8 Things Successful Architects and Designers Do
Every architect’s design process is extremely personal and nuanced. For example, I have certain tools that I reach for ritually when I start a new project. One is a favorite lead pencil with a lightweight, medium-size barrel and a thinly ridged grip, loaded with a medium-weight HB lead that’s not too soft and not too hard. It has a broken clip at the top and a small blue button near my thumb to advance the lead.
It’s with this pencil in hand that I begin each design, visiting the project site, writing, taking notes and sketching in a pocket-size gridded sketchbook. I take with me a small corded bundle of Prismacolor pencils — light cream, sky blue, May green, French gray, yellow ocher and oxide red — to fill in the line work of my sketches and suggest order. It has to be this way for me, and I know that when I’m armed with these tools, the ideas will flow easily.
While each architect’s habits are individual and idiosyncratic, the broader architectural habits we share lay the foundations for good design. Here are eight (of the many) habits that help guide successful architects during the design process.
1. They tell a good story. Our memories of places are inherently linked to stories. A home that tells the story of a specific client, in a specific place, at a specific time enriches the experience and gives it a reason for being.
Architects are taught very early in design school to conceptualize projects by inventing a narrative, which is traditionally referred to as a parti.
A parti is like a rulebook, in a way, and a good one allows us to refer back to it when we’re stuck wondering what to do next. It organizes our thoughts and guides us in how to best relate the story through our design.
The narrative can flow from something specific — say, a beloved tree to preserve — or something more general, such as, “All rooms must have natural light.” It can emerge from a client’s specific request: “Nothing white, please.” Or the shape of a building lot. It can apply to every level of design problems, even down to small renovation or decorating tasks.
Finding the bigger, guiding idea and creating a story around it imbues every design decision with meaning.
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8 Things Successful Architects and Designers Do
