Designing Architecture

What is architectural design?

The process of integrating building technologies and practices and forming a cohesive, functional enclosure for human use while considering aesthetics is the process of architectural design. It can be extremely complex or quite simple. A designer has to integrate many aspects into one whole project:
- Client needs
- Functional requirements
- Aesthetic priorities
- Ergonomics
- Sustainability
- Health and safety requirements
- Rules of construction
- Available technologies and materials
- Laws and regulations
- Cost/benefit analysis
- Social norms and customs
- And many more

Designing architectures

Taking all these elements together and creating a working whole is designing architecture. It can be incredibly exciting, challenging, and fantastic! If there is synergy between the client and the architect, magic sometimes happens and is wonderful to see. Then architectural designs live on forever in lasting architectures.

Architectural designs

The architect usually goes through a series of analyses in the form of sketches and concept designs. These sketches help shape thoughts and interpretations of the various requirements of the project. This process of designing involves a gradual revealing of information that both informs and is informed by the designer’s sketches. The more he sketches, the more he discovers. New concepts, situations, and problems are revealed as he explores. It is a sudoku puzzle with the squares changing size and totals all the time!

Sometimes continuing with the design exploration makes a solution come out, seemingly on its own.

Sketches

Sketching is important. The nature of the sketch is pivotal in that it is ambiguous. There is a lot of space for future discovery and interpretation. The fluid nature of the drawings allows the architectural designer to concentrate on the concept of the project. Spaces and functions can easily change with a flick of the wrist as is desired at this stage.

Precise drawings follow afterward. Their focus is on the details and making sure that technologies and materials tie in well with the architectural concept.

Architecture designs

During the design process, the architectural designers go through a series of stages that are outlined on our architectural design page. Some of these can be reexamined, repeated, or even restarted depending on the project. A client might decide to change the design brief and create a nursery school instead of a high school building, and the whole design might start again, change and evolve.

Designing architecture is incredibly rewarding and is always a collaboration between many people and interests. The results can be exciting: culturally, socially, technologically, and aesthetically. Architecture is the key driver in the evolution of society!