Hi there,
Im am now starting my 13th week at Noel A Botha Architects.
In between my 6th week and now, The work was very interesting. The house in constancia was built so fast as from the lintels, to the wall plate, to the I-beams, to the trusses, rafters, isoboard insulation and roof sheeting. We went on site to see each steps of the construction, which is a good way for me to learn.

I was still changing and redesigning the house in silwood road until the end of last week. Then the Client and my boss agreed to the idea, so now I'm busy with the council drawings. I'm struggling a bit with the slates roof plan, all the trusses and battens are a bit confusing to draw in section.

We went to a meeting at constancia one day, I'll have to ask my boss again how is it called. But anyway, their was people from council, town planners and etc their. They were debating on all sorts of cases. We went their because one of my Boss's clients wanted to make their restaurant bigger, but one of the neighbours was against it! I must say that when I first entered the meeting room, I was a bit nervous and didnt know what we were doing here, then I just stayed quite and then the restaurant's case came, then I finally understood what we were doing there! My boss wanted to show Monique and I how does this meeting work!
It was interesting I must say! So anyone can attend to this meeting!

Hi There :)
For my 5th week, we have been to the council tto submit the garage drawings. Here are the drawings finally:

We unfortunately have to do a departure as the garage is supposed to be 2.5m away from the boundary, so we'll have to get the concent of the neighbours, and two other departments. It is going to be a mission. I did it once in my previous job. It is very annoying.
We went on this site again, and my boss and the Project Manager (James) were looking for solutions for the waterproofing problems. And they sorted it out. :)

For this week I also started to draw on the plan on Silwood road in Rondebosch. It is an existing building and we have to make alterations to it. The plan drawing was already drawn by someone that worked here before., so I'm now busy drawing the sections.
Here are the drawings :

We also went at a house in Clifton, as there were cracks on the wall of the same client of the garage and basement.

See you next week :)

Here is the 3D skeleton of the garage in Constantia. Unfortunately I still didn't figure out how to insert the materials onto my 3D model.

Hi there :)
My 3rd week went well. We have been on site several times which is very nice as I can see I am learning a lot on site. We went on the Constantia site where they are busy building a HUGE basement. It's crazy how fast the construction went. The one day they busy building the retaining walls, and the next day they already installing the precast concrete slabs. I will put the pictures of the site visits on a seperate page on my blog. This way it will be easier to understand the progress on site.
The garage I was busy doing the local authority drawings, is next to the basement, but will be constructed at a later stage. I will put the final drawings of the garage very soon :)
This 4th week was quite nice as I am discovering the 3D version of Micro GDS. I am having a lot of fun while learning.. As a training, I did the 3D drawing of the garage in Constantia. I am very frustrated now, that I came to a point where i need to put materials on top of the faces of the garage, but I am stuck, Its been a few days that I am looking for how to do that.. I even googled it ;) Still nothing.. But Dereck, an architect Monique and I just met at a meeting with our boss, offered us his help with the 3D drawings. I was impressed by the work he did. And I think it's a good way of showing the client exactly what you want to propose.

See you next week :)

Hi,
My second week was nice, exept that this cold weather doesn't make me feel like working :(
This time I was asked to draw a garage on a site situated in constancia. This work was more interesting than the first one as it is a real job. I'm now more comfortable in the program Micro GDS than the first week, which is great. I feel good in this office, and I can see I'm learning much more than the previous office as it is much smaller. I can see that my boss wants me to learn :)
Noel (my boss), Monique and I, went for coffee a few time, which is very nice, because it gives up a break during the day! At the coffee break, Noel gives us briefs of what needs to be done, or how far he is in the projects etc.. I happy to know exactly what I'am working on.. Then It's easier to work on the drawings.. It doesn't feel like I'm working on any drawings.

Here is the garage:

See you guys next week :)

Hello everyone..
I know it has been ages that i didn't post something on my blog..
I reason why I didn't do so is because at the office, I was asked to do repetitive task like making copies, send faxes, colouring the plans, or going to council. Since the end of May I dont work at KLG Archittects anymore.. And since the 11th of June I work for Botha A Architect. My friend Monique also work there, but she started since the begginning of the year.
I really enjoyed my first week there, As from the first day, Noel (my boss) took us on three of his construction site.. He tells us a lot about his projects, which is really good! At the begginning a was a bit scared because Noel doesn't use Autocad. He uses a different program which is called MicroGDS. I thought it would take me a long time to get used to the program. My task for this week was to redraw an old hand drawing that he did approximately 30 years ago on the computer.. So this week i did the ground floor plan, the first floor plan and the basement. As the days are going, I'm getting better in the program.. After the week end I will put the drawings i did on the blog, because i dont have them with me right now.
I am enjoying working with Monique there, we are both in the same office. When I need help on the program which is new to me, she helps me so it is perfect :)

Here are the drawings:

Hello everyone!!

Im Lucie d'Hotman, Im doing my second year of architecture which consist of working in an architectural firm during the year. I find it exiting to work in real conditions, and how its really going to happen after my studies. My mom is an architect, she work for herself alone, so its even more interesting for me to experience an architectural office with a few architects in. Im also anxious at the same time incase they ask me to do stuffs i have no idea how to do. But Im sure it's going to be a good experienced for me and that I will learn a lot in the architectural field.

I found a job 5 minutes from where I live. I work at KLG Architects which is not a big firm. We are about 13 people to work there. I start at 8h30 in the morning and I finish at 17h00 in the afternoon.

I started to work a week and a half last year just right after the portfolio exam and just before going back home in Mauritius. I can say that it started well for me, i like my boss and all the people working there.. There is a cool vibe in the office..

After my 2 months holidays, i came back to Cape Town end of January. Then I started on monday the 30th of January.

Every monday and wednesday its "biscuit day", which means that each person in the office have his turn to bring some biscuits at the office.. And friday is "cake day" and its the same process.
At my first week at the office there was a braai on friday. But we also have moments there where its very quiet and everyone is completely focused on their work.

I learned quiet a lot of things on Autocad which are very handy and make my life easier. Since I work there, I measured a house and draw the plan of it, I did changes to some plans, I've been to the council...

I nearly forgot about something... My enemy: the FAX MACHINE!! Some times I send faxes of plans to the builder for example, and I don't know why this thing works 1 time out of 2 with me..  Its such a mission, You have to look carefully, when the first paper is halfway out, you have to quickly insert the second one.. Anyway, I don't like sending faxes..

I thing I said enough for now,

See you next week :)