Back to work

Well last week was back to work after all the fun and memories made when we were at campus.
Getting back into the swing of things was good and I eventually got back into it. On Monday I was given balustrade schedules that kept me busy until Wednesday and from Wednesday I worked on amendments to electrical drawings that were then issued on Friday.

Well that's how my week played out :)
Ciao for now! ;)

Something new...

So this week I was given a new challenge... and that was to draw up sections and elevations as well as make amendments to the plan of the staff/security quarters for one of the projects we're working on in Constantia. The site is quite tricky too as it's a very 'slopey' site so I learnt alot about what happens when building on a slope. Seeing that I'd only be here for this week, as I'm off to campus for the next two weeks, I had to put even more into getting the drawings done so that I know I've completed what was expected of me. Furthermore, I just needed to get sets of drawings and issue sheets together for Wednesday and Thursday's site meetings with the building contractor, client and quantity surveyor, which we have every second week. Wednesday's are for the project in Fresnaye and Thursday's for the one in Constantia. That about wraps up how my week went and I'm definitely looking forward to the MIP we'll be doing at campus! I've really missed designing my own work so getting back into the swing of things will be great! Well that's it for now.. Time for me to enjoy my long weekend ;)

Ciao for now!! ;)

Change of Scenery

So after a long time in the office, a temporary change of scenery was exactly what I needed.. along with bucket loads of inspiration! which is exactly what I got!

Monday and Tuesday were office days for me over which I worked on minor changes to plans and elevations on Monday, and then on Tuesday I was asked to sit in on a meeting with one of the directors and the person supplying the fireplace for a house we're working on as I had to draw up the detail drawing for the fireplace that's to be built into the wall. The rest of the week was the the much anticipated AZA 2012 conference which was FAAAAANTASTIC!! I feel so inspired and ready to make a difference through the career path I'm choosing as I definitely got clarity as to which direction I'm going to further my studies in.

Well that was my week, and now it's back to work and my staff assessment today with the directors so wish me luck! and see you at campus next week to get our Architecture ON!!!

Ciao for now ;)

Catching up..

So I know that my blogs have run very far behind, so for this blog I’ll update you on all the things that have happened over the past three months…

Well, basically the past three months have been extremely busy for me and I’ve been under so much pressure it’s crazy! But I’ve taken everything that’s happened as a positive experience which I can only benefit from in the future and yet another learning curve towards my aspiring, successful future.

Most of the challenges include my colleague/mentor whom I have been working with as most of the work I have been doing over these past few months have been for her projects.

In June, I had noticed a change in her approach towards me and felt that she had been putting too much pressure on me and big responsibilities as well. I found this challenging as these responsibilities were based on things that I had no experience in and I developed a great fear of making mistakes as I just ended up getting criticised for those mistakes. This became a major issue for me and our office manager had noticed what was happening and advised me to speak to the directors. I then found that this wouldn’t be fair as if I done that, I’d be going behind her back instead of first confronting her about how I felt which I then done. After speaking to her and explaining everything to her she was understanding but also explained to me that in this industry I will constantly be put under pressure which I had already learnt but I took her advice and we had sorted it out.

Its September now and she hasn’t been putting those heavy responsibilities on me anymore but I still don’t feel completely happy with what the situation is like now and honestly counting down the time for these two months to end so that I can be a student again. On the bright side, these experiences and challenges have definitely made me a much stronger person. I have learnt what it truly means to be responsible and able to handle pressure and different types of people. I am a soft- spoken person but working in this industry taught me that be assertive is more important than ever before. It doesn’t mean that I need to be rude but being clear and making a point to be heard is vital as well as constantly being in control of the situation.

So enough of office issues, on the work side of things… I must admit that I have come a LONG way from doing schedules to now going on site visits every second week and being responsible for a complete pack of detail drawings for a project that has recently gone into its construction phase. I have covered different details and learnt a lot of interesting things as far as the design of contemporary houses are concerned. Working at this company has its ups and downs but the things I have learnt definitely makes up for the downs and compared to the little I knew last year, I can safely say that I have come a long way and looking ahead for more challenges and the vast amount of things still left for me learn.

Now it’s about looking forward to this week and the AZA student conference!!!!!! (excited face)

Ciao for now!! ;) 

What a week..

Well.. last week was quite the week as it was the first time I experienced a 'hiccup' with a client. What happened was this...

The Friday before last, we gave the door and window schedules I had done to the client for information. Then last Monday morning we were told that the client complained about a whole lot of errors in the schedules ( which by the way.. was NOT true, but i'll get to that part soon) so he scheduled a meeting for later that afternoon and obviously I was quite worried because it would be my fault and my error. Once the meeting had started I had noticed that this was the type of client who enjoys pointing out that you made a mistake and you don't hear the end of that... only, he didn't do this to me but rather to my supervisor which made me feel bad as it was my mistakes... Anyway, it was all professional and everything was resolved and most of the issues were cill heights that were not resolved as far as windows were concerned and that's where my confusion arised while doing those schedules. Needless to say, I was back to doing schedules and I made sure to check them over and over and... yes you guessed right OVER! haha.. and I can now say that they're finally done and I handed them over to my supervisor to check over them one more time before we issue it to the client. On the bright side.. i've started on the timber window details and its quite interesting doing it from scratch as we have no existing timber window details like that on our server for me to copy-paste since this house is far from the contemporary houses AQDC usually designs.. and what a house it is (not to my liking..) but anyway, that's that ... it's back to details for me and we'll catch up soon!

Ciao for now! ;)

After the very long weekend, its needless to say that I've been feeling rather lazy over the course of this 3 day week with not much of a challenge at work. On the plus side, my Hub project is coming along well though i do need some guidance just to make sure I'm on the right track so I'll be discussing it with my mentor and then also try and get a crit at campus. Last week I started amending a set of door schedules that i completed yesterday, having to check every last detail and re-number all the references on plan and elevation. After those were finally done, I had to do a simple detail for a fixed timber screen and that was basically it. Hopefully this day holds more of a challenge for me and then its a weekend of working on my Hub project, that lies ahead.

Well ciao for now ;)

Light at the end of the Schedule

So last week was basically yet another week of schedules and over the past 3 weeks I have worked on door and window schedules for 3 different projects but things are looking brighter.
House Stringfellow is the house I'm currently working on and yes I'm doing the door and window schedules but since I started it from scratch, all I'm doing now is amending them and changing annotations.

The thing with this house is that its style is really different to the rest of the houses that are designed here at AQDC architects since it's more of a french house than contemporary which is nearly the complete opposite.. but its what the client wants. So anyway, seeing that this house is quite 'outdated' a the detailed drawings will have to be done from scratch and after discussing what I still need to cover with my supervisor, I'll be working on those details!!!!!

I'm really excited about this, because since we can't copy/paste existing details from previous projects.. I'm going to learn alot more and we'll be meeting with Swartland reps. to discuss details of their windows that will be incorporated into the project. Details like pond and pool details will also be done and overall I'm really looking forward to this new learning curve!!

Will fill you in soon...
Ciao for now!! ;)