Program, budget, Schedule
A staple in the design process is the development of a program document. This document will organize your thoughts and your inspirations in a way to logically plan out a physical space. Although at this time you will be wanting to think big picture and big ideas, this information will be used to organize where you want your project to go in a built environment form.
A follow up to the programming document is budget considerations. Because you don’t want your ideas and thoughts to live in a fairytale land this part puts it in perspective to actually get it done.
Programming
The program will define the user and building requirements. It is here your creative vision will be evolved and melted with real world parameters. As a kid you might have always wanted a four story lookout tower but if your building covenants or city requirements limit your height you may have to look at this idea in another way.
This is where a lot of research will take place and some decision making to ultimately define the scope of your project. This phase will also look at the functional and operational requirements for your project to help avoid re-designing when the pen hits the paper.
. Who does the programming?
A program document is not typically included in a designer or architect standard practice. Often times this is an added service so a client or owner will sometimes take it upon themselves. It should be noted that guidance from a designer can keep you on track and on schedule.
Personal requirements
This piece will start by identifying your big vision and get into more details like how many bedrooms you might need in five years.
Big vision
Of all the parts in the designing and building process this might be one of the hardest yet most important part. It is here you will identify why you are even considering creating a space. What is the purpose and inspiration? More often than not there is an underlying reason that is not simply “our family is growing”. I’ve been told by more than one architect that we often become a therapist along with being a designer for a client for this particular reason.
“A vision is not just a picture of what could be; it is an appeal to our better selves, a call to become something more.” – Rosabeth Moss Kanter
I cannot identify this for you and I highly suggest starting with material that harnesses finding your creative self before diving into answering the big vision question. The Artists Way is one book that helps open up everyone’s creative self even if you don’t consider yourself an artist. Because at the end of the day we are all artists and put on this earth as unique individuals that have something to offer to everyone. This may seem far fetching if all you’re doing is considering an addition to your house right now but trust me, you’ll be better off in the long run. Either this exercise will confirm your thoughts to give you the confidence to spend a chunk of change to build something or it will redirect you on a path that you’re meant to go on.
Here are the big questions you should ask yourself:
Why am I considering a built project?
Where do I want to see myself in the future?
Do these two questions align?
If you don’t answer yes to the last question you should reevaluate why are you are doing this project. These questions should be answered by all of the owner’s team members and they should be on the same page.
Next steps
Once you have determined the big vision you can proceed with a step-by-step process to complete the user requirements portion of the program. These steps will include setting goals, research on the project spaces & uses, and identifying design solutions.
1-set goals
When setting targets or establishing goals it’s best to look at what you plan for your future: where do you see yourself in 5, 10, 20 years? Right now it might just be you and your dog and you work at an office. However you might have always wanted to work from home and would like a flexible space to transition into that choice if you choose to do so. Sometimes people have an aging parent that they foresee living in a mother-in-law suite when they are unable to live on their own. Often times you can’t predict what will happen but at this point you try your best to allow for future growth for yourself and your family.
The Overall image of your house is also important to look at this point. Everyone’s background and experiences have molded them into a unique individual that has a unique style. Sometimes it’s best to research on websites like Houzz and Pinterest to help find your style. Simply by collecting images four different areas of your house or idea, you often see repeated elements or Designs that represent where you want the image of your house to. I have had clients share their Houzz account with me and I will review their Collections. Sometimes from an outsiders perspective it’s easier to see the repeated elements. It’s quite crazy how you can kind of get into somebody’s brain just by looking at images they’ve collected.
www.houzz.com
www.pinterest.com
It is also important at this stage to be aware of preconceptions of house design. Because it’s an early stage in the process you have the flexibility to truly think outside of the box. Remember At this time you don’t want to limit yourself with too many outside influences in order to truly look at all of the available options. Some common styles to reference include:
Cape Cod Style House
Low Ceiling
Central Chimney
Craftsman Style House
Farm House Style House
Front Porch
Clap Board Siding
Modern Style House
Simple Open Plan
Function over Form
Colonial Style House
Dentil Molding
Central Chimney
Steep Slope Roof
Mediterranean Revival Style House
Mid-Century Modern Style House
Angular Clean
Minimalistic
Prairie Style House
Horizontal Orientation
Asymmetrical
Low Pitch Roof
Broad Overhanging Eaves
Ribbon Windows
Prominent Chimney
Ranch Style House
One Story
Low Pitch Roof
Asymmetrical
Large Windows
At this time it is also smart to figure out what is the basic project budget and schedule time goals. All members of the owner’s team should be on the same page for a general budget. At this point a specific number does not need to be determined but more of a range. Also a general schedule of Maybe within a year or two for completion. This initial discussion may bring up outside information that is pertinent to the overall project even without a more defined number or date being discussed.
