era | People YOUR WHO + WHAT
STEP THREE
in the process to design + build architecture specific to you.
tell your story
This is about you. Learn about yourself and the people who will share your architecture with you in order to understand what your architecture will be.
Get to know yourself.
There are a lot of little things to know about yourself and your people that will affect your architecture.
It is hard to know yourself or see yourself objectively. You may think you know about yourself and which answers you think you will give to the way you live or wish to live, however you may surprise yourself once you start asking questions.
And if you are sharing your place with another person, you may surprise each other with the goals you have for how you would like to live your lives together.
Your memories and experiences all affect the way you wish to live your life.
An Architectural Design Brief is a way to learn about you, your people and what you want.
What is an Architectural Design Brief?
An Architectural Design Brief is where all the information about you and what you wish for your architecture is kept. Every Architectural Design Brief is different, because it is specific to you and your circumstances.
It is prepared at the beginning of a project and means you can consider all aspects of how you live your life and what is important to you. It is also a reminder as you progress through the process of what you would like to include and achieve.
Where to find information about you and your people.
It is amazing how much information you can gather about your life that will inform your architecture.
But it is hard to be objective about yourself.
Start by forgetting everything you think you know about yourself and how you live.
Try to see yourself objectively.
Consider that the way you live now and the spaces you are living in are not necessarily right for you.
There are a lot of places where you see examples of what you think you should have or how you may think you should live your life. The number of bedrooms in a house or how your kitchen should look.
Turn off your brain to what you think you should have so that you can see what really works best for you.
Then, talk to other people. Sit down with a close friend and talk about yourself, your life as it is now and what you would like it to be. Ask them what they think would suit you.
This is a fantastic way to learn about you and your people, and therefore to learn how best you and your people will live within architecture specific to you.
How to find your what.
Learning about your WHO means diluting what you know about yourself and how you live into a format which you can put into a WHAT.
Once you have learnt about your WHO, you can see more clearly WHAT you need and WHAT you want.
Put the WHAT you have learned into a list to describe what you have learned about the spaces and the architecture you wish to make. This is called a Schedule of Accommodation that you can use to communicate your what to others.
If you have employed a designer or specialist consultant such as an architect, they will likely gather information about you and put together a design brief in their own way. If you are working with a design and construction organisation or project home builder, they may need you to collect some information about you, but they may not prepare a design brief. If you are purchasing an ‘off-the-plan’ design from a designer, prefabricator it is unlikely that a design brief will be prepared. If you are designing yourself, you can prepare your own design brief or employ someone to prepare one specifically for you.
Your people in the process.
Think about what your future life may be and factor that in to your ideas about how you wish to live.
Architecture is for people, so this information is the crux of all the information you will gather.
Although there will be things about other steps in the process which are set in stone, if there are items which are flexible, the deciding factor will often come down to whether it suits the people and their purpose.
a little Template for you
If you would like a guide to help you find or get to know yourself, the people who will share your architecture and what you want, I have made a little Template for you!
people Architectural Design Brief | Your Story
Find it HERE.
These are your people
You have learnt about your people - your who and what you want! Great – now you can use your Architectural Design Brief to refer to for the duration of the Process and to communicate the information you have gathered about your people to others.
The next step in the Process is to CLARIFY YOUR pROGRAM that includes planning your time frame and budget.
THE PROCESS.
This is the third step in the process to design and build architecture.
If you would like to see how this part fits within the process, you may be interested in a little book I have written that sets out each step in the Process in one place. It is a guide and workbook to help you through each step in your architectural journey.
The process is summarised in this little Blog post - era | the Process to Design + Build Architecture.
Each step in the process will also be broken down into its individual steps right here in this little Blog - so keep checking in to see the whole set!
Have fun getting to know yourself!
Til next time!
Start the process to find your architectural language and make your little ideas a reality.
Click here to see the little things I have made for you, or click here if you would like to work with me one on one.