The role of the studio
The studio is the point of contact for all figures involved in the project, expressing its strategic value. Engineers and systems specialists, building contractors, installers, craftsmen and suppliers communicate with us, not directly with the client. Technical instructions originate from the studio, questions from the workforce come to the studio, variations are assessed and communicated by the studio. When these communications fragment and the client begins giving direct instructions to those working on site, the project loses coherence. The client participates in decisions that are rightfully theirs: aesthetic direction, approval of proposals, validation of costs. Operational management remains with us. In the sector, it is common practice to involve the interior designer after technical choices have already been made, when structure and systems are defined. The interior project thus becomes an adaptation to constraints established by others. Our method starts instead from the vision of the inhabited space, defined in the initial project phases. Room distribution, furniture positioning, quality of light are defined first. Systems integrate into this framework, provisions respond to positions already established. Specialists contribute their technical expertise within coordinates already set.
The figures involved
Team composition varies with the nature of the intervention. Listed buildings, significant structural modifications and complex systems require structural engineers, mechanical engineers, specialised designers, consultants for home automation or acoustics. More contained interventions involve fewer figures. In both cases, every professional reports to the studio, which maintains the overall vision and verifies that contributions from individual disciplines do not conflict with one another. Technicians already chosen by the client are integrated into the process. Having no commercial agreements with contractors or suppliers, assessment of those working on the project is based on demonstrated competence and ability to operate within a structured method.
The division of responsibilities
The studio is responsible for the project: definition of choices, production of drawings, verification of correspondence between intentions and built result. The contractor and craftsmen are responsible for execution: translation of drawings into work, adherence to technical specifications, quality of workmanship, functioning of everything installed. This division is declared before commencement and formalised in contractual documents. Establishing in advance where one party's competence ends and another's begins prevents problems from bouncing between parties without anyone taking ownership.
Project documentation
Before any work begins, all figures involved receive a complete set of information:
- Bill of quantities and specifications: each item is described with quantities, technical specifications and expected finish level;
- Executive drawings: dimensioned plans, sections, construction details, material references, tolerances permitted for each type of work;
- Programme: sequence of activities, dependencies between different works, delivery dates for materials with long production times;
- Quality references: approved samples, prototypes and photographs establishing the standard to be achieved;
- Critical points: works requiring specific checks, foreseeable interferences between disciplines, stages where error would have consequences difficult to correct.
System layouts, construction details, sections and material schedules are the language through which the studio communicates with those executing. Points where graphic precision is decisive concern interfaces between different works and elements that do not permit subsequent correction: dimensions of niches for bespoke furniture, positions of plumbing outlets, alignments between grout lines and door frames.
Managing communications
Relevant communications travel through documentable channels: email, written reports, minutes. Technical documents reside in shared archives where each file carries date and revision number. Prints on site are updated with each modification and superseded ones removed. Variations affecting multiple disciplines are assessed for their overall impact before being communicated. Those not involved in the variation are not included: multiplying recipients disperses attention. Coordination meetings occur at regular intervals and serve to address open issues together. Problems discussed verbally are then recorded in writing, because what is not documented ends up never having been said.
Control on site
Control accompanies the entire process. Before site work, drawings are verified; during site work, correspondence between drawings and execution is verified; at the end, the functioning of each component is verified. The most delicate stages concern bespoke works and system provisions: an electrical conduit shifted twenty centimetres may mean an outlet visible where it should have been hidden, an incorrect dimension on a pelmet means redoing the false ceiling. These errors are prevented through checks when conduits are still open and structures have not yet been clad. The studio monitors the site with a frequency calibrated to the phase in progress. During delicate moments, visits may be daily. For distant sites, we rely on a local contact. Irreversible works require explicit approval before proceeding: no cladding is installed, no bespoke element ordered into production without formal confirmation.
Selecting contractors and craftsmen
When contractors and craftsmen have not already been chosen by the client, selection takes into account factors beyond price:
- Documented previous work: sites that can be visited, photographs, contacts of clients willing to share their experience;
- Specific experience: familiarity with the type of intervention, with the materials specified, with the quality level required;
- Samples: possibility of concretely assessing execution quality through prototypes or portions of work;
- Company structure: organisation adequate to the project scale, financial stability, staff continuity;
- Handling of problems: information on how they have addressed issues and unforeseen circumstances in previous projects.
Before commencement, expected standards are declared. Those accepting the commission know what is expected and commit to meeting it.
The boundaries of collaboration
Coordination works if all parties respect it. The client who communicates directly with the contractor on technical matters introduces information that may contradict instructions already given. The supplier who makes arrangements with the client without going through the studio alters timelines already defined. These interferences produce errors that emerge on site, when correcting them is expensive. Without direction, each party optimises their own work without vision of the whole: the systems installer routes where most convenient for them, the drywaller closes up before provisions have been verified, the tiler starts from the wrong point. For this reason, we ask that operational communications pass through us. The client remains informed of everything, approves relevant choices, can always ask questions. Technical management remains with the studio. When an external consultant proposes solutions incompatible with the project, a discussion opens to understand the technical constraints and seek a point of equilibrium. Projects involving the condominium or requiring authorisations integrate these aspects into coordination: rules on working hours, noise limits, permits for scaffolding must be managed before they block the site.
The value of direction
Coordination is the work that holds all the others together. It does not appear in photographs of the finished project, but without it that result would not exist or would exist in a compromised form. Our method exists to prevent the site from becoming a place of continuous repairs and to ensure the costs of such disorganisation do not fall on the client.
