By Neil Turner, Director, Howarth Litchfield
I have just had the pleasure of visiting the United States and going to visit some houses designed by the American architect, Frank Lloyd Wright. They say never meet your heroes, but his buildings do not disappoint.
The man was able to create visionary architecture over an exceptionally long career, building and designing some fabulous houses. I visited Fallingwater, built in 1936, which is next to and over a rocky waterway. Its terraces cantilever over the water and steps also descend down to it – absolutely brilliant.
I also visited three other smaller houses built in the 1950s, all designed by Wright, much smaller than Fallingwater at around 140sqm – typically the size of a modern, large, detached house in the UK.
Each house perfectly suited its site and represented the brief given by the clients and owners of the buildings. Some were timber, another brick and one of precast concrete blocks.
I have written previously on the value of employing an architect and equally the importance of other members of the design team and the contractor. Each person has a part to play in creating a new development or house.
However, the one thing that none of the other professionals (within the team) can do is come up with the first idea, the concept, the vision. That is not being arrogant or pompous. The architect’s role is to listen to the client and create a brief. The written brief is then developed through drawings and models into a three-dimensional form. The architect’s unique role is to create ‘something’ – to see ahead, starting at the list of requirements. All the other disciplines react to those first ideas in their combined efforts to move them from a design idea to a built form.
The role of the architect is being constantly challenged and ‘nibbled’ at the edges by other disciplines, each claiming that a spreadsheet or Excel list can replace the creativity of a designer.
Throughout my career the design process has changed, so that the architect now has to consider a far wider range of issues – from the site conditions to the complexities of the planning system and the ecological and bio diversity potential for the site – all of which must be considered before even contemplating the design strategy, materials and budgets. Add to this, the increasing (and rightful) importance of sustainability and re-use (carbon footprints) of materials in our designs, then the current challenges increase.
It was clear from my visits to the Frank Lloyd Wright houses that he worked in a very different era; his relationships with his clients could be challenging as he insisted on his way or not all, in a manner that would be hard to imagine in these times. The budgets usually exceeded the initial estimates by some margin and that certainly wouldn’t be tolerated today.
But there was no denying the beauty of what was created by Wright and the joy of walking around wonderfully designed houses. His clients tended to live in their houses for many decades which says something for their success.
So perhaps the lesson for 2024 is that you do need to invest in a building project for it to be a real success. Budgets are always important and can’t be ignored. But to create beautiful and successful buildings you do need a talented architect along with an appropriate budget. Give him some freedom for creative thought, layout or materials – and you never know you might just be rewarded with something special that continues to delight long after the bills have come in.
Neil Turner, Director, Howarth Litchfield can be contacted on 0191 3849470 or email n.turner@hlpuk.com
www.howarthlitchfield.com
