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!!!!!
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 :)
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 !
