1st ProofTitle: BA: Architectural Design
Job No: PD0710-67/4028Chapter 3 final (3.1)_.qxd:layouts to chapter one 7/24/10 7:32 AM Page 72
The design projectClients, users and briefDo you draw while you are talking to clients?
Dann Jessen
Yes, it’s very useful to not be afraid of doing that. To have
a relationship between what’s being said and what it could
mean. We use annotations on drawings because the
combination of the drawing and text is able to communicate
very efficiently – even in spatial drawings or photo montages.
Judith Lösing
I think one is drawing with the client to make them party to
the development of the design. With their words on it they
can feel a different sense of ownership, but I think it’s also
something we do between us [in the office].
Dann Jessen
We spend a lot of time observing places and we talk to
people. These conversations are often captured in drawings.
So every time we have had a meeting we might draw rather
than write minutes. We draw minutes on a plan so that the
outcome is spatial and able to directly inform proposals for
adjustments to the place.
Judith Lösing
These early consultations tend to be part of the brief that
comes with public-sector clients. Often they can be made
very useful. They’re not just about ‘tell us about what you
think’ or ‘what’s wrong here?’ We try to make them an early
one-to-one testing of what the place could be. For example,
in Kender Gardens we made a large sandpit in the shape
of the park as a model for a consultation day. We wanted to
show our proposals but also see if children would like to play
with sand, which we proposed as an alternative to rubber
safety surfaces.
Dann Jessen
If you actually map all of the stuff that makes a place then
that becomes your client; the place gets a presence and it
becomes about adjusting and adding to this, rather than just
wishing for a blank canvas.
Julian Lewis
The mapping is actually quite creative. It’s not just
documenting, it’s selecting things which we believe have
value and working with those different extents, different
materials, different cultural layers.Project: Hastings Nursery
Location: Hastings and St
Leonards, UK
Architect: East
Date: 2008
The play area was designed in
consultation with the children who
would use it. The architects’
observations of the children at play
are evident in their drawings and
inform their proposals for the new
play space.Text
1st ProofTitle: BA: Architectural Design
Job No: PD0710-67/4028Chapter 3 final (3.1)_.qxd:layouts to chapter one 7/24/10 7:32 AM Page 72