Jo Harris asked:


An architect is a trained and certified person who designs and plans the structures of buildings. Besides designing, he also supervises the construction process. When you plan to construct a house on a piece of land, an architect is the person who can guide you about the proper use of the land. You should consult an architect and tell him your requirements. He will take care of your present and future housing needs and design a house with best available resource.
The most important thing here is selecting an efficient and experienced architect who can guide you the best. There are few useful guidelines which can help you to select the best architect for your designing needs.

While looking for candidates, you should seek recommendations of your friends and colleagues who have earlier hired an architect. Their recommendations are quite useful. Besides being experienced and professional, the architect you choose should be someone who can have good communication with you. He should understand your needs and happily incorporate them in the design in a practical way.

Before hiring the architect, you should check his registration. An architect should be licensed to practice in his profession. Checking the registration is important as this assures highest standards of professionalism and knowledge. An architect is registered only when he has completed certain level of education and certain duration of work experience after that. Registration can give you some sort of security.

Before contacting an architect, you must do your own research. Be sure about what you want to achieve. You should take notes of houses you like, consult friends, flip through designing magazines, surf internet for various plans and designs. All of these will give you an idea of trends and popular designs. Now you have ground work ready to talk to your architect. You can also decide beforehand about the things you can be flexible about and the things you want to be done in certain ways only. This way he can also give fair and logical advice. He can also give you an idea about the prices which is quite useful.

While looking for architects, do not just ask about quotes. Be prepared with some questions about important issues. This will help you gauge the level of comfort you can have with the candidate. It is important because it is going to be long term cooperation.

Discuss the timeframe in which he can complete your work. A written client/architect agreement is important before commencement of works. An architect is going to put your dreams into reality, so make sure that he is the one who understands your ideas and requirements. He should be easy to work with.



GRAHAM

SanMateo dad asked:


We are considering a small addition to our house. Our contractor has suggested a drafting service to help with the design. Will this be all the contractor will need? Is it less costly than an architect?

GROVER

Buddy Blake asked:


At one time, it was the job of the urban planner to develop streets and city infrastructure, and then the architect would step in and take over design of the buildings. Now, well-known architects are coming forward with a more holistic approach and taking over the entire project. Compare these new neighborhoods to professionally designed homes; the streets, building designs, and walkways would all be part of a master design of urban artwork.

The architect affixes his designer label to the city, just as one would a pair of jeans, and suddenly this design becomes a marketable product. This brand becomes a useful tool when it comes to getting approval for projects, and goes a long way to spark interest in potential investors.

One example of this can be found in Kartal, an abandoned industrial area in Istanbul. The region is in dire need of a facelift, which it will get shortly as part of the Kartal Urban City Project. Soon, Kartal will feel the effects of designer/architect Zaha Hadid, when the bulldozers begin to mold a 555-hectare urban wasteland into a contemporary infrastructure that includes skyscrapers, thoroughfares, and shopping and entertainment venues for over 100,000 residents and visitors.

Hadid is known for her work on the master plan for One-North in Singapore. This 200-hectare residential and science campus had similar lines and flow as her other creations. The distinctive look of her projects, along with her reputation, has become her branding.

Off the coast of Dubai, Rem Koolhaas is designing a waterfront city on a 172-hectare artificial island that will feature a huge mirrored sphere and spiraling tower amongst a series of New York-style skyscrapers. It will take decades to complete, but will eventually house 1.5 million people.

Designer/architect Daniel Libeskind is re-shaping the five-kilometer urban area of Orestad, south of Copenhagen. Once completed, this downtown area will include two 18-story towers (visible from the center of Copenhagen), and several low-rise buildings with landscaped roofs. This is a similar approach Libeskind used in his design at Fiera Milano, where he is redeveloping 43 hectares of Milan’s old fairgrounds.

Since the fall of communism and the changes in Middle Eastern economies, Asia is faced with booming cities in need of rebuilding. This holistic design approach changes the entire face of a particular region, as opposed to the addition of just one or two modern buildings. In addition, the exclusivity associated with having a “Zaha” or a “Rem” city design helps to bolster their international standing as an emerging, contemporary city.

It would be nice to see more of this in our own cities.



MORTON

Jo Harris asked:


A countless number of times we have felt bestowed of the seven man-made wonders of the world. Those men who let these wonders appeared at all were the architects, the creators of these giant, eternal structures that have seen the beginning and the end of many eras of human civilization.

A true architect is not a person but a God gifted brain that has a vision and the power to create. This art does not confine itself within a chosen shelf of books or in any course curriculum. The Taj of India or the Great Wall of China are only a couple of many examples proving that architecture is dream oriented.

Gone are those days. Today’s world has restrained the architects to be the trained and licensed personals who have the knowledge of planning, designing and supervising the construction of a building, a shopping mall, a theatre or any other structure. They carry an imperative responsibility of assuring public safety while and after the construction.

So as to study the subject and take architecture as a profession, the aspiring candidate is required to peruse a bachelor course in architecture at the university after completing the high school. Under the jurisdiction of British government, any person practicing under the title of an architect must possess a registration at Architects Registration Board. To attain this registration the students are required to pursue their studies in a reputed university level school of architecture. This is an approximately 4 year’s degree course. On the completion of this course, the student then has to continue with the master’s programme that is M.Arch. After working in the related field for a little more than one year, the student can achieve the title of an architect.

Though, the journey of an architect may seem long and tough, the efforts are rewarded throughout the working life. The range of salaries earned by these skilled men varies from 11,000 pounds for a fresher to 80,000 pounds for the experienced one. Many architects work independently and have been hired by almost all of us for house extension, refurbishment or basement conversion and many other personal and professional construction related chores.



TYRONE

SeeingSounds asked:

Spiral Architect - Insect(A Sceptic’s Universe)

COLEMAN

dEUSbe asked:

The 2nd official dEUS video from the 2008 album Vantage Point is for the Single ‘The Architect’. The video was created by Arnaud Delord, Caleb Krivoshey and Frank Seiler from ADN Factory. Visit www.dEUS.be for more info on dEUS, the rock band from Antwerp, Belgium.

TY

Roboko asked:


Im 15 and want to become an architect but i have no idea of the kind of things that they do. For example would i travel a lot or would i be working in an office or outside?
Any help will be very much appreciated.

JASPER

britneyspearsisawesome2006 asked:


My uncle wants to become an architect. He has made blue prints, a fully furnished 3-D model, and even a computer simulation of a really good house plan/design! How would he go about getting his plans made into an actual home?

CARMINE