling :) Enrica is now to have another meeting with them to finalise any changes and decide on an option or whether to incorporate one option into the other, which i think will be the case.


Because of the new laws, etc, regarding departures, an 'Application of Notice,' is now to be pasted against the wall/window of a house that has departures and it about to begin construction. this notice is to state all the departures, and stating all information such as application number, project address, departures, and for further queries, contact numbers. this form has to remain up for 30 days and a photo has to be taken of the form against the building for submitting to council, with the date on the photo as proof of notice being placed on house. So it was my job to head over to House de Nobrega ( major renovation project in Melkbosstrand) paste up the form against the sliding door that faced the road, allowing all passer-bys to be able to view, aand ensure i had taken good enough photos that could be added to the forms which were to be submitted to council. it ended up being a nice outing away from the office, and seeing that construction had already begun, made it all the more exciting as i had helped with some small design aspects of the house, and had drafted up quite a bit, pix of progress will be posted up later


i was then given a new project, House Rumbelow, which was a log-cabin in ElandsBay that was to be extended to accomodate a third bedroom, bathroom, and a new living area.
The reason for me having to have done this project, was that plans the owner himself, had done previously were not approved by council. alot of work needed to be done, and all this meant re-drafting as the plans were all hand-drawn......
many things such as building lines, sections, site plans, window sizes, etc had been ommitted, and was my job to go through the feedback form from the council and 'check' off everything i complete as i go along.
work began slow, as neither plans, sections, nor elevations corresponded at all, and was my job to keep in contact with the owner and clarify with him as to what the existing structure was composed of. It was nearing the end of the week, and i still hadn't gotten all the answers i needed...


I knew that Wednesday was going to be a long day, as my boss always has the excuse of 'you need to make up for the time that you are going to be away at university...' which always makes me feel alot better.. pfft!!! so the day went by realy slowly with me having to continue with previous projects, until i was asked to help Enrica with the admin of all outstanding projects... i thought this was going to be a quick meeting, just getting the feeling of how the admin works when it comes to piling together forms to be submitted to council. the new regulations ,meant that a LARGE number of forms are to be submitted together with the drawings of a project, and what a mission having to get all these forms together. sometimes i could just get lost in the amount of forms i have to work with, ai.. i had begun the meeting at about 1pm,, and by the time i had walked out of Enrica's office, it was just after half past four! shocked as i was, not having realized how fast time had flown, and that i was four hours behind on drawing work, i started stressing, and Enrica was wanting me to still complete work before i could leave the office, and this would take me to past 6. I had needed to get home as i was still in the need of completing a project for university that was due the next day, so i informed the boss of this, and she was ok and let me off :)


It was now back to uni. and the awesome feeling of seeing all your old friends again, felt realy good, especially the break from the pressurized office environment..
we were handed out a program of the next two days and could see what would be expected of us till that 4'o'clock sign-off on friday.

although i knew these two days werent gonna be all fun and games, i was still pretty excited. we had recieved a number of hand-outs to projects, sat in on a few lectures, had a few lunch breaks, and after 2 days, it was weekend!! A LONG DESERVED WEEKEND!!!!!

Week 8

The week started off to many Council visits. I took Enrica's car again, and made a visit at the city of cape town council, where i had to submit plans of House Groeneweg, which Xavier had been working on for the past while. the same day i had to get to the Blaauwberg council to collect some departure forms for the Pool house i am working on for House Schrauwen. this would be the last phase before the plans could be submitted.


I then managed to complete the council drawings for House Thompson. where an existing patio was to be enclosed with a boarded roof and alluminium stacking doors. the final drawings turned out pretty well, and i was again impressed with the work i had done.


i was then given the task of taking over the drawings of House Myburgh, that previous students had not completed.. the house was quite complex, and situated in the Golf Estate of Sunset Links... revisions had to be made, and because the house was unfamiliar to me, it took me a while to get the drawings up to scratch. but after a few changes, i could see the house coming to life.. changes i had to make to the drawings included the enclosing of two 1st floor bedroom balconies with boarded roofs and alluminium sliding windows, adding of allumium canopies along the house as this was a house prone to getting golf balls in the windows atleast once a week, aswell as playing around with the landscaping. This project is still in progress :)


with regards to the Spearhead Business park project i had been working on, after the engineer had seen the drawings and had a meeting with Enrica, it was deduced that our proposed brickwork on the 1st floor was to be too much of a strain onto the ground floors walls and was to be converted to dry-walling. i had done this change, and the plans were then ready for submittance.


