Design project framework

Prior to starting the design, it is necessary to define the parameters of

the project, and draw upon the extensive research that has been
carried out so far. By this stage we have developed a brief through
discussions with the client and other stakeholders. We have carried
out an thorough site analysis, gaining as much information as possible
about the site, surroundings and context. We will also be searching for
ideas that will provide a basis for our concept. We now need to pull all
this information together in order to proceed to the next stage.

Project Design Brief

Following discussions with the client we can begin to build an
understanding of the spatial requirements of the project. These could
include:
 Room requirements, types of rooms, how many rooms
 Floor areas of rooms and spaces
 Flexible spaces
 Floor area standards to carry out particular tasks
 Spatial relationship requirements to the site and context
 Relationship between spaces
The brief may be very detailed, perhaps for a residential client who is
very clear about how they envisage their new home. Or the brief could
be more loose, with a commercial client having bought land for
development, but requiring further investigation as to the best use of
the site. This is where feasibility studies would begin to establish the
kind of project to proceed with.
On the other hand, if the client was perhaps a retail brand, a
supermarket perhaps, or the type of commercial enterprise that had
multiple outlets in different locations, they would be very clear as to
their requirements and not doubt have very detailed procedures and
needs to fulfil the brief.
Working with the brief it is necessary to establish who the end user of
the building will be. If you are designing a private house, it is likely the
client will be the end user. This means you will be able to ask many
questions and get to know the client and what they need for their new
home.
However, if you are working with a developer, or on a large scale
development, it is most probable that the end user will not be the
client. It is important to establish both the needs of the client, for
example, maximum profit at minimum cost for a developer, and the
needs of the actual building user. Sometimes the term stakeholders is
used, to encompass all parties that have some form of engagement in
the project and need to be considered during the design. A stakeholder
could be the client, developer, investor, contractor, community, end
user and so on.
See also…

Type of project
 
We will also be able to establish from the brief what type of project we
are working on. Are we looking at a residential project for a single
family? Or a multiple occupancy residential project where we will be
attempting to fulfil the needs of multiple families? If a multiple
occupancy scheme, is the project private or public? Will the
apartments or dwellings be owned by the occupiers or will they be
rented? How will the budget affect the project?
Is the project a commercial endeavour? The building could be serving
as offices, business premises, retail, restaurants, factories, and the list
goes on. For each of these types of commercial project, it is important
to establish how the building will be used and by whom. What kind of
tasks will be carried out in the building and what specific requirements
will those tasks have? This could be lighting, temperature, special
equipment, and many more factors that may be specific to this
particular project.

Is the project a public building or an institution?

A public building or institution could be anything from an airport, to a
government building, museum, library, hospital, school, and many
more. Some of these types of buildings can have many requirements
and complicated briefs. Establishing detailed information about these
types of buildings and carrying out thorough research will help as the
design process gets going. Some buildings will serve more than one
function, a museum for example. Although most of a museum space is
displaying objects or paintings, a museum may also be used as an event
space, may include a shop and a cafe. All of these parts of the project
must be considered with the same amount of care and attention.
In the same way, a hospital not only has highly specialised equipment
and needs, but also will house anything from a shop, cafe to
laboratories, teaching spaces and many others.
The type of project will be a key factor in defining the project
requirements. Precedent studies can help with the research and
development stage as the designer can engage with and learn from
existing buildings.
Architecture precedent studies can aid your design process from
concept to final design.Note that precedents are not copied but used
as an inspiration to your design, an idea or guide to a method that you
are wishing to employ in your scheme.
The use of a precedent in design can lend authority to your design by
associating your proposal to something else. A precedent can
communicate a meaning to your design, whether as a form of dialogue
to your client, the public, or for the designer.
See also…

