---

Schematic Design

Upon reviewing the owner or id9 prepared program, site, schedule, budget, and delivery method, the process of preparing Schematic Design documents can begin.

Schematic design is the first of the five increments of basic architectural services defined in most AIA standard forms of agreement between owner and architect. During schematic design (SD), id9 works with the client and other project team members to explore alternative concepts for addressing the client’s needs. A preferred design direction is selected for further exploration from these alternatives, and schematic design typically ends with a presentation of the proposed design including plans of each floor level, major elevations, outline specifications, a budget estimate, and other information needed to clearly describe how the design meets the client’s project program and goals.  

Major Variables Affecting Design

The first step in schematic design is usually identification of major issues that must be addressed—at least at a conceptual level. Although every project is unique, the following factors generally are the basis for most project designs: 

Program

The program sets out the core of the design problem—the project objectives and the spaces and functional requirements to be accommodated. Most programs are unique to a project and client and, therefore, call for unique solutions. 

Codes and Regulations

Regulatory constraints on design have increased steadily. Beginning with simple safety requirements and minimal land use and light-and-air zoning, building codes and regulations have grown into a major determinant in design. In addition to formal code requirements, a growing number of public agency approvals influence design in a more subjective, less structured way. Additionally, designs may be adjusted to satisfy community groups, neighbors, and public officials. These design adjustments are often ad hoc efforts to meet objections or to gain support rather than direct responses to codified requirements. 

Sites

The building site, of course, has a major influence on building design. Physical characteristics (such as size, configuration, topography, and geotechnical issues), existing structures, environmental factors (views, existing vegetation, climate, solar orientation, drainage), access, adjacent land uses, and many other site factors become considerations in the final design. One site consideration that often has a significant effect on building design is the surrounding environment. Not only does the community context have obvious effects on building configuration, it also frequently influences the scale, detailing, color, and texture of the final design. A more direct influence on building design are existing structures to be incorporated into the project. A growing percentage of building design problems calls for working within the constraints of an existing structure.

Primary Steps in Schematic Design

Despite the range of design opportunities and constraints that architects face, the schematic design process used by most architects includes the following activities in one form or another: 

• Analysis –  Typically results in a definition of the design problem. 
• Synthesis – Analysis is translated into a project concept.
• Refinement – The concept is worked into a design solution. 
• Documentation – The design solution is graphically depicted.

Developing a Parti

Since a design problem can usually be solved in several ways, another initial concept step is establishing a basic organization, or parti, for the project. This may be a plan concept, selection of a geometric form, a decision to mass the building vertically or horizontally, or use of an organizing element such as a central mall for the interior spaces. In thinking about this idea, you may want to note this observation of Edward Larrabee Barnes: “It is not just a case of form following function. Sometimes function follows form. The interaction is important.” In some cases, a basic design concept may stem from a particular image or one of the partis commonly used in earlier periods of architecture. Whatever the underlying principle, it is common to develop several partis prior to the testing and evaluation steps that lead to a final concept.

Design Development

The beginning of design development (DD) is a logical extension of schematic design. DD tasks build on the approved schematic design to reach a level of completeness that demonstrates the project can be built. The schematic design is overlaid with more detailed information obtained from an array of multidisciplinary consultants and team members. Throughout DD, it is important to evaluate how systems, material selection, and detailing reflect the schematic design concept. The design team works out detailed coordination issues, while enhancing the project, so that major revisions are not needed during construction documentation or, worse, during construction. Depiction of all aspects of the design, including architectural, structural, HVAC, electrical, plumbing, and fire protection systems are essential. Depending on the building type, acoustic and vibration considerations, lighting concepts, landscaping design, and other specialized factors also need to be integrated into the design. Design development may rely on extensive three-dimensional representations (models, perspectives, animations, full-size mockups, etc.) to communicate both the overall design and details to the design team, the client, and the construction team. 

Historically, schematic design, design development, and construction documentation were distinct phases of project delivery. In a continuous process of evolution, refinement, and integration, digital developments have blurred these phases. Add to this the emergence of project delivery methods beyond traditional design-bid build to methods emphasizing multiple packages and sequential issuance of design information, and the crisp lines between traditional project delivery phases are often gone. Design development documents are often similar to those in schematic design, but contain more detail in the drawings and specifications and may—depending on the contract—be accompanied by an updated cost estimate. The client reviews these documents and, upon the client’s written approval, construction documentation begins. With Integrated project delivery (IDP), the issuance of production information and even commencement of construction overlap the design development phase. In these instances, the architect must focus sooner on systems that affect early stages in the work.

Effects of New Technologies

The traditional role of design development is as a step in a continuously increasing effort that leads to construction documentation, which is the culmination of the design effort. A by-product of the new technologies used in architecture practice is the alteration of this process, as described above. In response to this change, Patrick MacLeamy, FAIA, CEO of HOK, proposed an alternate effort chart that makes DD the peak effort in the design process (see the accompanying diagram below). This view of design development coincides with its position on the design effort curve in MacLeamy’s graph, which shows the design team’s ability to affect cost and quality diminishing over the life of a project.

When DD is seen as the peak effort in the design process, more final work occurs during this phase, requiring more effort. For example, construction of 3-D building information models (BIMs) and other means of achieving interdisciplinary coordination during design development require greater effort than traditional 2-D drawings. However, expending this effort during DD reduces the effort required during construction documentation. The Construction Users Roundtable (CURT) is presently considering this approach to DD as a way to increase A/E productivity, while improving the quality of construction documents. id9 and their consultants use a variety of techniques to explore the design of a building throughout the DD phase. These techniques range from traditional hand sketching and physical model building to computer modeling and animation borrowed from the aerospace and entertainment industries. New technologies make it possible to take information from physical models of buildings and mockups of portions of a design and enter them into computer programs for use in design development. The expansion of CAD into the third dimension has increased the number of tools available to explore design issues. In addition to placing 2-D design information into 3-D computer programs, it is now possible to export 3-D information. Rapid prototyping machines “print” 3-D model buildings and mockups. Even the physical models used in wind tunnel analysis often begin with 3-D models of the building and surroundings created by computer numerical control (CNC) machines. Other ways of assessing building performance during design by using 3-D models exported to other programs include computational fluid dynamic (CFD) analysis, lighting studies, timed exit analysis, and energy analysis.

Multidisciplinary Design Issues 

Many issues in building design require coordination and collaboration among team members from different disciplines. Attention to these interdisciplinary efforts begins during schematic design, but responses to such concerns are refined during design development. In particular, the revived emphasis on energy conscious design and the emergence of sustainable design objectives have introduced increased intersections in the work of architects, engineers, and specialty consultants. Attention is given to the following multidisciplinary design areas at many points in the project delivery process. By necessity, none can be considered independently by practitioners of just one discipline. As mentioned above, detailed coordination may wait until construction documentation; however, an integrated approach to addressing these issues during design development yields better results.