Project Programming…What is that??
Regularly, owners approach me and want assistance with their new building project. Clearly, they have a good idea of generally what they hope to accomplish with their new facility, but often the needed details have yet to be discovered.
As an example, two months ago, PrayWorks was hired by the Buckskin Council of the Boy Scouts of America to assist with a new project where they anticipated adding on to and renovating their existing headquarters in Charleston. We began this project by hosting a number of meetings with Executive Staff, builders, and architects. At each meeting I had a draft document entitled Program of Requirements that detailed: 1) what staff would occupy the space (now and in the future); 2) how much space that staff person might need; 3) their name or role; 4) if the human resource was currently hired or “to be hired”; 5) special notes about each person’s space; and 6) the adjacency relationship(s).
Other considerations:
- After the human resources are located, what are the shared aspects of the facility? Items like conference rooms, retail areas, vestibules, storage areas, food prep and so forth must be considered. Once again, space requirements are assigned, adjacencies noted, and special notes added (e.g., concern with sound attenuation).
- Need tos (must have aspects) as well as nice tos (good to have if the budget allows) are noted.
This document is a great place to start a project, particularly when everyone understands it is a living document that will change constantly. Think discovery with recordkeeping.
Too, I really like to frustrate the process of design solutions or what you might refer to as the drawing. My practice is to first decide what we want to accomplish in written form, and then move on to design solutions.
This played out very nicely on the above project. Armed with this knowledge, the design-builders were able to focus on creativity and my Owner was rewarded with some great proposals.
The award was made to Pray Construction, and the image that was submitted with the detailed proposal is shown here.