Design Management Practice in an Architectural & Interior design

Studio ‘Sthapotik”

Assignment of M.A in Interior Design

Submitted by: Farhana Islam

ID: 172123002

Batch: 05th, Semester: 03rd

Session: Summer 2018
Department of Interior Architecture
Shanto - Mariam University of Creative Technology

Course Module: Design Management

Module Code: DES603

Submitted to: Simoom Reza

Date: 15.08.2018
Abstract:
Architectural practice is a conversation with project and society. It is an effective & creative process of
developing and applying design knowledge in a highly competitive market. Nowadays, Projects are becoming
more complex and global and new contractual arrangements, which require alliances and partnerships between
designers, constructors & clients, are increasing. Design management plays a decisive role in this regards, by
developing appropriate process and methods that can integrate design into core competency of a business. It’s
a business discipline that uses project management, design strategy and supply chain technique to control a
creative process, support a culture of creativity and build a structure for a particular design studio. This article
reflects the notion & principles of design management, those practice in an architectural and interior design
studio “Sthapotik “and how it enhancing the evaluation of the studio.

Background:

Sthapotik is an architectural & interior design studio that established in 2006 by architect Sarif Uddin Ahmed
with the motto –“Responsive environment in architecture”. Sthapotik, during their 12 years of practicing, mostly
follows the modern architecture and interior design trends. This renowned organization always inspires its
employees to think out of the box & to do something innovative. Architect Sarif Uddin is the owner, managing
director and the principal architect of this studio. Under his supervision there are a small architectural & interior
design department, 3d department, civil engineering department and accounts & marketing department where
now more than 25 desk employees and other field survey team, carpenters and masonry workers are working.
Initially, he was the sole designer of this office with only three employees – one civil engineer and one
marketing officer. During the course of time this small studio grew up and spread their creativity throughout the
country.

Company Profile:

Company Name: Sthapotik

Established: 3rd March, 2006
Mission: To create responsive environment in architecture
Office Location: 2/8, Block – D (3rd floor), Lalmatia, Dhaka-1217
Owner/Managing Director/Principal architect: Architect Sarif Uddin Ahmed
Employees: More than 25 employee and other field staffs
Service Type: Consultancy & Construction.

Analysis of Sthapotik’s current infrastructure:

Every business requires some form of investment and enough customers to whom its services can be provide
to make a profit on a constant basis. In this regards, Sthapotik is a sole proprietorship business structure, which
provides services, such as consultancy & construction of architectural and interior design & structural design
projects in exchange of revenue.
Sole proprietorship business structure of Sthapotik:

Owner/ Principal
Architect

Architectural / Structure Head of Accounts Marketing

Interior design Department Head /Manager Manager
department

Drafting Structure design Service /sales Marketing

department Department staffs manager

3 D design Drafting/survey Clerical staff/ Marketing team

department Department field staff

Identity management of the Studio “Sthapotik”:

Sthapotik’s corporate identity conveys by the logo and the tagline they use to reach to their potential clients,
investors and employees. It also reflects their values and ideals; they usually practice in the studio and they
believe to continue it in future.

Sthapotik’s tagline is “Responsive environment in architecture “which reflects that, they believe to add
something positive to society through their practice and what they do , they are totally responsible for that. Their
taglines and logo is also the brand identity of their service which reflects the identity management of the studio.

Design management practice within the studio:

To achieve and maintain an effective & efficient business environment, Sthapotik usually follows execution
oriented, enabling oriented & direction oriented roles. Again it’s also follow the characteristics of management
such as, dynamic function, multidisciplinary activity, group effort, involves social responsibility etc. As sthapotik
is a sole proprietorship structure, the principal architect sharif Uddin Ahmed is exclusively maintaining &
supervising the other departments and team members of the studio through coordinating properly. He usually
attends meetings with the employees on weekly and monthly basis. Besides, in urgent situation he guides daily
the team leaders of every project and does regular assessment to keep design work moving in the right
direction. Sometimes he assists as a team leader when one area of the project is falling behind. He also
motivates the design team to get the project done on time.

Management process of Sthapotik:

To achieve the goals of the studio, management process of Sthapotik facilitates to coordinate people and their
recourses. Sthapotik follows a dynamic management process which consists of various elements and activities.
Each function that Sthapotik pursues is separated however, they blend into each other and each affects the
performance of others. Sthapotik pursues the following functions:

Planning: A plan is a future course of action. It is an exercise of problem solving and decision making.
Whenever a project starts the principal architect Sharif Uddin usually starts planning to determine the course of
action to achieve desire goals. First of all, he chalks out a future course of action & decides the most
appropriate option for achieving pre determined goals. Then he call out the heads of the departments and team
leaders to narrate what to do, when to do and how to do along with the current situation of the project and
where he wants to drags the team .

