Requirements for Final Review

Requirements for Final Review

1. Thesis statement. You must quickly explain the intent of your project. No more than 5 minutes!

2. Location Plan (regional plan) (local plan). Show all major landmarks and access.

3. Local Rules and Information i.e. zoning on one sheet of 8.5x11 paper.

4. Site Photos.

5. Site Plan with context. Show contours as applicable.

6. Site Section.

7. Program Description on one sheet of 8.5x11 paper.

8. Program Analysis – your ongoing studies, data charts, background info…

9. Program Diagrams.

10. Photos of Study models in sequence.

11. Photos of final study model.

12. All Plans and Sections at 1/16” scale (1/32” for Derek, Matt and Dennis) of chosen scheme. Remember these are concept drawings – not buildings – not floor plans – not construction drawings. These drawings are “pre-schematic”. They show what you “plan to do” for the next semester. This means they demonstrate in a candid way the following (in order of priority):

a. Scale: The depicted project scale is believable to the intended program and its site.

b. Concept: Concepts are clearly articulated by the way you chose to present your drawings. Do cad drawings on white bond paper capture the essence of your project or are they just documentations of boundaries?

c. Program: The major spaces are deployed in a meaningful way. Save the toilet and door locations for the end of next semester. (Dennis: save the building plans for later. Site plans and entry points are key)

d. Context: Depict context in the drawings. Scale? Material? Typology? All important. Where are the pedestrian paths – the vehicular paths?

e. Circulation: How and where do I enter your site and your concept? How does this relate to the context? To the idea. How do you intend to separate public and private zones?

f. Orientation: Identify north and demonstrate how it does influence your thoughts. Diagram the path of the sun and time of day.

13. Descriptive narration – an ideas “walkthrough” - Drawings. These drawings can be hand drawings, cad drawings, montage, collage, drawings on photos, materials, paste-up of precedent over your drawing… in other words any type of drawing that can be used to explain the formative ideas of your work.

14. Descriptive narration – an ideas “walkthrough” - Text. Spoken narrative discussing the project. This is critical to the Blog-Book idea (you can’t have a vocal narration in a printed book). The narration must be recorded prior to the final and posted to the blog (I have software for this). This can be made sitting by yourself (I don’t recommend this), with a colleague or recorded as a group in the studio. Try explaining your project to a non-architect and record their comments. If they get it – success! If not keep working on your explanations.

15. Presentation narration – Condense the recorded thoughts into a 5 minute spoken narrative. (5 min. Thesis Statement + 5 min. narration = 10 minute presentation! – remember the less you talk, the more time for response from the jury)

16. Sketches! Everyone must have sketches! – both 2d and 3d – both by hand and using computer.


The drawings and models must explain the ideas and intentions behind the project. You shouldn’t need to say much – the work and its organization is the explanation.

Remember, you have a whole semester to develop the architecture. This is a presentation for your “final” thesis proposal. All of your intentions must be documented and discussed. Nobody will critique your floor plans, but they will critique your visualization of concepts and whether they “fit” the chosen site and the thesis.

Bring in all of your stuff for final selection of presentation material and discussion of what’s needed to fill in the blanks. Formatting of the Board and Pin-Up materials should also be discussed. Have a mock-up of the board complete, but don’t let it consume you. The continuing work is much more important. Its also important to have fun! That said, everyone needs to work a bit more. Two weeks will go by really fast!