 |
 |
 |
|
The Architect's Guide to Residential Design is a practical guide to residential design for architects.
Architects whose day-to-day work involves designing institutional and commercial spaces will learn how to transfer and expand their skills and successfully integrate residential design into their practices.
The Architect's Guide to Residential Design covers typical residential design budgets and construction schedules and offers guidelines for interacting with design-conscious clients/homeowners. The book presents a comprehensive methodology for the process of designing, pricing, and constructing homes. Domestic and international case studies are included.
Excerpt From the Preface
A casual survey of why people become architects will inevitably lead to an early interest in or passion for the design of houses. It is therefore surprising to many people that not all architects design houses. Single-family residential design is something most architects feel they have the skills and knowledge to do effectively, but the reality is few of us make an ongoing practice of it and even fewer can earn a meaningful living doing it. I know - I try to do it every day and it is tough.
It is not unusual to be an architect and never design a house. The first one I was involved with happened after sixteen years of practice, six as the principal of my own firm. That first house came to me through one of my commercial clients who, with his wife, decided to do significant additions to and remodel a large house and hired my firm because we had been handling a variety of other projects for them. At almost the same time, friends of theirs were planning to build a house in the same neighborhood and they referred them to us. We went from doing no houses to two houses in the space of a few days, and single-family residences have been an integral and rewarding part of my practice ever since.
When we first started designing houses we did them like commercial projects. We tried to move through the five stages of the design process (schematic design, design development, construction documents, bidding and permitting, and construction administration) in a sequential manner. We also brought along all of our typical consultants (mechanical, electrical and plumbing, structural, and occasionally civil) and a full slate of services and staff to coordinate and document the process. We kept having problems, though; the process that worked so well in the design of our commercial projects seemed ponderous and inflexible. It was frankly confusing to our clients, who were not used to working with architects and to whom our professional jargon made no sense. Even worse for our planning purposes, the typical allocation of fees and resources simply didn't work. We were not just losing money on the houses; they were taking our focus off the other jobs in our office that we were delivering with more traditional service patterns. But we loved doing them! I knew we would have to adjust and change the service delivery process if we were going to continue to do them. I began to experiment with the right mix of services and fees to develop a practical and effective way of doing houses that would allow them to be a meaningful part of our project mix and be good business, but, more importantly, be fun.
This book will look at the design and construction of houses and how to do them, from my experience of the last 12 years. It's not a very long time, but during that time we've built or significantly modified about 17 houses. All of them are projects we are proud of. We develop relationships with our clients that have become highly personalized, a necessary component of practice for achieving artistic results. We have developed a reputation in our region for well-designed, contemporary houses and all of our residential work comes to us by way of referral. In the book I will point out my experience and that of my associates in the context of our projects, using real-life examples of things that went well and, unfortunately, that went badly too. I will also compare and contrast our residential and commercial practices and illustrate how doing residential projects, even for commercial clients with experience working with architects and contractors, requires a different approach. I will rather bluntly tell you how I feel about residential design in a business sense, how many of us don't really provide residential design services with a true eye on the financial realities of practice, and why it is a challenge to get residential projects that are "real jobs." Finally, I will explain how residential design practice simply isn't for everyone, why the idea of an architect-designed house for every person is a myth, and why we cannot practically be a resource for any but a small elite.
At the conclusion of each chapter, I have included a case study of one of my residential projects and used it as a way to illustrate the actual experience my firm has in the design and construction of a house. Each of the houses represents a unique site, budget, program, and set of circumstances that made it a valuable lesson to us, even if it hurt learning the lesson at the time. Mindful that architecture is collaborative and that we have to work with contractors and vendors to build, I will also try to share the process and challenges associated with each house.
About the Author
Michael Malone, AIA, is Director of the Michael Malone Studio at WKMC Architects in Dallas, Texas. In his capacity as a design principal for a 40-person architectural firm, he leads and coordinates design for single- and multifamily residences, specialty retail, commercial offices, and corporate marketing centers. Mr. Malone's client roster includes EDS, Lockheed Martin, Shell Oil Company, Harrah's Casinos, and the Discovery Channel. He has contributed to several publications and has written articles and columns for professional and industry magazines such as Texas Architect, Metal Architecture, and Exhibit Builder. The Architect's Guide to Residential Design is based on a well-received presentation that Mr. Malone first introduced at the 2006 annual convention of the Texas Society of Architects. A graduate of Auburn University and University of Texas at Arlington, he lives in Dallas with his wife Amy and four children Meredyth, Max, Riley, and Carlie.
Table of Contents
Introduction. Chapter 1: Houses as an Architectural Practice. Chapter 2: How Houses Differ from Commercial and Institutional Projects. Chapter 3: Design and Documentation for Houses. Chapter 4: Bidding and Negotiating with Contractors. Chapter 5: Cutting the Contract. Chapter 6: Construction Administration and the Building Process. Case Studies: The Bass House; The Dot Brandt House; The Bennett House; Fifield Roseberry House; The Connally Lodge; The Hacknet House.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
