Choosing a Residential Remodeling Architect?
There is an interesting discussion going on over at blogbuddy Susan Serra, CKD's blog The Kitchen Designer about a long-standing feud between kitchen designers and architects.
You see, most architects throw a tape across a room and measure it within 6" and call that good enough.
They do their drawings the same way, then put disclaimers on them requiring that anybody working on the project confirm all measurements and dimensions. Thus, any experienced kitchen designer, receiving a set of architect-prepared plans from a potential client, is aware that the designs they do to bid the project can never be cast in stone until they can measure what is there.
6" might seem good enough for an architect(and it is hard for me to believe they are not trained that way since so many of them do it), but it is not nearly good enough for a kitchen designer. We are trained to measure (accurately) to the 1/8". And, since most of us are ordering products like expensive cabinets and appliances, we soon learn to check and double-check ourselves. If we don't we are not successful.
Architects also "fudge" elevation drawings. They draw existing windows, and other fixed architectural elements, as well as new items like cabinets and appliances, in such a way as to make them look "balanced" and symmetrical, when they are really not. They LIE!
Phantom inches in an architect's plan (there are almost always more shown than reality) lead kitchen designers to offer a client elements in the kitchen for which there is no room. Then, when the client decides to order the cabinets for the design we have so carefully planned with them, six weeks before their contractor needs the cabinets (if we're lucky); we go out to finally measure (because the client hasn't made a commitment until then), and find that the island won't fit and the windows are so far off from what we planned that the entire design has to be redone from scratch...And, of course, there is a price increase going into effect at midnight.
Now, THIS INDICTMENT DOES NOT INCLUDE EVERY ARCHITECT...only 99% of them. Unfortunately that means that most homeowners looking to plan an extensive residential remodel will hire someone in the 99%.
My advice on seeking out an architect who specializes in residential remodeling and realizes the importance of these issues is on my web site; on the Kitchen Remodeling - Where Do I Start page.
Take your time. Do it right, and you will find an architect in the 1%, who will save you BIG BUCKS, that you will never have to spend, and design a masterpiece of a remodel for you. It's truly wonderful to gasp with delight every time you come into your home.
If you are in the San Francisco Bay Area you can hire one of the architects I call the Fab Four in my comment on Susan's blog. Or, if you are near Pleasantville, NY, you can hire Susan's favorite architect, Mark R. LePage, AIA, who also has a blog Living Well in Westchester.
The Fab Four (ALL of the great residential remodeling architects I have met in 25 years of designing kitchens) in alphabetical order:
Bruce Bonacker, AIA, Bonacker Associates, San Francisco, CA (415) 434-4300
Chris Ridgeway, AIA, Half Moon Bay, CA http://crarchitect.com/
John Rohosky, AIA, Architect, San Francisco, CA 415.442.0104
Paul Rotter, AIA, San Francisco, CA (I hear Paul is semi-retired now) (415) 661-5025
Now. We kitchen designers also have some part to play in this feud, and I must admit we play our part with GUSTO. When we do get a chance to go out and measure the existing conditions, and find that the architect has fudged the plans all over the place, we then REDESIGN the architect's design! :-D
We are trained to do that and we delight in doing that. And architects then rightfully HATE us for redesigning their well-considered plans, and convincing their clients that we are better designers than they are...This is another matter entirely. Architects, probably rightfully, claim we are sullying the overall concept they have created with such care. All in the name of giving their clients, and ours, a functional kitchen. Conflict reigns!
I myself have been sooo guilty of this transgression sooo many times it would make your head spin. Nowadays though, as an independent kitchen designer who does not sell product, I am actually in a position where I sympathize with the architects...because occasionally my clients do the same thing to me :>(
In the meantime...We architects and kitchen designers are "talking" and you get to listen in. Life is good.
Peggy
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Great post...I actually wrote a long, well thought out comment, but hit the wrong button and lost it to Blogger.
ReplyDeleteArrgh!!
Thanks for continuing the conversation started over at Susan's blog. If enough of us care enough to have the conversation, maybe we will ALL rise to a new standard.
-Mark R. LePage, AIA
Ahh, the ongoing love-hate relationship between architect and designer. I appreciate the open dialogs at Mark, Susan, and Peggy's blogs where "finally" an open discussion can be hashed out about perceived or real deficiencies from past experiences working with allied professionals.
