REPORT OF INTERNSHIP ACTIVITIES

AT
PEATFIELD AND BODGENER ARCHITECTS

Presented to

THE FACULTY OF ENGINEERING

Department of Architecture

INTERNATIONAL UNIVERSITY OF EAST AFRICA

P.O Box 35502,
KAMPALA – UGANDA

In partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of

BACHELOR OF ARCHITECTURE

PERIOD: May through July 2015 (End of Academic Year III)

By

NAHABWE DANIEL GEORGE

13/U/002/BARC-S

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DECLARATION

I NAHABWE DANIEL GEORGE hereby declare that all the information in this report is accurate and all the

activities described are those I actively participated in.

……………………….

MY SUPERVISORS

1. MR. KASUMBA FELIX

…………………………………

2. MADAM NAGGENDA REGINA

……………………………….…

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ACKNOWLEDGMENT

First I would like to thank Arch. Phillip Curtin, the director of Peatfield and Bodgener Architects, for giving

me the opportunity to do my internship within the architectural firm. For me it was a unique experience to

have passed through the hands of such a well-known architectural firm. It also helped me to get back my

interest in architecture and to have new plans for my future career. I also would like to thank all the people

that I worked with in the office of Mr. Kasumba Felix who is an architect at Peatfield and Mr. Ssemujju Fahad

who is a graphics designer at Kool Waks Ltd. With their patience and openness they created an enjoyable

working environment. Furthermore I want to thank all the architects and students, with whom I did the

fieldwork. We experienced great things together and they have shown me a beautiful part of the professional

field. At last I would like to thank Mr. Kasumba Felix and Mr. Ssemujju Fahad, especially Mr. Ssemujju

Fahad, who amidst all the shifts managed to mould me into the better man that I am today.

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ABSTRACT

Within my study of architecture, am interested in Vernacular Architecture and especially the innovative use of

materials in architecture and landscaping to achieve a socially welcome work of art. It was a great opportunity

for me to do a three month internship with Mr. Kasumba Felix and Mr. Ssemujju Fahad. The internship was

concentrated at Mr. Fahad’s office with extreme supervision from Mr. Felix from Peatfield. At the beginning of

the internship, I had set several learning goals regarding the improvement of my knowledge and skills. While at

Mr. Fahad’s office, I learnt and bettered goals one, three, four and five as listed on page 5.

During my stay, several activities contributed to achieving a number of goals. I went six times with Mr. Felix to

the field to do direct surveys on different sites. Normally the objective of these field visits was to site analysis

and carry out site measurements which were mainly concentrated around Kampala. In my last activity, I took

part in redesigning a home with the theme of conserving the building’s architectural style while on a tight budget.

In conclusion, the internship was a useful experience. I have found out what my strengths and weaknesses are; I

gained knowledge and skills and met many new people and I achieved many of my learning goals. However,

some of the conditions did not permit me to achieve them as I wanted.

I got insight into the work of a real architectural firm. The financing of construction/architectural projects is an

important factor and the forces that influence the design process and the construction are flexible in attitude and

approach. I learned more about working as part of a team and using CAD software to efficiently prepare a project.

Working together with the different stakeholders and by education, those threats have been approached. To

succeed in the field of architecture, the sharing of knowledge, ideas and opinions is of importance. There is still

a lot to discover and design/research methods can be improved.

Lastly, this internship has given me new insights and motivation to pursue a career in sustainable architecture. To

prepare myself for my future career, I can improve among other things my communication skills, perform several

tasks to design/research better if I have more experience in the architectural practice.

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Table of Contents

ACKNOWLEDGMENT .............................................................................................................................................................. 3

ABSTRACT ............................................................................................................................................................................... 4

1. INTRODUCTION ............................................................................................................................................................... 6

2. ORGANISATION ............................................................................................................................................................... 7

3. FIELD ATTACHMENT ACTIVITIES ..................................................................................................................................... 8

4. CHALLENGES AND EMERGING ISSUES .......................................................................................................................... 31

5. CONCLUSION ................................................................................................................................................................. 32

6. REFERENCES .................................................................................................................................................................. 33

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1. INTRODUCTION

The following report describes the activities carried out during a 10-week, full-time internship at the

PEATFIELD & BODGENER ARCHITECTS. The document contains information about the organization and

the responsibilities performed throughout the period between May to July 2016. More than a plain

account of tasks, the objective of this report is to reflect upon the experiences collected during the

internship from the perspective of an architecture student at the end of Year three.

