MDL 501 - Design Development of Middle Housing Projects
Course Description
This course examines the design development phase of middle housing projects, where concepts are translated into coordinated, buildable, and permit-ready designs. Learners will explore how project goals, pro forma assumptions, zoning requirements, and technical constraints guide design decisions, and how interdisciplinary consultant coordination shapes design quality, cost, and approvals. The course emphasizes material selection, detailing, and value engineering, balancing durability, sustainability, constructability, and budget. Participants will also learn how to assemble coordinated submission packages, manage documentation and versioning, and anticipate construction-stage and user-driven considerations to support efficient approvals and successful project delivery.
Course Details
Learning Outcomes:
- Translate project goals, vision, and financial constraints into clear design development criteria, and track alignment between design intent, pro forma assumptions, zoning requirements, and technical constraints throughout the design development phase.
- Distinguish between schematic design and design development by identifying the key milestones, deliverables, and decision points that define a complete and coordinated design development package for middle housing projects.
- Coordinate multidisciplinary consultant inputs, including structural, mechanical, electrical, civil, and landscape, by integrating technical reports, studies, and drawings into a shared documentation set with appropriate timing, version control, and communication protocols.
- Evaluate material systems and detailing strategies by assessing their impacts on cost, durability, sustainability, constructability, and long-term performance, and apply value engineering techniques without compromising core design objectives.
- Prepare a coordinated permit-ready submission package by applying drawing standards, outline specifications, and supplemental documentation practices that address common reviewer concerns and support efficient approvals for middle housing projects.
- Analyse how design decisions influence buildability, user experience, and investment outcomes by considering target user needs, accessibility and universal design principles, construction sequencing, code compliance, and investor exit or revenue strategies.