Whitewash Studio Architecture Podcast

There are a lot of places that can symbolize home for us. We can have more than one place that’s considered home.

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I have my home here in the city but I also have the home I grew up in. A house I still consider it to be home.

People say home is where the heart is and home is where you have your things. But what is it that creates a home?

It’s not a house alone that makes a home. A house somehow gets converted into your home.

Living in a space. Having experiences that shape who we are. Having deep seeded memories of a place. Things you can’t forget.

It’s more than a house. It can be a city or region. I often think of the area surrounding my home. The neighborhood. The context surrounding the house that is my home.

It’s a strange feeling when you sit and think about the concept of home. You have all these visuals pop into your head and most of my visuals are from my childhood home. It must be the home that resonates with me more than any other. The one I connect to most.

Take a moment and think about your home. Or homes. Which one stands out most to you? Do you identify with one more than the other? Are there memories you can’t forget?

As an Architect you’re creating a space for those memories. You’re creating a backdrop for other people to experience life. It’s an influential thing you’re doing.

Have you let that sink in? Have you taken the time to realize the impact you’re having? What you create could affect generations of families. Let that sink in if it hasn’t already.

Anytime we start something new we are going to have expectations. They could be good or bad. Depending on your outlook on the project.

What we have to do as architects is not only take our expectations into account but take those of our clients into account.

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They’re going to have opinions and a set vision in their mind for how the project is going to go. They might have a finished image in their mind. But, as we know from experience, the initial idea will evolve and change.

This creates a disconnect between our expectation and reality. The vision or idea your client had might fall apart. That could ultimately be a good or bad thing.

Have you ever had your heart set on something. You knew something was going to be a certain way. Then when you found out it couldn’t because of some reason or another you were disappointed. This will happen with your clients.

They have a vision from either looking on the web or in magazines at home renovations. They get fixated. This can either become a reality for them or it can’t.

There might be restrictions that force it to change. A limited budget or the lack of available space. There are a number of reasons our expectations could be lowered.

You as the Architect need to elevate and create new expectations. Take the current idea that’s not feasible and shift it into an idea that works. Something unique to your client’s situation.

Do this in a way that doesn’t shatter your clients expectations but rather evolves them into new ideas and excitement.

On your next project, try to understand what expectations your client has. How can you meet or exceed those expectations. Be sure to express what it is you’re expecting as well. It boils down to communication.

As Architects we hear this all the time. Form follows function.

Remember those phrases that stand out from Architecture school. Burned in your mind. This one is the most popular. Let’s dig into what it means.

Don’t design Architecture for beauty sake.

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It must function first. So how do we do this when we have pinterest and houzz and images thrown at us daily on instagram. Don’t most your clients come to you with an idea of how they want it to look.

Designing around a look has backed a tremendous amount of architects into a corner. It looks good. But add people and it falls apart.

Architecture has to serve the people who inhabit it first.

Focus on the people. What are their needs? How do they live or work? This will direct the function. Then form will follow.

What happens many times is the saying form follows function leads many Architects to think that function drives the form. That the function sets the stage and it directs the form. Tells it what it needs to be.

This isn’t true. Form follows. Meaning it comes after. It doesn’t mean it accepts the function without question.

When we look at great works vs so so everyday buildings. There’s this thought that a steril building has been driven by the function. Like a warehouse. A hospital or office building. Those are examples of form following function. Wrong. Those are examples of function without form. The form was never part of the equation.

To create Architecture. Beautiful Architecture you have to work on the aesthetic. It’s necessary to complete the needs of the design.

On your next project think about function. How will the space interact with the human element? Then think about form. What will form bring to the design?

Form follows function. It’s not told what to do by it.

One of the most important skills you can build as an architect is the ablitiy to drawing by hand. When I think of the ability to draw, I don’t mean realistic amazing works of art.

I mean communicative drawing.

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Being able to draw and explain an idea or difficult concept clearly. To see an idea is huge for our clients. This is why VR and 3d modeling have taken off so much.

But before you get to the place of VR you have to get your idea understood. A quick Sketch allows you to do that. When you’re meeting with a client, how often do you take out your pen and trace paper? How often do you sketch ideas in front of your clients?