Organizing: The Principal architect or the management of Sthapotik then decides the identification of activities,
classification of grouping of activities and assessment of duties. It is the process of being together physical,
financial, human resources and developing productive relationship among them for achievement of
organizational goal. Management also checks out the raw materials, tools, capital and personnel to start a
project smoothly.

Staffing: According to the projects management team of sthapotik organizes the staff to put the right man on
right job. Managerial function of Sthapotik also includes manning the organization structure and kept it manned
through proper and effective selection. Stuffing controlled by the team leader or management which involves;

 manpower planning to choose the right person and to give the right place,
 recruitment, selection and placement,
 Training and development
 Performance appraisal
 Promotion & transfer

Direction: Direction activities are a key function of Sthapotik. Sthapotik’s Management is responsible to let the
staffs know what need to be done and also by when to achievement the purpose efficiently. The principal
architect & the other team leaders direct the following elements.

 Supervision: The supervisors and team leaders oversee the work of the subordinates by supervising.
The direct them how to complete the project and watch it if they can do it properly on time.

 Motivation: The principal architect or team leaders of sthapotik usually inspire and encourage their
 employees and sub-ordinates when they feel down or distract from their job or need direction and helps
to get the project done on time.

 Leadership: The principal architect and the heads of other departments of Sthapotik, act as a leader
when the sub-ordinates need guides in crisis moment.

 Communication: The employees and other staff of the studio, communicate with each other properly to
maintain a healthy design environment.

 Coordination: Sthapotik is a team that integrated its employees and staffs very effectively and smoothly.
Different departments working together with harmony and unity. They follow the order to maintain the
work flow. Every department is working individually but at the end them working on a common project.
So Coordination is very highly maintained in this studio.

Controlling: Sthapotik has an individual group of staffs to monitoring the organizational process towards the
goal fulfillment, it’s very much essential to ensure the achievement of organizational goal. Some means of
controlling like, the budget for expense, inspection records and the record of labor hour lost are generally
observed by accounts and service and sales staff of sthapotik.

Level of Management in Sthapotik:

The term level of management refers to a line of demarcation between various managerial positions in
Sthapotik.

 Top level / Administrative level: The principal architect, Departments head etc.
 Middle level / Executory level: The Managers of accounts and marketing departments.
 Low level super visory /Operative: The team leaders, Assistant manager etc.

Core values of Sthapotik:

Core values of Sthapotik are the principals and ideals that bind this studio together, including the customers,
employees and vendors from the last 12 years. The core value of Sthapotik reflects what it stands for & what
are its employees believe in. This is the moral compass within the studio that determines the actions and
decisions made. Below are the core values of Sthapotik:

 Accountability: Sthapotik is acknowledged and responsible for their action. They work with the motto
“responsive environment in architecture” which they usually try to maintain by using green
architectural materials and objects to reduce the affects of environment. They also try to reuse the
papers they print and recycle materials for further use. Management also encourages the team to
maintain these values for the rest of their life.

 Balance: Sthapotik maintains a healthy work-life balance for employees and always proactive in this
regards. They maintain a fix work time for their employees from 10 am to 6pm with one day off.
 Safety: To provide an accident free workplace and ensure the health and safety of the employees ,
 Sthapotik always provides and maintains safety helmets on the site visits and use quality products
to avoid potential dangers and accidents

 Commitment: Sthapotik is committing to great design, service and other initiatives those impacts lives
of the clients and the employees within studio.

 Community: Sthapotik, as a responsible member of the society try to meet the corporate social
responsibilities. The studio and its staffs serve the “Old age homes” at Gazipur, every month on
regular basis.

 Diversity: Sthapotik try to respect the diversity and gives the best of composition. They have gender
equity salary system and allow woman employees for maternity leaves.

 Empowerment: Sthapotik encourage their employees to take initiative and give their best to do designs.
They also encourage and adopt an error embracing environment to empower employees to lead and
make decisions.

 Innovation: Sthapotik always try to do innovative designs to make the differences. They also encourage
their employees to Pursue new creative ideas those have the potentials to change the world.

 Integrity: Acting with honesty and honor without compromising the truth is one of Sthapotiks core
values. They always provide high quality materials, woods boards and fixtures to maintain the quality of
their work.

Design Studio Management of Sthapotik:

Sthapotik follows some essentials of studio management, which are as follows.

 Project Development: Sthapotik follows an ordered to maintain project development process in a

proper way. After getting a project at the initial level the studio sets a goal and makes proposals for the
clients. The management needs to consider the requirements of the clients while making the design
proposal. Again, management should do a budget and schedule for the work project. The level of
creativity depends on the project budget. After preparing design options and meeting with clients, the
final design is usually submitted by the design. After the approving from the client, the architectural
design drafting department starts the detailed construction drawing. Management is also responsible to
resolve any crisis that arose in the construction site. After proper implementing the design, when it’s
complete Principal architect usually handover the projects to the clients.