Site Analysis
Many of the decisions that are taken on the project will be a response
to the site of the proposed building and its context. The site analysis
will provide a wealth of information to learn about the requirements of
the site, the local area, the history, the climatic conditions and many
more factors that will need to be considered.
 Many architects use the site as a starting point for developing their
proposal. Some of the factors that will need to be studied include:
 Location – where the site is situated
 Neighbourhood context – the immediate surrounding of the site
including data on zoning and buildings and other impacts on our
project.
 Zoning and size – dimensional considerations such as boundaries,
easements, height restrictions, site area, access along with any further
plans.
 Legal information – ownership, restrictions or covenants, council
related information, planning regulations and restrictions future urban
development plans.
 Natural physical features – actual features of the site such as
trees, rocks, topography, rivers, ponds, drainage patterns.
 Man made features – existing buildings, walls, surrounding
vernacular, setbacks, materials, landscaping, scale.
 Circulation – Vehicle and pedestrian movements in, through and
around the site. Consider the timing of these movements, and duration
of heavier patterns. Future traffic and road developments should also
be considered.
 Utilities – Any electricity, gas, water, sewer and telephone
services that are situated in or near the site, along with distances,
depths and materials.
 Climate – all climatic information such as rainfall, snowfall, wind
directions, temperatures, sun path, all considered during the different
times of the year.
 Sensory – this addresses the visual, audible and tactile aspects of
the site, such as views, noise, and so on. These again should be
considered in time frames and a positive or negative factor can be
attributed to the condition.
 Human and cultural – the cultural, psychological, behavioural and
sociological aspects of the surrounding neighbourhood. Activities and
patterns, density, population ethnic patterns, employment, income,
values and so on.
Once data relating to the site has been collected it can be evaluated,
considering some of the following issues:
 Street patterns
 Street section
 Scale and the hierarchy/form/space
 Land use
 Typologies
 Neighbourhood relationships, formal street variation
 Perspective relationships, views
 Edge conditions, surfaces and materials
 Natural and man made
 Movement and circulation within and around the site
 Vehicle vs. pedestrian
 Access
 Public space vs. private space
 Open space
 History
 Climate – sun angles and sun shadows
 Negative and positive spaces – we move through negative spaces
and dwell in positive spaces
 
See also…

Characteristics of the site

While we have studies the features of the site using our site analysis, it
is important to also mention the non physical context of the site. A site
will change over time, and these changes may not always be visible.
Non physical context can be political, social, cultural, and historical. To
understand these aspects of the site, and weave them into the project
is an important study during the design process.
This type of data can be difficult to collect, and in some cases it has
been shown that engaging with and involving the community in the
design project allows the architect to gain a true reflection of the non
physical context of the site. Collaborations allow the design to reflect
the needs of the community and integrate them into the project.
 
Conclusion
Drawing from the research stages, the brief, site analysis, project type,
site characteristics we are able to proceed to developing our concept
of design and start to develop an outline of the project needs.
Although we have mentioned many factors here, there are certainly
countless more, and often varied from project to project, site to site.
There isn’t just one way to approach design, but hopefully the points
raised here have encouraged or inspired a design thinking to lead you
to develop your scheme.
Recommended Specification
This is a quick overview of the minimum specification recommended,
as set out by the system requirements below.
Operating System:
Windows 8 or higher (Windows 10 ideally)
Mac – OS X 10.12 or later (10.14 ideally)
Processor: 
Intel Core i5 – preferably i7 processor
AMD equivalent
2.6 GHz or higher
RAM/Memory:
8Gb minimum, with the option to upgrade, or 16Gb if you can afford it
Hard Drive (free disk space): 
500 Gb + with a speed of at least 7,200rpm
Look at SSD if you can afford it or a hybrid HDD SDD.
Graphics Card:
At least 2GB of discrete/dedicated memory – NVIDIA and Radeon are
good options – many softwares are looking for 4GB – get the best you
can.
Display:
The more pixels you have, the sharper your screen will look. Try and go
for a higher pixel count of 1600×900 or 1920×1080 – given the
amount of graphic work you will be doing, its worth splashing out on a
laptop with a good display. If weight isn’t an issue go for a larger
screen size if possible, 15 to 17 inches will be better for rendering and
drafting. If you can, try and go for UHD, 4K or 5K if you want to future
proof your machine. 
 

What does this all mean?

Components of the laptop – understand exactly what you are looking
for, and what you are buying.
Here I wanted to break down each aspect of the laptop so you know
what you are looking for and why. The process of buying a new laptop,
and parting with a good amount of cash can be a stressful one, and you
 want to make the most informed decision you can. Read on, and I’ll
explain the components as best I can.
Screens
 
Resolution
Screen resolution is all about picture quality, it is measured in pixels
(horizontal x vertical).
 HD:1366 x 768 resolution is standard on general laptops. Good
for browsing the internet, e-mail and basic computing tasks.
 HD+:1600 x 900 resolution is great for casual gaming and
watching DVD movies.
 Full HD:1920 x 1080 resolution allows you to watch Blu-ray
movies and play video games without losing any level of detail.
 Retina display:2304 x 1440, 2560 x 1600 and 2880 x 1800
resolutions are found in Apple’s 12″, 13.3″ and 15.6″ laptop displays,
respectively.
 QHD (Quad HD) and QHD+:With 2560 x 1440 and 3200 x 1800
resolutions, respectively, the extremely high pixel density creates crisp
detail and sharp text, ideal for professional photo and graphics work as
well as high-def movies and games.
 4K Ultra HD:3840 x 2160 resolution boasts four times the pixels
of Full HD, creating rich colors and images for viewing and editing
incredibly lifelike images and graphics.
 
