Campus Planning

University Planning and Construction Process:
SCHEMATIC  DESIGN  PHASE

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bullet Schematic Design:

The purpose of Schematic Design is to translate the Project Program into physical drawings of space. In Schematic Design the project team determines the areas, physical requirements, and relationships of all the required building spaces and components, and confirms or revises the total building square footage, the total project budget, and the project schedule and occupancy dates.

Schematic Design includes a complete description of:

  • building systems (structural, mechanical, HVAC, plumbing, and electrical),
  • interior and exterior finishes,
  • the building site.

It provides control strategies for all equipment and systems relating to building services such as security and fire alarms, and defines the technical requirements for phones, data, cable, and audio/visual needs.

The schematic drawings - floor plans, site plans and building elevations - are reviewed and refined for functionality, usability, required adjacencies, code compliance, security, safety and aesthetics. The Project Program and the schematic drawings are scrutinized for possible errors or omissions. The plans are shared and discussed with staff in other areas of the university such as Maintenance, Custodial, Logistics, Information Technology, and Public Safety, to identify possible problems and to coordinate with the needs and practices in these areas.

    Definitions
    Project Team : the group of people, led by the project manager, that plan, organize, direct, and control a specific project.

    HVAC : heating, ventilating, and air conditioning

    Floor Plan : a drafted view of the building floor plan or layout. A floor plan is essentially a line drawing of what you would see if the building were sliced horizontally at four feet above the floor surface, the top half removed, and you looked down at the exposed bottom half. Floor plans may include dimensions, equipment, furnishings, and other construction details.

    Site Plan : a drafted view of the location of the proposed project.

    An "existing site plan" or "existing conditions plan" is essentially a map of the proposed area of construction, identifying all pertinent adjacent landscaping, bodies of water, roads, and buildings, and may also locate or identify features that may affect construction, such as rights-of-way, buried utilities, or soil conditions.

    A "site plan" places the proposed building on the building site, along with the various necessary site improvements such as landscaping, walkways, roads, utilities connections and service drives.

    Building Elevation : a drafted view of the exterior of the building as if you were standing and looking at it. Usually all four sides of the building are provided - the east, west, north and south elevations. There may also be interior elevations, which depict the view of a vertical surface inside the building, such as a view of a corridor wall or the front of an auditorium.

 

Planning Division of Facilities Management; Mail #5313
Western Michigan University
1903 W. Michigan Ave.
Kalamazoo MI 49008 USA
(269) 387-8543 or 387-8544 | (269) 387-8818 Fax
campus-facility@wmich.edu

 

Shipping Address:
Planning Division; Facilities Management
Campus Services Building

1201 Oliver Street

Kalamazoo, MI  49008