"Architect. One who drafts a plan of your house, and plans a draft of your money."
-Ambrose Bierce
Just about a month ago, my uncle asked me if I can draft a floor plan for a 3-storey house that he's planning to build. This house will be erected just as where his current house is situated. I was already with him at that time together with my other two other uncles to buy some stuffs at Quiapo. It was actually on the spur of the moment that he sought help from me since he didn't know that a sophomore Architecture student can already design one. A moment later, we went to his house and he right away showed me their land title where the position and the location of the lot is plotted. We literally had an in-depth discussion about the spaces that he wanted to have in his house where he, his wife and his two daughters will reside. For a while, I felt like I was already a full-blown architect where my uncle was my client. As I was making a discourse with him with a pencil and a paper on hand, that great feeling that I sensed inside brought me to a pedestal where I plumed myself for being entrusted on this endeavor. Employing a licensed architect was probably not an option for him for some reasons and the floor plan of an engineer didn't satisfy him were most likely the reasons that he confided it to me.
When I reached home, I was exhausted already for having walked quite a long distance and also due to the scorching hot weather that afternoon. I hit the sack and decided to work the day after.
Without knowledge on CAD programs, I had to stick with my drafting table and T-square for the assistance. For a few hours, I sketched on a piece of paper the things that we had agreed upon yesterday. Planning was really the most vital stage than the exterior look of the structure because you need to be painstakingly careful and accurate with how you will locate the spaces on your lot; the spaces must correlate with each other with of course respect to the direction of the sun, the wind systems, adjacent structures, and all. What became a challenge was that both the right and left sides of the house should be built with a firewall which meant that windows can only be placed on the front and rear sides of the house. Eventually, after asking suggestions from a few friends, I was able to make a solution. Going back, I then laid down the paper and began drawing. The deadline of this task will be a week after and that's why it took me few days to work on it.
The day of the meeting came and when I arrived at his house, I got a call that he'd be coming late at night. I simply left the house plans to the maid and went home afterwards. I returned the next day and was surprised that revisions were already drawn and indicated. My uncle actually had a change of mind. New spaces were added and there are those that were removed. I wasn't disappointed at all since I was one of a heck very eager to do this. Besides, I was 'paid' to accomplish this task. I made the necessary revisions and another week passed and I showed it to him once again. History must had repeated itself for he wasn't there yet when I arrived. Few days had passed and I got a feedback from my father telling me that my uncle liked the second one I made. Maybe few revisions are only to be made but overall, he was satisfied.
I wish to show the drawings that I made but since they were not final yet, I opted to post them soon instead. What I will show you here is the house model I made using Google SketchUp 8 which I got to learn after watching tutorials on Youtube. To make it more presentable, I experimented with 3ds Max Design even without knowledge on it. Here it is:
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| This is not yet the final appearance of my work which I plan to modify in the coming days. |
I am totally a noob on these CAD programs. I'm just glad that I was able carry out something by learning it by myself. I really need to practice more as soon as time permits.
