DESIGN FOR NON-DESIGNERS

This document is intended for employees

that do not have a professional background
or formal training in the industries of
architecture, interior design, planning,
engineering, or construction. It provides
a very brief description of how we deliver
building projects to clients. However,
our industry is in a constant state of rapid
development.

The clients we work for and the way we deliver

our work has vastly changed over the last ten
years, and it surely will again in the coming
decade. In order that we keep this document
manageable and easy to read, it focuses on
a very basic form of project delivery. Keep in
mind that there may be many differences in
the project work at Cannon Design.

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WHAT WE DO
Cannon Design offers a variety of consulting
services related to buildings, but our core business
is the planning, design and engineering of built
environments. Many times, we begin work with
clients well before they know what they need,
and well after a building is actually in place. We
work on projects that involve completely new
construction from the “ground up,” and also
renovations to existing buildings (both interior and
exterior renovations).
Architects and interior designers lead most tasks
related to building design and planning. Structural,
mechanical, electrical, and plumbing engineers
lead the development and design of building
systems that support the building and provide
heating, cooling, plumbing, fire protection, and a
host of other services. Cannon Design offers all of
these disciplines in house, although some
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clients prefer to work with Cannon for architecture
or engineering services only, and outside firms for
other design services.
As with most professional services, our work is
divided into phases, which generally end with
milestones in the form of delivered reports,
documents, drawings, or some other set of
materials (known as deliverables). We do not
always provide services in each phase for every
client. Some projects require a full range of
services while others require initial analysis and
planning only.
Cannon Design also offers services related to the
physical construction of buildings. One example is
construction management, in which Cannon acts as
the coordinator for construction activities such as
bidding projects or hiring contractors.
WHO WE WORK FOR
Cannon Design primarily works in the markets
of healthcare, college and university, Pre K-12
education, public / government, sports, science
and technology, corporate interiors, and corporate
commercial. We occasionally work in other
specialized sectors, depending on the type of
opportunity. We chose to enter (and exit) markets
based on a complex array of opportunities, growth,
contraction, and the risks that each market involves.
Generally, our “client” is the entity with whom
we hold a contract. Clients can vary widely,
and take the form of hospitals, school districts,
municipalities, public and private corporations,
individuals, real estate developers, foundations,
federal governments, investment companies, and
other organizations. Sometimes, our client is not
the people who will inhabit the building (the end
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users) but rather someone who works for them to
protect their best interests. For instance, when
we work on a Veterans Administration hospital,
our client is the United States General Services
Administration, but the end users are of course
clinical staff from the V.A.
A very important part of our work is balancing the
desires of many decision makers. In large and
complex organizations, the people who make
key decisions may never step foot in a space we
design. We are responsible for balancing the
expectations of both our direct client and the
people who will use the buildings we design.
HOW WE WIN WORK
A discussion of services cannot begin without
first understanding how we win new projects. For
many reasons, few organizations simply hand new
projects to design firms without requiring some
type of proposal and, in many cases, a face to face
interview. This is true even for clients with whom
we hold a strong relationship (often called legacy
clients).
When considering new work, most clients will first
issue a Request for Proposal (RFP) to obtain bids
from design firms. Some RFPs are limited to invited
firms, while others are publicly posted for any firm
to access and submit a response. A well-written
RFP usually includes a very specific scope of work, a
basic outline schedule, an organization chart for the
client, conditions that qualified firms must meet,
and a formal date and time deadline for responses.
Many RFPs also contain a list of questions that must
be answered within the responses.
paced process with tight deadlines. During this
time, Cannon Design identifies a proposed project
team, evaluates the schedule, and calculates a fee
for services and expenses. These are generally
assembled into a proposal book along with written
and photographic collateral that demonstrates
our expertise. When possible, we submit our
proposals as electronic files rather than as physical
documents.
The client will collect proposals from a number
of firms and often invites some or all of them to
interview for the job in person. The interview is a
critical link to winning work, as it pairs faces and
personalities with the firm’s name. Many clients will
hold first-round interviews, then pare down the list
of candidates to a “shortlist.” Shortlisted firms are
then invited for second interviews. After analysis,
the winning firm is selected and the project
commences.

When Cannon Design receives an RFP, they must

decide whether or not to submit a response,
which will generally be in the form of a Proposal
for Services. Proposals require resources, time
and money to produce, and so we make careful
decisions about when and how to respond to
RFPs. The decision to propose is based upon
many factors such as client relationships, past
performance, internal expertise, potential to
succeed, and even the notoriety of the project. We
often call this decision the “go/no-go,” and we use
forms to document this decision process.

