Are you sure you can ‘be the Architect?’

I meet a wide variety of people who become my clients. It should go without saying that I often reject potential projects due to the characteristics of people and what they want (often requesting me to approve an illegal design direction).

My best clients have a combination of a vision of needs they have combined with a willingness to listen to their Architect to help them sculpt it into the best solution that will be beautiful and functional.  For those who I reject as clients I am reminded of these people:

Jesus_PaintingNEW_293150090

Here an elderly lady of a congregation in Spain said she could restore this master painting/fresco of Jesus.  While she obviously wanted to help she unfortunately didn’t know anything about history, painting, paint, technique and all the other things required to restore a fresco.  It’s not that she was a bad person, but now this painting is ruined forever, and that is the danger of taking on a project that has permanence, that you would end up with a very expensive disaster.

The next example I also love as it clearly shows an individual getting a permanent (relatively speaking) tattoo.  The client here is trusting an individual who clearly doesn’t know how to draw let alone should not be inking people’s skin.  You have to wonder if the ‘artist’ just started tattooing that day as a career change, or to fill in while the real tattoo artist was out for lunch.  Just because someone sounds convincing that they can ‘do it,’ you have to make sure they are actually professionals with real experience that has grown over the years.

frabz-NAILED-IT-133aba

I only hope those who are considering a home addition, renovation or new house consider the above as lessons learned.  What a home owner or client should do to ensure the success of their own project is concentrate on two main components: 1) the program and 2) the budget.  The program and how a building functions will be developed along with an Architect, and a budget can also fluctuate but only the owner will know exactly where they stand financially.  The architect though can put together the composition and program into a fully functional and beautiful reality that will serve the owner and occupants well for decades to come.

On the other hand, if you are itching to ‘be the architect’ take up cupcake making instead.  If you’re great at making cupcakes then maybe you have a talent for painting, if you’re great at painting then maybe you’ll be great at space planning, and if you’re great  at this then maybe you’ll be great at being an Architect at which point you should go to school for 8 1/2 years to learn the basics of Architecture, spend a few years as an apprentice, and then design your own home.

sheep-cupcake

 

Regarding potential clients I reject, it doesn’t happen that often and generally most understand that what they are requesting is not allowed to be done, like adding a mezzanine in an apartment with high ceilings, but the mezzanine would make the ceilings too low, or adding a bedroom in the cellar.  I have found that some of these people plan on doing the illegal work anyway, so put me in a bad position of denying them their request (obviously creates a conflict based on their own stubbornness), therefore and with the years of experience I have I carefully interview potential clients to see what they hope to accomplish, and to test them to see if they are open minded or stubborn and closed minded with a  tendency to control and dominate others (all bad characteristics for clients).  Like I said I rarely meet these types of negative people, but it does happen so I have to stay aware when that phone rings.  On the other hand, those other clients I do take turn out the best projects, so everyone wins.

Read more about the failed painting restoration here on Wikipedia: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ecce_Homo_(El%C3%ADas_Garc%C3%ADa_Mart%C3%ADnez)

 

One Reply to “Are you sure you can ‘be the Architect?’”

  1. Thank you for remind for everyone who just have done with a fresh and on demand idea for him self or for friend of him/her : to be a professional is a heavy duties to be responsible for many aspects of people /client living after your design as well. I’d like to quote your words again:”being an Architect ….. you should go to school for 8 1/2 years to learn the basics of Architecture, spend a few years as an apprentice, and then design your own home.”

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