Tuesday, April 26, 2011

Towing the Line

It seems like every project, big or small, perpetuates the epic struggle between total project costs and client wants (less than needs). And as a human, I am in this boat, for I think it is a human condition...or maybe more specifically an American human condition: want more for less. I could go down a philosophical dirt road of the cultural reason behind that, but I'll stick to architecture here. In this same struggle is trying to figure out how far to take a project, specifically in remodeling. We often tell our clients you can spend $ x and get something close to want you want, or you can spend $ x plus say 15% and get actually what you want. The last thing we want for our clients is to spend alot of money and not get exactly what they want when they can spend a little more and get what they want (please bear in mind these are brash generalizations). Short sidedness is hard to come over, especially as money starts to flow beyond expectations. With all that said, I feel we as a company working together with our clients have, project after project, won this struggle and found a balance so that at the end of the day, our clients are thrilled with the project outcome.

The below project is an example of towing that line, trying to make something fit into the site, perform as an efficient home, meet the clients functional needs and excel at the aesthetic value. In design we try to be smart and efficient, spending money where it counts most and trying to save it where it counts least. I will be interested on how this project, like all of them, come together in the end.