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jessie
Joined: 15 Apr 2004
Posts: 3
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 Posted: Thu Apr 15, 2004 7:25 pm Post subject: miscommunication in design process of house designs |
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less and less houses are getting designed by architects - what are causes of that? besides the obvious reason of high architect fees - could it also be caused by the fact that people sometimes are afraid that architects may impose upon them 'architectural ideas' that do not relate to lay people at all? by this i mean- how often is it that the architects actually listen and most imporatntly understand their clients? house designs are exceptionally personal and if the wants/needs of the users are not met then the design of the home has failed. the desires of the users are not always easily defined through words/language.
how then do we ensure that the design process becomes clear- that the architect really does understand what it is that clients want- in the midst of all the murkyness? |
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TLWalkerAIA
Joined: 16 Apr 2004
Posts: 129
Location: Seattle Washington, USA
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| Posted: Fri Apr 16, 2004 1:39 am Post subject: RE: miscommunication in design process of house design |
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You have said that less and less houses are being designed by architects. It certainly seems, by casual observation, true that a smaller percentage of houses in the USA are being designed by architects, but I am not certain this is really true statistically. what we are seeing is a decline in design quality.
What causes the decline in housing quality is the destruction of competition on the basis of design quality in favor of competition on the basis of design fees. It is cost control to facilitate speculative construction; banks should require licensed architects for any loan made in excess of $100,000.00 and things would improve a great deal. Thats not the whole answer.
Regarding fear of design ideas, no, there are enough architects to insure that anyone willing to buy a home could pay for design services and could find one that will not force design down their throat. It is the factory style production housing mentality of the speculative developer that is creating the problem. Technically it is no longer necessary to manufacture housing in this manner nor good for the built environment to continue to do this. Real estate in and near our cities is too expensive to justify non site specific design responses.
Design evolves by a graphic and verbal dialectic comunication; it is express, test and cycle, by iteration and shared decision making Architect and client establish the design. Where the design failure to achieve the desired fit between building user and building occurs you invariably have a middle man who is building on speculation and stands between designer and the end user who is unknown until the sale of real property takes place.
Speculation is the primary agent of construction and the agent of price focused competition. the bulk of the body of civilization was built on speculation. It is an agent without an investment in design quality and a huge investment in reduced short term cost to maximise profit.
To fix this problem we need to establish laws that require architects licensed to practice, design and stamp all permited construction building projects and we need to regulate and mandate minimum architectural fees nation wide. In this way the competition for design services is about design quality and not about architects fees because the fees will all be about the same, and those who want high design can pay to get it and the rest of us can live in a world of competently designed buildings. This is an essential component of achieving sustainable built environment.
 Imagine doctors and surgeons competing for opperations in hospitles with the insurance companies based on their fees and not their skills. If you do this you can capture the problem and understand what is happening to our cities. What we are doing is truly self defeating. Thank you for the question.
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Terry L. Walker, AIA
Terry L. Walker, Architects
terry.walker20@verizon.net |
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MLSherrod
Joined: 14 Apr 2004
Posts: 54
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| Posted: Fri Apr 16, 2004 9:15 pm Post subject: |
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I may get flamed for this, so go easy...
I truly appreciate your post, thank you for explaining this so well versed. However, it is not only whether a Registered Architect is used or even a well trained Draftsman, however Developers have a much bigger say do they not? An Architect can design only so much, though unfortunately, when push comes to shove, would design a project very heavily based on a clients ideals, and they usually have the say so of whether another strip mall gets put in, or an integrally designed shopping center and housing complex. Really, what is the bigger issue, either YET ANOTHER subdivision of ranches and cul-de-sacs or a complete designed community with built in schools. I dont think it revolves around what me house looks like next to yours, its a broader scope.
Also, $100,000 is not much to build with, can us Draftsmen have a little more play than that with? |
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rokdd
Joined: 17 Apr 2004
Posts: 19
Location: Dresden, Germany
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| Posted: Sun Apr 18, 2004 8:42 am Post subject: |
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i don't know the current situation in USA or so, but in Germany it seems similar to USA. I have read the manifesto of the assoziation of architects. the mainopinion of the germans is: a good architect is expensive. the companys which build the horrible houses are too cheap(in another way round  ). but the most aren't see the following result: damaged houses, dissatisfaction and so on. but a big problem too is that the architects are recogniced as planer for big buildings. that is a little bit the guilt of themselves...
Or??? |
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sscooke
Joined: 19 Apr 2004
Posts: 2
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| Posted: Mon Apr 19, 2004 7:42 pm Post subject: |
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| From the consumer's viewpoint: I have recently begun my search for an architect for an interesting, non-podlike addition to a geodesic dome. The AIA has been useless, as the only qualifications I can enter are location and type - when I need to add the modifiers 'contemporary' and 'addition' to weed through the long lists of architects the AIA spits out - the yellow pages give me that! You guys need some marketing expertise and consumers need tips on how to find the right architect for the job. |
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Kevin
Site Admin
Joined: 13 Apr 2004
Posts: 1048
Location: Eugene, Oregon
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sscooke
Joined: 19 Apr 2004
Posts: 2
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| Posted: Tue Apr 20, 2004 5:53 am Post subject: |
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| Thank you - a much better search engine from ArchitectureWeek yielded a manageable list of 23 architects in my area code who specify they will work on residential additions! |
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