WEEK 27: STANFORD CONSTRUCTION COMMENCES

My first project (Stanford project) that I took part in from scratch is finally coming to life! 

Here are some images, including a 3D drawing....

WEEK 26: DISCREPANCIES

This week I went back on site to remeasure the doors and the existing signage mock ups that we stuck a few weeks ago.

The door signs got removed for painting and the installation of ironmongery and some of them went missing. During that process we discovered that some were not even appropriate for some doors, so remeasuring on site and re-sizing on AutoCAD was the next logical step.

WEEK 25: SITE PROGRESS

The signage plan mock up I worked on last week finally made it to the site wall, but did not work as well as we and and the clients would have liked it to. So in the mean time i have to work on another one. but while on site we managed to look at the progress of the overall clinic, instead of just focusing on the boring signage.

The mosaic motif is coming along nicely....

The landscaping is also looking good, but still in the process.

The plan mock up stuck on site. Not looking good at all. I have a feeling we are going to have to change it.

WEEK 24: SIGNAGE CONTINUES

The past few weeks saw me channeling my inner graphic designer, while working on the signage drawings for the Symphony Way Day Care Centre in Delft. This week will require me to put the skills back into action, because there are some things that the client and Carin Smuts are not happy about.

The first thing I have been working on this week is a plan of the building that should be stuck in the pre-waiting area for navigation purposes. The initial plan, hich had been done on AutoCAD was too architectural to be read by any Tom, Dick and Harry.

So I went back to simplify the existing plan and colour code it in order to make it easier to read. I used Photoshop to render it, through a process of trial and error, sending it back and forth to get approval from the clients.

WEEK 23: CONSTRUCTION COMPLETION AND SNAGGING

The Muizenburg project is reaching its completion this week, and of course as usual snagging has to be done. The structure has turned out exactly like we had predicted it. 
I am still on a fan of it but I am glad that we have managed successfully finish yet another project. 

Now there are a few minor tasks like fixing fascia boards, painting and cleaning up. And then we will come back for another round of snagging.

WEEK 21: SIGNAGE SCHEDULES

This week has been filled with the the same thing throughout. I have been working on the Symphony Way Day Centre signage for a while now.

The signage basically consists of all the important door and directional signage around the structure to make navigation easier. What I have to do is draw up each sign individually as the doors have different signs according to their location, type and sizes. The client (Western Cape Health Department) has been a bit of a problem when it comes to delivery of what is required in order to complete the task at hand. They are required to submit pictograms that are supposed to go with the signage but alas, some are missing and some are incorrect. 

The task has been a new experience to me as I haven't done anything like this as far as schedules are concerned. I was not even aware that architects have to face the responsibility if doing this in the first place. But then again, of course we are jacks of all trades. 

So what I have been busy with this week is compiling the signage with my nonexistent graphic design experience in order to make 1:1 scale mock-ups to manually paste on site for the signage company to copy from. That means printing out the big signs, cutting them and sticking them together if necessary. 

WEEK 22: COUNCIL SUBMISSION SET

This week I have taken a short break from what has become a really depressing task of doing and re-doing the same signage due to inconsistency of the client, and went back to what we are good at - alterations. 

A client approached us a while ago to help with altering his Observatory home. The client asked for an extra room to be added to the existing Victorian house. What made this interesting was how we were going to add another room in the already limited boundaries of the site. Unfortunately for the client, the house is joined to another, with only a party wall separating them. 

So what do we do? Well, there's always a way around these old Victorian houses. Because the roof space between the trusses is big enough to fit head height, it was decided that the new room would be a loft space. Problem solved. 

But what we did not foresee was that the truss space isn't actually high enough for head height, so alterations to the roof structure would have to be added. The drawings were drawn up and now it was up to me to finish the council submission set. So this week I have been working on that, and not matter how small the project is, it was welcome with warm hands because it's at least design related.