If Cannon Design makes a “go” determination,

then we must formulate a response to the RFP.
We often engage a combination of professional
staff and our marketing department to assemble a
proposal. Proposal development is usually a fast-

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HOW WE DELIVER WORK
Following is a typical progression of phased
services from project inception through close
out of construction. This is by no means the only
progression of events, nor is Cannon Design always
involved with each phase.
The Contract
Before we begin any work for a client, we must
first execute a contract that defines all aspects
of our services. An executed contract is one
that has been drafted, reviewed in detail by all
parties (meaning all entities that will be bound
by the contract), and signed by an authorized
representative of each party. A strong contract
explicitly states everyone’s responsibilities, services,
schedules, deadlines, fees, and means of resolving
disputes. It can take months to execute a contract,
depending on how each party negotiates the
terms.
Working without a contract is strongly discouraged
by Cannon Design, and is generally not allowed
for new clients. Without a contract, we have little
to no means of establishing our right to payment
or protection in the event of disputes. Contrary
to popular opinion, good contracts actually avoid
disputes and save everyone money.
Feasibility Analysis
Feasibility analysis is the stage in which clients
decide whether, how, and where to locate a
building project. Sometimes, this phase can mean
the end of a potential project. Feasibility may be
repeated many times before a project continues.
Buildings represent major initial and long term
expenditures, and therefore the first question most
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clients must answer is, “Will this investment yield an
appropriate return?” Well-planned and executed
building projects will yield a stream of revenue
that spans years or decades. The collective
annual income (returns) must be compared with
the collective annual costs of running a building
in a model known as a pro-forma. If the pro-
forma demonstrates an acceptable return on the
initial investiment, then at least one major client
threshold is met.
Cannon Design offers many services to clients in
connection with feasibility analyses. A few of these
are listed below:
- Long-range planning of a given site with
recommendations for growth and response
strategies for future user requirements
- Analysis of alternative building sites (access,
infrastructure, environmental impact)
- Participation at municipal or community hearings
- Initial project budgeting for alternate sites and
designs
The feasibility phase generally ends with a business
plan for the project, which the client provides to
their governing board or management. These
groups then determine whether to move forward
with a project.
Programming
Upon completion of the feasibility analysis and
decision to move forward, the next step is to
determine what exactly will be built. Programming
is a process used by planning professionals to
translate client needs and expectations into a
physical room listing for the project, known as a
program. Programming is as much art as science,
and requires a detailed knowledge of the client’s
business. For instance, on a healthare project,
the number of patient bedrooms, exam rooms,
operating rooms, or radiology rooms depends
on the expected annual volume of patient traffic,
the efficiency of the hospital in question, and the
projected future growth.
Programmers are trained to ask the right questions
in order to arrange a responsible, right-sized
program. Responsible programming will result in a
list of functional rooms that allows for growth and
flexibility, but avoids excessive building. The actual
program presents an orderly list of assumptions,
followed by a list of room names, quantities, and
square footages. The program is delivered to the
client for approval.
Conceptual Design
Once a program is approved, we sometimes
engage in Conceptual Design. This is usually a
short phase in which the initial concept for the
building is realized. The main charge during this
phase is two-fold. First, the design team must
determine how the building will be placed on
the site and how large the building footprint will
be. Many factors affect this determination, such
as existing infrastructure, site access, views, water,
trees, sun patterns, wind, and a host of ecological
considerations.
The second major task of conceptual design is
determine how individual components of the
building program (see Programming) will be
arranged within the building. For instance, in a
hospital project, we may need to create a main
entry, registration area, outpatient examination
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department, and radiology department. During
Conceptual Design, we determine the best
placement for these items. The output of this
decision making is sometimes known as a “stack
and block” diagram, which represents outlines of
each department or unit on a set of floor plans or
as 3-dimensional colored blocks.
Schematic Design (SD)
Once a concept for the building is in place, we
often move right into the next phase of design,
known as Schematic Design or simply “SD.” Where
sometimes we may eliminate conceptual design as
a formal project phase, we almost always run an SD
phase.
During SD, our team advances the building design
from a loose concept towards a more refined
and well-defined description of the project.
Development of the exterior normally takes a
slight lead in order to define the exterior limits and
assemblies that will comprise the finished building.
Interior development closely follows. The design
team is often divided into exterior (shell and core)
and interior (fit out) sub-teams. These may be
indistinguishable to the casual observer because
the team must work very closely.
Throughout this phase, the team will meet with
key decision makers from the client organization to
collect their feedback and incorporate it into the
SD drawings. These sessions are often called user
group meetings, and they take place on a 2-3 week
cycle, between which intense development of the
design continues.
