The Order Of Decisions

Complex projects rarely suffer from a shortage of ideas.

More often, the difficulty lies in knowing which decisions need to be made first.

This has become increasingly apparent across our recent work—from waterfront masterplans and hospitality destinations to the transformation of existing urban buildings.

Each begins with a large number of interconnected questions. How should people arrive? Which uses need prominence? What belongs together? What needs separation? Where should servicing sit? How much can the existing structure accommodate? Which intervention unlocks the greatest value?

None of these decisions exists independently.

A hotel entrance affects the public realm around it. Moving a restaurant can change the character of an entire waterfront. Introducing a pool into an existing building influences structure, servicing, circulation and the spaces above and below it. A decision that appears local can quickly reshape the wider project.

The challenge is therefore not simply resolving every question. It is establishing the order in which they should be resolved.

Some decisions create the framework for everything that follows. Others can remain flexible for much longer.

On a waterfront masterplan, the relationship between the marina, arrival sequence and principal public spaces needs to be understood before individual buildings are refined. Within an existing building, the structural strategy, vertical circulation and distribution of major uses may need to be established before rooms and interiors can be planned meaningfully.

If that sequence is reversed, the design can appear to progress while its foundations remain unsettled. Considerable effort may be spent developing parts of the project that later need to change.

The early stages of design are therefore less about producing a reduced version of the finished scheme and more about identifying its underlying logic.

Which decisions are fundamental?

Which are dependent on others?

Which can change without disturbing the whole?

And which need to be protected once they have been agreed?

In our experience, the most useful early drawings are often those that make these relationships visible. A simple diagram can reveal more than a highly developed image if it shows how guests, residents, staff, servicing, landscape and infrastructure come together.

This does not remove uncertainty. Complex projects inevitably evolve as commercial priorities, technical information and operational requirements develop.

But a clear hierarchy of decisions allows that change to happen without repeatedly unravelling the project.

Perhaps that is one of the less visible roles of architecture: not only designing places, but giving complex decisions a coherent structure.

The strongest projects do not resolve everything immediately.

They resolve the right things first.

Project References: The JJ Club, London, Port Nimara, Anguilla, City-Centre Transformation