SKT ARCHITECT — PROCESS
How a project takes shape
Every house starts as a problem, not a picture. These are the stages we work through before a design ever reaches the Planning Department.
The Problem To Be Solved
1
PROGRAM
Before we set foot on the site, we make a list — what has to work, what has to change, what's never worked at all. Every project starts as a problem before it becomes a plan.
The Martini Sunset
2
SITE VISIT
We meet on site with folding chairs and watch the sun go down. It's the fastest way to learn what a piece of land actually wants — which room deserves the last light of the day, and which direction the whole house should turn to face it.
SCHEMATIC DESIGN
3
First Sketches
We sketch the major moves against each other — massing, light, circulation — and see what happens where they meet. This is where the best ideas tend to show up uninvited. We chase every one down, even the ones we end up ruling out.
DESIGN DEVELOPMENT
4
Making It Fit
Now we tighten the sketch into something a person can actually live in. Rooms get sized for how they'll be used, conflicts get resolved before they become expensive, and the client's own sense of style starts finding its way into the walls.
PLANNING DEPARTMENT
5
The Blessing
Once the questions are answered, the solutions are in place, and the aesthetics are knocking on the door, it's time to bring in the one authority that can grant us reality: the Planning Department. It's not always smooth — sometimes there's back-and-forth, sometimes a public hearing where our biggest opposition is a neighbor who'd rather not hear construction. None of it is a necessary evil, just part of the adventure. Once we have the blessing of the City Council, the Planning Commission, the Architectural Review Board, or simply the head planner, we're ready to tighten the ship and set sail.
CONSTRUCTION DOCUMENTS
6
Nuts and Bolts
With the blessing secured, it's time to tighten the ship: Construction Documents, or CDs — the nuts and bolts everyone still calls "blueprints," a name that actually belongs to the cyanotype process: white lines on blue paper. Diazo replaced it with blue lines on white by the late 1960s, and Diazo itself was dead by 1999, giving way to CAD and the inkjet plotter. Inkjet is still very much in use today — for city submittals, and for the "Job Copy," the physical set of drawings required on site during construction.
More Players Join the Deck
7
THE TEAM
Getting through the Building Department takes more than an architect and a client — during CDs, a whole team joins the effort to make the dream stand up. Our structural engineer designs against earthquake, wind, snow, flood, and fire, while also managing site drainage and protecting trees, guided by a geotechnical engineer who drills and tests the soil to recommend the right foundation. A fire sprinkler engineer lays out the suppression system we hope we never have to use, and an HVAC contractor designs how the house breathes — hydronic radiant floors, traditional forced air with or without air conditioning, or a mini-split system with individual units’ room by room to heat and to cool independently.
BUILDING DEPARTMENT REVIEW / PLAN CHECK / PERMIT ISSUANCE
The Dance
8
With the team's work bundled into one package, the architect becomes the conductor, delivering it all to the city where each element goes to its own resident expert for review. Questions almost always come back — letters requesting clarification, and a clarification on one element can just as easily trigger a new question somewhere else. It's a dance, back and forth between departments, right up until the grand celebration at the end: permit issuance.
Where the Water Goes
9
ENVIRONMENTAL COMPLIANCE
This is also where we spell out the health and environmental requirements every jurisdiction asks of a project — measures to minimize waste and pollution, and to keep runoff from ever reaching the rivers, creeks, bay, or ocean it's headed for.
CONSTRUCTION ADMINISTRATION
Watching It Rise
Once permits are in hand and the crew breaks ground, the real fun begins as our role shifts from drawing the building to watching it rise. We review contractor submittals, answer the questions that inevitably come up once concrete and lumber replace lines on a page, and we visit the site regularly to make sure what's being built matches what was designed. It ends with a punch list, a final walkthrough, and the day everyone's been waiting for — the certificate of occupancy.