To another good week :)

Week 7

The week started off with me having to finish the 'pool house' drawings for House Schrauwen, as the client was keen to have the plans submited and approved by council ASAP.
this just meant i had to add some final notes to the drawings, correct some mistakes i had made regarding line-weight, hatching style and colour. Once these were complete, the client was able to collect one set of plans, get the neighbours to sign, return the plans to us, and subit it to council. This is where the waiting game begins. I must say, it's one of the projects ive done that i feel the most proud about, and look forward to seeing the final product knowing i was involved in the design and drawing process :)


I then continued with the Carport drawings for Mr Aldera, and this too was nearing completion. before i could carry on with the drawing, i had to research the joinery details for this type of carport, to be able to understand how it works, thus enabling me to be able to put it all together on a drawing.


On Tuesday I was asked by Enrica to go with her to the site of a proposed commercial/residential building and to help her collect a few measurements that she was missing. these included locating and drawing out the positions of the existing trees, as these are milkwood trees, and almost impossible to have removed, and thus would remain on the plans of the proposed building. This was to be a 3 storey building, consisting of retail on ground floor, offices on the second, and residential on the third floor, and is situated in Table View.
Xavier, the other draughtsman, is busy with this project, and drawings are coming along pretty well. alhough the Client keeps setting deadlines, the deadlines are always pushed forward as the deadlines are impossible to make with this size project....


Because Tamryn, the receptionist, had resigned and would be leaving soon, i was told that it would be my job to take over her duty of fetching Enrica's kids from school some days of the week, and that i would have to travel all the way to Bishops in Rondebosch to fetch them.... i wasnt too sure where Bishops was, so Tamryn asked if i wanted to join her when she fetches the children again. So i went with her to get my head clear on the directions.


House McIver was an upmarket home situated in the estate "Sunset Links" which i had started drafting from original hardcopy plans, and on-site measurements. Additions were to be done to the front and back portions of the house, so i was to ensure that the measurements to the areas around the parts that were to be worked around, were accurate. There were one or two measurements i didnt have, and asked if Enrica could get those few measurements for me sometime as she lives on the same estate. After recieving those measurements, i could ammend the drawing accordingly, and have it ready for the design process :)


later in the week, i was asked to submit plans at the City of Cape Town, and this meant another scenic bus trip :) i dont mind these cause its nice time spent away from the office for a bit.
on the bus, there was this incident thal lightened my whole week. sounded alot funnier in person, but heres how it went........
shortley after having gotten on the bus, i noticed these 3 girls talking to a foreigner about Cape Town and all the touristy attractions to see. then the foreigner ( i think British ) asked the girls what there was to see in Johannesburg, the girls looked at one another and were all like "uh......." Couldnt help bu overhear and break out in laughter!! the girls then looked at me and also started laughing, knowing that i had found it quite funny how they responded.. and it was pretty true.. there isnt much to see in Jo'burg! haha
We had to get to council by 12, as the town planner we had spoken to previously and had organised to drop the plans at, was only at the counter till 12.. it was about 10 to 12, and we started shuffling towards council to ensure we dont miss the deadline which would result in a waste of a day to town... We arrived at council just as Ben Schoeman, the planner we had planned to meet, was packing up and getting ready to leave, we managed to grab him before he could, but said he wouldnt have time to look at the plans on counter, but would have a look at them in his office, and call us reg. anything further... This ended up being a quick visit town, but meant going back to the office earlier than expected... a nice walk around town woulve been nice though ;)


i was also asked to research pool table sizes, table tennis board sizes as well as the area required around them. i had to then draw these out onto the master drawing sheet so that it was available if ever needed.. Enrica was quite happy with my findings


till next week !

Week 6

So it's been just over a month at Linden Projects, and things are still going well.


