I was speaking to Isabel Barros a while back and the ‘Architect as…’ series continues with ‘Architect as Confidant and Confessor’.

The role of architect gives a very privileged position; that of being party to a persons innermost thoughts, hearing their dreams and goals, listening to their confessions, where they went wrong in life and where they would like to be going. I’ve already explained said that Architects need to study psychology in order to understand human behaviour (CLICK HERE FOR THAT LINK); but they can very easily take on the role of the client’s Confidant, Confessor, therapist, counsellor and priest.

So where does the ‘Champion Fencer’ come in? This is a fencer in terms of using a sword rather than the timber variety. And what I mean is that the Architect needs a rapier like mind to understand the client and all of their dreams and aspirations described above in order to implement a strong design strategy.

It also means (at a later stage) that the architect needs a rapier like mind to cut through the bull-shit when the job’s on site; changes and variations are made to the project and the accounts (and budget) need to be kept in order – See the Blog post ‘Architect as Accountant’ for more information on this.

How involved should an architect get? How personal should she/he get? Who knows, it’s each every architects personal call and every client is different in terms of their ‘opening up’.

Comments as always welcome.