Travis Ronaldson

Client notes

What the rooms looked like before the drawings were signed off

Most of these notes come back months after handover, once the joinery has settled and the family has actually lived in the space. They are the part of the portfolio I trust most.

Travis Ronaldson scenarios

Observatory, rear extension

Existing and proposed plans, roof junction section, saligna window schedule.

"We kept the wet core where it was and put the money into the glazing. Two winters in and the back room is the warmest in the house."

"The platform drawing was clear enough that our carpenter built it without a single site query. That never happens on a warehouse floor that slopes."

Fit-out contractor, Woodstock

"The 1:20 plan showed exactly where the desk would sit. I work from home, so being able to close it off at six was the whole point."

Client, Sea Point apartment

"We send Travis our early sketches now. The axonometrics catch clashes before they reach the builder, which saves everyone a week."

Design studio, Southern Suburbs

Trade and studio clients

Joinery workshops, tile suppliers and interior studios in Cape Town who have worked from these drawing sets on repeat renovations.

Why this route holds up when the brief gets awkward

Most scenarios on this page start the same way: a room that almost works, a boundary that cannot move, a heritage wall that stays. What changes the outcome is how the drawing set is built and who reads it before anyone lifts a tool.

Measured first

Drawings taken from the actual room

Every scenario begins with a site measure, not a guess from old plans. Sloping floors, out-of-square corners and the real position of the wet core get recorded before any layout is proposed.

Constraint named

The limit is written down, not hidden

A fig tree that stays, a 4.2 m boundary, a 90 mm fall across a warehouse bay. Stating the constraint early keeps the brief honest and stops a scheme from quietly promising something the site will refuse.

Trade readable

Plan, section and axonometric together

Joiners and builders get a section through the roof junction, a platform framing detail and a joinery elevation. Styled photographs alone never answered a question on site.

Materials specified

Timber, tile and finish called by name

Saligna window frames, oak-veneered ply, a lime-washed brick pier, cork pinboard. Material boards carry the sample and the reason it was chosen, so substitutions are a conversation rather than a surprise.

Spend placed

Money goes where it shows

Keeping the wet core in place and putting the budget into glazing and floor is a decision, not a compromise. Each scenario notes what was held back and what was worth the extra.

One reader in mind

Homeowners, trade and studios

A homeowner wants to see the finished room and understand the sequence. A joiner wants the detail. The same scenario is documented so both can read it without a translation layer.

If a scenario here resembles your own room or unit, the next useful step is a drawing review. The working process explains how a brief moves from measure to issued set, and services covers renovations, fit-outs and furniture detailing.

Where these scenarios usually start

Most enquiries reach the studio mid-decision: a room that no longer works, a lease signed before the layout was tested, or a set of drawings that needs a second pair of eyes before it goes to tender. The three situations below come up again and again across Observatory, Woodstock, Sea Point and the Southern Suburbs.

Heritage footprint

The rear that never got finished

A Victorian cottage with a dark back room, a boundary you cannot move and a tree worth keeping. We measure what exists, test two or three courtyard depths in section, then detail the roof junction so the old line still reads from the street.

See the Observatory cottage drawings

Commercial bay

A workshop, not an office

Small studios often inherit a sloping floor, exposed services and a clerestory that does half the lighting work. The fit-out levels only the zone that needs it, leaves the rest as found, and keeps storage open so the space still reads as a working room.

Walk through the Woodstock fit-out

Compact living

One wall doing four jobs

When a flat has three doors on one wall and nowhere to put anything, the answer is usually a single joinery line: wardrobe, desk, bed alcove and kitchen tall units in one elevation, drawn at 1:20 before a single panel is cut.

Review the Sea Point joinery wall

If your situation sits somewhere between these, the useful first step is a drawing review: send the existing plans, a few site photographs and a note on what is not working. From there we can say whether it is a spatial problem, a joinery problem, or simply a set of drawings that needs tightening. The wider project archive shows how each of these was documented in plan, section and axonometric.

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