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How does your brief become a home design?
Foundation Series · Episode 2 of 12
Tina Patel & Bart Kolosowski · 14 January 2026
A drawing can look right and still miss how your family actually lives.
Bart plays the homeowner and Tina walks him through the design process: from everyday habits and future needs to layout options, planning, technical detail and decisions during the build.
Where will the shoes, homework and muddy dog go?
Tina’s questions begin with daily life. Where do coats go? Do children study in their rooms or a shared space? Does the dog need somewhere to be washed before coming into the house? These details influence the rooms, storage and routes through your home.
The first design stage is a conversation, not a rush to choose finishes. Understanding what works and what frustrates you in your current home gives the architect something more useful than a list of rooms.
It also looks ahead. Children who are eight when the project begins may need a very different home as teenagers. Designing only for today can miss the life you will be living when the work is complete.
01
Discover needs
Understand everyday and future life.
02
Test layouts
Compare ways to use the space.
03
Coordinate
Bring the details and systems together.
04
Review and build
Keep decisions tied to the brief.
Why test layouts before choosing the exterior?
Once the needs are understood, the architect can explore different ways of fitting them into the property. Tina describes presenting several layout options, discussing what works and bringing the strongest elements together.
That exploration has to respond to space, budget and planning constraints. A favourite dining table also needs room for chairs and circulation, not just a rectangle on the plan.
Agreeing how the home will function gives the next stages a firmer starting point. Materials, roof forms and external appearance can then develop around the spaces you actually need.
Planning drawings are only part of the design
The technical stage connects the layout to what has to be built: structure, lighting, plumbing, fittings and specialist systems. An attractive bathroom may need space for equipment and routes for pipes that are not visible in the early sketch.
Bart recalls expensive door handles arriving on site that did not fit the doors and surrounding details. The choice looked small; the missing coordination was not.
Ask who brings the specialist packages together. A kitchen, staircase or lighting design needs to work with the whole house, rather than remain a separate set of drawings.
Does design stop when the builder starts?
Site discoveries and specialist input can require the design to develop further. The important question is how a proposed change responds to the agreed brief, what else it affects and who needs to approve it.
Tina makes the case for continuity through the design process. If different practices handle different stages, the original intent still needs a clear handover and somebody responsible for carrying it forward.
Your decisions remain part of the programme. Reviewing a substantial drawing pack takes time; a quick glance is rarely enough to understand the home you are asking the team to build.
Three decisions to take into your project
01 Describe how you live.
Include routines, frustrations and future needs—not just room names.
02 Make space for design decisions.
Allow time to compare options and properly review the information.
03 Agree who coordinates the detail.
Check how specialist designs and changes will be brought together.
The full conversation
The Foundation Series is our 12-episode guide to the home project journey. Architect Tina Patel and quantity surveyor Bart Kolosowski work through the decisions, people and processes involved, step by step.
In Episode 2, Tina guides Bart through a hypothetical family project to explain how architectural design develops from the first conversation through to construction.
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Continue the Foundation Series
← Previous: Before you start: agree your brief and budget
Next: Who does what on your home project? →
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