STAGE 1 SERVICES - CONCEPT
"Good architecture feeds your soul" - Diego Méndez Arce, Founder.
1. Preliminary studies
The preliminary studies are a set of requirements that have to be met to make sure a project is feasible. Depending on the project and its location, the requirements may vary—some are legal, some are technical, and some are bureaucratic. Essentially your preliminary studies become the basis of your construction permits. Two of the most essential requirements are power and water availability. Due to the nature of our full service approach, we take control over how some of these preliminary studies are done, specifically the soil tests and the topographical survey.
2. Soil Tests
Soil tests are divide into three different tests, soil resistance, stability profile and infiltration test, depending on the characteristics and location of your property you might need one of the tests or all of them. In all cases you will need a soil resistance test that will check for the mechanical characteristics of the soil, this will be the base for a proper foundation design. Foundation design is essential on a seismic country. The Stability profile test will analyze how prone to land slides a property can be and infiltration tests analyze how the soil interacts with water, this is fundamental for a septic system design among other things. We've partnered with CASTRO Y DE LA TORRE to bring you this service which is one of the laboratories in country with an unprecedented trajectory of reliability, accuracy and technology implementation.
3. Topographical Survey
An accurate topographical survey is essentially a digital mapping of all of the relevant features of a property. A detailed survey will give your design-build team enough tri-dimensional data to calculate the soil cut and fill volumes. It will also provide them with a realistic understanding of how water will run through the property. They will make sure that the official property map (“Plano Catastrado”) matches the actual property and that its boundaries and areas are correct. A good topo-survey will also include plenty of additional details, such as water and power hookup points, trees, roads, light posts and other relevant land features.
4. Budget Estimate
At this stage we will interpret the Design-brief, the client’s requirements and the preliminary studies into a room-program that will be reviewed with the client permanently to make sure it matches the client’s expectations. This room program will be the primary input for the Budget estimate. As part of our custom BIM Methodology, the room program and its budget will be updated in real time when the design process evolves.
5. Design
(BIM-methodology)
The design is the set of 3D and 2D documents that will represent the house to be built. This set of documents will express with clarity and coherence the overall design intentions. Their level of detail will be driven by their purpose, which is to communicate to the client and other parties involved the spatial design intentions of the house. It will contain floor plan distributions, elevations, sections, footprints of the buildings, spaces, access points, pedestrian and vehicle paths, trails, landscaping works and 3D models that will depict the house and the design concept.