design process

The design process is divided into three main phases, preliminary design, construction documents, and construction administration.

Preliminary Design

Existing Conditions  The first work on the project involves documenting the parameters within which we will design. This typically includes assisting the owner in obtaining a survey of the property, and a geotechnical analysis. If the project is a renovation the initial work also includes measuring the existing building. We also review the zoning and building codes and regulations relevant to the project.

Schematic Design  Before beginning the actual design work, we work with our clients to get a clear idea of their needs and desires for the project, beginning with reviewing their answers to our Design Questionnaire. Then, based on our clients' functional needs, aesthetic preferences, and budget requirements, we prepare a number of sketches that illustrate the basic design ideas. These are usually hand-drawn, and include a site plan, the floor plans, the most important elevations, and a section or two. We often also create a 3D virtual model of the exterior of the project in SketchUp, a simple 3D rendering program, which allows us to look at the massing of the design from every angle, and see the path of the sun across the project. Our clients find this very helpful in understanding the design. This phase, like all of the design process, is iterative. We create a design, and then get the owners' feedback on it, and then refine the design, or produce an entirely new one, based on that feedback. The sketches provide talking points. They bring out the issues, and help both client and architect focus and move toward appropriate solutions. We take a first pass at specifications for materials and assemblies to be used in the work. At the end of this phase, and before proceeding to the next, we recommend having a contractor develop a "ball-park" estimate based on the Preliminary Design sketches, to make sure we're on track with costs.

Construction Documents

Design Development  Based on the approved budget and design direction, we prepare additional sketches and drawings that explore and convey all aspects of the design, in more detail, and preliminary specifications for materials and techniques to be used in the project. We transfer the design to the computer at this stage, and lay the foundation as it were for the drawings that the contractor will use to build the project. We make suggestions for materials, finishes, appliances, lighting, and plumbing fixtures and fittings to be used in the work, and ideally, by the end of this phase, our clients have made many of those choices.

Permit Set  If the permit processing times for the jurisdiction in which the project lies are long we often submit the application for permit on a more limited set of drawings, to get that going, and continue with the rest of the work of the Construction Documents phase in parallel with the permit processing. The Permit Set typically includes a site plan, floor plans, elevations, building sections and one wall section, and the Structural Drawings and Notes, as well as information on energy use as well as the heating and ventilating systems.

Working Drawings and Specifications  While the permit is being processed, we continue to prepare drawings and specifications setting forth in detail the requirements for the construction of the project. These Construction Documents include exterior or interior details, interior elevations of rooms such as kitchens and bathrooms or other rooms with lots of detail, cabinet and stair details, interior materials and finishes, and specifications. The specifications describe all the materials and techniques to be used, including special materials and finishes - such as low-toxic paints, FSC-certified lumber, whole house ventilation fans, fly ash to be added to the concrete mix and so on - and suggestions to the contractor about where to get them.

Pricing  If our clients have not already selected a contractor, we assist them in obtaining bids or negotiated proposals from contractors and in awarding a contract for construction. This includes preparing bid documents, going over the plans with contractors, analyzing and comparing bids, etc.

Construction Administration

Essentially, the design process is completed on site during construction, in collaboration with the owner and contractor. A custom home is a prototype that brings together literally hundreds of products from tens of different sources, installed by a total of perhaps thirty or forty different people employed by a dozen different companies. If architects were to try to draw and account for every interface of each of those components in the Construction Documents, their fees would be astronomical. On site however, any atypical connections and transitions can be worked out fairly easily, using the "three heads are better than one" approach. We find a once-a-week site visit with owner, contractor and architect works really well for this. Our work in this phase also includes answering our clients' and the contractor's telephone questions, review of shop drawings, and assisting the owner in determining amounts owed to the contractor.