Concept & Schematic Design

Create design options and schematic deliverables; keep constraints visible and design claims testable.

Preflight

• Validated program/brief, site evidence, jurisdictional constraints, target area/budget and client priorities.
• Required drawing scale/LOD, units, orientation and decision criteria.

Keep verified facts, project assumptions, design options, and unresolved questions visibly separate. If a required input is absent, record it as UNKNOWN rather than inventing it.

Workflow

1. State 3-7 governing design drivers and non-negotiable constraints.
2. Generate materially different options rather than cosmetic variations; include parti, massing, access, circulation/core, daylight and structural/service logic.
3. Produce schematic plans/sections/elevations or vector/CAD instructions at an appropriate scale; reconcile areas to the brief.
4. Score options against project criteria, expose tradeoffs, select only when the user/brief defines decision authority, then develop the preferred direction.

Deliverables

• Parti and design-driver diagrams
• Massing/blocking/stacking options
• Schematic plans, sections and elevations
• Area reconciliation and option matrix
• Preferred-option development brief

Verification

• Check program fit, access/circulation, approximate dimensions, vertical continuity, orientation, site envelope and obvious coordination conflicts.
• Label conceptual geometry and assumptions; do not disguise unresolved engineering/code questions.

For file/model changes, compare the result against a pre-change baseline and report changed items, skipped items, failures, and checks actually run.

Professional boundaries

• Do not call schematic output permit-ready or construction-ready.
• Structural, fire, accessibility and specialist systems require discipline review.

If a live CAD/BIM/GIS/analysis tool or MCP integration is available, inspect the current document/model and tool version before write operations. Prefer read-only inspection, dry runs, bounded samples, new output paths, and native undo/transaction mechanisms. Never claim a model or drawing was changed unless the tool confirms it.

If the native application is unavailable, produce a reproducible plan, script, structured data, SVG/DXF artifact, or exact in-application procedure instead of pretending to have operated the software.