1st Design Meeting - How to be effective not counter-productive?

DLM2000-GW

8 years ago

last modified: 8 years ago

For right now, I'm feeling as if we stepped into a 'Lucky' dimension. We are closing Thurs on a piece of land that we 'found' by driving around, looking on county GIS for property in areas that we liked then sending letters to the owners about our interest. Along with that, we 'found' an architect because I saw his business plaque when going to a hair appointment, months before we even found the land. It intrigued me enough that I looked at his website that day and liked what I read and saw. When the time came to actually interview, he was one of 3 calls that I made and the first interview. After spending 2 hours with him, as we were getting in our car my husband looked at me and said 'Do you think we even need to talk to anyone else?'. And of course after reading here for years I said yes, if only to be sure! The next architect interview was also very good but she didn't seem quite as experienced and the 3rd one never called me back (very bad juju!) so we're going with our gut and feel we've made a great choice.

Tomorrow is our first working meeting. We'll meet on the property, get some basic ideas going then head to his office to 'dig into design elements'. We are to come prepared with "anything (pictures, sketches etc) we think helps to convey our thoughts on the project."

So my question is, how much is realistic to bring? I've been collecting pictures in folders on my computer for a long time and have Pinterest folders, too. (won't even get into the magazines I've saved - and moved!) There is something I like in all of these pictures but we're not building a stone mansion or an east coast shingle style - yet something 'speaks' to me in the language of each house. It's really architectural schizophrenia ! In fact almost every singe picture is of a 1.5 story and we're building a single story that I HOPE will capture the feel of that sheltering roof line. Do I try to cull things to a separate folder and limit the obvious disparity or let him see it all and trust that he'll find the connecting line from A to B to Q?

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Comments (6)

mshahmd
8 years ago
Without knowing what else you have done to prepare for building a home except for what you just posted, I would start with a list of needs vs wants. You need to decide what are the most important features that you cant live without and go from there. While bringing an archival catalog of Pinterest and Houzz can be helpful, its just a hodge podge of pictures until you can figure out how to fit in a plan. Again without knowing anything else about you, you must realize that many of the pics on Houzz/pinterest/magazines are of really extraordinary and $$$$$$$ homes and you need to be very realistic and have appropriate expectations ( I have no idea what your budget is).
Rachel (Zone 7A + wind)
8 years ago
Basics
Square Footage
Number of stories
Basement / no-basement
Number of bedrooms
Type of bathroom (5-piece, ADA accessible, 3-piece) and type
Interior style - great room vs. compartmental
Dining room or no
Office or no?
Square footage
Garage size, orientation
Accomodate a specific view / orientation on the lot
Budget (I'd reduce what you think you want to spend and give a target 10-20% below). If you want to spend 500K, tell her/him 450K

Then...
Architectural style (exterior):
Try this - http://www.diynetwork.com/how-to/rooms-and-spaces/exterior/26-popular-architectural-home-styles-pictures

That is where I'd start anyway.
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omelet
8 years ago
To answer your specific question, I would cull what you give him not to avoid disparity but just to limit what you share to a reasonable amount that he can absorb. Then I would label eacah one with a word or sentence to explain why you included each picture. Similar to how on Houzz you can put a comment on a photo, you may not like the entire design but just the color of the front door, for example. Good luck with your adventure!
PRO
Virgil Carter Fine Art
8 years ago
Your "needs" vs. "wants" list is essential. Your budget and schedule are essential. If you feel very strongly about any particular architectural style that is important (only you know if it's essential). Your architect should be an experienced and creative professional who can bring years of experience to lead you towards the final design of your new home, so use her/his expertise. Good luck on your project!
DLM2000-GW
Original Author
8 years ago
We did go over much of what you both suggest in our initial meeting but it will certainly be repeated and refined in ongoing discussions. I take his instruction to bring visual aids to mean he wants to see what we 'see' in this dream phase, how consistent it is (or not), how it relates or can be adjusted to relate to the specifics and realities of our intended build needs and wants, budget, sq footage, views, etc.

mshahmd - you're so right about 'inspiration' pictures often being of extraordinary and $$$$$$$ homes - that's not our direction at all and not the direction of most of my pictures. This will not be a large house but it will incorporate nice details and materials - and I'll gladly give up sq footage before I cheap out there. At this stage of my life I know what I want and size does not matter ;-) quality does.

Mama Rachel thank you for the list and the link. We covered almost all of that with him already but of course it's a work in progress and subject to refinement. He already suggested some life scenarios for us to consider in our build.
DLM2000-GW
Original Author
8 years ago
cross posted - omelet the one word/sentence idea is great and I'll also limit the photos for right now to the ones that strongly meet our vision - thank you.

Virgil Carter that's exactly why we feel so comfortable and confident with this architect - he has experience, is very professional and organized but leaves his ego out of it. His references confirmed everything we felt made him a good fit for us.

1st Design Meeting - How to be effective not counter-productive?

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mshahmd

Rachel (Zone 7A + wind)

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1st Design Meeting - How to be effective not counter-productive?

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mshahmd

Rachel (Zone 7A + wind)

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omelet

Virgil Carter Fine Art

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