Planning: Master Planning

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Planning: Planning Guides:Master Building Concepts

Overview
In large scale corporate planning, the interior designer first establishes a master building concept prior to commencing realistic planning in order to achieve consistency of concept through out multi-level floors of the building. This technique can also be used as a marketing tool for the design firm to secure contracts as well as use for tenant development services.

The master building concept should achieve the following:

The most efficient external circulation from the elevator lobby or entrances to the interior of the building through the defined entrances, to use core facilities and to provide agress from the typical floor

Compliances to the codes and standards based on the building construction and occupancy types

The distribution of entrances and exits along the external circulations adjacent to the core must comply with the egress travel distance

The breakdown of the interior spaces into planning zones based on the most efficient internal circulation patterns

The general distributions of private, semi-private and open spaces throughout the building must be efficient so that the departments are able to locate each type of space based on needs

The planning zones must be of reasonable size so that they will achieve flexibility on planningand that the space can be utilized efficiently

The architectural impact of the space must be have well defined geometries whether they are rectilinear, angular, circular or in combinations

After the completion of the master building concept, the designer must test the concept using a typical floor of the building using one or more departments to verify that the concept is able to apply efficiently before full scale realistic planning with all the departments.

Circulations
There are three main types of circulations within a building:

External circulations - circulatons around the building core that house all the common building facilities shared by all users on each typical floor

Internal primary circulations - circulations that take the users from the entrances of each department to major work groups or areas internally within a department or company

Internal secondary circulations - circulations that take the users from the primary circulations to the individual work station or specific areas of activities within a department or company

Planning Zones
The planning zones are net areas within the building that accommodate the personnel and group spaces. These are spaces for planning of personnel work stations and group spaces and are separated by primary circulations. These zones include the secondary circulations for entries into the individual work station or group area.

Planning zones checklist:

They must be large enough to accommodate a large cluster of work stations or group spaces to reduce unnecessary circulations and to provide adequate flexibility for rearrangement

The planning zones on private, semi-private and open spaces must be well distributed through out the building so that regardless of where the departmental units are located, they can use them easily for different job categories need

The planning zones must be separated from each other using primary circulation isles

The primary circulatons must be connected to each other and to the entrances and exits for ease of egress

Planning zones should maintain similar geometric shapes and size as much as possible in order that the work station standards will be able to implement efficiently

Irregular zones will generate a lot of waste and reduce flexibility

Avoid dead ends between zones or over size planning zones to provide efficient circulations

The Process

Establish building concept using planning zones and primary circulations

Testing the planning zones by implementing the personnel work station standards within the zones and illustrate how they can be utilized efficiently

Testing how departmental boundaries can be achieved using different strategies

Testing the planning zones by using a typical floor or area within the floor using the realistic needs of a few departments

The chosen department use for testing must consist of a good distribution of different work station types and group spaces that include support and special use areas

Testing electrical and telephone locations to make sure there are not a big number of work stations that miss the power or communications access

Obtain approval from client and implement full scale realistic planning of all departments

Establish Master Building Concept

Check for codes compliances based on construction type and occupancy types that include egress requirements, plumbing and ADA requirements

Establish the external circulations around the core:

define how users are able to flow from the elevator lobby to the entrances of the departments, or tenant spaces using the external circulation around the building core

define how the users are able to use the core facilities easily from the internal parts of the building. This is determined by the number of entrances into the interior spaces from the external circulations

Identify how the entrances are positioned in relationship to the elevator lobby for ease of wayfinding

From the entrances along the external circulation, break down the interior spaces into large planning zones by defining the internal primary circulation patterns

The planning zones must be consistent throughout the entire building as much as possible to achieve consistency in planning

The plan must provide the most efficient internal circulation pattern

All major circulations must be connected to each other to provide ease of flow and egress

There should be no dead ends exceeding 20 feet

Set up planning rules to define the general locations for personnel spaces within the planning zones: private, semi-private or open, and the locations for support and special use areas (open stations provide supports to management and should be located adjacent to each other)

Develop the architectural impact of the space by the using basic geometries and/or integrate with the circulation pattern

Testing of Concepts
In order to demonstrate how well the concept perform, the interior designer and planner should generate a number of tests to verify and demonstrate the performance of the planning concept. If the tests resulted in a lot of waste in space, then the planning zones or the work station standards will need to be adjusted.