This week i had joined up at the tennis club, and practices were from 5 on certain days, and because work only finished at 5, and still travelling an hour in traffic on my way home, i thought it best to ask Enrica(my boss), if it was possible to change my hours from 8 -5, to 7 -4. I would benefit traffice wise, and also be able to make tennis. So i spoke to her and she was realy cool about it, i didnt even have to give reason..


starting at work at 7am, meant it was still cool-ish in the morning, allowing me to enjoy a hot cup of coffee with biscuits before i am to start work.. its the routine now of how my days start :)


the week started with me having to work on House Thompson, where an existing patio was to be enclosed.. i had to redraft the house as soft-copy plans were not available.. ive also been put on phone-duty alot more often lately, because of the receptionist and her castings and errands she has to run for the boss. this has made me a lot more comfortable with the phone, i now enjoy calling clients, engineers, municipality, etc.. just helps improve my communication skills benefitting me in the long run.


one example of a phone call during the week went like this:


Brad: Linden Projects, Brad speaking, good morning..
Lady: Hi, can I speak to Enrica?
Brad: Sorry, Enrica is in a meeting, can i take a message and she will call you back?
Lady: Ask her to phone Anita back
Brad: Sure will do
Lady: No you wont phone me back, you dont have my number?!
Brad: We do have your number on the system, right infront of me now, but i will take your number anyway.....


(this was quite a funny start to the week as i had spoken to this lady (Anita, part of the body corp of one of the projects we are working on) quite often, so how she could think we wouldnt have her number was quite strange)


i had eventually earned enough trust from my boss, when i was asked to go to council, and the post office to mail off stuff, and was told to take my boss's Audi A3... i was shocked at first, that she was allowing me to use it, but i agreed, and went with it, with these words at the back of my head "if you get a speeding fine, it's on your head..."... I drove realy cautiously and at the mall i parked miles away from the nearest car, lol, just to ensure nothing happens to the car. eventually got the feel of the car, and was up for another trip,,,, :)


The previous week, i had taken plans to the City of CT to be submitted, but because the house was quite complex, and lots of details on the plan needed to be clarrified, i couldnt submit the plan, and was asked to email the head planner and book a pre-consultation meeting between my boss and some of the head planners, just to go through the plans together, and clear any discrepencies.. I emailed the council the previous wednesday, and it was tuesday already and we had heard nothing. our client was getting realy frustrated as his plans were just standing for a week, and he wanted to ge the plans approved asap! so i decided to call the council back and find out why they arent replying to my mail, and when we'de be able to see them. i called the lady i had previously emailed, and when i told her who i was, she acted all apologetic saying she so sorry she hasnt gotten back to me, but just waiting on a planner to get back to her and will call me in 5 minutes... 24 hours had passed, and i had had it up to here with the council, i then called AGAIN!! this time i couldnt get hold of her, and just as i starting stressing on my clients behalf, the planner had phoned my boss, and eventually managed to organize a meeting for the upcoming friday.. which i was excited about as id never been to one of these meetings before... so we will see what happens


This week i was still working on The "Spearheads" project, which involved an empty office block in an office park being renovated and made suitable for an Internet Service Provider. Alot of drafting was involved, as well as the layout of drainage, and aircon onto the plan. another project House Schrauwen, was on the top of my priorities list, was quite an exciting one which i am invloved int the drafting and designing of, where a pool house was to be built in the backyard of an exsiting house. something that would change the lifestyle of the family completley! i was so excited about this project, and cant wait to see the final result built :)


Visiting council on friday ended up being one LONG story.. we ended up leaving there with no further progress than where we were last week this time! there were a few pieces of info missing, on the architect's side, and title deeds werent clear as to what the restrictions were, thus confusing the planners abit... this all had to be sorted out before we can head back to council yet again... so back to the office, and back to the phone


what a week it was indeed, and am sure next week will only get alot bussier....


till then :)

Week 5

Week 4 - Orientation

So this was to be a short work week, because of the orientation that was going to take place from the wednesday to the Saturday on Campus...


the week started off pretty smoothley, having to draught up proposed offices to be used by an internet service provider, completing the door and window schedule, as well as pdf'ing the drawings and sending them off to the body corporate as these offices are located inside a business park..


On tuesday i was asked to double check the window and door schedule of a previous project, as the client had come back to us saying that the windows and doors on plan and elevation did not match those written in the schedule, so that took me a few minutes, and minor changes, before i could cross it off the list. For the same project, the client had asked if we can now add a basement level below the front porch which could be used for the storage of canoes, wetsuits, etc. So working together with the plan and creating a section, i tried as much as i could to get this store room onto paper. thing is, the site had quite a slope, an existing driveway was in the way, and the amount of space needed for the amount of steps needed was not enough.. So i ended up asking the main draughtsman to give me a hand, and before i knew it, it was 5'o clock, and knowing i wasnt gonna be in the office for the next few days meant this project would have to stand, and i would be falling behind, knowing that come Monday, i would have a large amount of work waiting for me on my desk.......


