There is a myth that an architect will work for people with more land and will charge an exquisite amount of money in designing them. Few architects of old generations sometimes design for people with more than a particular level area.
Nowadays, all architects take it as a challenge in designing the space of whatever area it is and also charge a minimal amount for it. The only constraint they find is that clients should respect few architect’s decisions and proceed further along with it.
As the world progresses in its way, day by day it gets rarer to find a large plot of land of construction of individual residences.Hence we find compact spaces for construction. In such cases, it’s better to go to an architect to solve your needs in such minimal spaces. An architect foresees your requirements with future needs and incorporates them into the residences.
Vietnam’s Architectural approach
Another major factor is to design houses in response to their climatic conditions and environment. Architects do consider these factors while designing the buildings along with the bylaws of the government. The very best examples of these types of constructions are seen in various places such as Indonesia, Malaysia and Vietnam etc.
Pic 1 – Stacking green by VTN Architects, photograph by Hiroyuki Oki.Pic 2 – Anh House by Sanuki + Nishizawa architects, photograph by Hiroyuki Oki.
Vietnam despite being a third world country has made an unexpected development with architecture.The Buildings are also compact in sizes and are more responsive to the climatic conditions which are predominantly tropical as we have in South India. Even the corporate offices and showrooms over there are designed in such a way that are climate responsive and environment friendly.
They also design to bring the sunlight into the houses with immense use of skylight and courtyards. They design the interiors with a lot of plants and trees to make it more lively. It is also a social response for decreasing green cover in the cities. They also tend to use more natural materials from exposed brick, concrete to terracotta materials.This integrated landscape approach has also become the trend for construction all over the world. Even architects in Srilanka,Malaysia, Singapore, Indonesia and Philippines follow a similar approach.
The client’s mindset
Many of the younger architects wish to practice such an architecture in our region too. It is also compatible with our region as we also experience a similar climate. Providing open spaces, Jaali walls, Planter boxes, Green terrace and cross ventilation reduces the heat gain in our houses too.
Before approaching an architect, the client should check his/her style of architecture. They have to understand a few of their works and if it matches their requirements.Client should give proper comments on the architect’s work.
The relationship between a client and architect should be a symbiotic one. It should have a two way conversation.Listening and responding plays a major role in this conversation. Clients should not always respond by showing or sharing an image from google and asking the architect to design as such. Architect is one who gets trained for more than 5 years in designing and construction.
The clients should not think that architects are the ones who build residences for people with a larger plot area and budget. A lot of architects have designed houses with few sums of money as their fees. At the same time there is a lot of work involved in designing and their fees is very much justifiable on the basis of the work done by them.
Thus an Architect is one who can be approached by anyone for designing various kinds of spaces from a small room to a whole city design.What matters is the trust and confidence of the client with the Architect’s product.
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