Topic guide
Architectural Design Process
Most problems on a building project are decided long before anyone pours concrete. This guide covers how a design actually progresses — from the brief, through schematic design and design development, to the documents a contractor builds from — and what you should be looking at and deciding at each point.
Why the sequence matters
Design is a sequence of narrowing decisions. Changing a staircase during early option studies may need less rework than changing it after structural coordination. The cost and delay depend on the project; the stages help resolve decisions before they affect more documents and trades.
That is also why “can we just move this later” is such an expensive question. The stages are not administrative — they are the points at which a decision becomes progressively harder to unwind.
What each stage is for
Use this editorial overview to identify the next decision and deliverable. The RIBA Plan of Work covers briefing through use; the AIA basic-services guidance sets out design and construction phases. Their labels and boundaries are not interchangeable.
Swipe sideways to see the other columns. The first column stays visible.
| Stage | What to decide | Information to agree |
|---|---|---|
| Brief | Users, activities, budget, programme and site constraints | Written requirements and open questions |
| Concept / schematic | Massing, orientation, adjacency and circulation | Options for comparison, not resolved details |
| Design development | Dimensions, structure, envelope, materials and service routes | Coordinated design and budget review |
| Technical design | Construction details and specification | Dimensioned drawings, details, schedules and specifications |
| Construction, if commissioned | Queries, samples and agreed observations | Reviews and records within the appointment |
This is a reading route, not a fixed contractual stage allocation. Once construction starts, use the construction administration vs construction management responsibility record to check who observes, answers questions, reviews submittals and signs changes under your agreements.
For a home renovation that changes both rooms and structure, use the architect vs structural engineer project responsibility record to assign the assessment, drawings, calculations and coordination questions before appointing the team.
Drawings you should expect
Plans, sections, elevations and details answer different questions, and confusing them is a common source of misunderstanding between clients and designers. A plan tells you about arrangement and dimension. An elevation tells you about the external appearance of one face. A section tells you about vertical relationships — heights, levels, and how the building is built up. A static render communicates intent and atmosphere; confirm the contractual purpose of each deliverable. Use plans, elevations and sections compared to check which drawing answers your question. When a shop drawing arrives for fabrication or installation, use the construction drawings vs shop drawings record to log the issued set, the submittal revision, who checked field dimensions, and whether the review is also a change. When a drawing and a written specification seem to describe the same item in different ways, use the construction drawings vs specifications record to log both revisions, the difference, and the written reply. When the set in hand is a marked record of what was built, use the construction drawings vs as-builts record to log the drawing revision, the marked set, and whether anyone measured.
Where people lose money
- Signing off a stage they have not actually read.
- Treating renders as a commitment to a specification.
- Deferring material decisions past design development, when they start driving structural and detailing consequences.
- Changing the brief after design development without re-testing the budget.
Method: editorial stage summary from the RIBA and AIA sources above, accessed 8 October 2026. Confirm stage deliverables in the project appointment.
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