Architecture design is brave clients.
There is a saying, “I’m only as good as my clients allow me to be.”
I admire the bravery of my clients. When they come to me, they don’t really know what they are going to end up with, but they have faith and bravely start the design process.
We can draw, sketch, and model the project but only a seasoned design architect really understands the feel of the spaces, the sizes of rooms, the flow. We visualise the end project before a spade hits the ground.
I had one client who came to me because I had designed an Italian-inspired house and they ended up with a red tex-mex house, which they loved. I designed an open plan holiday house for one client who then had to sell their house in the city because they realised it was just a collection of rooms and hallways and that it no longer worked for them.
We only know what we know. Often the client’s brief is based on the existing, what they like, and what they don’t like. A villa owner may ask for sun and warmth.
As a hip young architectural student with a full head of hair I was asked to draw my ideal house and then the house I lived in. To my surprise they were the same; not so hip after all.
Clients are brave because they are open to change, to things they didn’t know they wanted or could have. We changed from 2.4m ceilings to 2.7m and now heading to 3.0m ceilings. Two storey houses to three, and now sometimes four storeys.
Clients are brave as they have confidence in the architect making major financial decisions for them. My clients were youngish and fit and argued they didn’t need a lift in their new large three storey house overlooking the harbour, but I explained to them a lift would be expected in a house of this value if they sold in the future. They tell me they use the lift most days.
So, a big thank you to all my brave clients!
paul@leuschkekahn.co.nz
021 894 895
leuschkekahn.co.nz
