Design development for multifamily buildings

What the phase delivers

Design development is where the decisions that drive the construction documents get made and drawn: the wall and floor assemblies, the unit plans at a buildable scale, the core layouts and the first real coordination with structure and the building systems. TECTO Studio draws that phase in your Revit model, under your direction, so the model your office takes into CDs is the one the DD set came from.

A DD package from the studio typically covers:

• Assemblies. Wall, floor, roof and shaft types built as Revit types with their fire ratings, acoustic ratings and listings noted, ready to schedule in CDs.
• Plans at DD scale. Every floor plan with walls typed, openings placed, and the rated corridors, stairs and shafts shown.
• Enlarged unit plans. Each unit type with fixtures, casework and the accessible clearances laid out, and the accessible and adaptable units identified on the unit matrix.
• Building sections and wall sections. The podium transfer, floor-to-floor heights and the envelope assemblies cut where they change.
• Preliminary schedules. Doors, windows and rooms kept as model schedules, so the counts and sizes are live from the first issue.
• Consultant backgrounds. Clean backgrounds issued to structure and the building systems consultants, with their returns folded back into the model.

What your practice keeps

Your office designs; the studio draws the design your office directs. Every decision on material, assembly and layout belongs to your architect of record, who reviews each issue and holds responsible control of the set. Where a drawing raises a question the design has not answered yet, it goes to your office in the review log with the options drawn, and the studio continues with the parts of the set it does not touch.

Why DD is a good first package

A practice that hands over CDs alone inherits the studio's work on top of its own DD model. A practice that hands over DD gets a model built to its template from the start, with types, schedules and views set up the way its CDs will need them. That model is the largest single saving in the CD phase, because most CD sheets are views of the model the DD phase built.

DD is also where code questions surface. The podium code guide sets out the height, area and separation rules that most wood-frame over concrete buildings are designed around, and the DD set is where those rules get drawn into wall types and sections.

How the work moves

1. Kickoff and template review. Your office shares the model, the template and the SD set. The studio reviews the template before drawing; see the standards handoff guide for what that review covers.
2. A sheet list with a date. The package is fixed as a list of sheets and model elements with a delivery date.
3. Issues with a review log. Every issue comes with a dated log of what changed and what needs a decision from your office.
4. Into CDs. The same team can take the set into construction documents, which keeps the knowledge of the model in the hands that built it.

The pilot

The first engagement is a pilot: one package on a live set, a fixed fee agreed up front, back in about two weeks. A one-page scope letter fixes the sheet list, the fee, the start date and the delivery date before any work starts.