Architectural Design in Practice

We introduce the Fabric District site in Liverpool - its warehouse heritage, surrounding context, and the key constraints that will shape our design. Learn what to look for in site analysis and how to document findings that justify design decisions to planners.

Before designing anything, we dig into Liverpool's planning policy - the Local Plan, Supplementary Planning Documents, and vision documents for the area. See how policy requirements around active frontages, materials, and building heights will directly influence our proposals.

With context understood, we lay out apartments to NDSS standards, position commercial units at ground floor, and work out core locations, plant rooms, bin stores and bike storage. Learn how to achieve efficient floor plates while meeting regulatory requirements.

We take the layouts into SketchUp to establish building mass. This lesson covers finding efficiencies through repetition, self-critiquing proportions and scale, and preparing a base model ready for detailed development. Getting massing right early saves huge time later.

Before adding detail, we research precedents - landing on a primary reference that will drive our facade approach. See how to select relevant examples and extract the principles that work for your specific context and brief.

Now the fun begins. With targets set and precedents chosen, we break down the massing into distinct blocks, add rhythm to elevations, and establish an overall aesthetic. This is where the scheme starts to take shape as architecture rather than boxes.

We export to Twinmotion for real-time visualisation. This testing phase reveals what's working and what needs refinement - proportions that looked fine in 2D, material combinations, the relationship to neighbouring buildings. Twinmotion becomes our design feedback tool.

Based on Twinmotion testing, we add the details that prevent a "boring brick box" - horizontal banding, deep window reveals, characterful window designs, and layered facades. See how considered detailing creates depth and shadow that reads well from street level.

We move inside to test apartment layouts - checking beds aren't against windows, kitchen layouts work practically, and spaces feel right at human scale. This catches coordination issues before they become expensive problems on site.

We produce final renders using different lighting setups - testing the scheme in morning, afternoon, and evening conditions. This final round of visualisation confirms the design works and provides presentation material for clients and planners.