St. Michaels, M.I.P - Project Diary

Project diary: DAY 1

What are my expectations of this project?

Design and build something that would benifit St. Michaels

What was i involved in today?

Today i was involved in measuring up the existing site at St micheals. Then did a base drawing.

What did i learn today?

The conditions of the site and the attitude of the community.

Other comments

Today was a good day, even when the work we could do on site was limited and i was only busy until about 2 oclock . The kids really got me interested as i am amazed by there discipline. Not one child was dusturbing us in any way, or asking questions which i thought was excellent from the school.


Project diary: DAY 2

What are my expectations of today?

To learn about safety on site
To design or partially design and get an idea of what we will be building.

How did i experience the design exercise?

It was good. Sometimes i get a bit carried away with my own ideas, but designing in a group was a good exercise. It teaches us different ways of thinking.

What did i learn today?

Designing when your materials are limited. Constraints that are limited like the materials, causes you to think about construction at the start of your design process.

Other comments

I feel that the time allowed for design was not enough, but some good designs came from that exercise.

Project diary: DAY 3

What are my expectations of today?

I dont really know as we have not been told what we are going to be building, but we might do some maintainace or clean up the site and get everything ready for when we get the design

How did i experience the on site exercise?

On site was good. i was involved in unloading equipment and apple crates as well a spainting the slats for the missing parts to the existing screen. We also had a look around and examined what need to be fixed in terms of maintainance.

What did i learn today?

I have learnt how crazy it can get on a building site. how many things need to be planned out before anything can really be done.

Other comments

It was a good day, just a pitty about the weather, but enjoyed my day on site.

Project diary: DAY 4

What are my expectations of today?

Going in to tech to do a C.T.D exercise

How did i experience the C.T.D exercise?

Although i do not do C.T.D as a subject in second year, i went along anyway. I found the exercise exciting and informative. I always like that there are more than one way of doing things when i comes to C.T.D

What did i learn today?

Sometimes for asthetic purposes and if the design calls for it, it is good to move away from the conventional and expand your knownledge of construction

Other comments

Good, thought provoking building alalysis.

Project diary: DAY 5

What are my expectations of today?

To start construction on the chosen design

How did i experience the on site exercise?

The on site exercise was great. My team and i worked on stabalizing and securing the existing deck and it went very well.

What did i learn today?

I learnt that we might take it for granted when we just casually specify "floor joist @ 450 c/c max".This line is very important and also to make sure that the material used can span the distance as well as being fixed properly.

Other comments

Day on site was productive. gaining a lot of experience for builders.

Project diary: DAY 6

What are my expectations of today?

Going in to tech to do a C.T.D exercise

How did i experience the C.T.D exercise?

The C.T.D exercise was good. I dont come into contact with steel structures to often so it was very informative to sit in on the lecture and do the exercise.

What did i learn today?

Even though steel is normally handled by the engineer, we as the architects should still know some basic "rule of thumb" things like the spans, sections and sizes as it would influence our design.

Other comments

Very informative exercise.

Project diary: DAY 7

What are my expectations of today?

To help with the main design on the container.

How did i experience the on site exercise?

On site was great. I think by now my team and i have become the decking peopleon site as we were now responsible for the deck outside the container. We did a good job and i am proud of my team. Feels good solving problems on site instead of doing it on the computer.

What did i learn today?

Almost anything can be re-used and refurbished. Our deck looks beautiful, even if imust say so myself. Best thing is that we made it completely from apple crates!

Other comments

Good day on site , very tired.

Project diary: DAY 8

What are my expectations of today?

To draw up our site at St. Michaels.

How did i experience the C.T.D exercise?

The exercise was good. Filled me in on things i wasnt aware of on site.

What did i learn today?

It is prominant to see that everyone has there own duties on site as everyone was an expert on some or other part of construction.

Other comments

Was a very good exercise. Good to see how much we learn when we do the hands on approach.

Project diary: DAY 9

What are my expectations of today?

To finish up and put on the final touches , then braai.

How did i experience the on site exercise?

Site exercise was good. I was paired with Bongani as we tried to create some kind of foundation to stabalize the loose part of the deck. We succeeded quite well, but it was very tiring.

What did i learn today?

Knowing the basics means that even when we dont have conventional materials we can still get the desired outcome.

Other comments

Was a good day. Hot and tired, but enjoyed it. Thanks Mr bus driver for forgetting about us!
Time at St. Michaels was a great experience, Thanks to all the people that put it together and the ones who made it enjoyable.

Feeling good

Hi guys,

The last time i blogged i was extremely busy, but thank god things have calmed down a bit. Just finished the construction drawing package for one of our clients and everyone is happy, so i am extremely happy. see you at assembly on Saturday for the AZA party.
Keep going!

Theraputic sounds

Good morning,

The office is quiet, but fingers are buzzing because even in silence we tend to overthink. Sometimes i always get caught telling myself "it cant be that easy" when some things just are , so new approach! if it feels like the right material, looks like the right size specified and span/size ratio is correct then it probably is right. I like these technical things , but always doubting myself , because we have to be perfect. So today im rocking some tune in the office and getting on with it , i suggest you do the same. Trust yourself youll learn more from your mistakes than any teacher can teach.

Have a good day :-)

Clean Thoughts

Good morning fellow classmates and bloggers.

Its a good thursday morning, the sun is out and work is going great, was early this morning so i started cleaning up my desk which is normally full of papers and i found that strangely enough you think better when desk is clean or maybe thats just a mind thing.

Hope everyone has had a good week.
keep on keeping on.........

patiently waiting

Long time no blog!
sorry for the delay in blogging activity. the year is going so fast i cant belive its August already. Really stressed about not knowing how im doin ,but looking forward to the update sheet. hope i can improve on how i am doin right now. I must say that i do miss campus life, work is quite hectic especially for someone thats been workin for three years already. Everything is cool at the office. Just need a break if you know what i mean. Been busy with some nice projects that i wont mention on here , but i will say that i am super excited about it . Just hope that the building work gets started while i am still here.
hope to see you guys soon

busy busy busy

Hi, this past few weeks have been really hectic at the office, just work work work and this after a week at campus. Missing that campus feeling, but you gotta do what you gotta do. Im so tired and its only Wednesday :-(

Community Hub- Final

Exercise 5
http://dl.dropbox.com/u/68697171/exercise%205/community%20hub.pdf

Thanx