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Architectural Programming
by Edith Cherry, FAIA, ASLA and John Petronis, AIA, AICP
Last updated: 11-29-2005

Introduction
Architectural programming began when architecture began. Structures have always been based on
programs: decisions were made; something was designed, built, and occupied. In a way, archaeologists
excavate buildings to try to determine their programs.

Today, we define architectural programming as the research and decision-making process that identifies the
scope of work to be designed. Synonyms include "facility programming," "functional and operational
requirements," and "scoping." In the early 1960s, William Peña, John Focke, and Bill Caudill of Caudill,
Rowlett, and Scott (CRS) developed a process for organizing programming efforts. Their work was
documented in Problem Seeking, the text that guided many architects and clients who sought to identify the
scope of a design problem prior to beginning the design, which would be a solution to the problem.

In the 1980s and 1990s, many architectural schools began to drop architectural programming from their
curricula. The emphasis of the Post-Modern and Deconstruction agendas was instead on form-making.
Programming and its attention to the users of buildings was not a priority. Now, several generations of
architects have little familiarity with architectural programming and the advantages it offers:

Involvement of interested parties in the definition of the scope of work prior to the design effort
Emphasis on gathering and analyzing data early in the process so that the design is based upon
sound decisions
Efficiencies gained by avoiding redesign and more redesign as requirements emerge during
architectural design.

The most cost-effective time to make changes is during

programming. This phase of a project is the best time
for interested parties to influence the outcome of a
project.

The "whole building" design approach

is intended "to create a successful high-performance building." To achieve that goal, we must apply the
integrated design approach to the project during the planning and programming phases. It is necessary for
the people involved in the building design to interact closely throughout the design process. The owner,
building occupants, and operation and maintenance personnel should be involved to contribute their
understanding of how the building and its systems will work for them once they occupy it. The fundamental
challenge of "whole building" design is to understand that all building systems are interdependent.

Description
According to standard AIA agreements, programming is the responsibility of the owner. However, the
owner's programmatic direction can vary from vague to very specific. In some cases, the owner does not
have the expertise to develop the program and must use the services of a programming consultant. Most

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programming consultants are either architects or have architectural training, but others have become skilled
through experience. Many architects perform programming as an additional service to their standard
contracts. Many building type consultants (laboratory, health care, theater, etc.) have expertise in
programming components of facilities.

An Architectural Programming Process

The following discussion is intended to provide a clear process for conducting the research and
decision-making that defines the scope of work for the design effort. It is imperative that the major
decision-maker—the client-owner—allows participation of all of the stakeholders, or the client-users, who are
affected by the design. Experience has shown that client-users' involvement in the programming process
results in designs that can be optimized more efficiently.

ORGANIZING FOR THE PROGRAMMING EFFORT

Design programming should involve the

parties that are affected by the design
solution.

Prior to the beginning of the process of programming a project, the programmer and the client-owner develop
a list of the stakeholders to be involved. One organizational method is to form a Project Programming
Committee with representatives from the stakeholder groups. For example, if the project is to be an
office/classroom building for the humanities department at an institution of higher education, the Project
Programming Committee could include representatives from the college's facilities department, humanities
administration, faculty, students, and building maintenance department.

Lines of communication must be established to determine how and when meetings will be called, what the
agenda will be, how contacts will be made, and how records of the meetings will be kept. The authority of the
committee must be made clear. In the example above, the committee's authority will be to make
recommendations to the college authorities. Within that framework, the committee must decide how it will
make decisions as a committee (by consensus? majority rule? other means?).

A SIX-STEP PROCESS

Many different programming formats incorporate the same essential elements. In all cases, the design
programming fits within a larger context of planning efforts which can also be programmed. For design
programming for a building, we propose a six-step process as follows:

1. Research the project type

2. Establish goals and objectives
3. Gather relevant information
4. Identify strategies
5. Determine quantitative requirements
6. Summarize the program

1) Research the Project Type

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This step is necessary if the programmer is working on a project type for the first time. The programmer
should become familiar with some of the following relevant information:

The types of spaces frequently included in the building type

The space criteria (number of square feet per person or unit) for those spaces
Typical relationships of spaces for these functions
Typical ratios of Net Assignable Square Footage (NASF - areas that are assigned to a function) to
Gross Square Footage (GSF - total area to the outside walls) for this building type
Typical costs per square foot for this building type
Typical site requirements for the project type
Regional issues that might alter the accuracy of the data above in the case of this project.

