I've heard this too, or (if an architect wasn't used)..."If I was to do this again then I'd have this there and this somewhere else". I've been in several houses designed by architects and you can really tell the difference.
I've heard this too, or (if an architect wasn't used)..."If I was to do this again then I'd have this there and this somewhere else". I've been in several houses designed by architects and you can really tell the difference.
Damn you ONQ
I was quite happy to go along and do this small project without an architect...
However you planted a seed of doubt in my mind and it won't stop growing.
What if i haven't got the best possible use of space ?
What if my design ideas are not all they could be ?
What if i choose the wrong builder etc.
Anyhow if someone can recommend a suitable architect for small extension up in North Dublin / Meath area please send on details....
Many Thanks
Wobbie
I was quite happy to go along and do this small project without an architect...
However you planted a seed of doubt in my mind and it won't stop growing.
What if i haven't got the best possible use of space ?
What if my design ideas are not all they could be ?
What if i choose the wrong builder etc.
Anyhow if someone can recommend a suitable architect for small extension up in North Dublin / Meath area please send on details....
Many Thanks
Wobbie
wbbs,
You're perfectly correct to cut your cloth according to your measure and I realise that people cannot always shoose exactly when to extend their homes in response to familial or personal requirements - these things happen!
While I'm not advocating either the "do it and we'll pay for it somehow" or "build it any way you can and sure it'll do" schools of thought I am saying that money spent on design can usefull challenge your concept of what you need.
Let me use this to illustrate the different between a good technician and a good architect.
A good technician will offer you an integrated set of drawings responding to the brief you've set up for the price you pay him. They will allow you to go to tender on and probably build your design.
A good architect will start further back - perhaps by investigate your living requirements - and may ask you to reconsider your ambitions for your property and in particular whether bigger is best or is it just an expensive way to get more wasted space.
Typically houses are built with insufficient service and storage areas, but the danger is people add these on ( see below) compromising the existing house and possible later development
I've posted elsewhere in the past month about Donaghy + Dimond architects and how their minimal extension and internal and rear-of-house opening up totally transformed a period property in Ranelagh.
The house was tailored to the needs of the family at present, with an attic conversion and a living/family/kitchen arrangements which could be wholly opened out to the paved area.
The money went into supporting beams and the full height doors and massively improved the amenity of the house while at teh same time catering to a more modern lifestyle with young kids.
It lined up with my own thinking that simple forms and expressions of a modest size can work wonders and the mkind of extensions I'm reading abotu on thsi thread fall within that definition.
(no, I have ABSOLUTELY no connection to these guys - I saw their work, their philosophy and I was impressed)
I suppose what I'm working around to saying is that you have to do what you must now, but consider where you might be going later on and don't compromised you house's later development by what you do now.
That's a broad statement and I cannt really give any detailed pointers but the primciple is don't get in your own way.
One principle is try to avoid putting services extensions onto the back of the property where they get in teh way of access to the private open space and create dark areas within the house.
Better to go to the extra trouble now of digging up the floors and putting in the services [or at least locating them centrally on an outside wall (if you get my drif) and allowing no obstructions to the rear wall - this paves teh way for future extensions and additions.
Another principle is the idea od courtyards where, if there is such an impediment, you push out a link and form a courtyard with a pavilion beyond it. This can have benefits if the new accommodation is super insulated and sealed - you can access it through and internal door that prevents the new standarxds of sealing and heat retention being compromised by the older construction.
Food for some more thought perhaps.
Do lots of thinking before you spend money, particularly where you have only a little to spend.
The more thinking you do about how you live and what you want to achieve - at this time in your liives - the more sustainable your building and finances will become.
ONQ.
[broken link removed]
All advice on AAM is remote from the situation and cannot be relied upon as a defence or support - in and of itself - should legal action be taken.
Competent legal and building professionals should be asked to advise in Real Life with rights to inspect and issue reports on the matters at hand.
Damn you ONQ
I was quite happy to go along and do this small project without an architect...
However you planted a seed of doubt in my mind and it won't stop growing.
What if i haven't got the best possible use of space ?
What if my design ideas are not all they could be ?
What if i choose the wrong builder etc.
Anyhow if someone can recommend a suitable architect for small extension up in North Dublin / Meath area please send on details....
Many Thanks
Wobbie
Ahh yes, damned if you do and damned if you don't, wobbie.
That seed of doubt is not intended to demotivate you or set you up for being fleeced of your hard earned money.
I intended to plant it to help you consider the possible benefits of working with an architect - and not everyon may benefit from such an arrangement.
The important thing is to choose the right architect for you.
Architects differ widely, both terms of design and attitude to client and work.
Apart from a basic level of competence, there are wide variations and you should interview say three for the position.
No point working with a genius if he puts the heart crossways in you at every meeting and cannot keep to a budget to save his life.
That being said I'm not advocating endless no-foal no fee interviews and I would respecftully suggest you offer to pay a nominal amout for "petrol money".
Also, will your archtiect fit himself to your needs as oppsoed to his ambitions for his portfolio - very few people could stand the vast acres of glass and minimal shelf space in some "Modern" works - to exposed and not functional enough.
Allow me to elaborate by taking a look at a design term often applied to houses - "clean and functional".
There is nothing "clean and functional" in existence - that's just surface beauty - think of the muscles, nerves, bones and tendons under skin.
A fluidly handling motor car has a multiplicity of things going on "under the bonnet" to yield performance, never mind the complex latent features in the crumple zones and ABS.
The last thing a house can be is bare walls, because people gather "things" to live with, none more so than small kids and messy adults [about 80% of humanity falls within these definitions, including me!].
So a pristine building with white walls and no storage space is a disaster waiting to happen - it'll end up looking like a rubbish tip if it doesn't have storage solutions and unless these are considered early on, they can blow a hole in your budget.
If you forget them you will wonder exactly where all that very expensive extra space you've just built went to if you're extending - and how that huge house you built managed to shrink so quickly if its a new build.
So for function to look clean in use, it needs to look more cluttered on plan with served and servant spaces, built in storage, storage rooms and floored attics and sometimes outhouses/sheds for bikes and stuff.
Otherwise the kids toys last a year when they should be seeing three or five depending on their ages and we end up consuming more when we should be saving.
Similarly the mesmerising perspective soon palls if you decide you cannot bear nature 25/7/365 and put up net curtains - this should have been considered.
A well designed house should allow you to organise your life efficiently and economically.
Just be wary about proposals with "clean lines" on plan.
ONQ.
[broken link removed]
All advice on AAM is remote from the situation and cannot be relied upon as a defence or support - in and of itself - should legal action be taken.
Competent legal and building professionals should be asked to advise in Real Life with rights to inspect and issue reports on the matters at hand.