The Design Process
Define the Problem
You can't find a solution, until you can spell out what the problem is. Architects work with the client to define the project. The problem may be something like "A new school kitchen with cafeteria that seats 300 students" or "A new high school for 1,000 students."
Once the problem is defined, architects will spend time gathering information to help them understand the neighborhood, the site, the users of the building, any existing buildings. Typically this means taking photographs, sketching, and interviewing the client. It's also valuable to collect information on the natural environment, so architects may gather data on the path of the sun around the site, the direction of the wind, the climate, as well as what types of plants are currently growing around the site.
During this stage of the process, architects may begin sketching or making diagrams to help them understand how all the data and information they've collected may impact the design of the building. These early drawings - which may include bubble diagrams, for example, will help the architects document their ideas, because it's likely the solution will change as they go along.
At this stage in the design process, architects will create drawings with specific solutions to be shown to the client. Schematic drawings, as these are typically called, help illustrate the big ideas and space requirements of the project. Schematic drawings usually do not include dimensions or other construction-related notes.
No solution is perfect the first time around, so it's critical that the architects continue the discussion with the client to receive feedback.
With feedback in hand, the architects will go back and continue to revise and improve the final solution. Over the next several months, or even years, the architecture firm will work with the client to refine the original design. Based on an analysis of cost vs. needs, together the firm and the client will closely review the solutions and make balanced decisions on which features will stay, which will be redesigned, and which may be eliminated. The architecture firm will also work closely with the general contractor responsible for constructing the building. Depending on the size of the project, other partners â€“ such as structural engineers, mechanical/plumbing engineers, acoustical engineers, lighting designers, civil engineers, landscape architects, electrical engineers â€“ are brought into the process and hired for their expertise.
The precise details of the building will determined over several months while the firm is developing a set of construction drawings and specifications - called construction documents - which will be part of the legal contract between the architect and client. These construction documents will be used by the contractor to construct the building.