Test how the private offices can be implemented within the planning zones using different sizes offices. Study how well the different offices can adapt to sizes changes for different job hierarchies

Test how the semi-private or open stations can be implemented within the planning zones and how easily they can interchange, regroup or rotate

Test the orientations of the semi-private and open stations, there should be at least 4 basic orientations

Test how the supporting spaces such as files, storages, shelving and equipment can easily integrate within the planning zones and interchange with the personnel work stations

Test the general locations of special use areas such as reception, conference facilities, storages, mail and distribution within the planning zones and how they work in relationship to the personnel stations

Test how a cluster of 6 or 8 semi-private or open stations can be formed within a typical zone and irregular zone if applicable

Additional Test on Departmental Boundaries

The planning concept must able to provide the needs for separations between the departments due to visual privacy and security of the units without affecting the internal and or external circulations. Some departments need absolute separations where as other need minimal or no separations. In addition, some departments that have frequent public contacts may need visual identity for ease of way finding.

The tests to address the different degrees of departmental separations:

maximum separation between different departments using full height partitions

medium separation between different departments using system panels that can easily be moved

minimal separation between different departments using storages such as files or cabinets, plants and space

Examples of Master Building Concept using a Conceptual Approach

Triangular Building Concept - to provide maximize light penetration and flexibility by locating all private spaces away from the windows and locate them parallel to the core

Angular Building Concept - to use an open planning approach by grouping all private spaces in angular clusters and to maximize semi-private personnel work stations for improvements on light penetrations

Perpendicular Builidng Concept - to group all private spaces perpendicular to the perimeter of the building and provide some departmental separations to control acoustics and compromise with reduced flexibility

Rectangular Building Concept - to emphasize on personnel hierarchy by grouping private spaces along the window areas with occasional light penetrations

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© 1996-2008 Jane Wong. All rights reserved.
Please send comments to:
Jane Wong jmwong@ku.edu


