Working with an Architect

ABOVE: Tracy and Nigel Roberts self-built the perfect family home with a traditional exterior and modern living spaces — all on a steeply sloping plot, with the help of architect Julain Owens. Read more about this self-build...

Know your budget

At an early stage of the project you should have a fairly good idea of how much you can afford to spend on the building. Confirm whether the figures still stack up, and then discuss in detail with your designer where you want to spend your money. At this point, you will have to work to some estimated cost per square foot, or per square metre, and agree the assumptions that you are making.

However tempting it is to commit all the money available in the calculation of the floor area you can afford, resist it. Build costs always go up as the design process develops the principal reason being that more and more desirable things get added. A more subtle effect occurs when you hit space-planning problems. The easy solution is usually to add more space making a corridor a bit longer, the hallway a bit bigger, or a room slightly wider can make a layout work that otherwise would be impractical. The cumulative effect, however, can be that by the end of the initial sketch design the whole house has increased in size significantly. So it is essential that your designer keeps you informed of the floor area of any proposals that are put forward for your comments, and that you are clear in your own mind that a bigger building will almost certainly mean a bigger bill for you.

The site

By the time you come to the design stage, you should at least have your site under offer if not already purchased. A truly successful design does not even begin to be formulated without a full knowledge of the plot. The main factors to be taken into consideration are if the plot has a slope; the orientation so that the path of the sun can be taken into account; the prominence of the site in its setting and which elevations will be more public than others. In addition, the size of the site will play the deciding role in determining how big the house may be. The approach to a house will set the tone of the property, before anyone has even gone into it. The way to the front door should be easy to identify from the edge of the site, and the point of entry into the house should be apparent as someone walks towards it. For example, the front door can be positioned on the centre-line of the front elevation, or indicated by a porch or change in the landscaping around it. Once a site analysis has been completed this must be fed into the design.

Know your requirements

If you have thought carefully about what you need from the new house, your designer should be well set up to begin the design process. However you do it, the most important thing is that you communicate as much of this information as possible, as early as possible, to your architect.

Be open to suggestions from the architect as to how you may modify your ideas to improve the design, and keep to your budget. Good designers do not just take the brief from you and stick to it unthinkingly; they question it.

It may only be obvious that a particular idea is unworkable once it has been accurately drawn to scale. The alternative is to insist that the brief is adhered to, and there are two disadvantages to this way of working. One is that you miss the once-and-only opportunity to test out ideas on paper before they end up in solid brickwork, and the other is that it is almost universally true that some of the demands of the brief are impossible to satisfy when confronted with the budget, site and reality of designing a workable building. Architects, faced with the latter situation, should really refuse to proceed, but this is a lot to ask if they may not get paid as a result.

Consider the concept

This a favourite word of many architects. It implies that any design can be distilled down to a basic big idea, which is followed through at all levels. Most of the great architects have followed this line of thought, and it has resulted in some truly great buildings. A concept may be expressed as a simple line-drawing indicating a particular form of building, or a statement of the thinking behind the design. The practical problem is that, for most designs, there has to be an element of compromise between the many issues that compete for priority, but there is no reason why you shouldn't have a main concept for your house. For example, it might be a particularly favoured photo from a magazine, or a statement such as our home must be like a country cottage or our house will be a place that will make people say Wow! when they see it, or it will be a place to relax and enjoy ourselves. If you have an overriding idea like this, and repeat it to yourselves as the design develops, it will help to remind you why you are doing it.

Consider your exterior style

The vast majority of houses built in the UK are in a style that could be called neo-vernacular that is, modern versions of traditional building styles. These house designs sometimes end up looking bland, because they are simply standard boxes with imitations of traditional features clipped on to them, or they have been reproduced with only minor changes across a large estate. All traditional buildings derive their style from the builders making the best use of the limited range of materials available. The availability of local building materials, and what could be done with them, historically decided the appearance of the building.

For example, if only plain clay tiles were available, the roof pitch could not go much below 35°, and ordinary softwood can only span up to about 6m. So a modern house that has concrete tiles at a pitch of 30°, spanning 10 or 12m, will look wrong no matter how much it is dressed up to appear traditional. The same rules apply to windows, which should be in smaller panes, and for a true traditionalist single glazed (although the latter option has now been made virtually impossible by Building Regulations). Likewise, a timber framed building based on a traditional Essex yeomans house will not look right in an area like Cumbria, where good quality building stone was easier to obtain than wood. There are plenty of good sources of reference that analyse vernacular architecture and suggest the principles to follow when designing new buildings.