The total duration of SD depends on the size and
complexity of the project, but may last from two to
six months. A completed SD deliverable includes
drawings and written specifications that describe
the project. The drawings are general in nature,
such as floor plans showing the exterior walls and
most of the interior rooms. Additional drawings
depict views of the exterior, and specify the exterior
assemblies. Engineering drawings that describe
the structural, mechanical, electrical, technology/
data, and plumbing systems of the building are
usually diagrammatic at this stage. Also, the
design team often produces virtual models of
the building to determine how much energy the
completed project will consume.
The SD phase normally ends when the client
approves of the SD package and authorizes the
team to move forward. The client may withhold
their approval until a contractor or construction
manager provides an estimate or budget for the
design based on the SD documents. If the project
is not affordable, the team may have to revise their
drawings to reduce the scope of work.
Design Development (DD)
Upon client approval, the design team begins
Design Development, or DD. This is generally
a fast-paced phase of design, because much
detail is added to the documents and the team
normally continues holding user group meetings.
Also, many new players join the team during this
phase. For example, interior designers become
fully engaged to design the appearance of interior
spaces, which includes initial finish and furnishing
selections.
Typical development of the exterior (shell and
core) includes final determinations of materials,
transitions between materials (glass, metal, stone,
etc), and detail as to how the exterior skin will relate
to the building’s structural system. At the same
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time, interior fit-out drawings become very detailed
during this time. For most rooms, the general
layout, equipment layout, ceiling design, lighting,
door requirements, electrical and data needs, and
finishes are determined via user group meetings
and then documented. This work is performed by
a team of architects and interior designers.
Parallel to the activity described above,
engineering staff develop and begin to detail
the structural, mechanical (HVAC), electrical,
technology/data, plumbing, and other building
systems. By the end of DD, each of these
disciplines should have determined basic system
layouts, key equipment requirements and sizes,
and routing of each system within the building.
This information is critical for the architecture
team to ensure that the building skin and interior
will interface with building systems. Similar to the
architects and interior designers, engineering staff
must meet with the client to gather feedback on
their designs. Engineering systems can be major
consumers of power, water and fuels, and building
owners are very interested in controlling these costs
while implementing systems they can maintain.
Design Development wraps up with the production
of a fairly robust set of drawings and specifications.
Drawings graphically depict the project while
specifications provide detailed written descriptions
of most products and materials that will be installed
on the project. These materials are tendered to
the owner and usually to one or more construction
partners who will again estimate the job. As is the
case in SD, if the estimates that come back are too
high, the team may be forced (contractually) to
reduce the scope of work.
Conctruction Documents (CDs)
The last major phase of design is known as
Construction Documents, or CDs. True to its
name, this phase involves the production of the
drawings and specifications that will be used to
construct the building. During the CD phase,
client interaction tends to decrease as the design
and engineering team focuses their attention on
internal coordination. Therefore, meetings with the
client are often replaced by coordination meetings
between various team members.
On a well-run project, the CD phase should be
focused on resolving minor conflicts and adding
detail to help the construction team build the
project according to the design team’s intent.
However, production of CD’s can be very labor
intensive as all aspects of the design need to be
coordinated internally and with other disciplines
(for example, the architectural drawings must
accurately reflect the structural system).
Construction Document production has changed
considerably in recent years, as many firms migrate
to three-dimensional software packages to produce
and detail building design projects. These
programs help to highlight conflicts in real time,
while increasing productivity. However, no software
program replaces the skills of a talented project
architect.
At the completion of the CD phase, the team issues
a full construction document package for bidding
(called a bid package). Contractors use this
package to acquire firm bids from sub-contractors
that will perform the work. In some cases, the team
issues several bid packages over a span of time
so that portions of the project can be accelerated.
This has become increasingly common on projects
of all sizes.
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Bidding and Negotiation
The bidding and nogotiaiton phase commences
at the end of the construction documents phase,
and is a phase in which the bulk of labor shifts from
the design team to the construction team. Bidding
takes several forms. If the owner has pre-selected
a construction partner, then this constructor will
prepare a bid for the entire scope of work under
their control. The bid will consist of many portions
that represent the cost of site work, utility work,
structural work, and so forth to account for all
aspects of the project.
An alternate bidding method is competitive
bidding, in which multiple firms are invited to
bid on a project. Almost all public work must
be competitively bid for reasons of public
accountability. In this case, each bidding
constructor will prepare and submit a sealed bid
for the scope of work defined in the construction
documents. The owner will open these bids in a
public or private bid opening, which is generally
held at a pre-determined time and location. The
