Abstract:
In architectural design service, Documentation is a tool architects use to communicate with the project owners and those related. However, various forms of documentation are used, depending on the architects' understanding, which can cause problems. The objective of this study was to investigate the state and problems of documentation on architectural design service of the Architect's offices in Thailand. The study was carried out using two kinds of data: secondary source data obtained from local and international papers and research studies and primary source data collected from interviews with purposefully selected subjects. The subjects can be divided into three groups: 1) small offices with fewer than 15 people, 2) medium offices with 15-30 people, and 3) large offices with more than 30 people. After analyzing the two sources of data, a list of items to be included in the documentation was made. The findings revealed that there were two kinds of documentation on architectural design service. The first was project documents, which include contracts such as proposals and hiring contracts, correspondence such as memos, letters, faxes, and E-mail, administration documents such as work schedules and progress reports, and finance documents such as invoices and expense and time record reports. The second kind of documentation was design documents, which include information for designing such as clients briefs, programming, site information, and designing work such as floor plans, elevation, section, perspective, and so on. Furthermore, the findings showed that different offices prepared documentation on architectural design service differently depending on several factors: 1) projects (type, size, budget, and location), 2) project owners (characteristics, goals, experience and knowledge, working style, and the relationship between the project owner and the architect). 3) architects' offices (size, working style, experience, knowledge and expertise, and office resources), and 4) other factors including contract types, architects' motivation to get the contract, and the number of involved parties in the project and so on. The preparation of design documents was found to depend on the project size and type while project documents depended on the office size or the project size. More project documents were prepared in larger offices of for bigger projects than in smaller offices or for smaller projects. The findings suggest that a professional organization should circulate a handbook describing what design documents and project documents should be prepared in order to create a professional standard for architects to follow.