At the beginning of the internship I formulated several learning goals, which I wanted to achieve:

1. To learn office discipline and professional code of conduct.

2. To see what skills and knowledge I still need to work in a professional environment.

3. To enhance my communication skills and build a network.

4. To see what it’s like to work in a professional environment with professional people.

5. To learn how to better beat deadlines.

6. To be better at CAD software in expressing my designs.

7. To learn how to use AdobeTM InDesign and Illustrator to prepare my work for presentation.

8. To learn how to do better detailing and project report writing.

This internship report contains my activities that have contributed to achieve a number of my stated goals. In the

following chapter a brief description of the architectural firm Peatfield and Bodgener Architects and the activities

I actively participated in is given. After this a reflection on my functioning, the unexpected circumstances and

the learning goals achieved during the internship are described. Finally I give a conclusion on the internship

experience according to my learning goals.

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2. ORGANISATION

Peatfield & Bodgener Architects (P&BA) are the oldest firm of architects in Uganda. As the leading firm of
Architects they are committed to excellence in design, advancement of architecture in Uganda and
professionalism in the delivery of their services to their clients. [1]

The firm’s record of building completion is unequalled in Uganda or in the region. The Firm by working with
both Government and the private sector is fully committed to the development and economic prosperity of
Uganda. [2]

STRUCTURE

The firm is headed by the principle architect who is usually the project manager and has other architects working
with him. After the Architect has designed a particular project, he then sends it to an in-house Quantity Surveyor
(QS) to quantify it so that it is not over budget. If it is over budget, the QS sends it back to the architect for
redesigning. Usually the architect and QS work back and forth between themselves especially is the project is a
“design to cost,” which means the architect must design so that they fit into the client’s cost.

After the QS has finished working on a project, it is approved by the architect and forwarded to the Technicians
whose work is to detail the project.

From the technicians, the project is shared with the Clerk of Works who is the representative of the architect on
the site. He also has to make weekly reports to the architect to inform him about the ongoing progress on the sites
of different projects.

Every two weeks, there is a site meeting with the other consultants of the project which is chaired by the architect
or his representative (usually the clerk of works). Issues discussed include progress checking, determining steps
to reach the set deadlines and reviewing of any merging issues with the project and on site among other things.

The other consultants include structural engineers, mechanical engineers, electrical engineers, surveyors etc. and
they are often hired by the architect.

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3. FIELD ATTACHMENT ACTIVITIES

3.1 DAILY TASKS AND ACTIVITIES

During my internship at Peatfield, I worked on multiple tasks, projects and activities. The projects and activities

can be divided into daily tasks that involve office work, drafting and the on-site activities that had to be conducted

during the site visits.

Daily tasks and activities (repetitive)

 Drafting and rendering

 Daily report writing

 Printing (Blue-prints and normal paper)

 Site visits

 Design critic meetings

3.1.1 DRAFTING AND RENDERING

Peatfield is an architectural firm, which is why this area is the most important one. Most of the focus goes

into here. Depending on the size of the project, drafting a project can take up to a year. In the first days,

I started with assignments that purely involved drafting and as time progressed, I moved on to design and

draft. The scale of the projects was mainly residential but I had the chance to interact with one commercial

project and one mixed use project. For every project, I divided the work into the following;-

 Research

 Case studies

 Designing following of the Design Brief from my supervisor

 Drafting

 Preparation of Presentation/Working drawings

 Design Critic meeting

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 Research was about systematic investigation into and study of materials and sources in order to establish

facts and reach new conclusions in respect to the project brief and the project itself. I used case studies

to do detailed studies of the development of a particular project over a period of time; usually from

inception to completion.

Usually for every assignment, my supervisor provided a project brief from the client and after I had

researched and done my case studies, I would start designing while following the design brief provided

earlier and later on started drafting. For these two stages, working was back and forth from designing to

drafting and from drafting to designing. It is at this phase that I would then start preparing presentation

drawings or working drawings depending on the phase a particular project is on. A meeting to criticize

the design was held at the end of every assignment mostly with my supervisor but where time allowed,

other professionals in the field were usually contacted to be present during these meetings.

At the end of every assignment, I would align the critic in relation to my learning goals and I would

improve on certain areas and learn new things especially in what skills and knowledge I still need to

work in a professional environment and enhancing my communication skills and building a network

with people.