bid opening can be very formal for complex or
public projects.
Regardless of whether the bidding is by a pre-
selected constructor or by a competitive bidding
process, the design team (inclusive of architects,
interior designers, engineers, etc.) must be
prepared to answer questions presented by the
bidders. This process is formalized into documents
known as Requests for Information, or RFIs.
Bidders issue RFIs to the architect, who retrieves
answers from the design and engineering team
and then issues those answers to the owner and
all bidders. It is essential that all answers are
communicated to all bidders so that they have
parity of information.
At the end of the bidding phase, the owner selects
a preferred construction partner (in the case of
competitive bidding), and (in all cases) negotiates
the final cost of construction, which is then
formalized into a contract with the constructor. This
contract is an essential document that establishes
a legal agreement between the client and the
constructor.
A parallel process that often occurs during bidding
is document review by local, state, and even
national entities to grant required permits for
construction. The owner is generally responsible
for securing permits. In some jurisdictions, the
time and costs associated with permitting can
be extremely significant. In addition to standard
building permits, the owner may need to obtain
permits from environmental agencies, state health
departments, and even national security agencies
before they can begin any work in the field. Failure
to comply with these requirements can result in
large fines.
Construction Administration (CA)
Construction administration is the phase in which
the building is physically constructed. Clearly, a
lot of work has occurred by the time there is any
activity in the field.
The architects’ and engineers’ relationship with the
constructor is not a direct contractual one, but they
are linked together via the owner. The owner holds
contracts with the constructor and the architect/
engineering team, and each of these contracts
defines responsibilities for all parties. For example,
the architect can be designated as a non-binding
arbiter in the event of a disagreement between the
owner and constructor. The legal arrangement of
the owner, constructor, and architect/engineering
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team can be complex, but all parties must fully
understand their relationship before construction
commences.
During construction administration, the architecture
and engineering team maintains a close
relationship with the owner in order to ensure
that the design meets the intent of the drawings
and specifications. They will visit the jobsite on
a regular basis to observe works in the field, but
only in the role of observer. They will record their
observation in field reports that contain descriptive
updates and photographs, and report their findings
to the owner.
Another primary task of the design team is to
respond to questions in the field as they arise.
Similar to the bidding process, the RFI format is
used to submit questions, and the design team
must coordinate and issue responses to each
question in a timely fashion. In addition to this task,
the design team must review various samples and
drawings that are produced by the constructor’s
sub-contractors to ensure that they conform to the
intended design. These tasks can represent a great
deal of time and work for the design team, and so
it is important that the project manager reserve
enough professional fee to cover this expense.
Near the completion of construction, the design
team will “walk the jobsite” and assemble a punch
list, which is a detailed listing of deficiencies and
incomplete work. Before the project is considered
complete, the punch list must be addressed to
the owner’s and architect’s satisfaction. Only then
will the architect issue a notification to the owner
that the project is “Substantially Complete,” at
which point the owner seeks an occupancy permit
from local authorities. In all but a few cases, the
owner cannot occupy a space on a temporary or
permanent basis until the local building authority
clears their request. For many healthcare projects,
a state entity must also clear occupancy requests.
Soon after the project is declared substantially
complete, the architect’s and engineer’s formal
contract with the owner is considered complete.
Occupancy, Post-Occupancy, and Marketing
leaves a lasting impression, and so we must never
“cut and run,” from a project. Simple gestures
such as regular telephone calls, an occasional
lunch, or attendance at fundraising events can
mean the difference between future work and a
severed relationship. Therefore, no matter what
phase of design or inactivity we may be facing with
our clients, marketing is a constant task for the
employees of Cannon Design.

In most cases, the grand opening of a new

building is a cause for celebration amongst all
team members. For an effective, well-oiled design
and construction team, it can be a time of mixed
emotions since the team inevitably breaks apart
to work on new assignments. However, it can also
be a time of great activity (and stress) as the owner
attempts to occupy, furnish, and move their staff
into new or remodeled spaces. Suffice it to say, a
number of celebrations are scheduled in concert
with the many tasks an owner must undertake
before people can live or work in new buildings.

Roughly 12-18 months after occupancy, Cannon

Design often performs studies to understand
how our work is performing against our client’s
expectations. We have a standardized process
in place to conduce Post-Occupancy Evaluations
(POEs), which are detailed surveys and reports that
measure project performance. POE’s are funded by
overhead or marketing monies, but are well worth
their cost. Our staff can learn a great deal of useful
information from POEs that can be applied on
future projects.

Another critical activity that Cannon Design

performs after occupancy is ongoing marketing,
which involves nurturing our relationships with
past clients in order to be considered for future
work. The manner in which we close out projects
and continue communications with our clients

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