Between Concept and Plan

How does a design concept become a detailed plan? During the initial stages of design, sketching predominates. Architects draw, relating creative freedom to a representational technology that is understood to lack specific practical consequence.5 This imaginative process aims to move away from existing realities toward a “design concept.” In later stages of design, by contrast, architects aim to make their drawings consequential. The process of “detailing” is a way of anticipating the reality of the concept. It is oriented to give substance and specificity to what exists abstractly. At this stage, architects must understand and resolve a range of more practical considerations, including those of planning, construction, and cost....