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DX Architects director Daniel Xuereb has provided comments in an article in The Age newspaper (Domain 05/06/2010) titled ‘Space Saviors’ by Jenny Brown. In this article Jenny Brown asks three architects how to get the most out of their expertise.
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Space saviours
Jenny Brown
June 5, 2010
Jenny Brown asks three architects how to get the most from their expertise.
Only a small percentage of home renovators employ an architect but, even though doing so can amount to 8 per cent to 10 per cent of the final construction costs, an architect's input can ensure the altered or added spaces work properly.
Collingwood architect Andrew Maynard says engaging an architect is also about streamlining the navigation of "the not-fun, time-consuming and often-frustrating part of the job", which includes securing permits and finding the right engineers, builders, suppliers and sub-contractors.
It is all too tempting to add more rooms when those you already have are dysfunctional but, increasingly, architects are steering clients away from bloating their properties and leading them towards more practically contained, functional and budget-friendly solutions.
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Richmond architect Peter Vernon recently recast a client's brief for a first-floor addition into a more modest side-boundary infill, which, he says, "was less expensive, still capitalised on outlook, reduced amenity impacts and resulted in a house where every room — old and new — works hard".
Clients often approach architects with a fixed vision of a domestic Taj Mahal, says Daniel Xuereb of DX Architects. Even worse, some clients arrive with "a sketched floor plan that tells us where the bathrooms, bedrooms and staircases are". Xuereb says the dreaded client-generated floor plan "often misses the whole point of engaging an architect".
So what do architects want from their clients? For starters, what is the best way to approach a briefing?
Xuereb says he doesn't want a DIY layout proposal but does want his clients to have thought "carefully about how they want to live in the space, what's important and what is the best design outcome".
Magazine images can be useful, "although architects often look at the ideas behind the images. We are not simply interested in reproducing a style".
The initial meeting, he says, is to work out budgets and for each party "to suss out" how client and architect can best work together.
Vernon, whose architectural practice covers Ballarat and Melbourne, says it is important to differentiate from the beginning between the client's wish list and the architectural response, which can create flexible spaces designed to evolve to meet future needs.
"In alterations, it is too easy to focus only on new work and to forget the existing remnant [of the house], which, if not properly utilised, becomes like a ghetto."
For Vernon, getting the kitchen right "is always a priority". And the question of how many living spaces are wanted or needed "is important to establish the overall size of a development".
"If the budget is tight, I like to open rooms up to the new things we can get for free: sunlight, breezes and outlook," he says. Where the budget is more generous, Vernon would "resist the urge to increase areas beyond what is sensible or specifying expensive finishes and suggest, instead, devoting money on landscaping to better integrate the house and site".
For Maynard, having a client's trust from the start is a paramount ingredient for achieving the ideal outcome. "Clients need to be generous with their trust to allow an architect to make the most of their brief, budget and site.
"Trust always pays dividends in the end because good architecture is a lot more than a plan or set of drawings. Only the author of the design can protect its richness and ensure it is fully realised."
The creativity-killer for all three architects is nearly always "inflexibility" on the part of the client.
Often, Xuereb says, "an architectural response involves a process of developing options and assessing the advantages and disadvantages of the likely outcome".
"The process of a client working with an architect should be one of embracing the design process and keeping an open mind."
Says Maynard: "We all need to be flexible. Designing a house is an endless jigsaw that you can never solve so it is simply a case of trying to get as many pieces to fit as possible. Being immovable or inflexible only constrains your opportunities."
If, on the other hand, "you allow an architect to be elastic and playful with their thought processes, they are very likely to find opportunities that you would never have come across in a rigid environment". Trust, Maynard knows, can be very inspiring because the quest is to repay that trust.
"It's a wonderful type of pressure that can inspire your design to new heights. Be very clear in your brief but then give the architect the freedom to explore it," he says.
Copyright © 2010 Fairfax Media
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