Design intent
Contents
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1 Introduction
2 Client intent
3 Early design stages
4 Designer's intent
5 Design intent model
6 Parametric modelling
7 Find out more
7.1 Related articles on Designing Buildings Wiki
Introduction
The term 'design intent' is an ambiguous one with several different possible meanings.
Client intent
ASHRAE Guideline 1-1996, The HVAC Commissioning Process, defines the term 'design intent' as '…a
detailed explanation of the ideas, concepts, and criteria that are defined by the owner to be important'.
It suggests that this is developed before the design process begins and sets out what the 'owner' thinks is
important. It defines the engineer's scope of work from the owners perspectiveand may be developed by
the owner in conjunction with the engineer. Setting out intent in this way provides a mechanism by which
subsequent proposals can be assessed to verify whether they satisfy the intent.
Early design stages
The term 'design intent' is sometimes used to refer to early design decisions, that is, what
the designer intends to design. This has resulted in a whole range of documentation prepared in the early
stages of a project being marked as 'design intent', when in fact they just set out preliminary design
thinking.
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Designer's intent
Designer's intent may refer more specifically to drawings and other information prepared by the project
team that convey the fundamental, intrinsic requirements of a design. Where drawingsgo beyond showing
just these basic requirements and include more detail, they might be referred to as working drawings.
Shop drawings are then prepared by contractors, subcontractors, suppliers, manufacturers or fabricators.
These take the design intent drawings and other information and develop them to show in detail how
the component will actually be manufactured, fabricated, assembled or installed.
Shop drawings can then be reviewed by the project team to determine whether they meet the design
intent.
Design intent model
PAS 1192-2:2013 Specification for information management for the capital/delivery phase of construction
projects using building information modelling (BIM) suggests that during the design process, the initial
version of the building information model developed by design suppliers might be described as the
'design intent model'.
This should show, '…the architectural and engineering intentions of the design suppliers'. Then,
when ownership of the model is transferred to the construction suppliers, it is developed into a virtual
construction model containing all the objects to be manufactured, installed or constructed.
See Design intent model for more information.
Parametric modelling
Building information modelling (BIM) has introduced a certain amount of parametric modellinginto
mainstream building design.
Parametric modelling (or parametric design) is the creation of a model based on a series of pre-
programmed rules or algorithms known as 'parameters'. That is, the model, or elements of it, are
generated automatically by internal logic arguments rather than by being manually manipulated.
It is important when using parametric modelling that the 'design intent' is clearly understood and properly
defined so that if an element changes, the design intent remains intact. For example, if a junction needs
to be in the middle of an element, it needs to be expressed that way, rather than as a fixed dimension
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from an edge, because if the size of the elementchanges, the junction needs to remain in the middle,
rather than the original distance from the edge.
See Parametric modelling for more information.
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