The plan of work 1
The RIBA Plan of Work was illustrated in Chapter 1 as constituting the basic discipline within which the manifold activities of the architect are contained. Against each stage were noted the major aspects of work dealt with at that stage which will have a bearing on the working drawing process or which will be influenced by it.
The plan of work is sometimes criticised as being doctrinarian and unrelated to the harsh facts of professional life. Certainly, in practice there are constant pressures to do things out of sequence because there is a short-term benefit to be gained by doing so. It is very tempting when struggling with knotty problems of detailing or seemingly lethargic fellow consultants, to take the view that a premature start on the final drawings will in some way have a cathartic effect on the enterprise.
The increasing use of CAD, of course, has blurred the separation of the various work stages described in the plan of work. In the same way that word processing has transformed writing, CAD has transformed the process of designing buildings and describing them through working drawings. The process is no longer a strictly linear one. We don't necessarily have to finish the design before we start on the production information (though we may well be unwise to do so.)
CAD forces the designer into making some decisions far earlier than might otherwise have been the case. Even at outline stage it is possible for the walls to be drawn with absolute accuracy, taking account of brick, block and cavity thicknesses; openings may be drawn to conform with coordinated brick dimensions. The layout might change as the design evolves but at any given moment in time the 'model' is accurate.
Nevertheless, a proper laying of the groundwork will help to avoid those drawing office crises, destructive alike of morale and financial budgeting, when a team of several people is brought to a standstill by the sudden realisation of some unresolved problem. So from the standpoint of stage F let us look back to the preceding stages, where a little forethought will make life in the subsequent stages a great deal easier.
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