Resort design & engineering notes
What should a resort design brief contain, and who is responsible for each part of an international project? Two practical notes for developers, local architects and technical teams preparing a coordinated design appointment.
Working notes · GEOMETRY · MATERIAL · LIGHT
These are working notes, not case studies.
Where we describe resort projects of our own, they are in-house resort designs — architecture, structure and BIM. For international work, statutory approvals and professional sign-off are handled with local licensed consultants.
Two planning notes.
§02 — project preparationStart with the information and responsibilities that shape a design appointment. These general checklists help frame a first conversation; they are not a site assessment or a substitute for project-specific advice.
What to include in a resort design brief.
NOTE 01 — BRIEFA useful first brief does not need every answer. It needs a clear distinction between confirmed information, working assumptions and decisions still to be made. Send the available documents and flag gaps rather than treating an unverified sketch as a surveyed site.
1. Describe the site and what already exists
Provide the location, boundary information, available topographic survey and any existing buildings or infrastructure. For a refurbishment, include available drawings, photographs and previous assessments. Identify the source and date of each document. A concept image does not establish dimensions, ground conditions or the condition of an existing structure.
2. Set the hospitality brief
Describe the intended guests, approximate number and type of rooms or villas, public amenities, staff areas and back-of-house needs. Include an operator brief if available. Separate the opening phase from later phases, and distinguish essential requirements from options to be tested.
3. Explain the delivery constraints
Record known access and transport limits, storage opportunities, utilities information and the proposed construction sequence. Share available ground investigations and environmental or coastal studies with the relevant specialists. List unanswered questions explicitly so that investigations can be scoped before detailed design depends on them.
4. Define the appointment and decisions
State the project stage, target programme and budget assumptions. Identify the local consultants already appointed, the drawings or models required, and who will review and approve each issue. Agree which deliverables support feasibility, tender or construction; these stages need different levels of information.
Practical first package: a short written brief, available survey and drawings, site photographs, a list of appointed consultants and a register of missing information. The next step is to agree the scope, dependencies and deliverables, not to promise a construction-ready solution before the site has been understood.
See our architecture, structural engineering and BIM services, or discuss the information available for your project.
Who does what in an international resort design team.
NOTE 02 — RESPONSIBILITIESA coordinated team needs named responsibilities as well as drawings. The allocation depends on the country, project and appointments. Before design starts, agree who produces each package, who supplies its inputs, who checks it and who carries the required local approval or professional sign-off.
Developer and operator
The client team sets the commercial brief, operating requirements, programme and budget. It identifies decision-makers and confirms changes to scope. Operator requirements should reach architecture, structure and services together, so that room layouts or equipment changes are not resolved in isolation.
Design and technical partner
Our studio's role can include architecture, structural engineering, MEP coordination, BIM and construction documentation within the agreed appointment. Package boundaries matter: coordinating services is not the same task as designing every MEP system. The scope should name the author of each discipline's design and the interfaces to be coordinated.
Licensed local consultants and specialist inputs
Local architects and engineers address the statutory responsibilities and sign-off allocated to them. Geotechnical, coastal, environmental, fire and MEP specialists provide their agreed investigations and design inputs. The design team records these dependencies and checks that the information is available at the stage where it is needed.
One issue register and a clear handover
Use a responsibility matrix covering deliverable, author, reviewer, required input and issue status. Keep a decision register for unresolved interfaces. Before a package is issued, identify its purpose, revision, assumptions and open items so that a feasibility model is not mistaken for approved construction information.
Our international partnership model explains the studio's relationship with local offices. To discuss an appointment, send the project stage and the consultants already involved.
A piece is published when it has something specific to say, not to fill a calendar.
The notes above focus on decisions that can be clarified before design starts: the available site information, the required deliverables and the responsibilities of the team.
Start a conversation.
§04 — talkIf a project is taking shape — a site, a brief, a feasibility question — we are glad to talk. The studio works from concept to construction, as a technical partner alongside your local team.
For the record.
§05 — the studio- Ionescu-Lupeanu Design & Engineering is a Romania-based architecture and engineering studio, founded in 2017, with offices in Bucharest and Craiova.
- The Insights section publishes practical notes on the architecture and engineering of resort projects, written for developers, local architects and technical teams.
- The studio positions itself as a technical partner for resort work, covering architecture, structural engineering, MEP coordination, BIM and Tekla Structures, from concept to construction.
- All resort projects presented by the studio are in-house resort designs — architecture, structure, MEP coordination and BIM.
- For international projects — including the Maldives, Greece and other jurisdictions — local approvals, statutory submissions, code compliance and professional sign-off are handled together with local licensed architects, engineers, structural checkers, EIA consultants, coastal/marine specialists, fire consultants and MEP/utilities consultants.