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Tag Archives: Architectural Design

Architectural Design is central to a beautiful and functional space. Any individual or company wishing to start a building project, will need an architect to at least produce the required drawings.

Additionally, a good architectural practice such as Essex based Munday and Cramer can:

  • Manage the tender process for trades and services
  • Apply for planning permission and building regulations consent on your behalf
  • Manage the project throughout the build
  • Prepare budgets and ensure cost certainty
  • Complete feasibility studies

Choosing the right architect for you is a big commitment. Architectural design is subjective so they will need to not only fit with your budgetary constraints, but also share your vision for the completed build.

Choosing an Architect

The first thing to consider is that your proposed architect is registered with the relevant bodies. UK architects must register with the ARB (Architects Registration Board). Additionally, they can also choose to apply for accreditation with RIBA, RIAI or RIAS should they wish to acquire a Chartered status. Not only should prospective clients check an architect’s credentials, but also it might be wise to check what accreditation entails.

In the first place, builders and tradespeople can often recommend an architect. From that position, the client should employ the rule of (at least) three when gaining quotes. It is important to realise that not all architects will be experienced in all kinds of project. Do some research, ask for case studies of similar builds to your own, and follow up references.

Another key point, is to understand what your quote entails. Some architects will manage the planning application and building regulations process for you, others expect you to have this in hand. Similarly, some practices offer project management and engage trades on the client’s behalf – others simply provide a design drawing for contractors to work from.

Potential clients requiring assistance with any of these architectural services should contact Munday and Cramer on 01245 326200

25
Sep 2020

What Is Modular Design And Why Is It So Popular?

Like many toddlers growing up, I would often sit for hours at a time enthralled by little wooden building blocks. In a quasi-flow-state, I would arrange and re-arrange them into various shapes and structures, utterly transfixed. A young child, sat with an almost comic intensity of concentration, toiling away at his magnum opus. Whilst I didn’t know it at the time, that approach was actually surprisingly similar to a form of construction today. A discipline known as modular design. In many ways, in fact, modular architectural design is more akin to that simplistic block-building approach of childhood in than it […]

A building block to represent the repeating 'units' used in modular design.
18
Sep 2020

Architectural Design Through The Ages: Part 3 (Modern)

Superlatives are bandied about nowadays with careless abandon, their impact and value somewhat lessened by their overly-frequent usage. When it comes to modern architectural styles, however, you’ll find that superlatives are still very much appropriate. Contemporary architectural design (from the turn of the 20th century to present day) includes some of the most innovative, most provocative and most daring structures ever to have been conceived. Some of the styles we’ll cover in this post built on the rules laid down by their forebears. Others, however, ripped up the rule book entirely. All of them, however, left their own distinct mark […]

11
Sep 2020

What Is All-Inclusive Architectural Design?

For many, the term all-inclusive conjures up images of never-ending buffet tables and an open bar, of row upon row of PVC deckchairs lining golden sands so hot that you have to do a little dance over it so as not to burn your feet. The all-inclusive package holiday has been a staple of the British holidaymaker for decades now. But when it comes to architectural design, ‘all-inclusive’ refers to something a little different. The team here at Munday + Cramer, a multi-disciplinary architectural practice in the South-East of England, wanted to examine this concept in more detail. The Idea […]

An image of a wheelchair user to represent inclusive architectural design.
4
Sep 2020

Architectural Design Through The Ages: Part 2

Every good story has a beginning, a middle and an end. Interestingly, whilst it’s the bookends that are most often remembered in these tales – the ‘Once upon a time’ beginning or the nail-biting cliff-hanger ending – it is the chapters in the middle that give a story its substance, its narrative. It’s those pages in between that keep us gripped, that keep us propped up in our beds early into the morning, bleary-eyed promising ourselves ‘just one more chapter’. The timeline of architectural design throughout the years is no different. Whilst tourists nowadays may be drawn in their droves […]

A picture depicting architectural design in Florence - Cattedrale di Santa Maria del Fiore Duomo di Firenze
21
Aug 2020

Architectural Design Through The Ages: Part 1 (The Ancient World)

Over the past few thousands of years, there have been countless architectural design styles, worldwide. I’m sure we can all cast our minds back to primary school where we first learnt about the Ancient Egyptians and their mind-boggling feats of innovation with the Pyramids. Whilst the offices and school buildings of today’s world may seem like a far cry from those pyramidal monuments of old, many of the architectural principles still in use today were first pioneered by those ancient civilisations all those centuries ago. With that in mind, here at Munday + Cramer we wanted to take a look […]

The pyramids are one of the greatest ever examples of human ingenuity and architectural design.
14
Aug 2020

UK Government Announce Planning System Overhaul

Last week, the Government outlined new plans to change planning permission laws in the UK, in a newly published white paper, titled Planning For The Future. The broad strokes of the plans revolve around a total reform, or overhaul, of the UK planning system. The announcements have already proved quite contentious. The plans have potentially huge implications for the way in which the architectural, property and construction industries operate in the UK. Here at Munday + Cramer, whose building surveying services include planning permission guidance, wanted to look at what’s been outlined, who it affects and how the news has […]

Planning advice forms part of our building surveying services. The picture depicts a graphical plan.
7
Aug 2020

Architectural Design: The Complexities Of Designing Healthcare Spaces

There are few sectors where duty-of-care (and the responsibility that lies therein) is as important as within the healthcare sector. Compliance, from a health and safety perspective, is already crucial when designing a space, but when you factor in that said built environment is going to be used by people who are already potentially at more risk, from a health point of view, then the regulations in place, surrounding the design and installation of healthcare buildings, understandably have to be all the more stringent. Here at Munday + Cramer, we’ve provided architectural design services for various healthcare projects, over the […]

Medical equipment to represent architectural design within healthcare.
10
Jul 2020

How Has Technology Changed Architectural Design In Recent Times?

The history of architecture, globally, has been an illustrious one. Over the past centuries and millennia, humanity has created some truly breath-taking feats of architecture. There’s a reason, after all, that there are Seven Wonders of the Ancient World! But you don’t have to look back as far as the pyramids to see changes within the field. In the last one hundred years, alone, there have been a huge number of advances in architectural design. Many of them have pertained to the kinds of technology being used. In fact, according to a study conducted between Microsoft and the RIBA, 87% […]

VR is one of the emerging architectural design technologies.
25
Jun 2020

The Importance Of Space Design And Flow in Architectural Design

Never have we been made as aware of space and our proximity to one another as we have recently. This has been entirely thanks to COVID-19. Even as social distancing measures relax, the safety of space will likely remain at the forefront of everything we do. This will no doubt continue to be the norm for the foreseeable future. Effective space planning, however, is key to any architectural design, whether virus-related or not. When it comes to implementing space planning into architectural settings, the reference point for many people is the kitchen work triangle or kitchen triangle rule. For those […]

an architect at work on a design brief
29
May 2020

What Exactly is Project Management, and Why Is It Necessary?

Project management is an incredibly broad term, however in design and construction circles it represents an immensely crucial role. The very success of a project more often than not hinges on the quality of the project manager. A good project manager will effectively collaborate with involved stakeholders, ensure that regulations and compliance checklists are adhered to, as well as tackling any unexpected issues on the project should they arise. A couple of weeks back, we took a deep dive into the architectural design process which, itself, is something intrinsically linked to project management. Now, though, we want to examine the […]

A Gantt chart used for project management.