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Design Process Types of Spaces Space Standards Planning Guides Pre-planning Planning Strategies Planning Approach Office Master Planning Office Planning Basics	Planning: Planning Guides:Master Building Concepts Overview In large scale corporate planning, the interior designer first establishes a master building concept prior to commencing realistic planning in order to achieve consistency of concept through out multi-level floors of the building. This technique can also be used as a marketing tool for the design firm to secure contracts as well as use for tenant development services. The master building concept should achieve the following: The most efficient external circulation from the elevator lobby or entrances to the interior of the building through the defined entrances, to use core facilities and to provide agress from the typical floor Compliances to the codes and standards based on the building construction and occupancy types The distribution of entrances and exits along the external circulations adjacent to the core must comply with the egress travel distance The breakdown of the interior spaces into planning zones based on the most efficient internal circulation patterns The general distributions of private, semi-private and open spaces throughout the building must be efficient so that the departments are able to locate each type of space based on needs The planning zones must be of reasonable size so that they will achieve flexibility on planningand that the space can be utilized efficiently The architectural impact of the space must be have well defined geometries whether they are rectilinear, angular, circular or in combinations After the completion of the master building concept, the designer must test the concept using a typical floor of the building using one or more departments to verify that the concept is able to apply efficiently before full scale realistic planning with all the departments. Circulations There are three main types of circulations within a building: External circulations - circulatons around the building core that house all the common building facilities shared by all users on each typical floor Internal primary circulations - circulations that take the users from the entrances of each department to major work groups or areas internally within a department or company Internal secondary circulations - circulations that take the users from the primary circulations to the individual work station or specific areas of activities within a department or company
	Planning Zones The planning zones are net areas within the building that accommodate the personnel and group spaces. These are spaces for planning of personnel work stations and group spaces and are separated by primary circulations. These zones include the secondary circulations for entries into the individual work station or group area. Planning zones checklist: They must be large enough to accommodate a large cluster of work stations or group spaces to reduce unnecessary circulations and to provide adequate flexibility for rearrangement The planning zones on private, semi-private and open spaces must be well distributed through out the building so that regardless of where the departmental units are located, they can use them easily for different job categories need The planning zones must be separated from each other using primary circulation isles The primary circulatons must be connected to each other and to the entrances and exits for ease of egress Planning zones should maintain similar geometric shapes and size as much as possible in order that the work station standards will be able to implement efficiently Irregular zones will generate a lot of waste and reduce flexibility Avoid dead ends between zones or over size planning zones to provide efficient circulations
	The Process Establish building concept using planning zones and primary circulations Testing the planning zones by implementing the personnel work station standards within the zones and illustrate how they can be utilized efficiently Testing how departmental boundaries can be achieved using different strategies Testing the planning zones by using a typical floor or area within the floor using the realistic needs of a few departments The chosen department use for testing must consist of a good distribution of different work station types and group spaces that include support and special use areas Testing electrical and telephone locations to make sure there are not a big number of work stations that miss the power or communications access Obtain approval from client and implement full scale realistic planning of all departments Establish Master Building Concept Check for codes compliances based on construction type and occupancy types that include egress requirements, plumbing and ADA requirements Establish the external circulations around the core: define how users are able to flow from the elevator lobby to the entrances of the departments, or tenant spaces using the external circulation around the building core define how the users are able to use the core facilities easily from the internal parts of the building. This is determined by the number of entrances into the interior spaces from the external circulations Identify how the entrances are positioned in relationship to the elevator lobby for ease of wayfinding From the entrances along the external circulation, break down the interior spaces into large planning zones by defining the internal primary circulation patterns The planning zones must be consistent throughout the entire building as much as possible to achieve consistency in planning The plan must provide the most efficient internal circulation pattern All major circulations must be connected to each other to provide ease of flow and egress There should be no dead ends exceeding 20 feet Set up planning rules to define the general locations for personnel spaces within the planning zones: private, semi-private or open, and the locations for support and special use areas (open stations provide supports to management and should be located adjacent to each other) Develop the architectural impact of the space by the using basic geometries and/or integrate with the circulation pattern Testing of Concepts In order to demonstrate how well the concept perform, the interior designer and planner should generate a number of tests to verify and demonstrate the performance of the planning concept. If the tests resulted in a lot of waste in space, then the planning zones or the work station standards will need to be adjusted. Test how the private offices can be implemented within the planning zones using different sizes offices. Study how well the different offices can adapt to sizes changes for different job hierarchies Test how the semi-private or open stations can be implemented within the planning zones and how easily they can interchange, regroup or rotate Test the orientations of the semi-private and open stations, there should be at least 4 basic orientations Test how the supporting spaces such as files, storages, shelving and equipment can easily integrate within the planning zones and interchange with the personnel work stations Test the general locations of special use areas such as reception, conference facilities, storages, mail and distribution within the planning zones and how they work in relationship to the personnel stations Test how a cluster of 6 or 8 semi-private or open stations can be formed within a typical zone and irregular zone if applicable Additional Test on Departmental Boundaries The planning concept must able to provide the needs for separations between the departments due to visual privacy and security of the units without affecting the internal and or external circulations. Some departments need absolute separations where as other need minimal or no separations. In addition, some departments that have frequent public contacts may need visual identity for ease of way finding. The tests to address the different degrees of departmental separations: maximum separation between different departments using full height partitions medium separation between different departments using system panels that can easily be moved minimal separation between different departments using storages such as files or cabinets, plants and space Examples of Master Building Concept using a Conceptual Approach Triangular Building Concept - to provide maximize light penetration and flexibility by locating all private spaces away from the windows and locate them parallel to the core Angular Building Concept - to use an open planning approach by grouping all private spaces in angular clusters and to maximize semi-private personnel work stations for improvements on light penetrations Perpendicular Builidng Concept - to group all private spaces perpendicular to the perimeter of the building and provide some departmental separations to control acoustics and compromise with reduced flexibility Rectangular Building Concept - to emphasize on personnel hierarchy by grouping private spaces along the window areas with occasional light penetrations

	Return Home Return to Planning main level Onto Master Building Concepts: Triangular
© 1996-2008 Jane Wong. All rights reserved. Please send comments to: Jane Wong jmwong@ku.edu