FREE BRIEF TEMPLATE
An editable client brief for architects and their clients, with sample answers. No email required.
Word, Google Docs and PDF. No email required.
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Who is the client and who will use the building? Site address, ownership and known constraints?
What should the project achieve? What’s wrong with the current space?
Which rooms or areas are needed, and roughly how big? Which spaces need to connect?
Construction budget, and does it include fees and VAT or sales tax? Is there a contingency?
An architectural design brief sets out what the client needs from a building project: the spaces, how they’ll be used, the budget, the site constraints and the timeline. It develops through the early work stages and is signed off before concept design, then tested at each stage. Use it alongside an architecture fee proposal.
Fill it in Word or Google Docs, then export it: File → Save As → PDF in Word, or File → Download → PDF document in Google Docs.
Sample answers from a fictional client.
Angelwood turns questions like these into an onboarding plan: requests with instructions, owners and dates that clients answer in their portal, reviewed by your team before kickoff.
MAKE IT WORK FOR YOU
Everything else in the brief flows from one clear objective. If you can’t agree it in a sentence, the work isn’t ready to start.
A brief with three decision-makers gets three sets of feedback. Agree who signs off and how quickly.
Budget, deadline and mandatory elements belong in the brief, not in an email three weeks later.
A list of the spaces a building needs, with approximate sizes and how they relate. It’s the core of an architectural brief.
It develops through the early work stages and is usually signed off before concept design, then checked at each stage.
Yes. A brief without a realistic budget leads to designs that can’t be built. State what the budget includes.
Yes. Download the Word (.docx) file and open it in Microsoft Word, or upload it to Google Drive and choose Open with → Google Docs. There’s also a Markdown version for any text editor. No account or email address is needed.
Fill it in, then export it: File → Save As → PDF in Word, or File → Download → PDF document in Google Docs. On this page you can also print just the template or save it as a PDF from your browser’s print dialog.
THE CLIENT EXPERIENCE, IN ORDER
Bring the work you share with clients into one place.