Hello everyone,
I have already read some posts in this forum and would like to hear your opinions on the above question regarding the (co-)determination of the floor plan by architects.
Here is the situation:
I am planning to build a house and have designed it using a publicly available 3D house planning software. So, there are basic plans showing the interior walls, doors, room layout, room sizes, and windows. When I went to the initial meeting with the architect on my laptop (no contract signed yet), he smiled and said we need to be careful not to clash over the plans: as an architect, he also has an artistic claim, and the house being built is a reference/advertisement for him. He also wants to take interior photos and have permission to publish them. I am welcome to express my wishes and ideas, but he would like to decide on certain aspects, such as the alignment of various walls. If we want a floor plan created by us to be built exactly as is, we would be better off with a building contractor.
As the client, I don’t want to overstep, but my thought is that I am the one building the house, paying for it, and living in it. The interior design should concern the architect only insofar as he fulfills my requirements or—if I agree—designs according to my general ideas.
On the other hand, one could also see the architect as an artist who receives a commission from me to create a work of art (the house). It is therefore his product, taking my (rough) ideas into account. Like a commission for a painter: I tell the painter I want a vase with red tulips, but he decides how to execute it—the shape of the vase, the number, and especially the arrangement of the tulips.
Is the artistic claim of the architect described above reasonable and something to expect from other architects, or can one usually give an architect exact plans which they only challenge if there are technical building reasons or practical living concerns?
I am open to both approaches described above but would like to know what is generally the norm.
Thank you very much for your assessments!
Best regards, Jersey
I have already read some posts in this forum and would like to hear your opinions on the above question regarding the (co-)determination of the floor plan by architects.
Here is the situation:
I am planning to build a house and have designed it using a publicly available 3D house planning software. So, there are basic plans showing the interior walls, doors, room layout, room sizes, and windows. When I went to the initial meeting with the architect on my laptop (no contract signed yet), he smiled and said we need to be careful not to clash over the plans: as an architect, he also has an artistic claim, and the house being built is a reference/advertisement for him. He also wants to take interior photos and have permission to publish them. I am welcome to express my wishes and ideas, but he would like to decide on certain aspects, such as the alignment of various walls. If we want a floor plan created by us to be built exactly as is, we would be better off with a building contractor.
As the client, I don’t want to overstep, but my thought is that I am the one building the house, paying for it, and living in it. The interior design should concern the architect only insofar as he fulfills my requirements or—if I agree—designs according to my general ideas.
On the other hand, one could also see the architect as an artist who receives a commission from me to create a work of art (the house). It is therefore his product, taking my (rough) ideas into account. Like a commission for a painter: I tell the painter I want a vase with red tulips, but he decides how to execute it—the shape of the vase, the number, and especially the arrangement of the tulips.
Is the artistic claim of the architect described above reasonable and something to expect from other architects, or can one usually give an architect exact plans which they only challenge if there are technical building reasons or practical living concerns?
I am open to both approaches described above but would like to know what is generally the norm.
Thank you very much for your assessments!
Best regards, Jersey
Nordlys schrieb:
The architect has just as much the right not to enter into a contract as the client does. If the architect says, which I don’t like, “I won’t do that,” that’s perfectly fine. Exactly – that’s why I say it’s good that he clarifies this before signing the contract, instead of opposing it later on.
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B
baumann4222 Nov 2017 18:5311ant,
this writing is nonsense, what is this supposed to be!!
this writing is nonsense, what is this supposed to be!!
baumann42 schrieb:
11ant,
this writing is nonsense, what is this supposed to be!! Ditto.
baumann42 schrieb:
11ant,
this writing is rubbish, what’s that supposed to be!!I can’t see it that way, but maybe you would be kind enough to explain what exactly about 11ant’s "writing" is rubbish.
My opinion: if the architect thinks he can make any decisions on his own without consultation, he is seriously misguided. I hire him for a service that I pay for. Of course, he has ideas and a lot of experience, which he should definitely contribute, and if there are good reasons for certain things, it should be easy for him to convince the client. What is absolutely unacceptable is that he assumes he can make any decision without approval/consent. If he wants to do that, he should either a) build the property himself or b) refuse the contract. There are plenty of clients who just provide a budget and say “just do it,” and there are also many architects who don’t have such pseudo-star attitudes.
As nordlys already wrote, it seems like a mismatch, which is not unusual. But you probably won’t be happy with this guy (and he won’t be happy with you either). And as 11ant said, it’s good that this became clear BEFORE signing the contract, because nothing has happened yet that would cost unnecessary money (and nerves).
ruppsn schrieb:
I hire him for a service that I pay for. There are also photographers who claim copyright over commissioned work (and courts that agree with this view). Therefore, one should be grateful when any such "artist and craftsman combined" clearly reveals whether they belong to the copyright camp or the common-sense camp. This can then be factored into the decision of whether to hire them. Imagine a tiler saying: you are not allowed to renovate this bathroom because forty years ago I recommended purple tiles—so it’s my work anyway. ;-)
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