Designing for the Big and Small

     Can a building become anything an architect wants it to be? What will the designer shape their space against? Is the finished product a result of the architect's decisions? When a building is commissioned, it is assigned to a team of designers that must create a solution for the client that initiated the project. The architects must solve the client's needs through a built product. As the team of architect's interprets the requirements and constraints of the commissioner, it presents the core elements of the product. A finished design relies on its function to successfully serve the commissioner ("Understanding..."). The function is what begins to form the appearance and shape of the building. 

    As an architect works with the needs of the client, their design molds with the standards. My current project in architecture school emphasizes this important concept of flexible design with a client. The parameters of the specific project was introduced with a client less familiar to many. Assigned was a finished house built around the unique client of a bird. Our birdhouse should be built to protect our assigned bird and provide shelter for the bird to lay eggs. An architect should be able to apply principles of design for all types of clients, human or not. 

    My birdhouse must protect and house the wood duck. Before rendering any birdhouse design, I must understand the requirements of this client so that this birdhouse can successfully attract a duck. All factors of bird size and proportion, habitat, predators and diet, migratory patterns, nest size, and activity will influence decisions of the design. Because of the bird's larger size, my birdhouse must immediately be larger in square footage to comfortably accommodate a duck. Their tendency to nest in pre-existing nests and lay with their breast feathers led to the appearance of a raised nest floor in a deeper house dimensions. I have listed two of the many intentional choices of my birdhouse. This can exemplify how any design in architecture is affected by its client. 

    The lifestyle and habits of the client will also promote the features of the design. A farmhouse amongst the harvesting flats of India highlight the intentions of client priority. Interior architect and writer Hana Abdel remarks about a rural Indian farmhouse that was designed specifically for the farming family that lives there. In the Arch Daily article, she details the specifics of how the architects on the project were able to accommodate for weather, climate, economics, and the family's occupation as farmers to build a home that reflects the family's values.  

    Through research of the local declining economy, the team of designers were able to condense and minimize the cost of the estate through material and open house concepts. Specifically, the basis of an unsteady income through farming led the architects to conceptualize a house that would give future opportunities of expansion as deemed appropriate. Writer Abdel claims the house is "half finished" as the built structure sits next to an empty plot. An expansion can be initiated in future years if the farming conditions permit it. The affordability of this house did not take away any decisions of design, but instead gave the family and team of designers future opportunities; they were able to turn a constraint into a promising prospect of the property. 

    Other features of open walls and a courtyard for increased airflow is especially important for weather conditions and is another cost-effective method of regulating temperature in a rather warm climate. The team of architects use the open concept of the house to reflect on the lifestyle of the farmers. Open walls and large windows face the fields of grains and the family's farm to direct dwellers of the home outside. The layout of the building shows the importance of the farm to the family and embraces the outside farm instead of separating the family from their lot. Through this understanding of the farmers, this house is effective in prioritizing what is important to the family.

    Understanding who the client is and what they want out of the project is the first step in beginning an intentional and successful design. The current project of the birdhouse and the farmhouse in India loudly display the traits of their client. They show the benefits of intentional architecture with a purpose to serve a specific function. To learn how to create good architecture, a designer must understand this concept of building for an audience. 

Work Cited:

Abdel, Hana. “Half Is More - A House in Progress / Atelier Shantanu Autade + Studioboxx.” ArchDaily, ArchDaily, 20 June 2023, www.archdaily.com/1002662/half-is-more-a-house-in-progress-atelier-shantanu-autade-plus-studio-boxx.

“Understanding What Your Clients Really Want.” RIBA, 20 June 2019, www.architecture.com/knowledge-and-resources/knowledge-landing-page/understanding-what-your-clients-really-want.