How I can find a perfect Architect?

It's impossible to go through a single day without encountering architecture. The built environment is interlinked with every aspect of our lives – from our work to our homes to our hobbies and social lives. Architecture is an amazing mix of creativity and importance. Every great building once begun as a building plan. This is again backed by a promising Architectural Drawing based on the Building Plan of the desired building be it commercial comprising of an Office, Shopping Malls, Warehouses etc, and residential, comprising of a duplex, apartment or a house. The floor plans and the Working Drawings form the basis of a good architectural plan.

Who is an Architect? According to Cambridge Dictionary, an Architect is a person whose job is to design new buildings and make certain that they are built correctly. Architects work on scales starting from a small room in a house to an entire city. They design, develop, present, and supervise all sorts of projects. Their knowledge, design skills, and artistic sense make them capable of approaching other paths like graphic design, product design, or even game design.

The quality of a good architect, as designers, is to learn how to handle the complexity, and to realize that the big art of design is to make complicated things simple. India has 50,000 registered architects and plethora of practitioners.

In this case it becomes very important for you to know that the architect that you are going to hire for your project has the required skills and finesse required to accomplish the assigned project.

Let me make this choice and hence the decision easier for you. Below are just five of the most important qualities and personality traits that the most successful architects possess and apply to their work on a regular basis:

• Passion – they are fuelled by the urge of delivering their best to the every project they undertake.
• Easy going- he must be even-tempered regardless of the complexity of the Client’s demands and requirements.
• Vision- a good architect has a great sense of vision. He must be capable enough to visualise the project well before the planning has even started
• Confidence- he must be confident about his solid technical capabilities.
• Adaptability- a great architect is one who can go along well with the client’s needs and Project’s requirements.
• Creativity- it is the basic and the most important quality of an architect. He must have excellent sense of design and should be able to exhibit strong drawing/sketching skills.

Their skills include:

• Design and drawing skills.
• A methodical, logical approach.
• Analytical skills.
• Excellent maths skills.
• Communication and negotiating skills.
• IT skills.

Traits that make a Great Architect: http://www.d2architects.co.uk/five-personality-traits-that-make-a-good-architect-571.html

TYPES OF ARCHITECTS

Depending upon your requirement and the type of project, your need of an architect may vary.

Suppose you’re an owner of a business franchise and want to have a corporate building in a state, you will need to hire a commercial architect who is well acquainted with  flowing and self-guiding circulation that optimize the experience for the building users.

If a common national of India wants to have a house of his own, he will have to hire a Residential Architect who specializes in building plan and structural layout and detailing.

Similarly if you’re an Industrialist who wants to prepare a building layout for his Industry, you should go for an architect who is experienced in the field of Industrial Layout and Designing.

So based on different requirements of the clients and the projects, Architects have been kept under different categories based on their skills and expertise.

Having said this let me bring to you the types of architect and what they do:

1. Residential Architect: Residential buildings have come to be seemingly identical after the standardization that followed the industrial revolution in the past century. However, some neighbourhoods still enjoy the merits of beautifully customized residences, and this is where Residential Architects work. They deal with clients who would like to have their own customized houses designed.

2. Commercial Architect: A well-designed building is aesthetically pleasing as well as functional, and the functionality varies according to the type of space that is being designed. A successful design of a commercial or public building is highly dependent on its users. For example, a well-designed shopping mall lets the buyers find their way and get what they need easily, without getting lost or walking more than they should. Commercial Architects are supposed to make that happen.

 

3.  Interior Designer: Designing and styling the interior of an apartment, an office, or a restaurant requires artistic sense and technical knowledge. Interior Designers have deep knowledge of materials, fabrics, colours, and basics of furniture design. Some architects prefer to work on the large scale and not to get involved with such details, while others, like the pioneer Frank Lloyd Wright, prefer to do the interior design for their own projects.

 

4. Green Design Architect: With the recent changes in climate and the remarkable decline in non-renewable energy resources, the role of Green Design Architects has become essential.

   Green Design Architects are responsible for making eco-friendly and energy efficient architectural designs. They continuously work on innovating effective green design methods that leave a minimal impact on the environment.

5. Landscape Architect: Landscape architecture is concerned with the outdoor spaces like parks, gardens, neighbourhoods, campuses, and public spaces. Landscape architects design these spaces to be efficient, engaging, and harmonious with the environment. They decide the locations for buildings, walkways, greenery, and other hardscape elements accordingly.

6. Urban Designer: Urban Design is a broad subject that employs other specializations like building architecture, landscape design, and green design. It deals with the scales of neighbourhoods, districts, and cities. Urban designers are in charge of grouping buildings, designing nodes, paths, and street networks. So, they give the city its shape and sense of order.

7.   Industrial Architect: The architecture of an industrial facility can be vital to its functionality. They need a suitable envelope that aids the flow of the industrial process taking place inside, and that is what Industrial Architects specialize in. They fully understand the different industrial processes, and accordingly, design efficient and functional buildings that can hold them.

Depending upon your requirements you can opt for any of the mentioned architects for your Building Plans.

After you’re done with the assessment of skills and expertise of your prospective architect, asking your architect the right questions is the next important step which is the key to the successful project accomplishment. Any design project will be the result of many conversations between the two of you—and you want to make sure those conversations are as productive as possible. We will cover this aspect in our next blog.

For Architectural Services visit: http://www.civilcenter.in/architectural.php

 ‘’A doctor can bury his mistakes but an architect can only advise his clients to plant vines.’’ – Frank Lloyd Wright

You should always keep this in mind that a Design should never say, "Look at me!" It should always say, "Look at this!"

As Le Corbusier rightly said, ‘’Architecture is a learned game, correct and magnificent, of forms assembled in the light.’’