Basic Construction Information

Building Design

The term building design refers to design of building from a perspective of architectural, architectural technology/science and engineering, The architectural aspect is usually shown in the form of spacial, geometric and aesthetics, the engineering design or architectural technology covers the way the building will be constructed, this includes construction methods, robust detail design and how the building will perform when in use by its occupants. Building design projects are undertaken by a designer, typically this designer will have experience in architecture, building engineering or possibly a structural engineer with experience of residential or commercial buildings. When undertaking a building design project the designer may also use the services of CAD daughters, 3D visualisation specialists, service engineers, SAP specialists, engineers for robust detail calculations, surveyors, geotechnical engineers and manufacturers of the materials specified, it is very rare that a building design project is completed with only one person as many different skills are required to design buildings, all of the above have a role to play and must work together if they are to complete the design process as smoothly as possible, this usually means sharing information as well as skills.

Building design can vary in detail, many residential projects only need a minor amount of design as many of the methods and materials used are similar to ones used previously on other projects so it is a case of “tried and tested”, of course some residential projects do need bespoke design for structural, aesthetic or energy preservation purposes. Commercial projects usually require more details, the reason for this are that commercial building use can vary drastically, thus the designer having to consider many different things such as sound proofing for machinery, waste material storage, clean or dust free areas and even staff and service areas. Commercial building design still has to cover all the areas that you do in residential design so these projects can soon accumulate lots of information in the guise of drawings, reports and calculations, the construction workers must work with all these documents which can also make the construction process of commercial buildings more difficult as there is more to consider and many times the methods are bespoke to that particular project or design.

The key to good design is to work together and to respect the other trades that you interface with, if this is achieved it can make the process of producing a building that is safe to occupy, energy efficient, pleasing on the eye, correct for its local environment and of sound structure much.

Types of building design project                                                         

• Residential building design                                                         
• Commercial building design
• Interior building design
• Environmental building design