It was pretty cool going back to campus the next day, as we could hook-up with all the guys we'd made friends with last year :) i wasnt that excited at first about the orientation, as i was hoping it wasnt going to be a waste of four days and that i would regret leaving the office for it...
but it turned out okay :)


On Wednesday we were introduced to some of the 2nd year lecturers and co-ordinators, we had to stand up infront of the class and introduce ourselves, aswell as shown how the online media work and told how important it is to keep up-to-date with our online blogs. We then later watched a powerpoint on South african history and also a dvd on the Baths by Peter Zunther.

Week 3

Surprisingly, week 3 had gone realy fast. now that the boss was back in the office from time to time, i was constantly given new work, thus losing track of time :) which can be good in a way...


during the week, it was time to head off to The CT council where i had to submit the building plans for an upcoming project which was to take place in Tamboerskloof. My boss had decided that we were to take the brt busses into town, as it's cheaper than your petrol, no hassle of finding parking in the middle of town, and "less cars on the road, results in less polution..." so from the office it was about a 15 minute walk to the nearest bus stop, a 35 min bus trip to town, and another 10 minute walk to Council. the bus strip was pretty scenic, drove along the beach and milnerton golf course, had realy nice views of Table Bay, with the Queen Mary 2, Table Mountain, aswell as Cape Town Stadium :) was in Town for about 2 hours before I headed back to the office. was a nice outing though


during the week I also had to get plans checked at the Milnerton Coucil. I got there as soon as they had opened so that i could be in there as quick as possible, queues arent my thing ;)


One of the projects i worked on, was the draughting of house plans from a hard Copy, onto the computer, for which a new carport is to be designed.


i was given another project of draughting out a house that's outdoor patio area was to be enclosed. this project is still in the design process...


couldnt be happier that our hours are 8 to 5 with no homework, tasks and assignments which we are to take home! have a busy schedule the weekend (socially) and wouldnt want it to be ruined by assignements, lifes alot better withouth them anyways;)


till my next post

Week 2

After arriving at work last Monday, i was told that my boss had been in a surfing accident over the weekend and was not gooing to be in the office until further notice. Apparently it was quite bad..


because of this, the week had gone by realy slow, as i wasnt constantly given new work to do..


some of the tasks i had done during the week included the measuring up of The Smith House, where potential renovations are to take place, redesigning of the bathroom and storage area of a previous project i had worked on, as the owner had come back to us with a few changes he would like, amongst one or two other smaller jobs


Coming accross from Autocad, and now having to work on Caddie, i was a bit nerbvous, expecting it to take me a while to get the hang of the program. To my surprise, its been 2 weeks and i think I've now got the knack for it~~ causeImCoolLikeThat ;)


well hopefully this week will be a little bussier, then i can let you in on whats happening


till then

One week and going strong...

So today marks the one week that I have been with Linden Projects which is based in Table View.
Initially i was going through mixed emotions prior to having started with them, my nerves were going haywire, yet I was realy excited to begin this adventure.


The day had finally come when I had to meet my new boss and fellow colleagues. Linden Projects is run by Willie van der Linden, who manages and overseas the construction side of things, his wife, Enrica, is the firms architect aka 'my boss,' then there is the draughtsman, Xavier, and the receptionist, Tamryn.


At the start of the week I was a bit quiet, and kept to myself, as i wasnt sure what would be expected of me, and being in a new environment, was a tad bit strrrange.


Throughout the week I was given various smaller tasks, such as adding ammendments to plans, making changes on the plans on the computer, a small amount of admin work, and was, merely just showed how things work around the office. I then attended one meeting with the client close to the end of the week, with Enrica, to confirm details of what the client's expectations of the proposed project are and to discuss one or two problems that we had encountered while drawing up of the plans. This meeting took a few hours, but was very enlightful. was made clear of what was required of the brief :)


By the time Friday had come, i was just looking forward to a weekend without homework or assignments, and especially being free from 8 - 5 office hours!
I managed to get a good rest in during the weekend, only to prepare myself for what the following week was to bring.
But im ready!




will keep you posted on how the week goes.
ciao