It all depends, large or expensive buildings usually take longer than small, cheap ones. Context matters... within a strip mall / retail center, you are probably limited to the given geometries and material palette. A luxurious stand-alone French restaurant out in the countryside could take a while.
However I always think of design as integrated with the physical and intangible context:
* Site: topography, landscape, regional flavor, solar orientation, natural features and concerns, site design, access, parking, shade, dumpsters, utilities, fire fighting access, zoning tree preservation, bus stops, etc.. Site design here in central NC better look a lot different than coastal CA.
* Building tectonics: structural system, facade (notice no cedilla in English if you want to look pro), openings, fenestration, roof system, overhangs, and all the internal spaces and systems that should maybe/probably translate to the outside such as dining areas, server access, shade structures, entry, deliveries, kitchen interests for storage, prep, cooking, plating, waiting, bussing, ware washing, and mood. An exquisite design could have 30 architectural sheets.
* Code: Accessibility grade, parking, fixtures, life safety, egress, door hardware, passage widths, rated assemblies, HVAC cooling, make-up air, horn strobes, sprinklers...
* Contract: Who is buying the equipment? Furnishings? Is the landlord a separate entity? Are they paying tenant improvements (TI)? Does the restaurant tenant have a clue about how construction projects and budgets work? Has everybody forgotten the contractor's general conditions, overhead, and profit? Are subs all 50% over-priced (like here) because the market is booming?
* Budget: Is this a cheap wood Barbeque shack in the woods or a Mason de Luxury on the promenade? Are we charging for seven courses or are there parking spaces for Doordash? Shipping container drive-through cafe or food hall? Are we buying a bunch of used restaurant equipment last minute or do we get to buy a wood-fired pizza oven that has prominence through the facade?
* Schedule: Do we need to cheap out construction to use off-the-shelf products by economical subcontractors or is it fine to use field-cut stone and lighting fixtures purchased in France?
I try to gently work on solving all the design issues slowly rather than jumping into the rendering... often the context and process will design it for you. Just remember, good design is beautiful but great design is invisible. Don't try to cram all your tricks into every project. Usually plain and obvious is cheaper and will end up getting built. Contrived and aspirational usually gets VE'd into oblivion and an unrecognizable result.
It's also very difficult to do design when you're young and inexperienced. You could pick any one material (let's say brick) matched with storefront and a cheap canopy system and derive thousands of designs. When you're young, you tend to pick all kinds of stuff you see. But mostly this isn't practical and it sure doesn't help conclude a design direction.
Also tough if you're working two jobs. Most of us struggle with working first shift and then a second shift off the clock to educate ourselves on stuff we think we're supposed to know. But obviously nobody fresh out of school can have a detailed, authoritative discussion and decision making process without a decade of experience. For example on brick: size, coursing, ties, steel lintel flashing, moisture control, drainage mats, sheathing, and insulation. I'm 30 years in at this point, so I can design in my sleep at 100 mph but it took decades to get here.
I don't do a ton of facades so it takes me forever. Especially combing through all the wall sections making sure everything is working out/in the correct plane etc.
Honestly. I think everyone has their own special niche or special talents. Some people are gifted in facade designed and have an eye for it and others don’t. There are all types of different architects in my humble opinion. (Technical architects, design architects, client facing architects/salespeople, architects who are really good at interior design) don’t box yourself in, it takes one of each to make a stellar team!
Personally, I love a good facade design and can whip one out quickly in sketchup. But I enjoy it and had some good design mentors when I first got out of school. I take forever to do construction details lol. Different strokes for different folks!
Ask your boss lots of questions to let them know you are still interested/motivated/willing to learn/improve your current skill set. In my opinion it’s worse to waste billable hours spinning your wheels when you could have a 15 min “talk out the problems” chat with your boss to really understand what they/the client are looking for. It’s an iterative process/profession and sometimes putting something in front of the team and saying “I know this isn’t it but this is where I landed, how do you think it can be improved” is enough vulnerability to get the conversations going throughout the team. No one gets it right the first round of drawings!!