 Marketing: Sthapotik has a marketing team who decides and indentify which media channel would be
the most effective for marketing and promoting the studio. They usually do online marketing and use
mostly social Medias like Face book. Apart from this, they also use brochures, messages email, and
newsletters to reach to the potential customers.

 Financial Growth: Sthapotik develops from a 3-manned studio to a more than 25 employees-
 established studio throughout the last 12 years with creativity, persistence and hard work of their
employees.

 Client Acquisition: Sthapotik acquisition their client by the principal architect of the studio. Beside, his
clients also refer him to many renowned people, from whom the studio also gets big budget projects.
Again, marketing team of Sthapotik works really hard to get various projects and clients.

 Organization & Communication skill: A product and service based studio like sthapotik has a high
level of people skill to maintain the communication and organization properly. The employees also have
a flexibility, adaptability and technical skills which helps to communicate them with other departments
and offices.

 Motivate their team by showing good leadership: Sthapotik always encourages and motivates
their employees. To motivate its employees, the management also takes the employees for
outing out of the city to explore the nature and get the mind clear and start work with full swing.

 Project Brief: After getting a project, according to the nature of the project, the principal architect
discusses the project to the other department heads and assigns them to start the work properly.
The individual departments then allocate the team members and assistant managers to start
design according to the brief and to do 3d views to perceive the design properly. The drafting
section then does the rest of the details drawing and prints for the sites.

 Project Manage: According to the importance of the work the studio starts doing design of the
projects. Studio also needs to send the design to other offices to get the services associated with
design. Such as, get the electrical or plumbing drawing etc. After completion all the designs, the
team leaders or the assign senior or junior architects collect all the design and compiled those.
Then the designers who are responsible for the individual projects supply the drawing to start the
construction. During the construction period, project architects get the updated from the sites and
inform it to the management. They also need to visit the sites to guide the contractors, masonry
workers and carpenters to do the work accordingly.
 Project Execution: To execute a project, sthapotik follows a designed frame work. After doing
all the above mention stages with the help of studio architects, civil engineer, electrical engineer,
plumber, contractors etc the project is usually done. Sometimes architects need to survey the site
after handover, to see if there any discrepancies.

Creativity of the studio “Sthapotik”:

Sthapotik always work to make a positive change into the society. The management and the employees,
especially the design department, have the ability to perceive the imaginative ideas to turn into reality. They
usually follow the process of thinking and then producing. With their passion and commitment Sthapotik grows
into an established design studio just within 12 years. The studio also rewarded for their creativity by “World
architectural community for School cum Cyclone shelter in 5th cycle” and “2nd prize in open architectural design
competition for Agrani Bank office”

Process of communication of Sthapotik:

As a design studio, Sthapotik uses verbal and non verbal communication to convey the information and
drawings to their clients and other related people. In verbal communication, usually to communicate orally,
studio used face-to face conversation, meeting, counseling, interviews, group discussion, tele conference, video
conference , presentation etc. Again, for written communication, sthapotik uses notices, email, letters,
memorandum, reports, business cards etc. Besides, to convey non verbal communication they use drawings,
symbols is the designs which has particular meaning in the design firms.

Sthapotik uses team meeting and design dialogue as ways of communicate to each other within the studio.
Team meeting helps them to get the notions of the works and it helps them to team building and maintenance,
discussion of progress and the resolution of problems with in the studio. Moreover, the management of
sthapotik, with design dialogue helps the employees to keep the work and move in the right direction by
resolving the problems related to design.

Setting & Managing the design Budget of Sthapotik:

Sthapotik has a trained cost management team to maintain the process of planning and controlling the budget
of any design project. This team also assists to predict the impending expenditure to help to reduce the chances
of going over budget.

Policies of Sthapotik:

To protect the rights of staffs as well as the business interest of the employees, Sthapotik has the following
policies.

 Specific & clear: Sthapotik’s policy is very clear and specific both for the clients and employees to
understand. Usually the policies are in a written format which to provide an effortless visual.

 Reliable & flexible: Sthapotik has consistent Policy which is not going to fluctuate easily .however if
any variation occurs can flexible at the same time.

 Appropriate & Comprehensive: Every Claus of the policy is very much appropriate and easy to
understand for the clients and employees.
Conclusion:

Design management proficiencies and professional demeanor of Sthapotik will always put this design studio at
the forefront of the field of architecture and interior design. To provide a better environment & living of its client
and to imprint a positive impact to the society Sthapotik is working from the beginning of the company and will
work in the same manner in future as well.