The Importance of Room Data Sheets

Room data sheets are a systematic descriptions of the requirements of a building and play a crucial role in the planning, design and project development. They support communication and quality control as well as assist in managing change.

They are generally created during the briefing (architectural programming in the US) phases of a project to communicate the client’s requirements for each space type. They are then used as an initial basis for a specification to assist contractors and designers comprehend what is expected from the spaces, and to verify that the proposed solution is in line with the requirements of the client.

Architects create room data sheets via interviews with clients and stakeholders. They are usually a work-in-progress and can be kept as a “living document” until the design team has decided on the final version.

When creating a room data sheet, the most important thing to remember is to list all requirements per space type and to classify each item as either general or specific’. For instance, a general requirement could be that an office needs to be soundproofed to a certain level, whereas specific requirements could find more include things like:

With Layer’s standard digital room templates for data sheets and pre-defined list of picklists, you can record all the necessary information in a streamlined and efficient manner. This helps designers be logical and think about all requirements, thus reducing the possibility of forgetting or omitting something. In addition, when you connect your room data sheets to an IFC floor plan, you can generate automatic adjacency diagrams to understand how requirements are translated into spatial solutions.