ReplyDeleteDuring the completion of the Getty Museum, I was witness to a huge conflict between Richard Meier, architect for the new Getty Museum in Los Angeles and Robert Irwin, landscape designer of the Getty's Central Garden. I attended a lecture given my Richard Meier, and he made no bones about how much he disliked Robert Irwin's involvement in the project. Despite my respect for Richard Meier's body of work, I considered it arrogant for him to publicly dismiss Robert Irwin's design of the Central Garden. He didn't want any competition. The Central Garden at the Getty is very popular with visitors as much as the museum itself. The Garden does not fight the design of the Getty but complements it.
I don't know one kitchen designer that wants to create a mausoleum of a kitchen that is out of proportion with the structure of the house. If anything, I think both architect and kitchen designer would both agree that we see a client sometimes wanting a design that pays no respect to the integrity of the home's size, style or fabric of the neighborhood. The challenge is to get the client on board with a design that respects the aforementioned.
I have a great deal of respect for what architects, and would like to say I keep an open mind with each job. But I too have had negative experiences with architects when it comes to their hand in the kitchen design. Again my experience mirrors Peggy's complaint. The dimensions are too loose and if built as shown in the architects plans, create major drawbacks with respect to cabinet function and space planning. The job I am working on now is a case in point, the client came to me because she was concerned with some very awkward and reduced function cabinets the architect designed. First the design was off by 6" and if truly built to plan, the kitchen would have encroached into the dining room by 6",which was small enough as it was. He had designed a 21 inch deep microwave in a wall cabinet closest to the sink, 18" deep counters next to the range creating some very awkward spaces. Asymmetrical corner pantry that would be very difficult to build and to use. A warming drawer in a 42" base cabinet creating odd and lost cabinet storage. Rather then "slam" the architect to the client, I massaged over the "glaring" deficiencies to the client by explaining the architect may have developed some very general ideas only for further enhancement by a kitchen designer to develop before the plans are finalized for construction. My thanks from the architect was for him to slam my revisions that the client preferred, and he further blasted the client for hiring me instead of hiring his "cabinet maker". The hostility he brought forth on the client was uncalled for.
It comes down to mutual respect for each allied member's specialization. I will never paint every architect's kitchen expertise with a broad brush stroke. There are truly some very talented architects. Susan Susanka is an example of one architect who has developed some fabulous and functional design details in kitchen spaces. Mark, you are a brave man to have opened up this dialogue and I applaud you for this.
Laurie
One of the Fab Four, John Rohosky, has responded to my diatribe.
ReplyDeleteHere are his comments:
Thanks Peggy. Good critique of architects, but I doubt we're ALL liars.
As an architect, then architect-contractor, I have designed and built kitchens (my own included), that have been published and garnered awards. The old carpenter adage: “Measure twice, cut once” is never more appropriate than in kitchen design.
Kitchen cabinetry is designed and measured to the “gnat’s ass” as they say. And somebody has to do it: (Architect, Kitchen Designer, Contractor, Cabinet Vendor). It doesn’t really matter who. That is why architects (myself included) have come up with the little acronym that frequents plans and working drawings, and that is, V.I.F. (Verify in Field).
Just because a dimension is on the plans doesn’t mean, or is it intended to mean, that in reality (the built world) that dimension is accurate. Often architects (if they are smart) will add the V.I.F. and a +/– sign after any dimensions that might differ. Why might they differ? Well, inaccurate measurements in the first place, changes during construction -- adding extra wall board for sound proofing is one example -- the cabinet maker may take liberties with some the dimensions, or false assumptions made by someone along the line.
After all, designing kitchens (or any residential project) is not the same as designing the interior of the space station or repairing a heart valve.
Advice to my architectural colleagues: Doing a whole house remodel that includes a kitchen? Hire a competent kitchen designer for that aspect. There are so many choices for the architect and homeowner in the area of kitchen design (surfaces, counter-tops, appliances, cabinet styles and all the bells and whistles that accompany, fixtures, lighting) that it is best handled by a specialist. That leaves the architect and homeowner to develop the context or “personal statement” of that main focal point of any significant remodeling project, the KITCHEN.
Cheers, Big John
John Rohosky, AIA, Architect
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