Domira Insights

Architectural Design Insights

46 Architectural Design articles with practical guidance for projects and investments in Saudi Arabia.

Structure Expressed or Concealed? A Design Decision With Consequences

Whether the structure is visible affects cost, ceiling heights, services and the character of the interior.

Designs drift above budget gradually. A calculation showing how staged cost checks catch it while correction is still cheap.

An illustrative comparison of 14 large apartments against 18 smaller ones in the same envelope, through efficiency, cost, parking and net income.

A percentage of construction cost or a fixed fee for a defined scope: how each basis behaves when the project grows, shrinks or slows down.

On a constrained plot, every square metre of circulation costs a square metre of living space. A calculation showing where area goes.

Acoustic problems are almost never designed for and are nearly impossible to fix afterwards. What to address during design.

Buildings are designed for how they look when finished and lived in for decades. Six assumptions about maintenance worth challenging.

Six misunderstandings about how design responsibility works on a Saudi project, from who can submit a permit to who is liable for what is built.

Most construction problems begin as drawing conflicts. The coordination that prevents them, and who is responsible.

A structured review before tender catches the problems that would otherwise be discovered during construction.