Concept Design
First we need to understand your big idea. Then we can help make it a reality.
Every project starts with an idea. This could be as simple as a desire to add an extra room or find an ideal layout. It may be a more ambitious dream of building a sustainable, light-filled house or adding a modern extension to a listed building. Whether a vague notion or a specific intention, the crux of that idea - the need, the hope or the dream - is the basis of our brief.
All our designs are based on this brief which is developed through in depth, but informal, discussions with you about what you are hoping to achieve. During this chat, we build a picture of how you live, what you need and what you like (and hate!), but we also discuss with you critical aspects such as what is actually achievable within the various restrictions, be they the budget, planning constraints or technical hurdles. If there is something about your plans that isn’t possible, we’ll highlight this, honestly and openly, and talk about other ways to achieve a similar end point.
Our aim in this briefing session is to review your project specific limitations and understand your goals, so we can deliver solutions which are both aligned to your needs and can become a reality. The more we know, the closer our designs will be to your aspirations. Our proposals may turn out to be unexpected or different to what you initially imagined, but still fulfil your brief in a way you hadn't thought of. We find that often these schemes are the ones that clients settle on.
Our briefing process typically takes the following path:
An initial phone chat with you, before we are appointed and before we’ve visited the site. This is an opportunity for us to get to know each other and to get a feel as to whether we are the right designers for you, and whether your project is a good fit for us.
Following this, we visit your home or site, and have a more informed discussion, in situ, about what you are hoping to achieve and what may or may not be possible.
We follow this up with a detailed fee proposal, a document which sets out what services we will provide and how much they cost. The detail here is really important to give you the information you need to compare different design quotes and decide who to work with.
Once you accept the proposal, the project is formally live and it is at this point where we sit down with you and have our briefing chat.
Following this meeting, we summarise the discussion in a briefing document, and once you are happy with the content of this, that is the brief done. On to the fun stuff!
FAQ’s: Brief
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Nothing technical, mostly just questions about the way you live and your preferences for what you want to end up with. ‘I haven’t really thought about it,’ is a perfectly good starting point to answer most of the questions, the briefing meeting is designed as conversation starters, so we can go from your initial uncertainty and explain the ins and outs of what needs considering. Examples of such questions may be: What kind of materials appeal to you externally? What existing elements do you want to retain? What are the key architectural features you want to see in your design?
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No real preparation is required. We send you a briefing sheet prior to the meeting, just so you have the right kind of things your head, and then run through it with you in person so you can share those thoughts. To stress again, your brief may be very vague or very developed, we’re happy to work with both.
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Most people have a reasonable idea of what they want to aim for, but it genuinely doesn’t matter if you have nothing more developed than ‘I want to do something to make my home better, but don’t know what’, we can still work with that. There are benefits to both a loose brief and a more specific wish list, so anywhere on the spectrum is fine for us.
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Simply because we need to know what you want. The more we understand about your hopes, the smoother and more collaborative the whole process will be, and the better the end result.