Every great project begins with a conversation. To make the most of our first design meeting, we encourage you to gather key information that will help shape the vision and feasibility of your project:
Site & Zoning Information – Understanding land use regulations, setbacks, and height restrictions will streamline early design discussions.
Existing Drawings – If your project involves an existing structure, architectural plans, surveys, or historical documents provide essential context.
Aspirations & Ideas – A collection of references—Pinterest boards, sketches, or photographs—helps us understand your aesthetic and functional goals.
Project Scope & Budget – Clarity on size, program, timelines and financial parameters ensures a more focused and strategic design process.
Arriving prepared allows us to move beyond the abstract and begin shaping a tangible, inspired response to your brief.
Embarking on an architectural journey can feel complex—what comes first? When do decisions become final? How long before ideas take physical form?
Architecture is a process of exploration, refinement, and precision. To navigate this, we’ve structured our work into six key stages, each building upon the last. This roadmap provides clarity on how your project evolves from concept to construction, ensuring a seamless and well-considered path to realization.
Stage 1: Inception
Receive, appraise, and report on the client’s requirements regarding:
+ The client’s brief.
+ The site and rights and constraints.
+ Budgetary constraints.
+ The need for consultants.
+ Project program.
+ Methods of contracting.
Stage 2: Concept & Viability
Prepare an initial design and advise on:
+ The intended space provisions and planning relationships.
+ Proposed materials and intended building services.
+ The technical and functional characteristics of the design.
+ Early conceptual presentation: renders and animations.
+ Check for conformity of the concept with the rights to the use of the land.
+ Review the anticipated costs of the project.
+ Review the project program.
Stage 3: Design Development
+ Confirm the scope and complexity.
+ Review the design and consult with local and statutory authorities.
+ Develop the design, construction system, materials, and components.
+ Incorporate ad co-ordinate all services and the work of consultants.
+ Review the design, costing, and program with the consultants.
Stage 4.1: Documentation for Local Authority
Prepare documentation sufficient for local authority submission:
+ Co-ordinate technical documentation with the consultants and complete primary co-ordination.
+ Prepare specifications for the works.
+ Review the costing and program with the consultants.
+ Obtain the client’s authority and submit documents for approval.
Stage 4.2: Construction documentation
Complete construction documentation and proceed to call for tenders:
+ Obtain the client’s authority to prepare documents to procure offers for the execution of the works.
+ Obtain offers for the execution of the works.
+ Evaluate offers and recommend on the award of the building contract.
+ Prepare the contract documentation and arrange the signing of the building contract.
Stage 5: Construction
Administer the building contract:
+ Give possession of the site to the contractor.
+ Issue construction documentation.
+ Initiate and/or check sub-contract design and documentation as appropriate.
+ Inspect the works for conformity to the contract documentation.
+ Administer and perform the duties and obligations assigned to the principal agent in the building contract, or fulfil the obligations provided for in the other forms of contract.
+ Issue the certificate of practical completion.
+ Assist the client to obtain the occupation certificate.
Stage 6: Close out
+ Facilitate the project close-out including the preparation of the necessary documentation to effect completion, handover, and operation of the project.
+ After the contractor’s obligations with respect to the building contract are fulfilled, the architect shall issue the certificates related to contract completion.
+ Provide the client with as-built drawings and relevant technical and contractual undertakings by the contractor and sub-contractors.
If you're considering changes to an existing building or have a vision but aren't sure where to start, our one-hour consultation can help clarify your options. For a small, fixed fee, we provide:
Site Review & Analysis – We assess your space or site, considering its potential, limitations, and how it fits within your vision.
Evaluation of Existing Plans – If you have existing drawings, we’ll review them and discuss possibilities for modifications or improvements.
Design Guidance – Based on your intentions, we'll help you understand what’s possible within your site’s constraints, zoning regulations, and budget.
Next Steps & Recommendations – We'll outline a roadmap for your project, including potential phases of work and the next steps for moving forward.
Consultant Recommendations – We’ll provide a list of key consultants (structural, mechanical, electrical, etc.) that will be essential for your project’s scope, helping you assemble the right team from the start.
Email us at hello@wearepemba.com to arrange an online consultation.
Pemba does not follow trends—we seek design truths. Timelessness, proportion, materiality, and context shape our work far more than fleeting aesthetics.
Our inspiration is drawn from architecture that endures, spaces that feel intuitive, and ideas that challenge convention. We are constantly exploring and sharing our perspective—on our own work, as well as the ideas that shape the future. From the greats of architectural history to emerging innovations in AI, from art and culture to the built environment’s evolving relationship with nature, our inspirations are diverse, thought-provoking, and always forward-looking.
Follow us on social media to see what fuels our creativity—our own projects, the masters who came before us, and the ideas that are yet to be built.