This information can be obtained from literature on the building type, analysis of plans of existing projects,
expert consultants familiar with the building type, and/or cost estimating services.

2) Establish Goals and Objectives

Working with the committee, the programmer solicits and suggests broad goal statements that will guide the
remainder of the programming process. (See Design Objectives.) It is recommended that each of the
following categories of goals be addressed:

Organizational Goals:
What are the goals of the owners? Where do they see their organization headed? How does this
architectural project fit into this broad picture?
Form and Image Goals:
What should be the aesthetic and psychological impact of the design? How should it relate to the
surroundings? Should its image be similar to or distinct from its neighbors? From other buildings
belonging to the owner that are located elsewhere? Are there historic, cultural, and/or context
implications?
Function Goals:
What major functions will take place in the building? How many people are to be accommodated?
Economic Goals:
What is the total project budget? What is the attitude toward initial costs versus long-range operating
and maintenance costs? What level of quality is desired (often stated in relation to other existing
projects)? What is the attitude toward conservation of resources and sustainability (energy, water,
etc.)?
Time Goals:
When is the project to be occupied? What types of changes are expected over the next 5, 10, 15, and
20 ?

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20 years?
Management Goals:
These goals are not so much an issue of the nature of the project as they are the circumstances of the
owner, clients, programmer, or architect. For example, perhaps the schematic design must be
completed in time for a legislative request application deadline.

3) Gather Relevant Information

Based upon the goals, the categories of relevant information can be determined and researched. Typical
categories include:

Facility users, activities, and schedules: Who is doing what, how many people are doing each activity,
and when are they doing it?
What equipment is necessary for activities to function properly? What is the size of the equipment?
What aspects of the project need to be projected into the future? What is the history of growth of each
aspect that requires projection?
What are the space criteria (square feet per person or unit) for the functions to take place?
Are there licensing or policy standards for minimum area for various functions? What are these
standards?
What are the energy usage and requirements?
What code information may affect programming decisions?
Site analysis: the site is always a major aspect of the design problem and therefore should be included
in the program. Site analysis components that often affect design include:
Legal description
Zoning, design guidelines, and deed restrictions and requirements
Traffic (bus, automobile, and pedestrian) considerations
Utility availability (a potentially high cost item)
Topography
Views
Built features
Climate (if not familiar to the designer)
Vegetation and wildlife
Client's existing facility as a resource
If the client is already participating in the activities to be housed in the new facility, make use of
information at hand.
If a floor plan exists, do a square foot take-off of the areas for various functions. Determine the
existing net-to-gross area ratio.
Use the existing square footages for comparison when you propose future amounts of space.
People can relate to what they already have. (See illustration below in Step 5, Determine
Quantitative Requirements.)
If the client is a repeat builder (school districts, public library, public office building, etc.), obtain
plans and do area take-offs; determine typical net-to-gross area ratios.

4) Identify Strategies

Programmatic strategies suggest a way to accomplish the goals given what one now knows about the
opportunities and constraints. A familiar example of a programmatic strategy is the relationship or "bubble"
diagram. These diagrams indicate what functions should be near each other in order for the project to
function smoothly. Relationship diagrams can also indicate the desired circulation connections between
spaces, what spaces require security or audio privacy, or other aspects of special relationships.

Other types of strategies recur in programs for many different types of projects. Some examples of common
categories of programmatic strategies include:

Centralization and Decentralization: What function components are grouped together and which are

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Centralization and Decentralization: What function components are grouped together and which are
segregated? For example, in some offices the copying function is centralized, while in others there are
copiers for each department.
Flexibility: What types of changes are expected for various functions?
Do facilities need to change over a period of a few hours, a few days, a summer recess? Or is an
addition what is really needed?
Flow:
What goods, services, and people move through the project? What is needed at each step of the way
to accommodate that flow?
Priorities and Phasing:
What are the most important functions of the project? What could be added later? Are there ongoing
existing operations that must be maintained?
Levels of Access: Who is allowed where? What security levels are there?

