There is always a question haunting our minds just before you think of starting the construction of our house. A layman is always found in an urgency to start building. Who is going to do the thinking. You can’t put your money, time & resourses at risk & that too all at the same time. Imagine your father had a chest pain do you give him a pain killer or get to a heart specialist immediately. You don’t attempt self medication. Will you? That’s exactly why I am summarising these pointers here. 

Let’s see why do you require an architect.

01. Visualise, analyse and recommend

An architect’s work starts with visualising what is that you will require in your dream home. Categorise them on the “requirement meter”. His responsibility during the narration would be toread you and understand what you are & whatkind of place would be the right fit foryou.Immediately after the narration he would analyse your requirements, the site, your family size, type, lifestyle and then propose a list of spaces or types of spaces that he feels are necessary for your living. The priorities & proximities, which space next to or near to which one, and recommends the set up based on organisational principles.

02.Design over Draw

Once the list of requirements in finalised with you, next is to organise them around the common thread YOU-THE USER. You are the only common thing between all the space in your house. Organising a space for an activity or managing an activity in a given place are two different things. Placing the activity, any activity, and then building the envelope that Suites it, is how a DESIGN is done. Making a PLAN and then assign an activity for the room is like DRAWing a diagram and then naming it. While a design would Suffice as a solution the drawing will only be the answer for now, which will go wrong any moment.Design will fall only when the activity is changed, Otherwise the chances of its failure are almost nil. Example a bedroom designed as a bedroomRemains a bedroom,will work as a bedroom.It fails when it has to act as say a” living”. Design is thought driven and drawing is driving without a destination.

03. Process over Product

The main criteria of why an architect’s design will work is because of the thought. A space is used in a particular way because it is thought to be used like that or designed so. Example-a toilet, kitchen, restaurant. An architect is successful because he is not bothered about how it looks, his interests are in how it works. The end product is not there in his mind yet, whats there is only an intent of making your dream a reality with his tools. His focus from the process is undisturbed, because he wants to join all the dots, solve the riddle, and go back to where he started, retake the path giving details on “How to” to the executing team and reach the destiny by conscious efforts and not by chance. He has to support and assist the team in case of any disruption, handhold them, walk along till they are confident of doing it themselves. For him Process is everything; Product is always a derivative and will not be wrong if the process is right.

04. Product before execution

Or should I say i prototype” before the actual or trailer before a film. whatever you want call it. For the Architect the product that is a production of the process has to be conveyed to you -: THE USER. You need to decide because you are investing and are going to use it. For a layman to understand the imagination that an architect has is tough. And thats why he is equipped with tools that a common, non technical person can comprehend. There are different ways that he would present his thought to you. Drawings, Say a plan highlighting different spaces with colours, textures, 3d visualisation, a model etc. He will not want to show you a building done earlier and imitate it for you. In a plan, a 2 dimensional drawing you will only be looking at how spaces are organised. Mind you you will never see your building like that. How you perceive or what you feel while you are in a space is what Your architect has imagined & offered, understand it. There are tools like a walkthrough to give you a pseudo realistic feel of the space. These tools are put to use for conveying the design thought to you. So that you Can decide. If you and your Architect are on the same page then he will have to convey you rather than trying to Convince you.And all these before the building construction starts!

05. Allocate resources; budget costs

Congratulations now you know what you are building. How much is it going to cost you is the next thing you have to inquire into. The cost of the project will ascertain if you are on the right track. Your financial planning would have allocated Some funds of your product, the one you designedwith your architect, is to be realised within that. You may have a critical analysis again with your architect if it is growing out of the allocated funds. Through this process you are budgeting how much you should Spend on the building. You will definitely have a few more things after the building. like, furniture, cleaning, initial setup to start living etc. At this stage you and your architect may control the cost, leave some gray areas, change the direction or approach or even abandon the project if necessary. At last its all in the paper. All that you may loose is the time you spent, but that will go a long way as a learning, together with your architect provided he is paid right.

06. Resources-Materials

now that your dream home is designed, probable costing is also known. You may by now also have seen the initial visualisation or may be you are going to witness it in a couple of weeks .You would already be living in your dream home virtually. How it looks exactly in the next riddle your architect will solve for you. Also what materials goes where? How is it used in your building? Application of finishes, where are the service line drawn & how are they attended, not deceivingly concealed, to be seen only when necessary, and many more questions like these. Basically every minute detail from the marking of the columns till the colour of the paint has to be thought of. Some may not be 100% finalised but there will be a thought about it. If not think about it now. what are the materials that will be involved & how to source them? Are there any speciality materials suggested? where are the resources for these materials? Is the contractor well aware of the availability or should you ask your architect for reference.Go ahead, ask your architect! It’s not at all harmful.

07. Rely over depend

You have appointed Your Architect as your technical advisor It in his responsibility to give you all the awareness you require to decide on any parameters of the building. He can’t decide on your behalf or force you on to something. No, He will not. All that he is doing is solving your problems, finding solutions for way of making things happen the way both of you have decided. Believe him. He can produce more and go overboard in delivering with a bit of encouragement. He wants you to rely on him. Ask as many questions, and let him find the Solutions. Right now he is the doctor you don’t have to jump to diagnosing your body’s health concern yourself. Let him do his work, you are actually paying him for it. At all the times let him be realising that you rely on him and not mearly depend on him. Both of you have decided in full awareness on the design and you didn’t reach there by chance. Rely on him, He is your best bet. You have only chosen him. You cant go wrong. Do you?

08. Awareness-Specifications not brands.

Architects always come from the perspective of technicality with the right mix of art & details to taste.. Any deviation in anything of the ingredients spoils the food → building. For the building to look and render the same experience as witnessed during the design phase the orchestra of the spaces & the finishes have to maintained.To maintain the spirit of design an Architect takes unbiased or judicious path. Specify materials by technical names rather than band names. For him the product applied in a specified manner that he has thought is important and not who has manufactured it. Its like mentioning BBM for burnt brick masonry or SCBM for solid concrete block masonry over Raja red bricks or Prakash concrete products etc.This unbiased approach gives him the privilege to work with every manufacturer and keep referring only if his previous experience is healthy. Exactly the way an architect gets work. Only by reference. thats why your architect always thinks about the product and not the manufacturer. He may relate some examples of brands for a common Man “You” to understand. Otherwise wall is always a masonry for him.

09. Your home the way you thought it would be.

All the work that has been happening at your site from a few months now has posed a lot of challenges, doubts or concerns etc. for instance Suddenly the earth work excavation and foundation built till the plinth level makes you feel that you have gone wrong horribly.

The sizes are too small. 12′ bedroom looks to Small. where do I put the furniture? and many more. You have your Architect to clear all your doubts. He will “convey” not “convince” you, shows you with measurements, facts that you can believe . After all the basic journey of construction you see the walls coming up, now you relate & attempt on imagining and correlating what you see on the site to what you had imagined and realise you were close. From now on all the components seem to be under your control and take your command & get built. You become a part of them and slowly they become the part of your script”My dream home”.The Architect will constantly analyse, relate, compare the proceedings and caution you against any deviations. If both of you choose to you can modify the path but usually not advised. Your Architect will be glad to see that charm on your face and in your body language that is because you are glad you are together. Together you are building your home the way you thought it would..