In purely business terms, the Architect is the seller or vendor and therefore, the Client is the one who is the buyer. But like any design-oriented field, this relationship moves far beyond an easy sales deal or provision of service. An Architect ideally understands what experiences their clients want and finds the simplest thanks to providing them with that, within a group of constraints. It is up to them to supply their client their “dream home”, visualize the client’s imagined spaces through their words, and put pencil to paper to form a 3-dimensional reality that they will live or add.
Design is the one task on every project that stands to carry the most value for the entire project. Thereby, the world is the direct result of an architect or planner in some form or another, but a good client is as important, and so clients do face a lot of anxiousness and curiosity before they approach an architect; it is important to break those notions. While every profession contains certain stereotypes, architects tend to be right up there with engineers when it involves misconstrued notions.
The world needs a bond between client and an architect.
Here is the list that will serve to debunk a number of myths and misconceptions about architects and what we do…
1. Architects charge a bomb!
Clients may also have unrealistic demands to squeeze the budget and schedule, and it’s your job, to be honest about what’s feasible. This one is probably the largest and most misunderstood myth. Design is the one task on every project that stands to carry the most value for the entire project. Also consider that often, an architect’s fees may be similar to a realtor’s fees to market and sell a property, and then things really fall into perspective. To put it simply: you get what you pay for!
2. Architects are Engineers
Well, technically, architects and engineers work at par with each other and they are the backbone of the construction field. But, architects spend 5years of their life just to get a degree and engineers spend 4years of their life and still they have a scope of jobs and placements, but an architect never has that. Both the degrees and scope of the study are somewhat the same yet completely different; yes they do have similar subjects to touch upon, like construction and details.
3. Architects can do the task of an Interior designer, then why to have one!
Again, Interior designers spend only 3years to pursue their diploma whereas us, it’s 5years. Yes, people do pursue interior designing as their masters in the later stages, and also gradually, most architects learn a lot by doing interior designing projects, but when it comes to the designation, both don’t fall in the same place!
4. They just have to draw a few lines.
This is indeed a common notion; architects hear that just by drawing lines, one has their house built.
Firstly, drawing lines in the form of sketches in the concept stage actually help us to evolve the form and thereby prepare the plans and other drawings, accordingly. And, Architecture without lines is meaningless, just like a doctor without a stethoscope and a lawyer without a coat. An architectural drawing without lines just gives us the best feeling and without lines, no house could have been done, whether it is the Taj Mahal or Eiffel Tower!
5. Architects Can Get You the Materials
Architects design, as we mentioned above, they are not the builders of their designs; therefore, they are not brokers for the materials used in a project.
They can only suggest which materials are best fitted to the planning, and maybe mention a possible source of such material to the builders, but the builders probably have already got their own material sources and perhaps their own ideas of what materials will work best.
6. It is a Glamorous Job
Becoming the next Frank Lloyd Wright seems glamorous, right? Yes, it must be glamorous to be a famous architect who created a number of the foremost ingenious structures, but this is often not the truth for the everyday architect.
Most architects are busy working out the details; meeting city officials; trying to leap through bureaucratic red tape; dealing with building codes; constrained by a client’s budget or visiting contractor sites—nothing about these tasks is glamorous. While some architects do have the chance to travel, it is not as common as some may think.
7. Architects Are Builders
Architects use tools not hammers. Their designs and blueprints are passed off to the builders/developers who then bring the design to fruition. Yes, this needs an in-depth relationship between the architects and therefore the builders, but the ultimate structure is made by the developer/builder.
8. I don’t want a big expensive home, so I don’t need an Architect.
A huge misconception about architecture is that it is only for the rich. While it is true that some firms will specifically market certain types and sizes of projects, the bottom line is that more often than not, the smaller homes have been architect-designed as well. It certainly is worth noting that the smaller the project, the more challenging it can be to design, and therefore, we often find that there is an inverse proportion to the size of the project and the need for a qualified architect.
9. “I’m worried that if I hire an architect, I’ll be forced into having to go with their style”
There are plenty of designers out there that have branded themselves as being experts on a particular style of design, be it the prairie style of Frank Lloyd Wright, the Arts and Crafts style of Greene and Greene, or the International style of Le Corbusier. However, this tends to be more of a private preference from architect to architect but we are all trained in good design. A good client-centered design firm should listen to the client’s needs and craft a design that speaks to the client’s desires, in a style that suits the client. But be watchful for the firms that do not put the client’s needs first – for a lot of reasons!
10. Architects Work Alone
Like most projects—architecture isn’t the work of a sole person—it takes a team. There are usually dozens of individuals involved within the larger projects (interns, modelers, the CAD designers, people within the field, etc) While most design firms have a managing principal: an individual who facilitates the design; they’re not usually particular designers. Rather it’s the lower totem staff that creates the planning, but sometimes the managing principal becomes “The Architect” who designed said building, while the others just stay behind.
