So you're thinking about architecture?

Its hip to be square...but architecture isn't.

A friend of mine said to me "when you design my house, is it going to be square?" I said "probably maybe a rectangular prism."

When most people think of architecture they think of Le Corbusier, Frank Lloyd Wright, Alvar Aalto, Mies Van Der Rohe, Louis Kahn, Phillip Johnson etc etc.

And everyone one knows that THIS is what architecture is. Nice buildings in green fields with lots of glass and it looks like a square.

But that's not what it is (always).

What is it then?

The question of what architecture is fascinates architects and academics and literally nobody else but one of my favourite quotes about what architecture is, by Glenn Murcutt, probably Australia's best known architect and he said that "Architecture is not created, it is discovered."

All of the beautiful buildings that we see online and in books and in magazines are not architecture but rather they are the output of a process of architecture.

So where am I in this process?

Now the thing that people don't see when they look at these buildings is the client and the clients brief. In fairness, some of the architects of these buildings didn't care too much for the client or the brief either.

People and some architects think that architecture is about architects. I heard a joke once and I'm pretty sure it wasn't written by an architect.

"How do you know when a pilot or an architect is in the room?"

"They tell you"

Do I just tell you what to draw up then?

• No. it is about more than the clients' vision

• It is not about the architects' vision

• It is about the site

• it is about the relationship between the client and the site

• And it is about how the architect and the client interpret this relationship

So it's not about things, the taps, the marble bench tops, the timber accents and paint colours and bifold doors. It's about a process of discovery,

• To create a FEELING for the client

• Based on the clients life

• On a specific site

• In a specific place

But I don't know how to do that?

That's OK, I do. The way to do that is through your designers approach. What we bring, is an approach to this discovery and knowledge of an enormous amount of buildings that have done what we're trying to do, that you've never heard of. This knowledge allows us to take shortcuts to get to the best solutions faster, as Picasso said " “Good artists copy. Great artists steal."

What's this all going to cost me?

Now creating feelings costs money and we live in the real world but the point of being open minded is that it allows us to discover ways of creating these feelings together with the client. The closer your project comes to your initial vision at the beginning, the more expensive it will be. That's just how it works. The process of architecture provides opportunities that we might not have been able to visualise before we started.

So take the plunge. After all would you rather a leisurely cruise, or an exciting journey?