Not every architect will be the right fit for you or for your project.
If you're designing a new house or renovating your home to be much healthier, more efficient, or extra climate-resilient; the right architect will be able to understand how you communicate and understand what you value. This comprehension goes beyond just hearing the words you're saying, and it points to seeing what's behind those words.
Many people who design homes will either do exactly what the client tells them, and the client will spend the next decade or two less than entirely satisfied. An architect may be preoccupied with a style or a vision in his or her own head and leave the client feeling ignored. Your needs and desires for a home are more than just specific rooms or finishes. There is a way that you want to be able to live in your home - to relax, to entertain, to work, to sleep, or to come and go. Whoever designs the container for your life needs to perceive the underlying thread.
Does this mean that you have to be a master communicator to work effectively with an architect and get your perfect custom home? No. I believe that a great designer has a great ability to learn. Listening to the spaces between your words - reading between the lines as it were - is key to tuning the design to your real needs. How does your architect do that?
Your architect doesn't need to be psychic, he or she simply needs the right process to tease out those abstract ideas in your mind. This process must be comprehensive to uncover not only what you have been contemplating but also to get you consider other aspects of the house that hadn't crossed your mind. The right process must also establish the project constraints and combine them with the desired outcomes. The process I use is the SAPPHR Strategy™.
Part of my SAPPHR Strategy™ is an exploration phase that I call the Tuning Workshop™. This is a walkthrough of the requirements-gathering phase and establishing solutions and direction for the design. There is no guesswork, there are no assumptions, and there is no wasted time drawing designs that we don't know will work for you. You can read more about my SAPPHR Strategy™ process by downloading the client manual using the button below.
If you live in Metro Vancouver or the Lower Mainland and are planning a new ultra high-performance house or are renovation to get that superior performance be it with Passive House or Net Zero, you want an UltraHome™. The UltraHome I can explain to you the process that I use to draw out your needs, during a free 30-minute Diagnostic Session that you can book using the button below.