Architectural Design

1st ProofTitle: BA: Architectural Design

Job No: PD0710-67/4028

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The design project

Development and detail

Once issues such as the scale, function, materiality and

concept of the proposal have been resolved in outline,

the architect will begin to make certain key decisions;

these decisions influence others that are apparently less

strategic. The complexity of any architectural project

means that it is necessary to ‘fix’ some ideas in order to

explore the consequences. It is important to remember

that these choices are only paper decisions and can

easily be reversed if necessary, often without destroying

the integrity of the whole scheme. Revisiting and

interrogating should reveal possibilities that can enhance

the concept and even the detail. This process ensures

that the design of form and space is tested. A form that

is chosen at the beginning of a typical project and does

not alter during the design development is unlikely to

have been very closely questioned by its designer;

it lowers the ambition for the project.

Drawings and models increase in scale and bring together

many different elements of the design, ranging from

the activities of the users to the structural strategy.

Drawings relate different elements to one another and

resolve any difficulty in bringing them together. Information

from consultants and specialist sub-contractors (such as

services engineers and pre-cast concrete manufacturers),

appears within the architect’s drawings. The architect must

coordinate this advice and collaborate with consultants to

make strategic design decisions that retain the clarity of

the concept. The form designed by the architect creates

an envelope and a series of spaces that must be designed

in detail so they can be constructed. The way that materials

and elements are joined together at this scale can be as

poetic as the sequence of form and space, despite the

pragmatic realities of the materials concerned. The concept

can be expressed right down to the last bolt.

Typical activities

at this stage

Scaled drawings

and models

Design resolution

Detailed design

Materiality

Research

Decision making

Execution of concept

Samples and prototypes

Feedback

Control

Managing complexity

Collaboration

Text

1st ProofTitle: BA: Architectural Design

Job No: PD0710-67/4028

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