How to Choose an Architect

CONSUMER'S GUIDE TO THE PROFESSIONS-8

By MICHAEL MANSER THERE is no excuse for landing yourself with a dud architect. Unlike the other professions,. whose mistakes, after the immediate embarrass- ment of discovery, can be interred, either in the ground or in a never-again-to-be-opened file, an architect's failures are relentlessly apparent. So are his successes: and yet it is appalling how seldom an architect is selected by this simple observation test.

Constructing a new building is for most in- dividuals and companies the biggest single capi- tal investment they ever make. The choice of the right architect is absolutely crucial to the success of the project and yet in nine cases out of ten the appointment is blindly given to a likeable golf club crony or the friend of a relative. Com- pared, with the care and comparisons entered into prior to the purchase of a motor-car most buildings see the light of day via an irresponsibly casual process.

The way not to choose an architect is because he is the happiest chappy at the club. Further- more be very wary of performers who call them- selves names like architectural consultants. The word 'architect' is protected by law and only those qualified may call themselves architects. Look for the unembellished word 'architect':- then the way you should choose him is by straight comparative shopping.

Architectural practices come in assorted sizes and it is wise to pick one whose size rotighly, relates to the building project you have in mind.' The largest offices run to a staff of several hundred with a dozen or more partners and asso- ciate partners. These are likely to be highly, efficient cost- and management-conscious organi- sations capable of painlessly converting a million pounds or so, via plans, into an imaginative and effective building. The smallest office will be one architect in one room. His work will be mainly houses and conversions and he is likely, within his limitation, to give equally good ser- vice. His aim will be to get a bigger practice by; taking on bigger jobs and from the customer's point of view there is much to be said for owning the largest job in an architect's office. It will be the prize job and obviously engender extra en- thusiasm and energy.

Between the two extremes there are practices of all sizes scattered the length and breadth of Great Britain. Few of them specialise in any

particular kind of building and those who do usually, do so involuntarily because of a flow of similar jobs emanating from a particular suc- cess. Most firms of architects will gladly take on any category of building provided it is within the cost range of their particular firm. It is obviously pointless asking a knighted panjan- drum of the profession to take on a £1,500 house s. alteration. It would cost his mammoth organisa- tion almost as much as that to put through the - system. This size of job is for the one-room prac- titioners, or for a young man just qualified who is working for another architect by day and . does private work in his spare time.

Apart from its fundamental practical aspects which must be successful, architecture is a visual matter and one on which most people have fixed

ideas and preferences. A potential building owner should be prepared to make a short list of architects with practices the right size for the job he has in mind. -He should then visit each

one in his office, see his organisation and photo- graphs of his work, and then visit selected com- pleted buildings of each and talk to their owners.

On the question of kind of building aestheti- cally, there is scope for another article. Broadly speaking, there is now an international 'style' of architecture based on new materials and methods of construction never before available.

Steel, reinforced concrete and plastic are being

used where before there was only cast iron, brick or tiles. Obviously the new buildings look different, but so they should. Renaissance build-

ings were startlingly different from Gothic, but the clients then accepted the change, and so they must now. Styles only exist in retrospect and each generation, until recently, was eager to build in the most modern way it could.

If your yen is for a mediaeval cottage or a Palladian villa, go and find a real one—don't ask a busy modern architect. If you have a mediaeval cottage or a Palladian villa that needs restoring, phone the RIBA, because there are architects who specialise in the care of ancient buildings. If you are the sort of escapist who wants a reproduction Tudor or Georgian house, seek out one of the speculative builders who does this sort of work. It won't really be a repro- duction, it will be a caricature and will probably give you a lot of pleasure—but then, you would not have been able to recognise the real thing anyway.

Assembling the list of architects can be done by recommendations from previous clients or from architectural books publishing similar kinds of building to that proposed. For those who know of no architect by recommendation the Royal Institute of British Architects at 66 Portland Place, London WI, run a splendid service. This is an entirely go-ahead and alive professional institute (whose members add the letters FRIBA, ARIBA or LRIBA after their names) and they have available a nationwide register of practices. This takes the form of an informative dossier on each practice, which has been filled in by the partners of the practice, and includes photographs of their work and in- dicates the cost range they can accommodate. The RIBA will, on being approached, also re- commend to the potential client a number of architects suitable for his commission.

Each architect on the list should be told he is one of several being considered and few would charge for the time involved. Each should also be asked his fees since, although there is a minimum scale of charges fixed by the RIBA,

some firms may charge more on certain types of work. For instance, a big, well-established firm would not undertake a private house at the minimum scale.

Having eventually selected an architect on the basis that he is by inspection able, efficient and designs buildings of which the potential client approves, the client should then accept his advice. It is useless to buy a dog and bark yourself. An architect will work best from a written instruc- tion brief outlining all the accommodation and equipment required. Home-made plans on squared paper are no more useful to an archi- tect than do-it-yourself diagnoses to a GP.

Many specialists are involved in the design and construction of a modern building and there has 40 be someone pulling all the bits together into 4he prearranged pattern. This is the archi- tect, and this function can be maintained right through to decoration and finishing. Design is the architect's business and it is not an abstract arbitrary arranging of patterns. It is a disciplined assembly of required accommodation and tech- nical equipment into a coherent, efficient and visually satisfactory building that costs no more than the owner wishes to pay. This is the archi- tects.? expertise. Builders know more about build- ing, surveyors more about surveying and en- gineers more about structures and plant, only architects are concerned with assembling the results of their skills into architecture for living annivorking in.