Architect has done a wonderful scheme but-

[ToughButterCup]

Hmmm, depressing reading. Depressing - to answer your question - because poor communication is common and not confined to architecture.

 

What format was the brief, oral or written?

 

If the former, well, no wonder.

If the latter, politely ask why the brief hasn't been followed.

This might be a little late, but here's a checklist that we worked on a little while ago. Just might help you through  a stressful process.

 

[Thorfun]

I know it's not the same as we went to our architect with no pre-drawn plans just a portfolio of styles we liked and an outline of our requirements. after the initial sketches of 3 ideas from our brief we were extremely disappointed and wondered if he'd even listened to what we wanted. but after a visit to the office (this was before Covid) he said he'd never get it right the first time and we discussed the bits we liked and the bits we didn't etc and the next iteration was a lot closer to the mark and now we're very happen with everything.

 

for us, having not used an architect before, I think the issue was with us expecting perfection at the first attempt which, thinking about it with hind sight, was never going to happen!

[joe90]

25 minutes ago, ToughButterCup said:

because poor communication is common and not confined to architecture.

I second this, as I have said before when I worked as a small time builder my quotes were very detailed, no ambiguity about what I was required to do, lots of communication. Most builder/customer problems I came across were because assumptions were made and not enough detail talked through.

[the_r_sole]

31 minutes ago, Thorfun said:

I know it's not the same as we went to our architect with no pre-drawn plans just a portfolio of styles we liked and an outline of our requirements. after the initial sketches of 3 ideas from our brief we were extremely disappointed and wondered if he'd even listened to what we wanted. but after a visit to the office (this was before Covid) he said he'd never get it right the first time and we discussed the bits we liked and the bits we didn't etc and the next iteration was a lot closer to the mark and now we're very happen with everything.

 

for us, having not used an architect before, I think the issue was with us expecting perfection at the first attempt which, thinking about it with hind sight, was never going to happen!

 

again that's down to communication - we generally do a few options for people and it's never what the project turns out as but it's an exploration of how the brief can work within the constraints of the site, the final option is usually a combination of the ideas from different options. Sometimes at the early stages it's as important to figure out what you don't like as much as what you do!

[Thorfun]

1 minute ago, the_r_sole said:

 

again that's down to communication - we generally do a few options for people and it's never what the project turns out as but it's an exploration of how the brief can work within the constraints of the site, the final option is usually a combination of the ideas from different options. Sometimes at the early stages it's as important to figure out what you don't like as much as what you do!

 

that's pretty much exactly what happened with us. like I said, it was our naivety of how these things work that caused the issues and not a fault with the architect. I did apologise to him for my initial comments on his initial sketches. the fault was all with us.

[ToughButterCup]

16 minutes ago, Thorfun said:

... I did apologise to him for my initial comments on his initial sketches. the fault was all with us.

 

Rare that. Rare. ?

[DragsterDriver]

2 hours ago, the_r_sole said:

 

But have you asked him to design something that he thinks will get planning or have you asked him to draw up your designs and try to get it through planning?

It's two completely different requests.

I can't fathom why he would waste time and energy drawing something different if his task was the latter, but then it also sounds like you've completely skipped the briefing and design development stages to get to a planning application so something doesn't feel right about the process....

it was ‘this is what we need, is it ok for planning, make these drawings look wonderful with a nice planning letter and application’

[DragsterDriver]

1 hour ago, ToughButterCup said:

Hmmm, depressing reading. Depressing - to answer your question - because poor communication is common and not confined to architecture.

 

What format was the brief, oral or written?

 

If the former, well, no wonder.

If the latter, politely ask why the brief hasn't been followed.

This might be a little late, but here's a checklist that we worked on a little while ago. Just might help you through  a stressful process.

 

oral, written, site visit, email, photo board, examples, sketches, *must haves*, materials, TIMBER FRAMED CLADDED, no brickwork, where’s my garage? Etc

Again, I’m sure he’ll be cool about it-

just wondered if it’s normal to take first shot at what you’d like to build before toning it down  

[DragsterDriver]

35 minutes ago, ToughButterCup said:

 

Rare that. Rare. ?

I’ve gone down the “I absolutely love the plans, would be a dream house but:”

 

email route.

[Adsibob]

I think it’s in most architect’s DNA to go off piste sometimes. We were extremely clear with what we wanted, but the first couple of plans the architect did go off on a tangent when he thought he was improving matters. He might have been for another client, but not for us. But I’m this case it looks like more than just a tangential problem; sounds like he’s in another dimension altogether.

[Kelvin]

My other half’s dad and uncle are both architects (retired) one mostly  commercial and the other mostly residential. They both have said that architects generally design what they want and often disregard what the client asks for. Some of the time they end up with better outcomes and some of the time it just pisses the clients off ? Ultimately architects want to design stuff they come up with otherwise what’s the point of the 7 years’ training. 

[joe90]

8 minutes ago, Kelvin said:

architects generally design what they want and often disregard what the client asks for

yes but it depends if the client knows what they want, some don’t, some do. BUT Any architect should abide by the brief, including the budget.

[ProDave]

36 minutes ago, Kelvin said:

My other half’s dad and uncle are both architects (retired) one mostly  commercial and the other mostly residential. They both have said that architects generally design what they want and often disregard what the client asks for. Some of the time they end up with better outcomes and some of the time it just pisses the clients off ? Ultimately architects want to design stuff they come up with otherwise what’s the point of the 7 years’ training. 

But what is the point of designing what the architect wants if it is so far off what the client wants.

 

It should be a 2 way interactive process perhaps with a day spent together drawing sketches and agreeing a compromise between what the client wants and what the architect thinks is possible, then go and detail it to that agreed compromise.

 

To just design something completely different without even discussing it is just wrong.

 

This has nothing to do with 7 years training, it is just bad business practice.  I am an electrician, I try to fit what the customer wants, if there is something about what the customer wants that makes it particularly difficult I will discuss alternatives with them and agree between us what I am going to do.  It would be equally wrong of me to put all the lights and light switches in a different place without discussion because that is what I feel is best.

 

 

[Kelvin]

Architects are artists ? 

 

i’m not agreeing with the approach just providing some insight from two highly successful retired architects one of whom lives in a Huff Haus that he barely changed from the standard design ? 

[the_r_sole]

"Two highly successful architects" 

Sounds like they're very well suited to retirement as they clearly didn't operate in the current market or do any work for informed clients!