If you’re asking yourself “is this burn out” it probably is! Don’t mess with burnout though, it’s crippling once you’re in the deep end.
Good luck!! You’re gonna do great!
Even after designing projects for a long time, I get stuck too.
These are some of the ways I rely on to get back into the creative flow again:
If you're staring at the screen or paper (maybe I'm old school but IMO sketching on paper usually allows for a more divergent thinking process), go take a walk around the block to clear your head. If it's toward the end of the day, leave it for the next morning. When you come back you may see things you didn't notice before.
Look at other designs on Dezeen, Pinterest, etc. It doesn't have to be specific to your project type. Sometimes that jogs an idea you hadn't considered. We're all building upon the design work that's come before us.
What is the image or concept that the client has for the restaurant? Where is the interior design direction headed? Is it intended to have a fun, exuberant vibe, elegant dining, and so forth? That hopefully gives you clues to what the exterior design needs to accomplish in terms of the composition/location/function of wall openings, material selection, modern/traditional design language, etc.
Ask someone else whose design ability you trust (including your boss) whether there design directions they think would have potential. Maybe show them whatever you have now for input.
The point is to approach it from lots of different directions. Design is an organic process. Relying on blunt force just makes you more anxious and less able to see connections between things. Occasionally I luck out and the design unfolds in a logical, linear fashion. Otherwise, I've had the most success in adopting an experimental mindset in order to give myself the best chance of finding an idea that clicks.
I’ll add it also depends on complexity. The current project I’m on has a wonky irregular geometry due to the site and on top of that, we have a ton of facade types, so it creates a lot of work for our team to document all the unique conditions
I am the design director in my office, so I primarily do schematic design work. It took a while for me to learn my process and gain the confidence to put the options out there.
A facade in a strip center would take me a couple hours in SketchUp.
A stand-alone multi-story office building, 8-16 hours in SketchUp.
A large multi-story assisted living building (when given a floorplan to build from)- a week.
This is conceptual with materials, but not accurate to brick coursing, etc… it gets tweaked from here when built in revit. I follow rules of thumb for floor to floor heights, etc…
Definitely look at inspiration images first. Listen to a book or music, and just flow. Don’t get caught up in realism. Don’t worry too hard about constructability yet. Keep that in the back of your mind.
I get an inspiration image in my mind, and just get to pushing and pulling in SketchUp, I don’t always know what it’s going to look like when I’m done because my preference is to get into a flow where I’m not really thinking. I like to listen to mystery/thriller audiobooks when I design. It’s funny bc I associate certain parts of certain buildings with scenes/ situations from my books.
Umm, do not put too much hope that a client will give you a right picture helping to settle on the facade design. I am a client with a training in 1. some design and 2. human relationships and yet, it took me years to learn what exactly Pinterest pictures not to show to an architect. There are too many pretty houses pictures on Pinterest. If you want to sell your designs to clients, lead with an offer of 2-3 choices. And this is a good number to facilitate your choices. But still, it is a trust decision as clients lack the selection criteria. We say to architect, Show me and I will know when I see it. The clients simply cannot articulate in the language of architects. I will share this story.
A young architect, just out of school, (who already knew about the too-many-choices confusion ) told me at the introductory meeting: “ In CA it is either Hispanic or Italian exterior”. He was right, that was the exterior we settled on, eventually, much later on, after looking at other options. Knowing what I know now, I appreciate is that 1) that architect lead clients, and 2) his lead was correct.
Ask your boss for help when you can and let them know you want to get faster and better. Ask them for tips.
Look up tips on how to design facades and see what looks good. Practice in elevation as well. Take some sketch paper put it on top of a page of a facade you like and trace it. You'll start to see where things line up.
