What do Architects do?
Today’s Architects come in a range of roles and specialisms, largely dictated by the industries and clients they are designing for. At Open House Architecture, we love designing for residential clients, making homes for families, and having a very close relationship with those we are working with. On the other hand, we know a great Architect down in London who loves nothing more than designing multi-storey car parks – definitely not our bag but he loves working for big clients where he can get into a lot of the construction and engineering detail. We need to build homes and we also need to build infrastructure like multi-storey car parks so it figures that we should have architects for both.
It's our assumption here at OHQ that most people asking the question above are looking for Architects like us to design new homes and extensions, not the latest skyscraper. If that’s the case then let us tell you what we do.
The first thing we do is listen. Architecture is fundamentally problem solving, and identifying and addressing clients’ problems is where like to start. We will always come to meeting you, free of charge, for an initial consultation where you can outline your needs and answer any questions you may have. It might be that we cannot provide the service you’re after and so, for us, it would be rude to charge you to find that out! If we think we can help you then we take a detailed list of problems, issues, like/dislikes, needs and aspirations for your project. This list forms our ‘design brief’ and it helps to steer the next phase of the process, the sketch phase. At the same time as we get the design brief, we will also look to get accurate drawings of the existing site. We do this either by conducting a measured survey and then drawings this up, or, where the site or building is large/complex, we will get a specialist survey company to do this for us.
The sketch phase is probably the most fun phase of any project as it’s where we develop the design brief into a series of proposals which we can then discuss with you. At the stage, the design is pretty flexible and it is easy to make changes if you change your mind on something (this is totally fine; don’t be put off or scared to make changes at this stage – it’s your project and we want to get it right). We will produce different options and ideas to develop the initial design brief and get to know what you like and don’t like. At the end of this process we should have a series of more ‘architectural’ drawings (plans, sections, elevations) which will form a package of information that can be submitted for planning approval (if needed) and can also be sent to other construction professionals (structural engineers, services engineers etc.) if their input is required.
We won’t cover the planning process in this blog (John will go into this in more detail in a later blog) but, if needed, we will submit a planning application and monitor its progress; liaising with the planning officer and making any changes required. Once planning permission is granted, we can look to develop the drawings at a technical level to produce ‘working drawings’ which can then be used for construction. These working drawings will be submitted for approval to the local authority building inspector (a different process from planning) who will check the design to ensure it complies with building regulations. As Architects, we have a legal duty of responsibility to ensure our designs are safe (it’s one of the reasons the title ‘Architect’ is protected in law) and on most domestic projects we will be the ‘Principal Designer’ which requires us to oversee the project and ensure that the design is not changed in a way which compromises Health & Safety.
The working drawings (along with any information from the other construction professionals) can be collected into a pack of information which can be send out to builders for quotes. We always recommend that this done in the form of a tender process where several builders are sent the information and then come back with their prices. A tender ensures you, the client, that you get a range of prices and, generally, the best value for money. Tenders are not only about prices though: they give you an idea of how the builder works, how long they think the project will take, and if they will be a ‘good fit’ for you to work with.
Once you have a builder and are ready to go, we as Architects, will manage the contract between you and the builder, and monitor the construction works to ensure that everything goes smoothly and any problems uncovered can be resolved. As ‘contract administrators’ on the project, we will ensure that works are carried out properly and we will also ensure that the builder get paid on time. At the end of the construction, we will check all of the work (commonly known as ‘snagging’) to ensure it has been done correctly and it up to standard before conducting a ‘handover’ process where the work is completed and responsibility for the site is handed back to you. We will then produce a set of ‘as built’ drawings of the project so that you have an accurate record of the works conducted and also have a further meeting once you’re all settled in to make sure that you are happy and to learn if there is anything we could have done better; we’re only as good as our last job so we want to make sure it’s right every time.
We hope that this has given you a brief overview of what an Architect like us does on a project. This is a very basic example and it doesn’t cover the detail of specialisms such as Historic Buildings, or Passivhaus Architects but we hope it should get rid of any of the mystery surrounding what we do. We are always ready to answer any questions you have so please get in touch, our house is always open!