Programming and Analysis: Turning Needs into Defensible Numbers
This domain tests how information is gathered and analyzed before design: client needs, space requirements, code and zoning limits, and existing conditions, all translated into a program the design can be measured against.
Programming fundamentals
- Research methods: client and user interviews, questionnaires, observation, benchmarking against comparable facilities, code and zoning review, and survey of existing buildings.
- Products: goals and objectives, functional requirements, adjacency matrix, bubble diagrams, stacking and blocking diagrams, and an area schedule by department and room.
- Net (assignable) area excludes circulation, mechanical, and structure. Gross area includes everything. Efficiency = net / gross; roughly 0.70–0.80 for offices, lower for laboratories and hospitals.
Code and zoning analysis
- Occupancy classification drives everything downstream. Occupant load uses gross area and a tabular factor, for example 150 gross square feet per occupant for business use.
- Egress follows: number of exits, width, travel distance (200 feet unsprinklered and 250 feet sprinklered in many occupancies), and common path limits.
- Zoning establishes floor area ratio, lot coverage, setbacks, height, density, and parking ratios.
Worked example
A client needs 12,000 net square feet of office. At an efficiency of 0.72, gross area = 12,000 / 0.72 = 16,667 square feet. On a 10,000 square foot lot with a floor area ratio of 2.0, the maximum gross area is 20,000 square feet, so the program fits with about 3,300 square feet to spare. On a 7,500 square foot lot the limit is 15,000 square feet and the program does not fit; the response is to cut area, negotiate a variance, or revisit the site. Occupant load check: 16,667 / 150 = 111 occupants, well above 49, so two exits are required.
Traps that cost marks
- Computing occupant load from net area; the code factor applies to gross area.
- Accepting the client's stated square footage without testing it against the budget, which is built on gross area and cost per gross square foot.
- Forgetting that efficiency falls as a building gets deeper or more serviced (labs, imaging, kitchens).
- Skipping the existing-conditions survey on renovation work.