2:designdevelopment
Your Design Program
The functional requirements of an architectural project are often handled as a fixed checklist of problems--called the "program"--to be solved by the design. We prefer our programs to evolve over the life of the design project. True, we need to start with some sense of the project's functional needs, capacities, and objectives. This often takes the form of defining elements to maximize (views, interesting topography) and minimize (street noise); things to account for (aging of residents, guests); and spaces to offer different experiences.
But the Program must be allowed to grow. It evolves and "learns" from the site, the materials, even the weather. It changes with ongoing review of preconceptions and ideas between the designer and client. It becomes refined through our capacity to see the project more clearly in three dimensions. And, finally, an evolving program reflects the spontaneity and unpredictability of creative minds--yours and ours--engaged through the life of your project.
The Models
Early on, we translate from plan and sectional concepts into the 3-D world of models. Sometimes, a project model is just a simple massing of shapes reveal contouring to the site. More often, the beginning models are somewhat transparent (with window and door openings cut) and include rooms, defined areas inside and out, cabinetry. These models begin to express differences in building materials and are developed within the topography of your site.
A model represents the first real proposition for your project in a form easy to grasp. Hold your eye up to a model, and you see spaces in their relative scale and form. You see how daylight enters. You get to experience the volume of your spaces and the natural light passing through them.
The Drawings
Finally, there is nothing like a good package of drawings to bring out the best quality and efficient production in the builders and fabricators of your project. Creating a thorough set of construction drawings takes time. It is a refining of a short history of material, aesthetic, and functional propositions collected since Day One of the design process. Accurate and detailed drawings take time to generate. A thorough set of drawings prescribes all construction materials, construction details and finish details, including cabinetry, stairs, railings, etc. >Phase III-Construction Oversight