Sketching with the client is a very important part of my process. For one it brings them into the design. It allows them to take part in the creation. More importantly it allows you and your clients to communicate an idea so you both know you were both understood.

It breaks down the barriers of visualization. As architects you’ve been trained to see things in a certain way. To elevate plans into three dimensions or to visualize spaces around you. Not everyone is used to doing that, so it takes extra communication of an idea to allow the visuals to sink in.

Sketching allows you to communicate as a designer.

In your next client meeting take out the trace paper and sketch your ideas out for them. Right there in the moment. You’ll see how engaging the meeting becomes.

Show Notes:

HOW DO THESE IMAGES I’M COLLECTING TRANSLATE INTO ARCHITECTURE

In case you missed last week. Here is the sign up for the Tiny House drawings.

DOWNLOAD THE TINY HOUSE PLANS MENTIONED IN LAST WEEKS PODCAST EPISODE

When did you first decide to build or renovate your house? When did the idea hit you?

You most likely did not begin your thoughts of building a new house or renovating entirely on your own. It is more likely that you saw an image of something either in real life, a television show or in printed or digital media and thought hmm.

You saw something that sparked you wanting to venture down the similar path towards creating something for yourself. You might not have even seen exactly what you wanted but rather an image that sparked some creativity within you. Something that told you that you wanted something more or something different.

Images, either seen with our own eyes by exploring the built world around us or seen through print or digital means they both have an effect on us. All the images that we see and collect overtime shape us into what we are and how we see the world.

Our current age is flooded with images. We must see hundreds of thousands of images a day. They come and go. We see them then on to the next image. We might scroll through feeds on Instagram or visit websites searching for those images. Each and every image we see, no matter how quickly, you have to imagine that it gets cataloged somehow in your brain. Stored away waiting to be recalled when that moment sparks.

You have probably heard the saying, “There’s nothing new in the world.”

I believe this statement to be very true. And I don’t see it in a depressing or limiting way at all. Actually for me, it is rather relieving. It lets me know that I can build upon others ideas and make them either better or entirely worse.

Isaac Newton said, “If I have seen further than others, it is by standing upon the shoulders of giants.” Meaning that all his ideas all his discovery and greatness was not created entirely alone. His work was possible because of the people who came before him. The work and discovery done before him.

“There is nothing new in the world.” It is an interesting concept because we might think of that one thing that seemed so revolutionary to be new. In actuality it was not new at all, but it was revolutionary. Revolutionary is often understood as being new.

The iPhone is revolutionary. The personal computer is revolutionary. The automobile is revolutionary. All these are revolutionary ideas, but none of them are entirely new. They were not just conjured up from thin air.

If you were to put bill gates, Steve jobs, and henry ford in separate rooms from birth until they reached old age, they would not have developed the revolutionary ideas that they did. Ideas are not born from sheer thought, they are built by expanding on the ideas of others. Pushing the boundaries of previous ideas.

So where do others lead you? How do you revolutionize your space? and maybe that’s not the goal for your space. Maybe you don’t want to create a revolutionary space. that is fine. you don’t have to. Nobody is forcing you to change the world.

but you are going to have to gather inspiration from some source. You need to be able to communicate to your architect what your inspiration has been thus far. Where have you come from and where do you want to go with your design. Understanding the past in your life is almost just as important as understanding where you want to go in the future.

You might be saying, “Marc, what do you mean by that?”

What I mean is that if you can convey where you came from. The home that you grew up in. The home that you might have transitioned to, the space that you evolved in. What shaped your current style. What shaped your current interests? What is your passion? How did you arrive at your passion and how does it translate into your current needs for your space?

The goal of renovating or creating architecture for you is not just the simple task of saying that you want to add a master bedroom, and we tack one on. If that is what you want you don’t need an Architect for that. Although you might find an architect to do that for you, but you are not going to be interested in the fee. And the reason is that you are not seeing the value for that fee. Ok I can’t get off on that today. Remind me to touch base on where I was going with that one. I might try and do an episode on it.

The goal of creating your space is to create a space that works for you not only functionally, but also provides value to your life. Something that understands your past and pushes you towards the future. Wow this episode ...