Apartment building and condensed living is problematic for so many reasons. One I experienced recently was attending an outdoor gig in a gentrified, high density living suburb in Sydney and the music was so soft I was meters from the stage could have a normal conversation. So many residence had complained because of the noise travelling and being trapped in the area because of the buildings, there were such strict noise restrictions. So frustrating.

'misshayley' no not a question, but rather a statement, with our blog piece following on. Its a common question we get.

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Why wouldn't you get your architect to provide a sketch design of the kitchen? As in like a preliminary sketch of what it could look like from the front? That should help clarify any concerns you may have. On occasions where something like this is important to the client I'll knock up a rough sketch to demonstrate how I visualise it integrating and managing the requirements that (should) have been defined in the design brief. In regards to finishes etc that really doesn't need to happen now, but layout should be relatively clear and indicated on the plan as to say where the sink, fridge, oven, pantry, mixing centre, dishwasher etc are positioned. That can be shown at 1:100 no issue. Your architect (should) be the logical person to best understand the space and balance of it all.. I've commented many times previously how design is an "inside to out" process, and so the architecture resolved should have been super responsive to the specific (client) requirements of the internal fit-out and the design process should have managed this competently so you don't get down the line and go "oh, we now can't find that french door fridge or wall over etc". If you're not sure about that level of detail, you're still in design and not at planning IMO. You're right on one hand in that it needs to be "designed" and resolved now, but also understand that there needs to be some flexibility at your end as when you're dealing with council nothing's 100% and it could be a waste of time designing internals before planning - definitely your architect's correct in his advice on the typical process. We sometimes integrate/incorporate"sub" design consultants such as interiors to handle the fine detail of fit-out if the project calls for it, however invariably it's down the line at width late documentation (Stage 3) or early construction (Stage 4), but never in Stage 2 planning Hope this helps Cheers PD :) www.pauldistefanodesign.com