2-Project spaces & uses
Referencing the above material it is now time to define the project scope and therefore the project type. Given your above goals are you considering a new building an addition or a renovation to your existing space? I’ve had a client who wanted to put on a very large addition to their house and renovate a massive portion of the existing house. At some point I had to be honest and suggest maybe looking at selling the current house and buying a new. When there are so many changes that are requested it doesn’t make sense to even consider a renovation sometimes. It’s best to have this discussion now before either construction has started or a lot of money has been spent on design fees. Again at this point the psychologist hat should be put on for a designer. Even if there will be design fees lost out it is ethically correct to evaluate the big picture of anybody’s project before jumping in any further on this process.
Once the scope is defined you can now look at the Space criteria and your ‘wish List’. Quantity of rooms will be looked at, their priority, the size and the relationship to each written down. It is also important to analyze your current home and lifestyle.
Example ‘wish list’:
Play room
Wood flooring
Home office
Mother-in-law suite…
At this point you will also determine the Equipment required. From standard items like a fridge and dishwasher two more specific items, such as a kiln hook up for my house in order to make pottery.
Example equipment list:
Refrigerator
Dishwasher
Gas Fire Place…
Sustainability & Active living
Sustainability & Active living are two specific items I feel are very important for people to look at where they are living. Often times these are overlooked but given the mass amount of research it’s been proven that these two items should be examined for anybody’s house.
Sustainability has several different levels of integration. Simply by orientating your house and placing certain rooms in certain areas, you can have a sustainable house at no additional cost. And or more elaborate sustainable home might have geothermal wells and solar panels. It is up to you at this point determined from each of the home owner’s team members what they want to incorporate into the project and address potential additional upfront cost as well as pay back and overall cost savings for their future.
“Study nature, love nature, stay close to nature. It will never fail you.” – Frank Lloyd Wright
Our house in particular is designed as a passive solar home and located in the cold climate region of the northern hemisphere. We moved from a single story ranch house to a three-story house. Even though it is a much bigger space our energy cost in our northern climate in the middle of winter for heating was cut from $200 a month to $70 a month. This design cost no more than a typical design of a house; it was all about building orientation and placing windows in the appropriate spot. Building orientation reflecting prevailing winds and solar exposure will be addressed more thoroughly in the following site analysis chapter. Below is a map showing the four major climate regions of the United States. Each region will have specific, sustainable features to address their particular climate. The summer sun in the northern hemisphere is higher than the winter sun. The summer sun causes the east and west sides of a building to receive 2x times more sun than the south side. In contrast the winter sun causes the south side to receive 3x times more sun than the east and west sides. For cold climates you can see the advantage of placing more windows on the south side of a building.
For more information on sustainable homes you can visit the following two websites:
https://www.phius.org/what-is-passive-building/passive-house-principles
https://www.usgbc.org/leed/rating-systems/residential
It is also worth noting that renovating an existing house instead of building new can also address sustainability concerns. By maintaining what is there as a foundation in core of a structure instead of building new you can decrease required construction materials and therefore reduce the carbon footprint of your project.
Active living is the idea of designing spaces that promote physical activity through indoor and outdoor spaces. Although this philosophy is more so based on a larger scale than a house, such as walkable communities, there are elements you can incorporate into you living space. Some ideas include stairs that are more attractive for use and making recreational areas more visible for use.
“The doctor of the future will give no medicine, but will involve the patient in the proper use of food, fresh air, and exercise.” – Thomas Edison
Some simple options to incorporate active living in your house might include adding a swing in a living area or if your favorite sport is snowboarding, put your board on display in the house where you’ll see it and get encouraged to use it. One feature we honed in on for our house was a rock climbing wall in our stairwell. This might be far-fetched for most but for our family it has become a focal point and driver of unique conversation and ideas with guests. People often want to incorporate a playful, active element in their house after visiting, further promoting physical activity and opportunities to bond with family members.
3-identify design solutions
Now that your targets and specific items for your project type have been identified you can plug them in to various strategies to address flow and relationships of spaces. Some people prefer an Open plan vs defined rooms or centralize versus decentralized. You can find more information regarding spatual princples at the below link.
https://cpb-us-e1.wpmucdn.com/blogs.uoregon.edu/dist/1/16101/files/2018/04/Ching_Ch-4-Organization_FormSpaceOrder-vikn3p.pdf
It’s important to look at the flexibility of your spaces as well. An area you might have seen as an office on the main level may temporarily turn into a kid’s playroom and then once the kids grow up maybe more of the library. Your future is hard to predict so making sure certain areas are kept flexible is typically a good decision.
