2 HSW Credit Hours

For most Architects, the number that will influence their design most is a project’s budget. The total project budget will include the cost of the raw land, the projects hard cost, soft costs, and site development expenses. But the component of the budget that the Architect generally is asked to focus on is the projects hard cost, the costs related to the building.

Another number that is central to the developer client is a projects projected profit. From the clients perspective, this equates to finding the highest and best use. For a commercial center, the client wants to maximize leasable space. He typically wants the design solution to produce the most square footage the site will allow. For a multifamily housing project, the goal would be to maximize the number of units. There are many other factors, of course, that will need to be considered in both cases, like market conditions and the nature of the competition.

It’s a given that the budget and profit numbers will play a role in the design process and it can be assumed that Architects are used to dealing with both the “best cost” goal and the need to determine a sites “best use”. This course, however, will not focus on these areas but rather explore something different, numbers in a third category. Numbers that makeup part of what clients consider to minimize their “risk”.

Using a multifamily housing project as a case study, this course will look at three different product and site design solutions and the impact of each on cash flow projections, what is sometimes referred to as “money over time”. The course asserts that with greater knowledge of how design can impact a projects cash flow, the Architect can propose a design solution that “fits” the need to minimize the clients “risk.”