1) The Architect will design something that is hoity-toity fancy.
2) Whatever he/she designs it will be more expensive to build.
3) I can save money by not hiring an Architect.
4) I can design myself.
5) I will have a feeling of accomplishment with my design after it is built.
6) I will think that what is built is beautiful, or at least ‘good enough’.
7) I will believe others think my design is beautiful, or at least ‘works so well’.
8) I will wonder why no one comments on my beautiful design, or how functional it is. “Nothing? No?”
9) I will wonder why hardly anyone visits me in my beautiful functional design.
10) I will never understand all the money I wasted by not hiring an Architect that would have resulted in both a beautiful and functional design, a design that is beyond my imagination (“how was I to know?”), that would have saved money because it would be detailed correctly and not falling apart as my design is (“it looked nice for awhile”), and would, for all these reasons and more, be admired by people, for a very long time. Instead, I am stuck making patches and repairs, but have already lost the energy to spend anymore time or money on it, so my ‘design’ is resulting in structural damage and ‘smelly areas’… making me want to dump the whole thing and move to another part of town.
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Doctors give patients advice, most take the advice perhaps getting a second opinion, that if confirmed will return to the original Doctor and proceed in the direction recommended. Some people do not do this. Steve Jobs from Apple Computer was one of those people who felt he could get his cancer under control through holistic means. That’s really too bad and he will be missed, me being a long time Apple lover, since 1986. It all reminds me of that saying ‘you can lead a horse to water but you can’t make them drink’ which is essentially suggesting that the horse is too stubborn for their own good.
On the other hand I have witnessed the opposite, really great clients who understand their role in the execution of a successful project and appreciates the experience of an Architect, like Hines, Merrigoff, Durst, Hudson, Rockefeller and others, all significant developers in New York City.
An easily relatable example would be the Architect Frank Lloyd Wright who had such a great client for the residence known as Falling Water, which is a highly prized human accomplishment. Now, who wouldn’t want to live there enjoying the experience day to day? So then, what is the problem? Are you a stubborn horse who believes in a bunch of made up reasons that have no real-world truth to them? Are you both thirsty but afraid to drink the water? To understand what an Architect is, is not difficult. We are the force behind making our built world both habitable and beautiful. It’s those buildings in between that were ‘designed by a stubborn horse’ you should stay clear of and understand they were not designed by a true Architect.