Most other house designs tend to be derivative that is they imitate a style from history, typically Georgian, Victorian, Edwardian or Arts & Crafts. Thanks to a few pioneering self-builders, contemporary house designs are occasionally built some of which are unique in the way that they use modern materials. In fact, the latter group have usually led the fashion for house style, with housing developers following a long way behind.

Think about circulation

A design decision that has to be made early on is how the space will be allocated within the plan, and which rooms will get priority. As part of this, the size of the hall, landing and corridors is an important factor. One way of looking at this is to maximise the size of the rooms by reducing the area given up to circulation. Taken to its extreme, this will result in cramped halls and staircases, which will give the impression of a meanly planned house as soon as visitors walk in the door. It also tends to result in areas of rooms being given up to circulation instead, making them less comfortable to use, and reducing their useful area.

The alternative view is to commit a disproportionate amount of space to the hall and landing, which conveys a feeling of spaciousness and luxury. Subconsciously, if you can afford to waste space on circulation, it suggests an expensive property.

The alternative to the traditional British houseplan is to adopt a continental open plan approach, and do away with many of the distinctions between rooms and circulation space altogether. Open plan designs are particularly suited to smaller houses because they give the illusion of plenty of space, and lend a contemporary feel to their design. With modern levels of insulation and, perhaps, the specification of underfloor heating, there is no need to worry about draughts but these kinds of houseplans are not ideal for privacy or necessarily for family life.

Windows and natural light

The location of the windows in each room will be decided by blending the requirements of the occupants and the effect of the location. Windows offer views in, as well as views out, so privacy will probably be a factor in deciding where the rooms and their windows are positioned. But windows are also a source of ventilation and natural light. By far the brightest part of a view out of a window is the sky, so the amount of light that comes through a window is determined by how much sky is visible through it, which is why roof lights add an extra feeling of quality to a room. Apart from trying to maximise the amount of natural light in a room, arranging windows so that the daylight comes from more than one direction makes the play of light and shadows more interesting. Although most people are not aware of this effect, they do tend to feel more relaxed in a room that has windows on more than one wall.

Artificial light

The success or otherwise of a room design at night-time can be decided by the way that it is lit. Apart from the obvious items, like ceiling-mounted pendants or wall-mounted uplighters, there are plenty of possibilities for using lights to set style and mood. Mini-spots, track lighting, standard lamps, lampshades and fibre optics can all be used to great effect. More sophisticated houses have two or three designs for the lights in a room, depending on whether people are sitting on their own with a book, watching TV or entertaining friends, and these can be controlled by a programmable switch.

Resist the temptation to leave the lighting design until the rooms are complete. It is difficult to visualise how it will work on plans, but it is possible to make some guesses, to ensure that you have allowed enough in your budget. Once the rooms are ready for first-fix, you can go around and finalise where the lights are actually to go.

Consider the future

Hopefully, you will have a reasonable idea of how long you expect to live in your new home. If you expect to live long enough for a change in family circumstances, this ought to be allowed for in the design and construction of the house.

A classic example is the recently retired couple who are fit and well, who do not intend to move out of their home. It is advisable for them to allow for wheelchair use throughout the house by ensuring that the doors and toilet areas are generously proportioned. Some even allocate a ground floor room as a future bedroom, in case either of them becomes too frail to get upstairs, and put the drainage in ready for an en suite bathroom.

At the other end of the age spectrum, a young couple who may have children once they are settled might choose to build the attic and staircase in such a way that rooms-in-the-roof can be created with relative ease if necessary. Alternatively, they may include an extension in the plan, and even get planning approval for it, so that extra space can be added as the family expands. There are countless other examples each family will have their own aspirations for the future, and should be catered for in the way that the house is designed.

Noise

Noise within the house can be controlled by the positioning of rooms from which it emanates away from rooms which would find it a nuisance, e.g. the teenage kids bedrooms can be kept apart from the master bedroom by putting bathrooms, or a corridor, between them. The construction of the house will also have a role to play, because the best way to reduce sound transmission is mass. In other words, put something heavy like a masonry wall between you and the source of noise.

If you use a suspended timber floor, there will be more noise filtering through between floors, and any upper storey blockwork walls will have to be positioned so that they can be either built off masonry walls on the ground floor, or supported on steel beams. If you can afford to use pre-cast concrete for the upper floors, this will allow you to use blockwork walls for all the bedrooms without worrying about supporting them below giving good sound reduction all round.

External noise can be harder to deal with, but one way is to site rooms where noise is less of a problem like putting bathrooms and kitchens along the side of the house closest to a busy road. Triple glazing can help, but not in summer when the windows need to be opened unless you specify whole-house ventilation or air conditioning.