Type of display
LED backlighting can display bright colours well without draining
battery life. If you choose a laptop with a glossy screen you will find it
generally will present richer colours and darker blacks, while a matte
screen will reduce the glare, particularly if you like to work outdoors,
or your workstation is near a window.
Processor
The processor is the brain of the computer. A powerful processor will
make your laptop run faster, and will save you a lot of headaches
which you wait for apps to load, or struggle to orbit a 3d model with
shadows turned on!
Intel and AMD are the main manufacturers of processors. Let’s look at
Intel first:
Intel Processors:
The Intel is at the heart of every modern MacBook and many Windows
laptops. The most prevalent is the Core series.

Core i7: The top of the range processor from Intel, and the processor
of choice really for high-demand software like 3D modelling, rendering
and similar tasks carried out by architecture students.

Core i5: The middle grade processor, and more commonly seen in most
general laptops. It is pretty powerful, but could struggle if you have
multiple programs open, that are all high demand.

Core i3: Entry level, and probably not powerful enough to consider for
an architecture student.

Core M: Ok for internet browsing and email checking, but not powerful
enough for what we are looking for!

In short – we are really aiming for the Core i7 if your budget permits.

 
AMD Processors:
AMD have a FX and A-Series.
FX: This is the top of the range from AMD and sits around the Core i7
Core i5 area. Totally up to the requirements of an architecture student,
great for heavy multitasking.
A10: Good graphics performance, still up to the challenge.
A8: Still holding in there with some good graphics performance but
really I would aim for the FX or A10 if you are going for the AMD
processor.
A6 & A4: Although still great processors they would not be suitable for
managing the types of programs an architect would be using.
RAM
RAM is the computers memory. The more it has, the more programs
your laptop can deal with at any one time without slowing it down.
On average, most programs in the architecture field look for a
recommended requirement of 8GB. Where possible aim for this, or
even more if you can.
Storage – The Hard Drive
There are two types of hard drive. HDDs (Hard Disk Drives) are the
most common and can store large amounts of data. These are the
standard types of hard drive you will generally find on most laptops.
They come in two different speeds, 5400rpm or 7200rpm. I would go
for the 7200rpm for your needs.
The other type, the Solid State Drive (SSD), is super fast and consumes
less power meaning your battery will last longer. They are also smaller
in size and weight, and have a negligible heat production and noiseless
operation.
The drawback is that they have a smaller capacity, so they aren’t
always able to store the mountains of work that you will be doing at
college or uni and beyond!!
You will find some laptops offer a multi hard drive, featuring a SSD for
housing the operating system and applications meaning faster start up,
and an HDD for general data storage.
 

Is size and weight of laptop important?

Are you mainly working on your laptop in one place, or will you be
carrying it around with you wherever you go? Consider this when
choosing your laptop, it you want a large screen, remember that
usually comes with extra weight. If you will be only working on the
laptop in your office, then a larger heavier laptop may not be a
problem. Laptop screen sizes can range from about 11 to 17 inches. A
larger screen is ideal for drafting work, image editing, 3D modelling but
just remember to consider the balance between screen size, weight
and power consumption. Working on many of the drafting applications
like CAD, ArchiCAD etc, they tend to have numerous toolbars and
palettes, which take up a large amount of screen space. 
 An option is to get a small light laptop, and have an additional monitor
that you can plug in to. This works really well for me, when I am in the
office I can work on my 27inch monitor, but if I need to head out I can
throw my laptop in a bag and take it with me easily. 
Architecture software system requirements
 

Autodesk Autocad 
 3GHz or better processor
 16GB RAM
 4GB GPU Graphics card
 6GB hard disk space for installation
 
Read the full AutoCAD system requirements here

Revit 
 Core i5 or better
 16GB RAM
 Graphics DirectX 11 capable
 5GB hard disk space for installation
 
Read the full Revit system requirements here

Archicad 23
 64-vit processor with four or more cores
 16GB RAM or more (detailed models could require 32GB
 4GB Graphics card recommended with 4K display
 5GB hard disk space for installation
 
 Read the full ArchiCAD system requirements here

Vectorworks 2019
For high end installation:

 Core i7 at 3GHz or better

 16GB-32GB RAM
 4GB VRAM graphics card
 up to 30GB hard disk space for installation
 
Read the full Vectorworks system requirements here

3DS Max
 64 bit Intel or AMD multi core processor
 8GB RAM or more
 Check out Graphics cards recommendations here 
 6GB hard disk space for installation
 
Read the full 3ds Max requirements here

Rhino
 Processor not specified
 8GB RAM or more
 4GB VRAM graphics card
 2GB hard disk space for installation 
 
Read the full Rhino requirements here

SketchUp
 2GHz processor or better
 8GB RAM
 1GB Video card – OpenGL 3.0 or higher
 700MB disk space for installation
 
Read the full SketchUp system requirements here

Photoshop CC
 Intel or AMD processor 2GHz or faster
 8GB RAM
 Open GL 2.0 capable 
 3.1GB hard disk space for installation