Architectural Design Brief – The Checklist
Introduction
What is an architectural design brief?
The architectural design brief forms the very beginning of the design process. It is a project management document containing crucial project information with set outcomes that need to be achieved upon completion. It can provide an overall plan for the project and also be a useful reference document when tracking progress and efficiency. The brief is relevant in both educational and professional settings.
Student projects are often based around a real life project, with an imaginary client often included. A live project usually exists in order to fulfil the needs of a client, which then forms the grounding for a project brief. Typically the client’s requirements will be drafted in a document called the Strategic Brief. The architect will then need to develop a response to this in a key document called the Project Brief. It will often contain information about the project, stakeholders and deliverables alongside constraints such as the estimated time and costs required for completion.
Now it is important to note that depending on the level of involvement the client wants the architect to have, the chosen architect(s) may be in charge of putting either one or both of the client requirements and project briefs together. A thorough and informative design brief is therefore an imperative part of the design process. It is an essential point of reference not only for the architect, but for all people involved in the design and implementation of the project.
The more information we can gain from the client in the early stages of design, the more effective our decision making and problem solving process will be.
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Types of Design Brief
How the Brief Evolves
Helping Your Client Develop a Brief
Often clients, particularly domestic, may find it daunting to compile a design brief and as such it is important that we, the professionals, guide our clients to give us the information we need.
We have put together two checklists/questionnaires (which are certainly not exhaustive) to go through with your clients to help you get the information you need from your client in order to inform your design and fulfil your clients requirements. These lists will take you to the technical design stage where you will have a new set of questions and a new brief that will have to be developed.
Our Design Brief checklists
Briefing requirements will vary from project to project depending on scale and need. You will also find some aspects will be dictated by local authority regulations, planning requirements and conservation restrictions – it is important to be mindful of this from the outset.
You may also find that the brief will change and develop as you work on your early proposals as you interact with your client and gain a better understanding of their needs.
See below our checklist of questions that you can start off asking your client:
Residential Client Brief Checklist:
- Full contact details of client – address, phone number, email
- Full site address
- Details of any other important parties in the design process
- Describe your current home. What do you like and dislike about it? What is missing, and what would you change.
- What kind of ideas do you have about design and / or materials? Do you have any images from magazines/internet that show us a style that you like?
- Are there any particular design features that are important to you?
- What kind of style do you require for the project? e.g. contemporary, traditional, industrial, bold, elegant, minimal etc.
- Do you have any specific materials or surfaces in mind that you would like to see included in the project?
- Do you have specific time requirements for the project to be complete?
- What are your budget requirements?
- Do you have any specific accessibility requirements, for example is anyone in your family disabled or do you have any regular visitors that would have special needs?
- Do you have any specific considerations toward sustainability and energy efficiency – is there a particular system you would like to use: i.e., solar panels etc.
- Have you considered using alternative energy and heat sources?
- How much time and energy would you be willing to invest to maintain your home?
- Why did you choose this site?
- Is there anything about the site that you particularly like or dislike? Anything you would like to keep or remove?
- Are there any particular views within the site that are particularly important to you?
- How many people will be living in the new home?
- Do you foresee new additions to the home? (ie children)
- Are there any pets that will need to be accommodated?
- Describe your lifestyle and the kind of spaces that you need? For example, work from home, entertain often, etc
- How much time do you spend in the different areas of your home (indoors and outdoors)?
- What type of entertainment systems do you require? Music, TV, projectors, speakers throughout the house?
- What type of storage do you require? Specific hobbies that require lots of storage space? Large wardrobe space?
- Number of floors / rooms / spaces and use for each?
- Are there any particular areas that are to be more private than others? Or particular rooms that you would like to have connected?
- Do you have any preferred room layouts/relationships or orientations? – a south facing kitchen for example.
- Do you have any specific ideas or plans for the outside spaces that you would like us to consider?
- Any specific requirements for entry or street access?
- Have you thought about landscaping or including a garden? (green or blue spaces)
- What would you like to see in your newly extended/renovated home that it currently lacks?
- What additional areas / functions / activities will be housed in the new proposed space?
- Do you have any particular preferences for the relationship between the rooms?
- Would you be happy to reconsider the internal layout?
Commercial Client Brief Checklist:
- Full contact details of client – address, phone number, email
- Full site address
- Details of any other important contacts in the project team
- Why is this project being developed?
- Why did the client choose this site?
- Who are the other participants of this project?
- Does the client have any specific wishes with regard to design?
- What attitude do they have towards architecture and design?
