Cooperation with engineer and architect
The technical designer's role in a project team
A building or product is created through the interplay of several professions. The architect shapes the whole and the spaces the engineer calculates and dimensions and the technical designer translates the decisions into precise executable drawings and models. Knowing your own and others' role is a large part of functioning in a project.
§Who does what
| Role | Typically contributes with |
|---|---|
| Architect | Wholeness, space, expression, function and overall geometry |
| Engineer | Calculation, dimensioning, construction and technical requirements |
| Technical designer | Precise drawings and models that bind the decisions together into something executable |
The limits are not sharp, and they vary from company to company. Therefore, the first step in any project is to clarify who is responsible for what — who provides which information and who makes which decisions.
§Interfaces between trades
Most errors in interdisciplinary projects occur at the interfaces — where one discipline's drawing meets another's. Two disciplines can each have drawn correctly and still end up placing something in the same place. Therefore, you agree in advance which models and layers are whose responsibility and how you check that they fit together.
§Communication and documentation
- 01Write down significant agreements so they can be found again — oral agreements are forgotten.
- 02Use unambiguous drawing numbers and revisions when something is passed between departments.
- 03Make it clear what a drawing is: a draft for comment or an approved basis.
- 04Mark assumptions and open points so the recipient knows what is still not clarified.
§When something can't be done
As a technical designer you often discover conflicts before others do: two things that cannot be in the same place a dimension that does not add up a detail that cannot be manufactured. It is a strength to report such things quickly and concretely — not as criticism but as information the team can act on while changes are still cheap.
§The shared model as a meeting place
In projects with a shared 3D model, the model itself becomes the meeting point between the trades. When everyone works towards the same model according to agreed rules for naming and structure, conflicts become visible early, and coordination becomes easier. This, however, places demands on discipline: a sloppy model in one place propagates to everyone who builds on it.
“A project rarely fails on what each professional drew — but on what no one agreed who should draw.”
— Experience of interdisciplinary collaboration.