The flow between spaces can also now be addressed by adding it to your bubble diagrams. If you have a living and kitchen space that you want to keep slightly separate these could be two separate bubbles but with a large arrow in between. The large arrow indicating possibly a large opening.
One of the hardest things to do at this point is to keep the process simple. It’s easy to try to add too much detail at this point creating unnecessary complexity. To stay on track start with large spaces and the top of your priority list. Then work down from there.
“Simplicity is the ultimate sophistication.” –Leonardo da Vinci
At this point you also want to look at various phasing you might have. Maybe at this point you cannot afford a mother-in-law suite addition but you want to allow for it in the future on your site. Your bubble diagram could include a dashed bubble indicating this future item.
Building requirements
The building requirements are those items outside of your preferences and specific needs. These relate to the more straightforward code compliance information with your local government, site requirements, systems and so forth. Although sometimes these end up directing your user needs, they themselves cannot really be changed.
Code information
Code information released to zoning, setbacks parking requirements and so forth. It is best to check with your local government to see what these requirements are.
Site requirements
Site requirements include setback distances, potential covenant requirement, and other items related to your property.
Systems Include heating and ventilation systems, plumbing, electrical, and sometimes some more detailed items. Some options for heating include a furnace and a wood or pellet burning stoves. Geothermal heat pumps are a great option to heat and cool a house as well. Geothermal pumps use underground pipes to source the earth’s natural temperature. Some options for electrical include tying into the power grid or using solar photovoltaic panels/shingles to either supplement the power grid or work remotely from grid sourced power.
Accessibility
Accessibility is another component of building requirements. Although your specific project might not be required to be handicap accessible, you may choose to follow these requirements for whatever personal reason you may have. You could have an ailing parent or a handicapped child or simply want to keep your house accessible and in the market for handicap accessibility in the future. For more information regarding accessible design visit the below link:
https://www.ada.gov/2010ADAstandards_index.htm
Housing Market information
In order to keep your house marketable for potential resale it’s also wise to consider it considered housing market information. You do not want this to be a prominent driver of your project but it does not hurt to keep this information in the back of your mind when designing. Do you want your house to be unique yet you do not want it to be unavailable for future use. Our average lifespan is 72 years old and we typically lives in the same house for about 13 years. The average lifespan of a house is 75 to 100 years so you can see multiple People in generations living in the same structure. It is best not to limit the use of the space for economical but also sustainability reasons. For more information regarding design trends in housing visit the below link:
https://www.customhomeonline.com/tag/design-trends
Budget
When considering budget it is good to look at the big picture. A simple question of how big of a house do you really need can affect a lot of things. Maybe with a smaller house you can get a more attractive site to fit your budget. Or maybe with a more condensed addition and re-purposing an existing space that is not used very often, you can afford equipment for a hobby you’ve always wanted to explore.
“The simplest definition of a budget is ‘telling your money where to go’” –Tsh Oxenreider
In a building project there are two types of cost; hard and soft costs. Hard costs are the expenses physically related to the project and soft cost are those not related. There is also FFE (furniture, fixtures, and equipment) cost to consider in your overall budget. Please note, every area has a different cost per square foot. From New York City to Alabama, the cost per square foot to build may be very different. Also, the type of house fluctuates the cost as well. A luxury design will be much different than a low end design.
At this time it is a good idea to visit with a potential lender. This may be a bank, credit union or a personal financer. A bank will review your current financial state including your past tax forms, pay stubs and what money you have available now for a down payment. This information will allow you to prequalify for a loan and understand the amount you are able to work with. Please be reminded that beyond the housing costs there are many other items to consider when budgeting. These may include landscaping, furniture, and interior decorating. Also the typical down payment required for a conventional mortgage is 20% down. A bank will also require comparable houses in your area as references for an appraisal. If you have an elaborate design that is clearly above your surrounding neighbor’s property value, you may have trouble getting the required financing to make the project a reality.
Example project
A couple is excited to start the building project together. They’ve dreamed of building a house for some time. Although they both agree on the size and budget, they cannot see eye to eye on the style. The wife is steadfast on a contemporary design while to husband appreciates a traditional style. Their designer understands each of their perspectives and is ultimately given the challenge to find a design that fit both their visions.
Before the pen hits the paper the designer decides to review their image boards from their programming document. The designer sees repeated elements from the husband’s images; pitched gables and stone. The wife’s elements feature a lot of tall windows and a simple black and white palette. The designer decides to pull together images with all of these elements and suggest a transitional style to fit both of their visions.
Although it was not what they each had envisioned initially, they found a connection in the repeated elements that appeared that they both came back to time after time. This connection made them feel at ease and the ability to bond over this transitional style felt inspiring to move forward as a couple, confidently.
