Designer Profile: William Smart on How to Create a Design Brief
You may think a design brief should include numbers, colours and textures. But William Smart says it's all about feeling
Meet William Smart, founder of multi-award-winning Smart Design Studio. As an architecture practice with a focus on interiors, SDS has an affinity for quality materials, unusual forms, and – naturally – smart design.
What are the three most important things to consider when designing a home?
- How you live, and how you want to live – can you articulate that?
- What the site’s opportunities are – orientation, neighbours…
- What will make your place exceptional? An extraordinary space, material or light – something amazing that’s not dictated by site. An exceptional moment.
How should a client form a brief for their home?
As soon as I finished studying I designed a house for my parents. They wrote for me the size of the rooms, where the rooms were, what they had to do. And I told them to throw that in the bin and come back and tell me what they wanted to do, and how they wanted to feel.
They came back to me and said, ‘We want to lie in bed and watch the cows; we want to have breakfast in the sun; and we want to see the tops of the trees. We want the front door to always be open.’ Those kinds of things. It made the whole experience a joy. To be able to articulate all those little things, how they wanted to live – that told me how to design their house.
Tusculum residence
As soon as I finished studying I designed a house for my parents. They wrote for me the size of the rooms, where the rooms were, what they had to do. And I told them to throw that in the bin and come back and tell me what they wanted to do, and how they wanted to feel.
They came back to me and said, ‘We want to lie in bed and watch the cows; we want to have breakfast in the sun; and we want to see the tops of the trees. We want the front door to always be open.’ Those kinds of things. It made the whole experience a joy. To be able to articulate all those little things, how they wanted to live – that told me how to design their house.
Tusculum residence
What’s the first thing you do when you need to prune the budget for a project?
We do our budget control with a quantity surveyor who we’ve worked with for years, and he understands houses very well. We do the costs straight away, so when it comes back and the budget is laid out as trades, we look at the trades that are expensive and ask ourselves whether they can be pruned back or not, e.g. joinery, glazing, tiling.
White Rabbit Gallery
We do our budget control with a quantity surveyor who we’ve worked with for years, and he understands houses very well. We do the costs straight away, so when it comes back and the budget is laid out as trades, we look at the trades that are expensive and ask ourselves whether they can be pruned back or not, e.g. joinery, glazing, tiling.
White Rabbit Gallery
The other thing we’re always looking at is the size – does it need to be as big as it is? I think the formula for the budget of your job is the quantity (size) x quality (level of finishes) x complexity. What I like to preserve is the detail, the complexity. I’m happy to drive the finishes down to their minimum, provided the spatial qualities and details are maintained. That’s where my preferences lie.
What’s the one thing you always include in a project?
The thing we always create for a project is the character. I’m not talking about a persona, but we build a character for that project. Once that’s established, we want that to run through everything. An example of that is we’re doing some interiors at Barangaroo called Alexander.
The character we wanted to create was this Danish wharfside/dockside experience, and the way that everything was designed to reflect that. That influenced the materials chosen, the detail and the form.
White Rabbit Gallery
What’s the one thing you always include in a project?
The thing we always create for a project is the character. I’m not talking about a persona, but we build a character for that project. Once that’s established, we want that to run through everything. An example of that is we’re doing some interiors at Barangaroo called Alexander.
The character we wanted to create was this Danish wharfside/dockside experience, and the way that everything was designed to reflect that. That influenced the materials chosen, the detail and the form.
White Rabbit Gallery
Indigo Slam has a very different character, which is created by its form and how that folds through everything – that cut, fold, peeling form that runs through the whole of that project, that creates its unique character.
Other projects will be more angular or rectangular. I don’t like to create project where it’s one thing on the outside, and another on the inside. You create one project that has many layers so that in the corner of the bathroom you feel that you’re in the same house as the double-height stair hall.
Indigo Slam
Other projects will be more angular or rectangular. I don’t like to create project where it’s one thing on the outside, and another on the inside. You create one project that has many layers so that in the corner of the bathroom you feel that you’re in the same house as the double-height stair hall.
Indigo Slam
Who is an established local architect/designer you admire?Harry and Penelope Seidler, for their marriage of modernism and artistry. They were pioneers, and brave.
White Rabbit Gallery
White Rabbit Gallery
Who is an emerging architect/designer to watch?
Panov Scott. I love the work they do and their approach to work. They have this life where their family life and work life and friends are all mingled up in the same atmosphere. Their love of architecture seeps out to the friendships they have and I think they do the same thing with their clients. Everything becomes integrated. I love that and I love their work.
Tusculum Residence
Panov Scott. I love the work they do and their approach to work. They have this life where their family life and work life and friends are all mingled up in the same atmosphere. Their love of architecture seeps out to the friendships they have and I think they do the same thing with their clients. Everything becomes integrated. I love that and I love their work.
Tusculum Residence
Do you prefer a big or small home, and why?
Big spaces, but few of them.
Which is best, high-tech or low-tech and why?
Precise low-tech – I’m thinking about a rammed earth wall that’s built completely vertical. I’d like to add that I’m very happy with machine made, but I don’t have any interest in ‘gadgets’.
Barangaroo
Big spaces, but few of them.
Which is best, high-tech or low-tech and why?
Precise low-tech – I’m thinking about a rammed earth wall that’s built completely vertical. I’d like to add that I’m very happy with machine made, but I don’t have any interest in ‘gadgets’.
Barangaroo
What’s your favourite room in the home, and why?
Definitely the dining area. How I grew up and where I live now, it’s the centre of all conversation. It’s where we draw, read, talk, have friends around for dinner. It’s the centre of our home.
Orama
Definitely the dining area. How I grew up and where I live now, it’s the centre of all conversation. It’s where we draw, read, talk, have friends around for dinner. It’s the centre of our home.
Orama
I’m an architect and I do all things around architecture; that involves interiors, product design and master planning. My dream job is to do all of that – to be asked to complete a whole vision, do the furniture, the artwork, interiors, building, landscape, set the shape of the building…