Ideally, each of the goals and objectives identified in Step 2 will have some sort of strategy for addressing
that goal. Otherwise, either the goal is not very important, or more discussion is required to address how to
achieve that goal or objective.

5) Determine Quantitative Requirements

Cost, schedule, and

affordable area are
interdependent. Costs are
affected by inflation through
time. Affordable area is
determined by available
budgets.

In this step, one must reconcile the available budget with the amount of improvements desired within the
project time frame. First, a list of spaces is developed to accommodate all of the activities desired (see
Exhibit A). The space criteria researched in Step 3 are the basis of this list of space requirements. The space
requirements are listed as net assignable square feet (NASF), referring to the space assigned to an activity,
not including circulation to that space.

A percentage for "tare" space is added to the total NASF. Tare space is the area needed for circulation,
walls, mechanical, electrical and telephone equipment, wall thickness, and public toilets. Building efficiency is
the ratio of NASF to gross square feet (GSF), the total area including the NASF and tare areas. Building
efficiency equals NASF/GSF. The building efficiency for a building type was researched in Step 1 and
possibly Step 3. See Exhibit A for an example of space requirements.

The building efficiency of an existing space used by a client can inform the selection of the net-to-gross ratio.
The example below of an office suite within an office building illustrates the areas of net assignable square
feet and tare area. Notice that some space within an office is considered circulation, even though it is not
delineated with walls. We call this circulation, "phantom corridor."

The desired GSF is then tested against the available

budget (see Exhibit B). In drafting the total project cost,
the programmer uses the cost per square foot amount
researched in Step 1. Factors for inflation should be
included, based upon the project schedule. It is

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recommended that costs be projected to the date of the

mid-point of construction because bidders calculate
estimates on the assumption that costs could change
from the time of the bid date.

The total project cost includes the construction cost (for

building and site work), plus amounts for architect's
fees, furniture and equipment, communications,
contingency, printing for bid sets, contingency, soils
tests, topological surveys, and any other costs that
must come from the owner's budget. The intention is to
help the owner prepare for all the project costs, not just
those costs assigned to construction.

If the bottom line for the project costs is more than the
budget, three things can happen: 1) space can be
trimmed back or delegated to a later phase (a reduction
in quantity); 2) the cost per square foot can be reduced
(a reduction in quality); or 3) both. This reconciliation of
the desired space and the available budget is critical to
defining a realistic scope of work. In the case of a tenant improvement within a larger
building, one establishes the "internal gross" of the
6) Summarize the Program leased space. Additional support space or tare area
such as mechanical rooms and public toilets would not
Finally, once all of the preceding steps are executed, be included in the calculation for this project type.
summary statements can be written defining "in a nut
shell" the results of the programming effort. All of the pertinent information included above can be
documented for the owner, committee members, and the design team as well. The decision-makers should
sign-off on the scope of work as described in the program.

Once a program is completed and approved by the client, the information must be integrated into the design
process. Some clients want the programmer to stay involved after the programming phase to insure that the
requirements defined in the program are realized in the design work.

Emerging Issues
Some of the emerging issues in the discipline of architectural programming include:

1. Development of standards and guidelines for owners that build similar facilities frequently. These
efforts include:

a. Formalizing (computerizing) building facility requirements for Web-based consumption—for example,

the National Park Service has developed Facility Planning Model Web-based software to assist park
superintendents and other staff in the development of space and cost predictions for legislative
requests. The intention is to make budget requests more realistic and more comprehensive.
b. Facility programming to make early predictions to aid in early capital budgeting

2. Client-owners are increasingly requiring verification that the design complies with the program.
3. New technologies are generating a need for types of space which have no precedents. Basic research
on these technologies is required to determine standards and guidelines.
4. The supply of facility programmers is smaller than the demand. More professionals need to consider
this sub-discipline as a career path.

Relevant Codes and Standards

A very important part of programming is identifying relevant codes and standards that apply to the project
(see Steps 1 and 3 above). Codes, covenants, deed restrictions, zoning requirements, licensing
requirements and other legal obligations can have significant influence on costs and therefore affordable

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