3.1.2 PRINTING (BLUE-PRINTS AND NORMAL PAPER)

After drafting, I was tasked with overseeing the printing of both the presentation and working drawings;

the latter being printed on blueprints and the former on normal paper. Working drawings were mostly

printed on A1 bleu-print paper while for presentation drawings, A3 paper was commonly used. 3D artistic

impressions were occasionally printed as their medium of presentation was mainly electronic.

3.1.3 SITE VISITS

Site visits were conducted with Mr. Felix and their main purpose was to pick site information like site

measurements, site analysis information, neighborhood context information etc. These site visits helped

me to learn how to conduct myself when conducting a site visit and also enhanced my communication

skills which are both in line with my learning objective goals number one and two.

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3.1.4 DESIGN CRITIC MEETINGS

Design critic meetings were all about serious assessment of the designs. At the beginning of the

internship, I used to have them with Mr. Felix where he would criticize my input to a particular project

but later, more people were involved like Mr. Kasimbi Joseph and I also decided to hold them with some

of my classmates mainly through social media but also through face-to-face meetings by asking for their

opinions in regard to the project at hand. They taught me to be confident and enhanced my communication

skills while getting around what skills and knowledge I still needed to work in a professional

environment.

3.2 PROJECTS AND ACTIVITIES

During my internship, I had been assigned to work on a couple of projects and activities. My specific projects

consisted of the following:

3.2.1 BUZIGA AS-BUILT DRAWINGS

In the first assignment, I worked on as-built drawings for a residential mansion in Buziga, which were to

be made and sent to the interior designers to enable them prepare their scheme. The exercise involved

picking information in form of measurements while referring to the architect’s drawings. It was followed

by talking to the electrician and plumber so that we could also pick up electric and plumbing information

to enable me learn how to prepare their respective drawings. However, my trainer worked on the

plumbing plans as I worked on the electric plans which we later on merged into the as-built drawing I

had prepared earlier in the exercise. In order to get my head around what electric drawings were in terms

of how they were represented on paper, my trainer shared with me a file from a previous project he had

worked on. I used it as my reference to produce the electric drawings. I was able to mainly learn how to

represent building services on floor plans and drawings, beat deadlines and increase my speed in relation

to CAD software which are in line with my learning objective number five and six.

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Bwerenga ArchiCAD® file used as a reference to create the electrical drawings for the Buziga house. Lighting drawing (Above) and Sockets drawing (Below).

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3.2.2 THE JUBA PHARMACY

I worked on this pharmacy which was to be constructed in Juba concurrently with the Buziga as-built

drawings. The task was to follow a scheme provided by my trainer and provide an outline design, 3D

artistic impressions and schematic design drawings. He provided a site plan to follow and the spatial

assignment was to design the procurement and sales on the ground floor and offices and studio units on

the first floor. Retail and wholesale were to each be accommodated in one hundred square meters, and to

reduce on costs, there would be a centrally located staircase. The studio units were to be one bedroom,

open floor plan kitchen and living room with a toilet. I learned from this project how to reduce costs

while designing, I was also able to improve my speed in relation to CAD software and how to beat

deadlines all of which are in agreement with my learning objectives two, six and five respectively.

The main entrance to the pharmacy (Software used ArchiCAD® 16 and Artlantis® 5.1.1)

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The back of the pharmacy showing the studio units in golden brown (Software used ArchiCAD® 16 and Artlantis® 5.1.1)

The Site Plan sketch received from my trainer as a guideline

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3.2.3 THE KISAASA HOME

In this assignment, I was tasked with designing a four-bedroom residential home whose aesthetics were

to blend with Brazilian modernist homes designed by architects Louis Barraghan and mostly Marcio

Kogan. The client had their idea about a possibility which I received together with a working file Mr.

Felix had worked on before. The adjustments to make were to be decorative. I submitted two proposals

that is one with a hipped roof and the other with a flat solid slab roof inclined at one degree to enable

water to run off. I was able to mainly learn about regionalism in relation to tropical architecture, use of

building materials like concrete, brick, glass, timber etc. in new ways, I was able to improve my AdobeTM

Illustrator skills in relation to project presentation preparation, beating deadlines and using CAD to

express my designs which are line with my learning objective seven, five and six.

