We’ve all heard that nursing is the caring profession but no one really expects that being a residential architect is in fact the true caring job!
I’ve written before about how personal the work is when working as a residential architect with clients in ‘Architect as: “Confidant, Confessor, therapist, counsellor, priest and champion fencer”‘
But the most important piece of advice I can give to any budding student architect that wants to work on residential projects is that you really meed to care. Not just care about the architecture but really care about the people you’re working with. Their problems become your problems. What’s amazing is that this care is then transferred into the architecture that you’re creating for them and what amazes me more are the range of personal difficulties and particular requirements that you need to care about. From catering in the design for children with disabilities or special needs through to the continual care through the building process to ensure that the everything is built correctly and any problems that develop are cared about and then resolved.
What I also need to write about is that although the architect needs to care he/she can’t take the world upon his/her shoulders and needs to learn how to separate personal for work; I’ll leave this for another day.
Comments as always welcome…
hi mark,
i’d agree completely with your sentiment.
And I think residential jobs need you to care more in fact as these are ususally the jobs that mean the most personally to your usually non-professional client. Not only that but you are having a huge influence on how people LIVE – not how they work, or how they enjoy a museum or library.
Residential jobs are the simply most important ones you can do.
The client cares the most, and does so often in a deeply personal way.
And a home is the most important building type we can build.
If we can design good homes then people will want all the other buildings we can do to be designed well too….hospitals, schools, stadiums etc
It is just the branch or architecture work where it is imperative that you care more than on any other kind of job about what you are doing.
I would say too it is the most rewarding. Just look at any of the happy partys at the end of a dermott bannon show. That message of beaming happy satisified clients is really important to get out there.
I’m off topic now..Better stop.
Hi David
Well said, great comment
Mark