notes · 14 February 2026

The second survey

Why we draw every project twice before we draw anything new.


The first survey is the building as it stands. The second survey is the building as it was. Sometimes the gap between the two is small. Sometimes it is the whole project.

We do not always draw the second survey. On new-build commissions there is nothing to recover. But on every restoration, and most adaptive-reuse projects, the second drawing set is where the design begins.

— Berkley Studio All entries →