Following clients’ directions to design a house: YAK01
Following clients' instructions to design a house is not easy. Let's find out how important it is for a designer to know how to implement them. The example of the YAK01 project
The relationship between architect and client is fundamental for a project to result functional and livable, besides being aesthetically appealing.
How to choose the right architect to make a project?
A possible problem can arise when the client considers the architect a person able to automatically understand needs and desires without being able to manifest them.
Other times the architect is seen as a sort of stylist which is unconditionally responsible for the image of the house. A possible mistake from the architect's side as well!
The construction would thus become a the place of fashionable stereotypes such as those portayed in magazines: the all-white house, the house without chandeliers or a place where services and functional spaces are sacrificed to make room to the inevitable open-space areas.
How to set up a professional relationship based on dialogue and trust as well?
A fundamental condition is to primarily understand what are the needs that the architect will have to face:
- housing functions;
- aesthetic values;
- the evolution of family habits;
- budget for the project;
Conflict and tension can be avoided whereas the architect will follow certain indications.
The architectural meeting for the YAK01 house
Let's take the YAK01 project as example, a modern designed house located at Yen Akat Road, in Bangkok, Thailand and designed by the AAd studio (Ayutt and Associates design).
To define this project's general guidelines and with the purpose of arranging functional spaces and exterior geometries with attention to traditional Thai style references, a first meeting was set up between the designer and the client.
Afterwards, despite having a limited site, the client' s need to have a large green area emerged, with a particular attention to the heat problem, being Bangkok a city with high humidity levels.
The designer's briefing ability at this stage was fundamental.
Architectural design of the YAK01 house
After many hours of project planning and several meetings, the first challenge that the designer had to address to was spaces management according to the available area.
Ground floor - Isometric cut-away view
First Floor- isometric cut-away view
Arranging the house spaces just on one floor would have occupied the entire site without any room for green areas and would have consequently generated poor ventilation. For this reason a L-shaped building on two floors was envisaged. In order to provide more space for the green area, the first floor was planned to be cantilevered above the ground floor, thus obtaining 50% free space of the whole available site surface.
The second challenge was to rethink the concept of a traditional Thai house.
All the materials used for the project were modern: raw concrete, metal, glass and aluminum.
This house doesn't have the traditional long pitched roof or protruding gutters typical of tropical regions constructions. Even though the upper volume overlooks the lower one, acting as a protection against the sun and rain for the ground floor and creating shadow plays and depth on the façades.
Bathrooms, service areas, storage rooms and stairs are facing south to absorb the heat and provide wellness in cooler and reserved areas.
The ground floor is arranged as a traditional Thai design, having a central courtyard with foyer functions and being located before accessing the living area.
This area surrounded by glass walls and sliding fixtures ends up creating a continuity effect with the garden and the swimming pool.
On the upper floor you can find the cantilevered bedrooms over the garden.
Advantages of a Real Time Rendering software
Thanks to the Edificius BIM software integrated Real Time Rendering tool it is possible to design and verify in real time the ideas and choices made of what we are reproducing.
It is consequently possible to show how the client' needs are interpreted and what approach was adopted, with the possibility of modifying everything in real time.
You can experiment forms, materials, objects, lights, etc. avoiding the long waiting times of the classical rendering! You can also check the validity of your design choices in real time for example when planning the artificial lighting and dynamic shading.
This way the dialogue between the designer and the client will result satisfying for both parts, also thanks to extremely realistic rendering videos together with the possibility of changing materials, furnishings and the architectural style.