These two pictures came from the client to show their idea of what they wanted the outcome to look like.

The first design I made after absorbing the design brief and looking at the pictures from the client. (Software used ArchiCAD® 16 sketch render engine, sketch style
“Koh_I_Noor”, line style “11_Tech_Pencil”)

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The final outcome I produced after a series of design critic meetings with different people. (Software used ArchiCAD® 16 sketch render engine, sketch style
“Koh_I_Noor”, line style “11_Tech_Pencil”)

The First Floor of the Kisaasa Home as seen in Adobe® Acrobat Reader DC (Software used ArchiCAD® 16 and Adobe® Illustrator)

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The Ground Floor of the Kisaasa Home (Software used ArchiCAD® 16 and Adobe® Illustrator)

The front view of the Kisaasa Home with a hipped roof. (Software used ArchiCAD® 16 sketch render engine, sketch style “Koh_I_Noor”, line style “11_Tech_Pencil”)

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The front view of the Kisaasa Home with a flat roof. (Software used ArchiCAD® 16 sketch render engine, sketch style “Koh_I_Noor”, line style “11_Tech_Pencil”)

The back view of the Kisaasa Home with a hipped roof. The repeated narrow windows show the position of the staircase as seen in the floor plan. (Software used
ArchiCAD® 16 sketch render engine, sketch style “Koh_I_Noor”, line style “11_Tech_Pencil”)

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3.2.4 A DETAILING EXERCISE

I am poor at detailing and this exercise was received from my trainer to help me better understand and

learn how to differentiate between architectural and technical details. It was about the eave(s) of a roof

where I was supposed to come up with a detail that was to hide the gutters and the downpipes. After

working on my first detail I submitted to Mr. Felix, he advised me to think about how the downpipes too

were to be hidden and also think about protecting the interiors and exteriors of the house from any water

penetration problems. This assignment improved and opened my mind about the differences between a

technical detail and an architectural detail, it also helped me achieve my learning objective number eight

which was to better detailing.

Preliminary sketches of the detail showing the oblique timber supports (right) and the other without supports but with a “lookout”.

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3D sketch of the detail showing the practicality of the timber lookouts.

Sketches showing the thought process of hiding the downpipes from sight passing them through the ringbeam and wall.

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 Sketch detail showing the method of connection to the wall plate. I was advised to look at wood connection joints for better joining details.

First technical detail of the draft of the detail I produced to hide the gutter. The comments I received were about using mortises and tenons like T&G grooves for joining
timber members.

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3.2.5 THE IMPALA FARM

This was the first industrial and second commercial project I worked on during my internship. It involved

designing a feeds mill for Impala Farm in Mbalala, Mukono district and developing a master plan for the

same farm. The first activity in regard to this project was a site visit with my trainer and Mr. Kasimbi

Joseph who I was introduced to by my trainer. During the site visit, we carried out site measurements and

identified structures to be demolished. The work was divided into two. My trainer would work on the

master plan and Mr. Joseph and I would work on the feeds mill. Between me and Mr. Joseph, we

continued to divide the work load. I was to carry out research on the manufacturing process of feeds and

get any information that describes a feeds mill while Mr. Joseph would get case studies for the feeds mill.

After our discoveries, each of us would come up with their option of the feeds mill and we would discuss

it with as a team that is my trainer, Mr. Joseph and myself and then we would make changes after the

crit. This project helped me improve my site analysis skills and learnt about brief development, improved

my skills relating to working in a team, and also had the chance to work in a professional environment

with professional people who continue to influence and advise me.

Google Earth image of the whole farm showing place marks for the different positions of interest on the farm.

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Extracted contour map from Google Earth showing the area to accommodate the feeds mill in relation to the whole farm.

Preliminary sketches (not to scale) developed by Mr. Joseph. Option 1 (left) emphasizes no space for expansion while Option 2 (right) emphasizes space for future
expansion.

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Mr. Joseph’s sketches after being critiqued by my trainer.

The Feeds mill production line showing machinery involved from raw materials up to packaging.

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Preliminary sketch (not to scale) I developed basing on my research and understanding of the feeds mill.

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Feedback from my trainer on my sketch that I had sent to him.

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Sketches I redrew to give a better understanding of my proposals towards the project.

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Final scaled sketch of my proposal. I proposed the feeds mill processes to happen in one building while having two truck areas; a waiting area and a parking place for
delivery and dispatch trucks.

