Choosing an architect

Q: How should my husband and I choose an architect? We've bought five acres of waterfront property that's blessed with interesting topography. We envision a small, "green" home, perhaps using water reclamation technology and solar energy, incorporating local materials. How should we begin?

A: It sounds like you've got a great adventure ahead of you! I can't recommend a specific architect, but I can give you advice that I've discovered by watching lots of other folks tackle projects just like yours. This advice includes both a caution and a recommendation. But let me begin with a question.

If you wanted to buy new clothes for yourself, would you ask a fashion professional to buy something for you, sight unseen? Probably not. Most of us have particular tastes when it comes to clothes, and we want to exercise those tastes whenever we stock our closets. But somehow, when it comes to custom home design, people often turn over complete creative leadership to an architect, somehow believing that the pro knows us better than we do. More than a few people I know end up regretting the expense and inefficiency of this process, and it's easy to see why. These clients pay thousands of dollars for an initial concept, only to find out that they don't share the same aesthetic sensibilities as the architect they've stumbled upon. The design gets filed on a shelf, never to be used.

Just because someone is a skilled designer doesn't mean they have the same ideas of beauty that you do. In fact, they probably don't. How could they? Architects are great, but you can't expect them to pluck a pleasing design out of thin air if you can't give them a tangible starting point. That's why you need to take a leadership role during the design phase, and this means working out broad-stroke concepts before calling on a design professional. It's so much cheaper this way and more fun.

From time to time I advise people building their own custom homes, and I always start by getting them to create a simple scale model of their ideas. Few people believe they can do it at first, but almost everyone has great fun once they get rolling. Just rekindle your kindergarten mindset and you'll amaze yourself. And the outcome is so valuable, too. For 10 or 20 hours of time and $30 worth of foam board, you'll get an excellent sense of what you really want in a new home. Don't know where to begin? Buy a stack of homes magazines and discover what you like. Experiment with different footprints, roof shapes and window locations. Have fun, make mistakes, then take your best version of the scale model to various architects until you find one who's on the same aesthetic and philosophical wavelength that you are.