Safety/Fire

The design should take account of safety issues, and particularly escape in case of fire especially if the house is going to be used by the elderly, the infirm, or young children. Fatal accidents are more common at home than in any other situation.

Again, there are basic regulations that ensure that the house has upper storey windows that can be used for escape in an emergency, and that houses with more than one floor above ground level have their landings and stairways fire-protected.

These basic precautions can easily be improved upon, especially if they are considered at the design stage. For example, you should always fit more than the minimum number of smoke alarms required, and ensure that there are several safe routes out of the house even consider some soft landscaping, in the event of someone having to jump out of a window. An increasingly popular option is for domestic sprinkler systems, on the grounds that once one is fitted the chances of anyone dying in a house fire are negligible, and damage to property is minimised.

Sometimes, basic design decisions can make a house either more or less safe to live in. For example, if there are large areas of glazing at high level, how will they be cleaned and the frames repainted? If there are small changes in level within the same floor, are they clearly visible enough to prevent anyone tripping on them? Are the doors planned to reduce the risk of people colliding if they are used at the same time?

Security

Security must be considered by anyone who builds their own home. There are two approaches either defend or expose vulnerable areas. Which one you use may partly depend on where the house is located. The defensive method involves things like high walls, security gates, video cameras and even security shutters on the windows. This might be used in isolated rural areas, or on large sites where there are unlikely to be many people around to notice suspicious characters trying to force their way into the house. The disadvantage is that the features are highly visible, and it is a good way to announce to the world that you think you have something worth stealing.

The alternative method is to open out the areas most likely to be points of attack, or routes of approach, to public view. This could mean that the front garden is open, with the whole of the front of the house visible to neighbours and passers-by. Used in conjunction with security lights, which detect movement, it can be more effective than barbed wire in keeping out intruders who do not want to be seen, but it relies on neighbours being close at hand.

You may use either of the above on different sides of the house in combination, depending on their circumstances.

High railings combine both the above ideas, because they prevent easy access as well as allowing a view through to the house beyond, but your house will look more like a prison than a home as a result.

Storage

However much storage is allowed for at the design stage, once the house is built you will probably discover that it is inadequate. Often house design does not allow anything at all in the plans, assuming that it will be created by installing wardrobes, fitted furniture, etc. Most houses built by developers are totally inadequate in this area because they use the space to make the rooms bigger, and therefore help to sell the house before it is occupied. Otherwise dead spaces, such as those under the staircase, can be allocated for storage, but it is a good idea to make sure that at least one space is created on the first floor as an airing cupboard. Even if there will not be a hot water cylinder, a small radiator can be provided.

Do I Really Need an Architect?

H&R asked architect Paula Butterfield about her experiences of dealing with self-builders.

Whats the most effective preparation a client can do before coming to you?
Often colour images and photographs are the most effective tools to define tastes and style. Even if there is no exact brief, if we can see what the the client likes, then listen to their ideas, space requirements and work within their set budget.

What do you feel you as an architect add to the mix?
The architecture forms the raison d'etre for the whole project. It is our role to visualise and realise. The success of the end result is wholly dependent on our skill and vision. We have the knowledge and experience to see the full potential of the home and provide the client with lots of ideas and options that would not usually be thought of.

When making a significant investment in any building project, but particularly your home it is important that it is done right. The fees of the architect could easily be set against the increased value of the property if it is designed well.

Why should a H&R reader use you?
Our practice has a unique approach combining architecture, interiors and graphics as well as specialising in residential design. We can take the clients original ideas and actualise them, guiding them through the design, construction and legal processes, to create their ideal home. Our designs combine strong concepts with highly practical and well thought-out ideas. We look at the balance of living, sleeping, utilitarian areas, emphasising the space you love to spend time in and minimising the areas you rarely use. We offer guidance throughout the design process and keep supplying the inspiration. Together with the client we produce concept designs and optional layouts and we will help you visualise it all by drawing up the designs as you want to see them.

What do you say to people who dont want to use an architect?
What makes Butterfield+Macpherson Ltd. and other good architects most unique is our unreserved ambition to create a home based not on our ideals and tastes but on your brief and desires. Many architects have a house style; we have a house approach. We aim to guide and inspire but not dictate.

Butterfield & MacPherson: 0161 839 0222

This is an abridged and re-edited version of an article that appears in Julian Owen's book "Self-build: How to design and build your own home". Priced £19.95, it is available in paperback from the Homebuilding Bookshop (ISBN: 1-85946-139-5)

Further Reading:

• How to Find the Right Renovation Architect
• How to Select a House Designer
• How to Get the Most From Your House Designer