Quote:
Originally Posted by Shot  What was it like when you started discussing plans with architects (WSDG)? Did they come down to see and measure by themself or you handled everything via mail?
Is construction work more expensive than architects or it's vice versa? (I'm not asking you to go with numbers, but i'm interested in financial dimensions of project like yours). Sorry if it's too much to ask, I'll understand if you skip answer! |
Hi Luka,
Thanks for the kind words!
Decision finding upon using WSDG was over phone and email - as was negotiating the contract. We do have a local architect who did all the measuring and CAD drawings of the existing structure, handled all the bidding and is at the site during construction. After all the initial paper work was done we decided on a kick off meeting which should take place end of July in the WSDG-Europe office in Basel, Switzerland.
At this meeting we discussed our needs and expectations for every room - main usage, eqipement used, noise criteria & working levels (in db-A) and resulting isolation needs, client area, ... We also looked at many samples of acoustic materials, discussed basic construction techniques and HVAC requirements. After 8 hours of talking and looking at some example drawings of other projects both sides had a pretty good idea of what this project was about.
Entering SK Level of design - during the following 4 weeks we received 3 SK plans (sketches) via email - They were Auto CAD drawings using actual dimensions that included no constructional details. At the end of this phase we decided which design should be further developed during the Design Development (DD). That's were isolation requirements, room ratios, room acoustics, HVAC plans and furniture plans are merged and put into one design - one that can actually be built. Partition details, acoustic panels, ceiling plans and much more were being discussed. Numberless conversations over skype and email resulted in a final set of plans. During that phase bidding started. Construction finally started November 5th...
Financial aspects: Construction is definitely much more expensive than the design fee. Suprisingly to us WSDG's fee is within the range of Austrian and German designers... The more expensive part is their ideas and reqired materials
Our architect has long term relationship with some of the builders and we got some very good prices, but still the budget has doubled during this whole process - but at the same time our requirements and possible usage have similarily expanded. We didn't cut any corners, quite the oposite was true - we tended more to remove compromise. Read - Very expensive