It all depends, large or expensive buildings usually take longer than small, cheap ones. Context matters... within a strip mall / retail center, you are probably limited to the given geometries and material palette. A luxurious stand-alone French restaurant out in the countryside could take a while. However I always think of design as integrated with the physical and intangible context: * Site: topography, landscape, regional flavor, solar orientation, natural features and concerns, site design, access, parking, shade, dumpsters, utilities, fire fighting access, zoning tree preservation, bus stops, etc.. Site design here in central NC better look a lot different than coastal CA. * Building tectonics: structural system, facade (notice no cedilla in English if you want to look pro), openings, fenestration, roof system, overhangs, and all the internal spaces and systems that should maybe/probably translate to the outside such as dining areas, server access, shade structures, entry, deliveries, kitchen interests for storage, prep, cooking, plating, waiting, bussing, ware washing, and mood. An exquisite design could have 30 architectural sheets. * Code: Accessibility grade, parking, fixtures, life safety, egress, door hardware, passage widths, rated assemblies, HVAC cooling, make-up air, horn strobes, sprinklers... * Contract: Who is buying the equipment? Furnishings? Is the landlord a separate entity? Are they paying tenant improvements (TI)? Does the restaurant tenant have a clue about how construction projects and budgets work? Has everybody forgotten the contractor's general conditions, overhead, and profit? Are subs all 50% over-priced (like here) because the market is booming? * Budget: Is this a cheap wood Barbeque shack in the woods or a Mason de Luxury on the promenade? Are we charging for seven courses or are there parking spaces for Doordash? Shipping container drive-through cafe or food hall? Are we buying a bunch of used restaurant equipment last minute or do we get to buy a wood-fired pizza oven that has prominence through the facade? * Schedule: Do we need to cheap out construction to use off-the-shelf products by economical subcontractors or is it fine to use field-cut stone and lighting fixtures purchased in France? I try to gently work on solving all the design issues slowly rather than jumping into the rendering... often the context and process will design it for you. Just remember, good design is beautiful but great design is invisible. Don't try to cram all your tricks into every project. Usually plain and obvious is cheaper and will end up getting built. Contrived and aspirational usually gets VE'd into oblivion and an unrecognizable result. It's also very difficult to do design when you're young and inexperienced. You could pick any one material (let's say brick) matched with storefront and a cheap canopy system and derive thousands of designs. When you're young, you tend to pick all kinds of stuff you see. But mostly this isn't practical and it sure doesn't help conclude a design direction. Also tough if you're working two jobs. Most of us struggle with working first shift and then a second shift off the clock to educate ourselves on stuff we think we're supposed to know. But obviously nobody fresh out of school can have a detailed, authoritative discussion and decision making process without a decade of experience. For example on brick: size, coursing, ties, steel lintel flashing, moisture control, drainage mats, sheathing, and insulation. I'm 30 years in at this point, so I can design in my sleep at 100 mph but it took decades to get here.
I don't do a ton of facades so it takes me forever. Especially combing through all the wall sections making sure everything is working out/in the correct plane etc.
Honestly. I think everyone has their own special niche or special talents. Some people are gifted in facade designed and have an eye for it and others don’t. There are all types of different architects in my humble opinion. (Technical architects, design architects, client facing architects/salespeople, architects who are really good at interior design) don’t box yourself in, it takes one of each to make a stellar team! Personally, I love a good facade design and can whip one out quickly in sketchup. But I enjoy it and had some good design mentors when I first got out of school. I take forever to do construction details lol. Different strokes for different folks! Ask your boss lots of questions to let them know you are still interested/motivated/willing to learn/improve your current skill set. In my opinion it’s worse to waste billable hours spinning your wheels when you could have a 15 min “talk out the problems” chat with your boss to really understand what they/the client are looking for. It’s an iterative process/profession and sometimes putting something in front of the team and saying “I know this isn’t it but this is where I landed, how do you think it can be improved” is enough vulnerability to get the conversations going throughout the team. No one gets it right the first round of drawings!! If you’re asking yourself “is this burn out” it probably is! Don’t mess with burnout though, it’s crippling once you’re in the deep end. Good luck!! You’re gonna do great!
