Hello. It's time for another instalment from the another architecture + interiors blog.
When you're thinking about a building project, working out a wish list of what to include is usually fairly straightforward. After all, if you're considering an extension for example, you've probably been living at the house for some time and you know what seems to work and what doesn't:
'Why is that door there? It would be so much more helpful here...'
'It would be incredible to take this wall out here and create some space for entertaining...' and so on.
The thing that's of equal importance to the wish list and knowing what you do and don't want is knowing what you don't need. This isn't always as easy to determine. Magazines and Pinterest rarely show you what you don't need.
However, and again - a vested interest - but architects are very good at providing this counterbalance. An imperative tool during the feasibility stage of the design process is the elimination of the unnecessary. By developing a concept design, and through evaluating how your new space might work, it's possible to then (and only then) see where a brief can be refined. This is not always about cost-cutting, but about efficiency, and the nature of the design process.
So, for example - with clever reconfiguration of an existing kitchen to re-proportion space, an occasional office nook might be created rather than another cupboard. Or, instead of an additional en-suite, suggested alterations might instead offer up a larger bathroom that then takes on the wow-factor of a boutique hotel (more on this in a later blog post!).
This takes time, but time is a worthwhile investment in a project that you can enjoy the output
of for years to come.
We would love to hear from you if you're currently drawing up your own wish list and would like to understand the value of what you don't need.
another a + i
