Studio identity

A Cape Town practice built on drawings, not just photographs

Travis Ronaldson works between architecture and interiors, mostly on residential renovations, small commercial fit-outs and the occasional piece of furniture. The studio sits in Cape Town and the work tends to stay close: Observatory, Woodstock, Sea Point, the Southern Suburbs. Each project is documented in plan, section and axonometric, so what you see on this page is the same set the builder and the joiner worked from.

The method is measured. Existing conditions get surveyed before anything is proposed, and the brief is written down alongside the constraint that shapes it, whether that is a heritage roofline, a sloping warehouse floor or a wall with three doors and no storage. Material boards follow the drawings, not the other way around: timber selection, tile layouts, joinery details and where the budget was held are all part of the record.

The studio works with homeowners, trade clients and other design practices. Some come with a full brief, others with a set of drawings that need a second pair of eyes. Both are welcome.

Who the studio works with

Homeowners renovating a flat, cottage or family house who want the spatial planning resolved before trades start.
Trade clients who need joinery detailing, tile layouts and a coordinated drawing set to build from.
Design studios looking for a drawing review or a second opinion on a renovation brief.

Drawn before styled

Plans, sections and axonometrics come first. Styled photography is a record of the result, not the argument.

Constraint as brief

Site boundaries, heritage lines and awkward floors are written into the brief rather than designed around later.

Materials with a reason

Saligna, oak-veneered ply, lime-washed brick, cork. Each choice is tied to a drawing detail and a budget line.

Studio history

How the practice took shape

The work did not start as a portfolio. It started as a set of measured drawings made on site in Observatory, then a second set in Woodstock, and slowly a habit of recording every room the same way: plan, section, and a note about what the client actually needed.

Early years

Drawing before styling

The first residential renovations in the Southern Suburbs were documented with tape measure and pencil. Photographs came later. That order stuck: the drawing set leads, the finished room follows.
Shift in scope

From rooms to joinery

Clients kept asking about storage, desks and alcoves. Detailing a single joinery wall in oak-veneered ply turned out to solve more problems than moving partitions, and the drawing work moved closer to the millimetre.
Working method

Constraints written down

Every entry now carries the brief, the constraint and the drawing set. A sloping warehouse floor, a fig tree that cannot move, a 4.2 m boundary: these are recorded, not smoothed over.
Where it stands

A studio, not a feed

Trade clients, homeowners and design studios ask for a studio visit or a drawing review. Material boards, tile layouts and timber selections sit alongside the axonometrics, because that is how the decisions were made.

Who we draw with

Most of the work that leaves the studio passes through other hands first. Builders price the details, joiners cut the profiles, and suppliers hold the finishes. These are the practices and trades we keep coming back to, project after project, across Observatory, Woodstock and the Southern Suburbs.

Joinery

Kloof Millwork

Solid timber frames and fitted cabinetry. They read a section drawing properly and flag a bad detail before it reaches site, which saves a rebuild later.

Structural

Peninsula Engineers

Steel and timber calculations for rear extensions and load-bearing alterations. Used on the Observatory cottage where the original wall line had to stay.

Tiles and stone

Salt River Tile Co.

Full-module layouts for kitchens and wet rooms. We set the grid together so cuts land where nobody looks.

Lighting

Woodstock Lighting Studio

Task and accent specification for the studio fit-out. They work from the reflected ceiling plan rather than a catalogue, which keeps the scheme honest.

Survey

Table Bay Measured Survey

Existing plans and levels for older properties. On the Sea Point flat they caught a 40 mm floor fall that changed the joinery base detail.

Photography

Nadia Fourie

Site and finished-room photography. She shoots the room as built, not styled, so the portfolio stays close to what was actually delivered.

Trade clients, homeowners and design studios are welcome to request a drawing review or a studio visit by email at info@travisronaldson.com.