- Will the drawings need to be understandable by non experts?
- Has the client worked with an architect before? If so, who?
- What are the time constraints of the project?
- Are there any particular phasing requirements?
- On what basis is the calculation of fees based?
- Should the project cost be estimated in order to base the fee calculation?
- What is the client budget?
- Depending on the type of project questions will vary, however some of the domestic questions may apply.
- What is the client looking to achieve with this project?
- What do the surroundings look like? Landscaping, trees, orientation, climate etc?
- What are the existing buildings and surrounding buildings? What materials are they?
- Does any later construction need to be taken into account now?
- What sort of materials would the client like to use?
- Are there any specific design goals? sustainability targets for example.
- Does the client/company have any leaning toward a sustainable energy efficient ethos?
- Would they like to include new technologies in the project?
- What are the infrastructure requirements of this project?
- Who will use the building?
- What are the requirements of the users of the building?
- Are there any specific accessibility requirements?
- There will be many more questions in this category following discovery of proposed building occupants.
- What floors / rooms / spaces are required? (Indoor and Outdoor)
- How would the spaces need to connect?
- Are there specific spatial requirements?
- Are there any specific external landscaping requirements?
- Are there any specific mechanical or electrical requirements?
Helpful links
League table advice: Briefing documents for building design – Designing Buildings RIBA Plan of Work (architecture.com)
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Conclusion
Above are just a few of the things that need to be considered when developing the initial architectural brief. It is key to really take the time to understand the requirements of your client and the site in order to develop solid design solutions for your project. If you think there are any questions/points missing, we would love to hear from you. Please comment below to let us know your ideas. Thanks!
Thanks you very much for thia posting.. i very need it. Studying about this. Its very help me. Thanks
Exactly. very useful
It’s very informative, thanks a lot.
This has been very helpful for my school project
I was just working on a new breif (we call them programmes here) and this helped a lot with some of the general questions to ask a new client.
Thank you very much!
Hi James, thanks for the feedback. Much appreciated 🙂
Wow!!!
This was darn helpful.
We’ve just been given an assignment to prepare a brief and finding this article was a total relieve.
Hi I have to develop a Residential Design Proposal for a client. This Design brief here is great. I would like to buy your ebook, but I don’t know which book is suitable for me. My proposal will include: Design problem, Design Factors, and Design Brief. Can you recommend for me. Thanks
Hi Jolly, I’m afraid my ebooks are about architectural and construction detailing, not about the topics you mention. Regards, Emma
THANK YOU SO MUCH, IT IS REALLY HELPFUL
brilliant
Awesome info – just what I needed!! Thanks so much sharing it – it is much appreciated & is going to save me a WHOLE LOT of frustration YAY!!!
Thank you so much for this post. I am currently writing a simplified building construction process book and this information has been helpful.
Please, can I use extracts from this write up? I’ll duly reference the source. Thanks
Sure you can use the post as a reference. Crediting the source would be appreciated. Many thanks, Emma
Hi Emma, What a great list, and things i hadn’t thought of (I’m a new student at 61 years old) .I guess I’d also like to know a little about the neighbors in planning a house .. do they have a practicing rock’n’roll band or something. Liked the questions about their current or last house, and what they liked or would change. Alll in all very helpful. Thanks
Very Helpful 🙂
it’s very helpful in term of collect more information from client. I suppose there should be other other design brief checklist like hotels, office, etc. Could you share me those if there is?
thankyou very much for this posting , very useful
Very helpful, was looking for this everywhere
Hello, I’ve been trying to develop a design brief for my thesis project should there be an introduction about the project why is it necessary? Why I’ve chosen that site? Or should I dive right into the requirements and area specifications?
Hi, this article is about a design brief not a thesis, this article might be more helpful to you: https://www.firstinarchitecture.co.uk/how-to-write-an-architecture-dissertation-101/
I have also created a architectural drawing checklist.You can download PDF and Word files of the checklist via links below – Feel free to adapt and use as you wish.
PDF
https://dl.orangedox.com/1jZltKPEYbRHfMv3z3
DOC
https://dl.orangedox.com/deJRfLLIhnhJ9BO3Sq
I discuss it further in a post on my linkedin page – see below
https://www.linkedin.com/posts/bernard-toogood-75315b2a_activity-6785350465879199744-kRt3
I should have said although it is a drawing checklist it efectively contains all the information required for a brief and could be adapted to suit
ThIS is very enlightening and helpful. It made me wonder also, what is the difference between a working brief and a Functional brief? any thoughts?