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Mr. Joseph’s option in CAD and on scale. The major problem was with the parking of the articulated trucks vis-à-vis their turning radii.

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We decided to use Mr. Joseph’s Site Plan. Here in adjustment 1, I adjusted the parking to fit the articulated trucks and park them at 90 degrees rather than the initial 30
degrees.

Massing model of adjustment 1 (plan shown previously). Software used ArchiCAD 19 CineRender Rendering Engine © 2015

Section S-02 of adjustment 1

Section S-03 of adjustment 1

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This is adjustment two. I compressed the building mass to fit on a smaller area while still maintaining the same square footage allowing a bigger space for future
expansion.

Semi-massing model showing the proposed roof truss design to be used, specifications on materials and a more compacted building mass.

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4. CHALLENGES AND EMERGING ISSUES

The most outstanding challenge during my internship was changing to the reality that was happening around me.

At the beginning of the internship, I set out my learning goals and honestly I thought I would walk in and learn

them and then get back to the normal school activities. I have learnt something about all my learning objectives

while adapting to the fact that am no longer a child but a man who has to move on with life while accommodating

the different responsibilities that come along.

Among other challenges, transportation to and from the sites was difficult sometimes using my personal money

to go and come back from the different sites. Equipment required to accomplish tasks was either not there or

insufficient for the given task for example the computers used in drafting whose performance could not handle

the 3D models of different projects.

I learnt new CAD software that is Adobe® Illustrator and InDesign. Adobe® Illustrator is a vector based software

used by Graphics designers to draw vectors. I learnt how to use the software to prepare floor plans, sections,

elevations and site plans for presentation drawings. Once done with Illustrator, the work was taken to Adobe®

InDesign which is a layout software. Here, work from Illustrator is laid out on the required paper size mostly A4

and A3 for presentation work. Laying out work can be done with Illustrator but because it is a vector based

program, the final file size will be large; the more work, the bigger the file size. InDesign beats Illustrator in this

area because the final file size will mostly be in kilobytes (kb) and rarely reach a Gigabyte (1 GB) unless the work

is really a lot. I will confidently continue using them in my professional life.

Lastly I also learnt social discipline. I used to think being an architect was all about drawing the plans, presenting

them and supervising construction. It’s during this internship that I discovered that being an architect is more than

drawing plans. In summary it’s all about coordinating the building team from the engineers up to the smallest unit

of workers on site that is the builders or “fundis”, being able to talk to everybody and make them feel valued in

terms of what they are inputting into the construction or design of a project.

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5. CONCLUSION

The past months of my internship have been very instructive for me. My trainers Mr. Kasuba Felix and Mr.

Ssemujju Fahad have both offered me opportunities to learn and develop myself in many areas. I have gained a

lot of experience, especially in the project management, office discipline and professional codes of conduct fields.

A lot of the tasks and activities that I have worked on during my internship are familiar with what am studying

at the moment. I worked in many areas where I did different work. This gave me the chance to find out which

areas I want work in after my education. The area that I found most interesting is Sustainable Architecture.

Before my internship started, my ideas did not match the experiences I have gained during my internship. There

is a big difference in the school projects and the tasks and activities during the actual work. In school we learn

how to describe the work in projects, where in work you learn how to implement them in reality. This internship

was definitely an introduction to the actual work field for me. I have learned to work in a business organization

and apply my knowledge into practice.

I have also learned a lot from my trainer during my internship. As a professional in the architectural field, he has

lots knowledge in the architectural profession. He was very helpful and always willing to give me advice and

feedback which I appreciate. I have tried to learn as much as possible from him and the interns during my

internship. Am also grateful for meeting with Mr. Kasimbi Joseph through my trainer who was and continues to

be a great influence in my professional world.

The conversations with my mentor Mr. Ssemujju Fahad were also important learning moments for me during my

internship. He always made up and had time to answer all my questions concerning my internship and about life

lessons in general. As a professional in the Human Resource field, he also helped me a lot by giving me feedback

on how to use my English writing, how to improve my office discipline and he taught me a better professional

code of conduct. I appreciate all the advice he continues to give me and that which he gave me during my

internship.

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6. REFERENCES
1. http://www.pbarch.org/ accessed on the 18/08/2016

2. http://www.architects-uganda.com/peatfield-bodgener-architects-uganda.html accessed on the

24/08/2016

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