---
name: concept-planning
description: Develop or revise site and architectural concepts through a driving vision, parti, rough spatial plan, zoning and massing, with review between stages. Use for concept planning and early design refinement.
---

# Concept planning

Read the [designer's note](references/design-note.md) for the reasoning behind this sequence.

1. **Establish the basis.** Read the available Programme Brief, site data and project goals. Identify the site boundary, scale, major constraints and source of each. Record missing information as an assumption or open question. The basis is ready when the concept can be judged against a stated site and programme.
2. **Form a vision and parti.** State one driving idea drawn from the site, a cultural or aesthetic reference, or both. Draw a simple parti that makes the idea visible. The parti is ready when its main spatial move can be explained without detailed zoning.
3. **Test a rough spatial plan.** Place approximate programme areas as bubbles or masses. Show the main axes of movement for people and ecology, plus prominent constraints such as buffers. Check the intended scale and approximate capacity; a 10–25% size error may be acceptable here. Revise until the routes and principal zones have credible forms.
4. **Develop the design.** Refine zoning for a masterplan, massing for architecture, or space planning for a floorplate. A diffusion model can first generate a concept image from a prompt, using a site boundary sketch or bubble diagram as its geometric skeleton. Develop the selected direction in a CAD program and check that its areas meet the Programme Brief. Let findings at one scale inform the others. Include parcel subdivision when the project needs it and its method is available in the project record.
5. **Review and iterate.** After each step, compare the result with the vision, programme and site evidence. Return to an earlier step when a later one reveals a weak assumption or a better idea. Record the current option, its key decision, unresolved questions and next stage. When the user asks for a stronger concept, revisit the vision and parti before refining geometry.

When saving work, follow [project folder organisation](../../references/PROJECT-FOLDER-ORGANISATION.md) and keep each option's diagrams and stage record together.