Hi there it's Billy - I'm an Architect from Brisbane Australia.
I want to talk to you today about all things Briefing.
As we film we're going through these COVID-19 restrictions.
A lot of people are spending their time at home.
And so as a practice we want to develop some resources to help you make this time productive.
Briefing is really just the beginning of the project.
We're trying to set the parameters of what's going into the project, how we're going to
approach it.
I want to say that with Briefing some clients come to us with nothing, while some clients
are quite well prepared.
And this video and this accompanying document is really for those who want to put in some
work to get a head start with their project.
And so let's get into it.
Let's start by looking at the practical brief.
In the Document, if you scroll down the first part is quite self-explanatory.
We just want to know the rooms that you want included, approximate sizes, and a description.
That really is a baseline for the project.
Next, we want to know any issues or constraints that might be on your property.
You might have an easement; if you're part of an Estate there may be Design Covenants;
or if there's issues with your existing property - water issues, solar heat gain on one side
- we just want to note that down and make sure we deal with it with your project.
After that, we're looking at linkages.
If there are particular spaces that need to be close together in relationship, I think
it's helpful to maybe do a bubble diagram - some sort of quick sketch to note how the
spaces link together.
If there's anything unusual that you particularly prefer, this is the chance to jot it down
so we know and can cater for it.
Finally, we want to know if there's aspirational inclusions.
Things that are nice to have that, if budget becomes an issue, might be the first things
on the chopping block.
So people might have preferences for electronic toilets - that's a fancy thing that's nice
to have, but if budget becomes an issue that might be the first to go.
So as we fill these things that really sets the baseline for the project.
On the next page you'll see another table.
We're really starting to break the building down into components now.
So with air conditioning, with all these other elements, we want to understand if you have
any preferences for the type and also a description of how you will use these things.
So with air-con we want to know - is a standard split system OK?
Or do you want central or ducted splits that allow you to hide the unit away?
We also want to understand how often you use these things - and that allows us to interpret
the level of preference to give to these elements.
With flow we want to understand if you want a flush transition between the inside and
outside - often that comes at a cost.
Or are you happy to have a more rigid demarcation between what's inside and outside.
You might have to step through something to go outside, and that feeling is quite different.
As you go through these elements - these are just trying to spur some pre-thinking before
we start designing.
And that's really what this table is for.
The second part of our Briefing Document is called the Aesthetic Brief.
And what we're trying to really get at is the feeling of space that we're creating.
To do that we want to understand first the context - your neighbourhood, what's the theme
of your suburb - we want to design with that in mind.
And also what you enjoy about your existing home.
There's a lot of things on the page for you to fill out that explains that.
The second part of that Brief is to understand your preferred approach.
This deals with - what are some spaces that you enjoy?
Trying to describe that; trying to understand Architects or Designers that you really admire;
architectural "looks" that people prefer.
Instead of just copying these things we want to ask "why" - to understand deeper, and to
understand that behind these looks, what are the things that you really enjoy and love
about them - and how can we incorporate them in an authentic way.
On the next page after that there are a few statements - these are meant to be starting
statements that help you think through the approach you want to take.
You can tick and cross out things that you don't like.
You can write your own.
Really these are just to get the conversation started.
And finally we want to say if you have a Pinterest board, if you have magazine clippings, Google
image searches - it's good to collect these, but what we encourage is if you can note or
sketch over them to understand what you really like about the particular image.
We don't want to copy things, we want to understand what's good about them - and then to really
churn through and think about how we can incorporate them into your design.
You can see here how I filled out the Brief for my own house in Moorooka.
Hope you find that helpful and then we'll step into the Emotive Brief.
The last part of the Brief is what we call the Emotive Brief.
And this is very important to us as a practice.
We really want to understand what you are passionate about - what makes you get up in
the morning.
And you might be thinking "oh it's just a house - why does it really matter?"
For us a project is a bit like a funnel - we work from the big picture down to the smallest
detail before we go into construction.
And really the thoughts that are at the basis of the project - the big picture thoughts
- do get distilled down and do affect the decision-making along the way.
And we can give you an example.
With our project on Tamborine Mountain, there's this really strange, solid brick wall that
you have to step through into an uncomfortable space - a very narrow courtyard that makes
you look up at the sky.
And then you turn sideways to walk through a corridor before you step into a living room
where the view is revealed.
The whole story of that project is because the client sees this house as a new beginning
- a new chapter of their life.
And that whole feeling of discomfort, and stepping through into a new reality - that's
all because we knew it was the story that we had to tell through the building.
With our own house here, I think a lot of my thinking was shaped by this book called
"The Gospel comes with a House Key" by Rosaria Butterfield.
I think as a person who - Faith plays a big part in my life.
And that book really asks the question of "how does faith change how you live?"
As we were challenged by that book, it really helped us to shape the direction of what we
what we wanted to do.
And that's why you'll see downstairs, as we're putting in a new extension it functions on
one part as an office space - that could be our studio - but then it's also multipurpose.
It can be reconfigured into a Bedroom - a small studio unit - with the thought of showing
hospitality to family, friends or even strangers as needs arise.
I really want to encourage our clients to think this way as we move forward past COVID-19.
If we can build that flexibility into our designs, then we are able to help and to consider
helping proactively - not reactively as needs arise in our life.
And so that's my encouragement to you - think of what's really important to you, what gets
you up in the morning.
As we really understand that, as we know that, that will really shape our design as we move
forward.
Well that's it for our video - thank you so much for watching.
I really hope you found it helpful.
Please feel free to get in touch with us if you want to chat about your project - or even
it has helped you in some way, we'd love to hear about it so feel free to send us a message
or a quick email.
We would love to hear from you.
If you want to have more content, over the next few weeks we will be developing more
resources to help you get thorugh this quarantine time productively.
So make sure you follow us - Facebook, Instagram, or just click Like and we'll get more video
content and helpful resources to you.
Thanks again for watching.
I'll talk to you next time!