LING YUAN MING

PRACTICAL EXPERIENCES

 

 

The project that I participated was HomeTree Development by BCB Berhad. Within these 8 short weeks, I was only involved in one as this project is the main and also the biggest project being handled by CF de.studio currently. I took part in three ongoing phases out of five, namely Phase 1 Long Branch, Phase 2 Broad Leaf, and Phase 5. However, I focused on the Rumah SelangorKu project that was also under HomeTree before being transferred to the residential.

 

1.Rumah SelangorKu

For the first five weeks in CF de.studio, I was assigned a low cost project, Rumah SelangorKu. It was a part of the development that is required by the government as a contribution to the lower earning societies. There were three types, type A, C and D. My job was to design the floor plans of each units based on their respective floor areas, followed by the entire floor plan. After completed the floor plans, 3d digital models were made to design the façade and elevations of each block types. The final masterplan, floor plans and 3d renderings are proposed to the developer for their opinions.

 

    During the process from designing floor plans to making 3d models, there were many changes, improvements, rules and regulations that made the designing process challenging. I realized real-life design is a rather different experience compared to designing during our academic semesters, mainly due to the strict regulations set by the authorities that need to be abided. During the cad, I learnt a lot of regulations as I was designing a high rise building. Some that are needed to be concerned were the fire escape and the air wells. The running distance from the end unit to the nearest fire staircase should not exceed 10 meters whereas the running distance from one fire staircase to another should not exceed 30 meters in case of an emergency. Air wells are provided for lighting and ventilation purposes for spaces facing the walkway and have their own regulations too. The sizes can be seen in the appendices. With the help and experience of Mr Tan, I was able to design the floor plans successfully.

 

     I was also asked to design parking lots for the entire ground plan and an elevated indoor split level parking for block D. Several details like the turning radius, parking lot and driveway sizes, driving direction and ramp specifications were taken into consideration. Islands should be provided with every 10 parking lots gap. Not only that, facilities such as toilets and surau are also included. The most important detail is the qibla direction (arah kiblat) which is at 292.49º. I learnt from Afif the angle and also how the directions of prayers to be and where the water closet should not be facing which are the direction of qibla and also the direct opposite. Furthermore, I also gained better understanding of their beliefs and religion. Besides that, I understood that there is a certain percentage of land that is needed to be reserved as green areas and is subjective to local authorities. This is why it can be seen from the masterplan that not all land was used for parking spaces but are reserved and used for the green belt and empty green spaces that would be utuilised in the future. The 2d schematic drawings took about three weeks.

 

     CF de.studio uses Sketchup as a program to create 3d modes. Having only learnt and practiced Autodesk 3ds Max before this during previous semesters provided me zero knowledge about Sketchup. However, as it was necessity, more time was spent learning even after working hours and as a result, I was able to make 3d models of the apartment blocks. Learning Sketchup was not hard with the guidance from Esther. She was very willing to share her knowledge and everything she knows. I learnt that while using this program, it is wiser to always remember to group and make objects element as it eases future edits. I also learnt how to use the Sketchup library, apply materials and use Vray Sketchup for rendering in a short period of time. While designing the façade, I was taught the ventilation and lighting calculation by Mr Tan. For low cost apartment, I was asked to do a 15% combination was used instead of 10% lighting and 5% ventilation for the size of windows opening.

 

 

2.Phase 1 Long Branch Residences

     After submitting the Rumah SelangorKu project, I was transferred to assist Afif in the resubmission of as-built drawings amendments. The amendments included were cross checking to identify any mistakes in drawings, such as inverted gridlines, mis-drawn doors, mislabeling and mis-colouring. Most of the time was spent in scraping previous drawings and colouring manually because the amendments were made on previous drawings to prevent reprinting to save cost. Upon completing this task, I had an opportunity to pay a visit to the Bomba and also Majlis Bandaraya Shah Alam (MBSA) to submit the amended drawings to both parties. I was exposed to new environment and got to familiarize myself with how things work outside office.

 

 

3.Phase 2 Broad Leaf Residences & Phase 5

     The job for phase 2 is the preparation of as-built drawings using cad. The works that were needed to be done were similar to that of Phase 1. From Phase 1 and Phase 2, I learnt what as- built drawings are. Due to certain circumstances, the constructed buildings might not be exactly the same as BP drawings, therefore any changes made must recorded in cad drawings. It is done by overlapping the BP drawings in blue dotted lines with the newly constructed drawing. The new changes would be coloured red as shown in the figure below indicating new. As a result, the old floor area tables need to be edited with new additional information where applicable and also the ventilation and lighting calculation. Similar to that of Rumah SelangorKu, a 15% of the total are of every space is calculated to obtain the needed figure. The provided figure is obtained by calculating the area of the openings provided and must be more than the needed figure. I was shocked to know that for every added square feet or sanitary appliance added, a sum of amount need to be paid.

 

     As for Phase 5, it was the preparation of BP drawings as it has not been built yet. Unlike Long Branch and Broad Leaf, CF de.studio is only the submission architect for phase 5. We received the drawings from the design architect and coloured it based on our material colour code. Similarly, the ventilation and lighting calculation was done.

 

 

4.Others

- Cad Skills

Aside from practical experiences, I have learnt and improved on my technical skills. In these 8 weeks, I got to know several new commands I have never used like “snapang”, “UCS” and “perpendicular”. Blocks and Xrefs are exceptionally helpful to do repeating elements. Blocks allow several same groups to be edited instantly with just the change of one making the process of editing faster and easier in one cad file. Xref changes its element across all other cad files simultaneously cutting short the time needed to edit one by one. One of the examples of xref used in CF de.studio is the title block. This allows all title blocks related to be changed as well and time is saved from editing every cad file that has the same title block.

 

- Site Visit

On the last day of internship, Mr Allan brought me and my colleagues to Kota Kemuning for site visit. The aim of the site visit was to show us how constructed buildings can be different from drawings, by showing us the imperfections and how should we improvise ourselves for upcoming phases and projects. He started from the guard house and progressed towards few types of houses and ended up in the clubhouse. He explained on how the metal roof of the guard house should have been perfect horizontal but it became imperfect as the drawings are not prepared detailed enough and inexperienced contractor in dealing with this type of design. The bungalows may look gorgeous from outside but the workmanship of tile and plaster contractors on the interior were not up to expected standards. Few door and stairs drawings that lacked precise detailing also need to be improved.

 

 

 

ACKNOWLEDGEMENT

 

     First of all, I would like to express my gratitude and appreciation to the module instructor, Mr Angus Lee Ching Hua to be able to brief us, gave us tips and guide us throughout this internship period. I would also like to thank the advisor, Ms June Lim Ching Lu from the Career Services for aiding me with company information as well as application and most importantly, my personal tutor Ms Chang Yan Yee for attending to my questions tirelessly the entire time to ensure I was on the right path.

 

     Next, words could not describe how grateful I am towards Mr Allan Fong for giving me this opportunity to work in his company during this internship. They provided a very enjoyable and comfortable working environment and had given me the chance to be involved in the company projects and learnt new things.

Not forgetting the company partners, Mr Fun Soon Kit, Mr Tan Kai Loon and fellow colleagues in CF de.studio, Afif and Esther Pua Wan Ling for their endless support and coaching throughout the entire time there. The friendliness and warmth between employers and employees made CF de.studio an ideal place for gaining experience.

 

     I am boundlessly grateful to them as without them, it would have been a very different internship experience.