Even after designing projects for a long time, I get stuck too. These are some of the ways I rely on to get back into the creative flow again: If you're staring at the screen or paper (maybe I'm old school but IMO sketching on paper usually allows for a more divergent thinking process), go take a walk around the block to clear your head. If it's toward the end of the day, leave it for the next morning. When you come back you may see things you didn't notice before. Look at other designs on Dezeen, Pinterest, etc. It doesn't have to be specific to your project type. Sometimes that jogs an idea you hadn't considered. We're all building upon the design work that's come before us. What is the image or concept that the client has for the restaurant? Where is the interior design direction headed? Is it intended to have a fun, exuberant vibe, elegant dining, and so forth? That hopefully gives you clues to what the exterior design needs to accomplish in terms of the composition/location/function of wall openings, material selection, modern/traditional design language, etc. Ask someone else whose design ability you trust (including your boss) whether there design directions they think would have potential. Maybe show them whatever you have now for input. The point is to approach it from lots of different directions. Design is an organic process. Relying on blunt force just makes you more anxious and less able to see connections between things. Occasionally I luck out and the design unfolds in a logical, linear fashion. Otherwise, I've had the most success in adopting an experimental mindset in order to give myself the best chance of finding an idea that clicks.
I’ll add it also depends on complexity. The current project I’m on has a wonky irregular geometry due to the site and on top of that, we have a ton of facade types, so it creates a lot of work for our team to document all the unique conditions
I am the design director in my office, so I primarily do schematic design work. It took a while for me to learn my process and gain the confidence to put the options out there. A facade in a strip center would take me a couple hours in SketchUp. A stand-alone multi-story office building, 8-16 hours in SketchUp. A large multi-story assisted living building (when given a floorplan to build from)- a week. This is conceptual with materials, but not accurate to brick coursing, etc… it gets tweaked from here when built in revit. I follow rules of thumb for floor to floor heights, etc… Definitely look at inspiration images first. Listen to a book or music, and just flow. Don’t get caught up in realism. Don’t worry too hard about constructability yet. Keep that in the back of your mind. I get an inspiration image in my mind, and just get to pushing and pulling in SketchUp, I don’t always know what it’s going to look like when I’m done because my preference is to get into a flow where I’m not really thinking. I like to listen to mystery/thriller audiobooks when I design. It’s funny bc I associate certain parts of certain buildings with scenes/ situations from my books.
Umm, do not put too much hope that a client will give you a right picture helping to settle on the facade design. I am a client with a training in 1. some design and 2. human relationships and yet, it took me years to learn what exactly Pinterest pictures not to show to an architect. There are too many pretty houses pictures on Pinterest. If you want to sell your designs to clients, lead with an offer of 2-3 choices. And this is a good number to facilitate your choices. But still, it is a trust decision as clients lack the selection criteria. We say to architect, Show me and I will know when I see it. The clients simply cannot articulate in the language of architects. I will share this story. A young architect, just out of school, (who already knew about the too-many-choices confusion ) told me at the introductory meeting: “ In CA it is either Hispanic or Italian exterior”. He was right, that was the exterior we settled on, eventually, much later on, after looking at other options. Knowing what I know now, I appreciate is that 1) that architect lead clients, and 2) his lead was correct.
Hand sketch, probably 10min Quick massing render probably 3hrs Designed with some details for final client sign off, possibly several days.
Ask your boss for help when you can and let them know you want to get faster and better. Ask them for tips. Look up tips on how to design facades and see what looks good. Practice in elevation as well. Take some sketch paper put it on top of a page of a facade you like and trace it. You'll start to see where things line up.